Two Conversations At Once

The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?” With a prayer to the God of heaven, I replied. Nehemiah 2:4-5a (NLT)

Ever had to have a really difficult conversation with someone? Maybe it was your boss and you wanted to tell them you were quitting or maybe you needed to share some really difficult news with a friend. Maybe you are a supervisor and you were assigned to tell one of the employees that they need to shower (trust me, that’s a difficult conversation.) What about having to console someone who lost a loved one or having to ask for something huge….like Nehemiah.

Nehemiah was captive in Persia. He had gotten word from a visiting family member that things in Jerusalem weren’t going so well. Immediately, Nehemiah started praying and asking God for favor. This happened in late autumn.

Early the next spring (apparently, Nehemiah had been praying all this time) he was serving as the King’s cup bearer and the king noticed his sadness. He asked what was wrong. Nehemiah explained everything that was going on in his homeland. And the King said “How can I help?”

What did Nehemiah do next? He prayed. Before he answered, before he suggested anything, he sent up a quick prayer to God. What exactly that prayer was, we don’t know but I can imagine it was something like “Lord, give me the words.”, or “God, work this out.”, or “Father, help me not get killed.”

He was having a conversation with God while he had a conversation with the King. And God responded. King Artaxerxes granted his request to go home and helped.

In a quick Google search, we average 22-27 conversations a day. Think of all the impact we have each day on a life around us. We should be pulling a Nehemiah and praying as we go through each one. You never know how the God of Heaven will work in your life and in others’ lives if you let him lead.

Please Don't Sit There

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭37:23‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

As I boarded the plane and found my seat, I wanted so much to have some quiet time to myself. It had been a rough week. Work had been taxing and I needed to prepare for a sermon I was going to preach the following weekend. What I wanted was some time to think. 

I settled into my seat and realized there was no one in my row. WOOOHOOO! Thank you, God. I can stretch out and rest and think. They closed the doors to the plane and just as I was getting ready to spread out, the flight attendant walked up to my row with a man and said, “You’ll be able to stretch out more in this seat.” I’m not going to recount the thoughts that popped into my head at that moment.

Anyway, as we took off I heard “Ask him why he’s going to Dallas.”  My response? “Why would I do that?” Again. “Ask him why he’s going to Dallas.” I know the Voice and sometimes I listen to it. I wish I could say I always do but that would be lying.  This time I did.  I asked him. And I got to hear the best story about how he was going to meet his daughter who lived with her Mom. He was bringing her home to spend the summer with him. 

He told me her mom was afraid of flying so the only way she was allowed to come see him was if he actually picked her up at the airport in Dallas. His day started with an hour and a half drive to the airport where he got on a plane in Virginia, flew to Dallas, met his daughter at the airport and flew back to Virginia and then drove an hour and a half home.  I was dumbfounded at the taxing day this man had ahead of him.

We talked for a while and I asked him “What do you want your daughter to take away from these trips?” His response? “I want her to know that no matter where she is, I will come get her. I will go anywhere to be with her.”

Did I mention that my sermon that weekend was on Father’s Day? I wanted to think through how to portray the love of our Heavenly Father. Do you think God wrapped that up in this one conversation that I didn’t want to have with a man I didn’t want to sit next to?

Our encounters are never random. They are divinely appointed. Maybe, just maybe, we should embrace each encounter we have every day as if God were in it. Because he is.

What Is Your Response?

"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  John 13:35-35 (NLT)

We were discussing how to live this text in our daily lives.  What does it look like to love one another? There were lots of good answers in the group but one stood out in my mind. Someone said, "It's how you respond."

Think about that for a second. We spend our days "responding." When someone asks a question, we respond verbally. When we are driving in the car and someone beeps at you one milli-second after the light turns green, we respond. When you greet a person behind the counter, it's a response. As you walk, whether it be on the street or down the hall at work, and you lock eyes with a stranger or a co-worker, the look in your eyes is a response.

How are you responding? If you are in the middle of something and someone walks up and asks a question, do you respond with enthusiasm and a welcoming tone? When the beep happens, do you respond with a kind wave, using your entire hand? When you walk up to the counter and the person says "How are you?", do you stop, answer and ask them how they are in return? And that person you pass along the way, do you look at their eyes, notice them and say "Good Day!?"

Maybe, loving one another starts in our simple responses. It awakens what comes next....which is a conversation.

Did I Say That Out Loud?

What are people, that you should make so much of us, that you should think of us so often? For you examine us every morning and test us every moment. Job 7:17-18 (NLT)

Have you ever had something come out of your mouth and realize (almost immediately) that you should have not said it? We joke around and say "Did I say that out loud?" and we laugh. But seriously. I do this more than I would like.

I can make all kinds of excuses about how my brain is going too fast or my schedule is too full or I need a break and all those may be true but in reality, excuses aside, I am responsible for my tongue.

One of the disciplines I have been learning and practicing is the discipline of talking to God while I am talking to someone else. While I am having a conversation with them, I ask God "Is there something you want me to say?" or "How can I help them? How can I comfort them?" Interestingly, the answer is sometimes to not say anything. Sometimes, the answer is to just be there and listen.

I have found that when I practice this, I regret less and less the things I say. I have less instances of beating myself up and having to ask forgiveness of God and the people I love. I also have more instances of joy because I was more helpful and able to listen well. I especially find great satisfaction in knowing that God was in control of that conversation.

I am still learning this discipline. I still forget to engage God when I'm going too fast. I'm praying about it and God is teaching me. I love that he pays attention to even our smallest conversations and is involved with what we do.

Father God, Examine me. Examine me every morning and every evening and every moment in between.  Teach me to be more like Jesus. Amen.