Ever feel like a walking dead person? Staring into space, giving nothing out yet taking nothing in? It talks in the bible about a living corpse, without God, the last couple of days that has been more relatable than I would have liked.
Numbness. Things that happen in life that make you become numb to life in general. Criticisims, attack, words, feelings, rejection. Life throws it all at you, and as a person you can only take so much before it either completely breaks you or just goes over your head. Thats my personal response to it anyway. Becoming empty. Not accepting all the rubbish but then not filling your life with God either. For me praising in the storm is pretty hard, not because I don't know Jesus is my saviour and that he can't help me, but because I get comfortable in nothing-ness.
So as I walked my dog Murphy today I prayed, out loud, timidly, but I invited God back into my heart once more. Life makes it so easy to harden your heart; what a stupid waste of time.
Then, I asked God for an oppurtunity to speak to someone about him, and then I stopped praying out loud as I saw a man approaching, not that I was ashamed, just that people get scared when people approaching arfe talking to themselves. The second I stopped speaking this man shouted "Is he alright?". Murphy was staring this man out, that awkward moment when he's deciding if he should pounce on the stranger or just wag and lick him to death. I was like "Oh yeah he's fine!". This guy was so jolly and chatty, walking in the opposite direction as he was asking me how to get to the dam. As I started walking away I felt the urge to turn back around and use the excuse of showing him where the dam was (he looked a little lost) to talk to him. I didn't. Instead I stopped, staring into space, ignoring my feet.
Now I have no idea if that was the oppurtunity God gave me that I completely missed, so I made sure I prayed for someone else to reveal God's goodness to that guy today. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, living an empty life has no risk. We have to risk to ever reach out to people. People may say 'God never talks to me' or 'I dont know what God wants'. I've learnt we often need to get out there and try to know what God wants for us. After all, what harm would it have done to go and speak to that man if it wasn't the oppurtunity God presented? I'd have still been showing Gods character.
Step out into uncertainty and don't miss any oppurtunity.
Brilliant as always... it's pretty hard (especially for me as I wouldn't say boo to a goose!) to take that extra step and talk to a stranger so it's good that you prayed for the guy at least and gave him that consideration... the main bit about the feeling of being a walking dead guy, got it all the time... I enjoy my days but I can get to the end of a week and wonder what I've accomplished... is a year going to go by and life is just the same, I find I need to do at least three worthwhile things every day and then it will have been an ok day. Love these blogs, really inspiring x
ReplyDeleteThats really interesting Rob, its really good to think like that, even if you dont get three in, if you aim for that then surely we'll be living life to the full! :)
ReplyDeleteCheers Bowens... yeah definetly, I've filled todays quota already with all the hugs I seeked out at church! :D
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