Today as I write this, the snow is softly falling and it glistens as it dances and decorates the air and if you listen closely, you can almost hear the church bells ringing in the background, and there is magic in the air, and then all of a sudden I wake up and it is 100 degrees and I feel like I’m in hell!
Now I know there are many people that have a toasty warm heart over the season of summer, but I am not one of them.
Actually, it is weather like this that just makes my heart burn. Like a slightly overweight Elvis used to sing, “I’m just a hunka hunka burning love,” because that is what happens when the heat index gets to be 116 degrees. What little is left of my brain begins to melt away faster than the butter on a baking turkey’s butt.
Now I am one you will never hear complain in the winter time because of heat waves like this one we are all experiencing this week. And I know God has made us all different but I think that He designed me with a defective built in overheating thermostat. I don’t need any help from the weather to perspire faster than a pot of peppers percolating over an open potbelly pit of pyrotechnics.
So why would I jump from the frying pan into a Tim the Tool Man Taylor souped-up easy bake oven on steroids? I mean Rudy the human microwave is heading to the Dominican Republic this week with 18 other wonderful individuals from The Lighthouse Church to live and work and move and breathe amidst a neighborhood of treasured relationships from San Marcos in Puerto Plata.
There will be no relief from the heat. There will be no air conditioning, no ice machines, and no overpriced little fan bottles that squirt out little sprays of water that only appear to psychologically cool you off! It will be a hot time in the old town morning, noon, and night. Why would somebody who abhors heat go on a journey like this one? Because I love people.
I love our brothers and sisters in San Marcos more than I love my own comfort. I learned that one from Jesus. Jesus gave up the quarters of heaven to hang out with us here on earth. He didn’t want to love on us from a distance.
He didn’t take the shuttle back and forth every time he needed a breather. He got up close and personal with us and I know people even got to see him sweat! And I believe that is what they loved best about him! He was one of us.
I don’t want to miss the real treasure of this earth which unfortunately is very easy to do because we human beings have a tendency to be looking for it in all the wrong places. It is actually found in the faces of God designed masterpieces made with His own hands and in His own image with a lot of love in the process.
Now I know many of my readers have been to the Caribbean resorts and have had wonderful times and made lots of memories. I am not knocking anybody for visiting and partaking of the very places and sights that have been common vacations and honeymoon destinations. But I have found my greatest adventures and longest lasting nuggets of gold in the barrios and the villages and the churches and schools and homes that most tourists never see.
I will sweat up a storm this week but I will dance in the puddles of the pools of humanity that God will knit me together with and those moments will change me for good. If you have ever sang a song of joy with about a hundred Dominican kids clinging and chiming in all around you, then you will know what I am talking about! If not, what are you waiting for?
So will you say a little prayer for us during this life changing week? And will you do me a favor? As you are beating the heat by taking a dip in the pool or turning the ac up a bit to get the temps to dip a bit more, or enjoying something as simple as an ice cream cone- will you be grateful and thankful for what you have been blessed with?
And will you as God gives you the opportunity be willing to share some of your haves, with those who have not? I am not talking about being taken advantage of or unwisely just passing things out with no rhyme or reason.
But when God comes to personally visit your soul and begins to stir your heart about sharing that bounty of blessings that you have been given, don’t turn a cold shoulder and offer an icy reply but enter into the heat wave of the heart. Take it from somebody that is too warm blooded for his own good- you’ll be eternally glad you did.
Cape May – The number one reason I didn’t vote for Donald Trump was January 6th and I found it incredibly sad that so many Americans turned their back on what happened that day when voting. I respect that the…
