Random Thoughts on the Love of Jesus, Brothers, Cars, and Husband

Posted On July 19, 2020

My thoughts have been all over the place today! Please say you have days like that too. Days where you are overcome with tears as you realize the overpowering love shown by God through Jesus and God’s earthly children. Days where you see love being demonstrated in so many ways.

It’s hasn’t been a typical Sunday for me. I didn’t feel well this morning so didn’t go to church. Missing church never feels normal. I’ve hardly ever missed a Sunday church service my entire life. When wintering in Florida, we go to church. When we used to camp with the kids, we occasionally visited a new church but, more often, conducted our own service around the campers with our friends.

Today hasn’t been a typical Sunday for me. With the Covid virus, nothing has been typical, I guess. It’s been different and lonely! But love still shines through.

Thought 1 – Jesus Did It Anyway

This morning I was browsing Facebook and clicked on a watch party hosted by a friend, Teresa. It was a service from Elevation Church with the sermon being given by Pastor Steven Furtick. I’d never seen nor heard of the church or the pastor but it may have been the most timely and best message I’ve ever heard. It was based on the scripture where Jesus heals a leper. 

Read Leviticus 13 and you can see how a message about a leper is so timely. Verses 45-46 say, “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.”

Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45 and Luke 5:12-16 all give an account of the healing. In each account, the leper says if Jesus is willing, he can heal him. Jesus replies, “I am willing.”  Take special note of Mark:1:45. “As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.” Because of this healing, Jesus had to stay in lonely places, But He Did It Anyway!

I encourage you all to go to elevationchurch.org and search for the 7/19/2020 sermon by Steven Furtick. It may look long, but start listening about 50 minutes in for the sermon (if you want to skip the other part of the service). May you be blessed, as I was, hearing, JESUS DID IT ANYWAY!!

Thought 2 – Kids Can Teach Us So Much About Love

Today would have been Wyatt’s 13th birthday, but his parents and brother didn’t celebrate because he passed away several months ago after a year-long battle with cancer. Wyatt lived in my community. He was best friends with a boy I know, Casper.

Today was the 12th birthday of Casper’s brother, Cooper. Cooper watched his brother grieve over the death of his friend.

Wyatt has a younger brother, Cash, who watched his brother suffer and then die.

So what did 12-year-old Cooper tell his mom he wanted for his birthday today? He said, “I just want Cash (Wyatt’s brother) to be happy.”

Thinking about all four of these boys today, whether as friends or brothers, brought tears to my eyes. Tears of sadness but also of much joy and love. Joy that Wyatt is no longer suffering and joy for the love shown by brothers. And, tears of renewed hope because of the love shown by all four. KIDS CAN TEACH US SO MUCH ABOUT LOVE!

Thought 3 – Take Care Of What You Love

I rode along with my husband to a local car wash around noon today. While he was washing his truck, I noticed a young man lovingly wiping down the car he had just washed. It was a classic car. My husband, a classic car enthusiast, has often commented that younger people don’t appreciate the old cars anymore. After a few minutes, I walked over to the young man and told him that my husband would be glad to see him interested in an old car.

He proceeded to tell me about his car. It is a black, 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass. He said his grandpa bought it new. When his grandpa died, his father inherited it. Then he died and now he owns it. He said it has the original interior and the paint has only been touched up a couple of times. He wanted to show me the motor but I explained that seeing it wouldn’t mean much to me as I’m not the car enthusiast.

He said he couldn’t afford a new car but he loved this one much more anyway. He explained that he could work on an old car but that he couldn’t do much on the new computerized ones. I’ve heard the same thing from my husband numerous times.

After Jimmy finished washing our truck, I told him to go talk to the guy about his car. The young man said he was 26. He asked Jimmy to guess how many miles the car had on it. His guess was 70,000 something. The answer was a shocking 500,000 plus!! He said it was his daily driver and he cleans it up, like he was doing today, two or three times a week.

Meeting this man and hearing his story was so heartwarming. It was like seeing my husband as a young man again. He LOVES old cars!

Just think of all the love that has gone into taking care of that car to get it through three generations and 500,000 miles. This chance encounter reminded me to TAKE CARE OF WHAT YOU LOVE!

Thought 4 – Feeling Lots Of Love Is Better Than Feeling Sick

What has reminded you of love today? I’m still not feeling well tonight and Jimmy keeps checking on me and asking how I’m feeling. I’m tempted to tell him I’m feeling LOTS OF LOVE but I’d just get an eye roll! So I’m telling my readers instead. I pray you are also feeling Lots of Love too, cause it’s a good feeling!