Happy 3rd Anniversary, Frank!

WOW!  It’s been a while since I have allowed myself to think about the night 3 years ago when Frank was shot outside my back door in Southern Barton Heights!  If you are new to the blog, or haven’t heard the story before…take a look at this string of posts telling the story of Frank (click his name…then scroll to the bottom and click “older entries” to go to the first blog post.  Be sure to go back to the first post…and read backwards so you get the story in order.) I take a few moments each year on January 27th to really think through the events leading up to that night and the events following it.  This is the first year, however, that I can read back through it on  y blog.

Can I just say it?…GOD IS GOOD!!!  Respond with me…  ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!  Vicky and I had a short conversation on FB a few minutes ago where she said…”That story still makes me cry.”  You know…it makes me cry, too.  Tons of emotion going on.  I don’t even know where to start!  And…I cried.  I give glory to God.  I’m humbled.  I’m grateful.  I’m amazed.  I’m encouraged.

Tonight, we had our weekly Missional Community where we studied the story of the Fishes and the Loaves.  One of the things I really get from that miracle is how Jesus took something really small…a boy’s basket of 5 loaves and 2 fishes…and fed over 5000 hungry people!!!!  Is that not crazy?  That the Lord could take something so small…and perform a miracle?  He just needed a willing participant, the boy offering his bread and fish.  That’s the way I feel about the night Frank got shot.  Louis and I had little-to-no first aid training.  Little-to-no experience in treating traumas.  But, you know….we didn’t need it.  We had the Holy Spirit…and that is all we needed….and a willingness to go.  Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

So now, I wonder…what “fishes and loaves” am I holding on to and not sharing?  What am I NOT willing to offer up to the Lord to use to bring Him glory because I think that I don’t have enough experience, enough education/knowledge, enough money, enough time, enough training, enough…fill in the blank with any obstacle/excuse you can think of?  It’s time to step out in trust and faith and let God be God…because I can NEVER have enough of anything.  The best thing I can do is get out of the way.  Zechariah 4:6b says, “…‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”  I can’t work hard enough, smart enough, efficient enough.  I can’t get enough education, time, money, etc. to do what God does.  It is NOT by my might, power, brains, money, common sense, education, scheduling, etc. but by HIS Spirit!

Louis and I could NOT have arranged that night even if we had tried, but God knew where we needed to be and when.  So…I’m going to step out in that faith, trust and obedience.  Give what I have.  Give what He has given me.  I’ll do it from one-day to the next and let God be God…and give HIM all the glory!  Amen?

So, Happy 3rd Anniversary, Frank!  To new beginnings!  To your new life!  Love you and thankful that God brought us together!  Can’t wait to see your face again!  To God Almighty be the glory!