[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Sunday, August 18 2013 and An Announcement

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all on this Lord's Day, at least it's the Lord's day in the Americas, Europe, Africa and parts of Asia.  I hope that your day is going well or went well.  To those of you in Australia and New Zealand, I hope that your Lord's Day was spiritually fruitful for you.

If any of you have been following either these Daily Thought posts or the previous ones under the name of "Good Night Messages," you might recall the name Esther M. Bailey.  Well, we have a contribution from her today.  This Arizona author wishes to share with you her article entitled "A Blessing I Almost Missed," rendered as follows:

I wonder how many times I miss a blessing because I don't reach out to strangers? How many times do I miss an opportunity to bring a blessing to someone else? An idea for conversation may even come to mind, but I usually remain silent.

My friend Jenny helped me overcome my reticence while we were shopping at a fabric store.  I had purchased a king size quilt for a queen bed because I didn't want to use a bed skirt.  The length, however, gave me only a twelve-inch drop.  I needed nine more inches across the bottom to complete the design of the quilt.

With one of the pillow shams in hand, Jenny and I began to look for fabric that would blend with the bright colored quilt.  "This isn't bad," Jenny said as she fingered a red fabric with a scattering of tiny white leaves.  It would blend with the panels running down the sides except it was brighter.  I found a similar fabric that was more subdued than the side panels.

Since neither of us could decide between the two, Jenny said to a lady who stood nearby, "Which do you think blends better?"

Pointing to the brighter color, she said, "That one." Her idea was good enough for us.

When I learned that the lady was also shopping for fabric for a quilt, I said, "I should send you what's left of my material." I needed a three-yard-long piece of cloth but only half a yard wide.

"Yes, I can always use extra fabric," she replied with a smile.

After paying for my purchase, I again approached the lady.  "I'll be glad to have it cut in two and give half of it to you."

"You would just throw it away?" she asked.  In response to my affirmative reply, she said, "Yes, I'll be glad to get it."

While the clerk cut the fabric for us, my new friend explained her ongoing project.  In the church she attended, hers was one of six homes that took in foster children.  Each time a family took in a new foster child, the church presented the child with a quilt.  The woman also participated in making the quilts.

"Wow! What a cool project," I said.  I like to hear about unique ways of making a difference in the lives of others, and this was one of the best.

Even though I had only a small part in a major enterprise, I left the store that day with a heart full of joy.  When I take advantage of an opportunity to bless someone else, I always receive the greater blessing.  If I want to keep the blessings coming, sometimes I need to reach out to strangers.

And how like all the email lists that receive these Daily Thought Messages? I would believe that, before these lists were created, most of you didn't know anyone else on this list except, of course, if you had known them personally from school, work or through perhaps a fraternal organization.  Now I can't speak for everyone here, as we individually have our unique likes and dislikes, characteristics, interests etc., but on the whole I'm glad to have known so many people, and all the better if we could chat either by phone or in an Internet audio chatroom.

And now for the announcement I mentioned earlier.  This evening (Eastern time) I have the opportunity to attend the Sunday evening service of the headquarters church of the Greater Grace World Outreach here in Baltimore.  They have a program heard on many Christian radio stations Monday through Friday called "The Grace Hour." Anyway the service begins at 6:30 p.m. eastern time today, August 18, and if you'd like to join me, albeit via the Internet and not in person, go to http://www.ggwo.org.  Please listen to the message with an open heart, mind and, if you can get it, your Bible.  I will mention here that I don't belong to this church, so the views expressed in the message doctrinally may not agree with my views or even your views.  It just so happens that my neighbor Micah, who is an usher in that church, is going alone because his wife and two children are away at camp.  As the old saying goes, this will "kill two birds with one stone." On the other hand it will give Micah a bit of company, and secondly I'll be able to renew old acquaintances that I made the last time I went.  Anyway hope you receive a blessing if you tune into the service.  The church physically is only about 20 blocks from where Micah and I live.  There are other things on that site that you might like to explore.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul