MyersDaily

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalms 16:11

/\^/\

MyersDaily
Monday, September 18, 2023

Last night I didn't get enough sleep, but still woke up at 6:15 am, read the Bible, and ran three miles keeping a streak going that started 6,496 days ago, and went to work at 8 am.

Work was especially exhausting, since it felt like the end of a Friday already before the first minute, and I was sorely tempted to call in sick for the first time in my life.

And then after work, I realized today was probably my only opportunity to take some pictures for some wonderful, unrecognized people who were so kind to me back in August, true heroes of humanity, and maybe the only time they would ever have the highest quality pictures taken of what they were doing with the dedication of their whole lives.

So I drove home after work, spent 30 minutes updating the settings of my cameras, grabbed a ziplock bag of leftover bread I brought to the potluck at church on Sunday, ate a slice, and showed up.

I thought I was going to perhaps only 1 best-of-two-games type of event, since the second was TBD.

But it turned out to be out of 5, and the first one took all 5.

And it was so amazing and absolutely encouraging and inspiring despite the fact that no one except those who truly loved and cared were there.

Then the TBD one turned out not to be TBD, and actually that team's coach is one of my dearest friends, whom I took wedding pictures for, and knew during all of college, and is an NCAA record-holder.

And then to top that off, at the very end of the night when I didn't know how I was still standing and had to tell myself motivational words in my mind to keep going, right before I left, our home team was having a meeting...

They were telling positives...

And then they finished and were walking away, and suddenly one of them from thousands of miles away turned and said, "You were my positive tonight."

I could almost feel God smiling down and speaking words of strength through those incredibly special words of someone who cared and encouraged.

The moral of this story is that being kind to others and showing up to support them makes ALL the difference.

At the 125th anniversary of Friends U., I heard a story about someone very important who amazingly took time away from all of their amazing and busy offices in life, and simply stood there for many hours, holding his hat and waiting and most of all praying at a hospital during the hours of a risky surgery for someone he cared about, not even a wife or a child, but just a colleague and a friend.

Humans would say that made no difference and was a waste of time.

Humans would say our lives are too important to do "meaningless" things like show up and pray, or show up and support.

But that's so wrong.

What happens when God convicts you and calls you to do something to make a difference?

Well, you can ignore the call and tell yourself your are too smart and too important. I've done that before. And I only felt miserable like I had lost an eternal treasure forever.

Or you can decide to show up.

You can show up, maybe not even knowing the details but trusting and letting God use you, like "Here am I. Send me."

Then God makes a miracle happen and does greater things than you ever dreamed.

  Sincerely,
  Joseph Myers

Love God