Domino Effect

Domino Effect

a cumulative effect produced when one event

initiates a succession of similar events

I thought about it all day and I knew that when I had a quiet moment what I was going to do. After work, I sat in a dark car and I made the call, with my heart beating through my chest. “Hello” she answered and I began my apology.

Lack of control over a situation had caused me to break. I unleashed anger and caused an argument between two people that didn’t need an excuse to argue. It was my belief that she was purposely doing something and to be honest, I still believe that it was happening, because it stopped after the argument. Never the less, I still owed her an apology, as I had no grounds to falsely accuse. I wrote about the victory of that moment in my journal and I thought I would share parts of it.

11/08/2009

A domino? This week God used me as the first domino. A simply apology, not so simple when it’s given to someone who owes me, and my family a lot of apologies. But, still, conviction and obedience and I feel great. No anger, not waves of torment, just relief, peace and joy. Hallelujah!

God told me He used me this week as a domino, the first apology! To which I chuckled, Lord you use me a lot as the first domino.  Just think of the benefits of being the first person to fall on your knees….. I fell first, to start a long line of knees hitting the ground. The loving hand of Jesus, Abba, reaching down to gently guide me to my knees. The second, third, fourth, and so it goes, dominoes knocked down by the first, each harder, and more weight as each one piles up. Something God gently started in silence lays hard, fast, and heavy as each domino falls….louder and louder, until each domino involved fall.

The dominoes are people and the falling is obedience to forgiveness. Sin holds us in stubborn disobedience and as each person refuses to surrender, another domino is added.

I remembered when I wrote this being so sure that all of the dominoes were going to fall, immediately. Isn’t that the way you see it happen with the game? Truth is, sometimes your domino falls but something prevents the other one from falling immediately. That’s okay, because when we pray, God listens. Just remember, He also gives us free will, he can’t force us to our knees to pray, only guide us. If we refuse, the sin remains. Eventually you learn to live with the guilt of that sin and it just feels normal, you may even make excuses and blame it on others. Deep down, you know the truth and so does God.

Father God, thank you for this reminder. On days when my prayers seem unanswered, you remind me that they are prayers in waiting. Held back by a stubborn domino. I lift up all who read this, if they have an apology to give, guide them to their knees and then be with them while they

Words

Words

Several years ago I sat at a table and was organizing baby shower pictures, two years or longer after they were taken. A little boy, not yet freckled faced, toddled up to me, with paci in mouth and said, “oh a party….” I smiled and showed him the pictures. “Mommy and daddy….no Kendal?” In his limited vocabulary he ask. A simple question, requiring only a simple answer. In my mommy moment of wanting him to know he was there, I simply said, you are there, in mommy’s tummy. “Ok” he said and toddled back off to watch Mickey Mouse.

A few minutes later he returned and looked at me and said with all the seriousness a toddler could, “Mommy! You not supposed to jus’ eat people!” Then he toddled off with me laughing tears down my face. For the next several weeks, he told everyone that would listen, “Mommy jus’ eat me….” I got a few looks…..

We don’t always choose the right words when explaining something and sometimes we over explain, when a simple answer will suffice. For example, I should have just told my sweet boy that he was not in the picture or no, he wasn’t there yet. Oh course, then I wouldn’t have that adorable story to tell his future girlfriends.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize – not with clever words, so that the

Cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

 Corinthians 1:17

I came across this scripture while reading early morning, before work. The background is Paul writing to the Corinthians and reminding them that Christ is the focus, not himself, Apollos, or Cephas, as some of the worshippers were arguing over whose teaching’s to follow. I particularly like the second part of the scripture, because it emphasizes something I think we forget as Christ followers. Paul evangelized a simple message. Christ died on a cross for our sins, overcame the grave and rose again. To be saved, one must simply believe.

When witnessing to a lost friend, don’t try to use clever words and impress them with your vocabulary. Just speak the simple truth, as told by the first teachers of the gospel. Also, we must watch our own words when not speaking about Christ or when speaking about Christ. Those same lost souls, may be the very people reading a social media post, where you blast a news article, or make comments on a post that someone is offended by, or you could be sitting in a room with people and come across as a hateful racist.  (Preaching to myself, friends)

There is still time to make a new year’s resolution to steer clear of those conversations. In the long run, does it matter what side of a political argument someone is on, or does it truly matter what side of the Cross they are own? Christ used love to minister. So should we. He also gives all of us free choice over our lives, we should remember that when we argue against someone else’s choices in life.

