Be ready

Patty and I are spending this week in beautiful Hilton Head South Carolina.  The temperatures are in the low 70's and the water of the Atlantic are like the skies; a beautiful blue.  We spent this afternoon in historical Beaufort South Carolina, looking at antebellum homes and quaint little shops and visiting with some really nice folks.  It is interesting to strike up conversations with folks that you meet by chance, waiters, clerks, folks doing service work.  You smile and offer a kind word and they open up with the greatest information.  Ask where to eat and they tell you their favorite place.  Ask some place that you would have to see if it was your last day in town and they give you directions and reasons why.  Tell they how much you appreciate their kindness and they become your friend.  Everybody involved in the conversation feels better for the time invested in each other.

The apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to everyone who asks you to give a reason  for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect."  How many non-Christians could be won to Christ if we exhibited the joy of salvation in every aspect of our lives.  Of course their are difficulties that we have to deal with.  Illness, disappointment and even the valley of the shadow will affect all of us, but we have this knowledge of eternity and our place in it that should allow us to walk confidently and joyfully in all the days of our lives.  There are many folks out their who are walking tentatively and without a knowledge of their futures that can keep them anchored confidently.  Who can you encounter joyfully?  Who can you give a moment of peace to?  Who might ask you where you can the hope to live joyfully and confidently in the difficulty of these days?  Can you engage them in conversation and display a zest for life?  Can you cause their lives to be better because you have entered it?  Can you treat them with gentleness and respect and wait patiently to give a reason for the hope that is within you?  Perhaps this is the day that your witness can help someone else discover a reason for hope.

Hope your week is filled with sunshine and that you might have opportunity to cause the Son to shine in someone else's life as well.  See you in a week.  God's best to you.