Focus

Happy Monday!

The postal service of the neighborhood in which we live has a rule that in order to receive mail delivery the snow must be cleared 15 feet on either side of the mailbox.  Living on a corner lot with our driveway before a busy road the snowplows make piles about 3 feet high.  So I’ve been working on gradually clearing the area so that we can get mail delivery.  Arthritis has caused this to be a slow process for me as my back and knees can’t handle shoveling sessions that last very long.  Bottom line, I’m turning into an old fart. 

But Saturday, I was on my way home from work and saw someone in the street in a wheelchair chipping away at the pile of snow/ice in front of their mailbox.  I thought it was Doug, a neighbor who Cheryl introduced me to on one of our walks with our dog, Ozzie.  I’ve seen Doug in a chair only about once or twice.  He loves Ozzie and usually says hi to him first and then we chat for a bit.  This day got home and told Cheryl (my wife) that I was going to go down and help Doug clear the snow.  She reminded me that Doug and his wife were supposed to be in Arizona so it must be someone else.  “I don’t care who it is, I can’t let some dude be out there in his chair struggling like that” or something close to that was my reply.  So I ran (yes ran) down the block to give him a hand.  When I got there Doug’s daughter was there talking to the guy that I thought was Doug.  She introduced me to Kip (the guy in the chair) and said how she uses her parent’s snow blower but that Kip, a guy from the neighborhood likes to clean up the edges as a form of exercise. 

Here’s the thing: Kip and Doug’s daughter (I forget her name) seemed genuinely surprised/touched that someone would come offer to help.  That makes me kind of sad.  It partially saddens me because it made me ask myself how many other times have I passed people, especially in my neighborhood that might be in need of help but ignored them because I was too caught up in my own agenda. 

My buddy John has been an amazing teacher to me.  This guy will spend the better portion of the day outside snow blowing or shoveling or helping his neighbors with whatever they may need.  He has a servant’s heart and shows the love of Christ to the people of his neighborhood.  His actions tell more about God than any well crafted sermon I could ever hope to preach. 

Meeting Kip and finding out that reaching out to him was an exception to the norm has made me realize that I want to do more of that.  I want to be more externally focused. 

I hope what I have learned speaks to you and inspires you as well. 

Thanks for reading!  Be sure to share this awesome blog with your friends and check back next Monday for another exciting and informative post.

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