Father, I don’t know if this is for the blog or for me? With so much hate and divide in the world, I feel hopelessly lost when I see friends so hurt by words. How do I stand by my principals, yet respect the principals of others. How do friendships remain strong when so much divide is taking place? Help us Lord. Remind us to love our neighbors, all of them, the same….even when we disagree. Guard my tongue as I leave clever arguments alone, for the simple message of love on a cross. Amen

Noah Mocker

Noah Mocker

Packing my suitcase for a week of training in Charleston and I checked the weather. It was only going to be a few degrees warmer, so I decided easy maintenance sweaters and dress pants would be the easiest to pack. Two pair of shoes, one loafer style and the other a dress boot with a heel for the one long pair of dress pants I packed. Then, just because I love them, my new slippers for walking around the hotel at night. I also packed warm PJ’s, two pair, just in case I spilled coffee….okay, two pairs because I love PJ’s and planned to spend as much time in them as possible. I looked at the weather again and decided a warm coat, heavy scarf and gloves, and I completely ignored the little snowflake showing for Wednesday…why? Well, it’s Charleston, SC that I was heading to. They never get snow and if they do, it will be a simple dusting with possibly a delay in the time I go to work. Which translates to more PJ time.

A week later and I am home after only 3 hours of training with my new manager and exhaustion from spending 2 and a half days stuck in a hotel room. Wednesday morning I woke to a text message before 6 AM, telling me to stay put and not to try to come to work until I heard back from my manger. I got up, turned on the news and looked outside to gray skies with no precipitation. I smiled it off, smirked at the overly excited weatherman that was talking worst case scenarios and thought…yeah right, 5 inches in Charleston. So I took an early shower and when I finished getting ready, I had another message before 7 am, telling me the office was closed for the day. What? It’s not even raining yet? No rain is reported until 9 and snow is not supposed to come until 12. Confused and finally understanding how my more Northern friends feel when it snows at home, I went down for breakfast.

After breakfast, I went back up and saw messages from my dad about the freezing rain hitting his home, near Savannah and realized that same storm was coming toward us. Still, I thought, no work today and possibly a delay tomorrow. Around 10, the airport closed and around 12, the snow started on top of three hours of freezing rain that covered everything. I went to the lobby to find that all of the restaurant in the area had closed and they were planning a lunch buffet, but the chef was trying to get something together, as they normally did not serve lunch. People from all over the Continent were booking rooms, as their flights home had been canceled. At 1:00 we all gathered at the dining hall and patiently, well some of us, waited as the overwhelmed staff finalized the make shift lunch. By 1:20 I was sitting with two ladies from Michigan that had just come off a 10 days cruise, and a woman from Canada that had been visiting family. The conversations all around were fascinating as person after person tried to explain the shear complexity of snow in Charleston. You see, Charleston Closed.

The staff at the hotel was stranded with us, with only one or two new staff faces over the next two and half days. Finally on Friday, I felt safe to leave and the first 45 minutes, I drove very slowly up highway 26 until ice and snow disappeared from view. Once out of harms-way, I began to think about how I was a part of history. A storm of historic measures that looks like a Hurricane shooting up the Eastern coast, bringing record breaking cold, hurricane force winds, and wave surges in Northern states. The East coast was at a stand-still as flights were canceled, hotels overwhelmed, and unprepared people looked out windows as beaches filled with snow and ice.

I had warning, I thought, as I remembered the little snowflake on my weather app. I knew this was coming, I should have brought snow boots, warm pants, an ice scrappers, and food for my hotel room. But, I didn’t….instead I brushed it off as complete silliness and found myself standing in the same place as some of the world’s most famous non-believers. How must it have felt to know you had a chance to climb aboard the Ark as the first rain drops fell and to look at that closed door, kicking yourself for not believing the warning?

I laughed at myself in the car when I realized that I too was a Noah mocker. I choose to believe what I know and what I know is that, Charleston, SC does not have snow storms that produce 5 inches of snow. But it does and this once in a lifetime adventure has made me even more aware of who is in control.

Nothing this world shows us, prepares us for the pending coming of The Lord Jesus and so many people ignore the indicators. It’s just fiction in a book written by fanatics. Or is it? What if you’re wrong? What if, you should be packing snow boots, but instead pack dress boots because those make more sense.  

Father, thank you for surprise reminders that we are never truly prepared for what can happen. That things that are normal can change at any moment and we should always be prepared. Help us gird our loins and prepare for the day of your return, while being a light to the lost and turning more mockers to the Truth. Amen.