To love as he loves us….

I would like to stretch out of the norm for a minute of usually useless information that I am know for sharing to share something that touched my heart this morning. I call it a good reminder of the meaning of love.

 On my way to work a side job this morning I got stopped by a red-light.  My first thought was dang, I could have made it! As i abruptly stopped my car before the line, I slowly looked up at the light.  It was one of those times that for the first few seconds after you stop,  you realize how far under the light you are and have to lean forward just to see the light.  Well I had to do just that.  As I mumbled in my head about my decision of stopping, something caught my eye and my heart.

I was not far from an low income government subsidized apartment community that some would call run down, dirty, old, ugly and probably more derogatory words.  Truth be known, I have probably thought those same thoughts before having to remind myself to not be judgmental.  As these thoughts ran through my head of the times that I had been in that apartment community, and the bad things I had seen with my own eyes, Spiderman got my attention.  

This Spiderman was on the back of a new, clean backpack of a little boy being carried by his mother walking.  She had him all bundled up with a jacket and a toboggan, with gloves and holding him tight against her chest.  This is a congested area of work commuters, that probably are not paying attention to what is going on around them…just as I was, until Spiderman captured my heart.

As I sat there and waited, I looked over to the car beside of me.  This mother still carrying the love of her life was now in front of this car as the light turned green.  I saw the look in the drivers eye .. it was as if I could hear what he was saying in his mind.  Almost like a thought bubble over his head…..Hurry up woman! Gosh I am late! This Starbucks coffee is horrible this morning! Dang i wish this woman would hurry!… As I looked back away from the driver, The loving mother holding her proud Spiderman was now almost in front of my car.  She made eye contact with me and knew she was in the intersection at a bad time with the light turning.  I motioned her to pass in front of my car without hesitation.  At this point, my heart was filling with enough love to get out and stop the whole intersection myself.  The look she gave back was a thank you.  With heartache in her eye from the daily stresses of life, I thought to myself .. Who are you? What is your story? What are you doing?

She passed my car and made it to the corner, where I saw her stand under the KAT bus pick up sign.  That is when I realized what she was doing.  I began to pull through the intersection and looked through my rear view mirror.  She was still holding him, but he had turned his head to look back at the intersection.  The innocence in his face screamed at me.  It Screamed, this is my mommy.  She takes care of me.  She holds me close when it is cold and puts on extra clothes along with my gloves to keep my hands warm.  She makes sure I put on my Spiderman backpack for daycare and I know she loves me.  

I continued to think.  The mother was dressed as if she was working, and her son was dressed as if for daycare, no old enough for school.  Emotions flooded my heart with how this little boy doesn’t know struggles or pain that the woman holding him is going through.  The pain having to ride a bus to her work, and not having a car.  He doesn’t understand why he has to get up a little earlier than other kids, so they can make the nearly half mile walk from his apartments to get on that bus.  At this point, He doesn’t know that there is any difference in his run down playground, than the playground at McDonalds. All he knows is that he is loved.  He has friends that he loves to play with, He has a soft pillow for bed time and he has a mother who bought him an awesome Spiderman Backpack. Love, that is what he knows.

I said a quick prayer for that mother.  A prayer for strength and for God to show her that she is doing great.  That life throws curve balls, and from the love I saw in 45 seconds, she is doing everything right.  

It reminded me of Gods love for his children.  For all of us.  She held him tight, she was keeping him warm, and she was caring for all his needs to the best of her ability.  Just as God Loves us, holds us and is with us regardless of where we live, or what we do.

It was a humble reminder that our God is an awesome God.

John 13:34-35

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

Matt Black vs Traffic, wasps and of course a flock of geese.

“”Throughout our story we call life, we will never know how much God protects us”. MB

What a great day for a walk…or is it. With the temperatures soaring up over the hundred mark, I wanted to get out early and take my little angel for a walk. Not only for some exercise, and to get her outside for a minute, but to also give my loving wife a break, who does twice more than other mothers I know). This decision to go for a walk was a good one, because it inspired me to make this entry into my blog.

Grabbing the stroller and buckling my little bit in, I can see the excitement in her face! She knows she is going on a stroll, because we try to take her on strolls as much as we can. I push her to the front glass door as she pears out looking into the great outdoor abyss and what wonders what her stroll will bring her today!

As I lift her down the two front stairs and start down the driveway…vroom vroom, a big truck passes by as her hand raises and points to it driving up the street. She looks at me and back at the truck, so excitedly it makes me smile. Making our way down the sidewalk, a loud boom comes from construction workers down the road, she immediately throws her hand up as to wave at the worker, he smiles and of course waves back. I giggle inside thinking of the joke i read once that says, when a two year old hands you a play phone…you answer it! He couldnt resist the little wave either. I nod my head at him, acknowledging he had done the right thing, and i appreciated his child like wave. We are now to the walking trail and her sights are aimed high, she is looking back and forth at the bushes, and the trees blowing in the wind, when she catches a glimpse of a wasp flying near, she reaches out to grab the cute, tiny flying bird ( in her eyes) as it flies away. We continue walking when that hand comes up and points again. What do you see I say in a childish voice that I later hoped no one was close enough to hear me. She points again. She has found a flock of geese standing to the side of the trail. As they hiss at her and start to come towards her wings opened wide, she cackles and laughs, so funny those fowl are!

We continue our walk with the geese in the background and she hears loud music coming from a passing car. Rap music that said a few explicit words (just music to her) and she clapped. Clapping led to our patty cake song, as we continued back to the house. She went back and forth looking at everything as if she had never seen it before, as I watched for oncoming traffic before crossing the road.

I bring her into the cool house as it was getting warmer outside and she looks up at me with her two little round eyes and without saying anything, I know she was thinking. Thanks Daddy:-)

I joked with my wife about the wasp and the geese and thought to myself about the beauties of life and how God watches over us even when we don’t realize it just as I had watched over my child on our morning stroll. Isnt that a good feeling? God watches over us.

Did she know the danger of the big speeding truck? The pain of a wasp sting, or even the fear of a goose protecting its young with a loud hiss and wing spread. The answer is simple. No. she didn’t because she didn’t have to. Big daddy was pushing her and making sure no bad things happened to her. I saw the wasp before it got close, I knew the geese would do that before I even strolled by them, and the truck and traffic was obvious, I was watching that without even thinking about it.

This reminded me of how God watches over us and delivers us from evil, even when we don’t realize it. How easy is it to blame God or ask God why, when something bad happens to us? It’s very easy! At those times we need to remind ourselves to be humble and thankful for all the evil we was protected from and didn’t even know it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 but God is faithful, he will strengthen you and protect you from evil.

pray for strength in your faith for God, live every day to its fullest and remember he is always there.