All of Heaven sang his name….

*ping*

*ping*

*ping*

I have heard it for awhile…

and it’s not that I didn’t want to do it… I have no problem at all, most any time, talking to someone about it…. but “I” thought it would be better if a man did it.  Once I told God , what is the point?  I mean I can’t disciple him…not really.  And do you know what I heard back on that… oh it will smack you in the face for sure…it did me..”what if he dies tomorrow…what will all that discipleship matter then?”  Then He reminded me of my friend Jenn…who died a few years after getting saved.

Can I tell you another thing?  Every day since I was told to “Go ask him…get it done”…everyday which went by and I just hovered about and didn’t “Get it done”… there was a silence.  The kind of Silence which makes you wonder if you did something wrong.

I hadn’t done anything wrong… I just hadn’t gotten done what needed to be done…I asked for “the next thing”… and then couldn’t figure out how to accomplish it….It’s not that I didn’t try.

Make no mistake…My God wasn’t condemning me….He was waiting.

One day I felt the *ping* about his little bench… he said he uses it to get in his truck, because his knees hurt.  I walked away without a good story and wondered if I was to pray for healing?…. but I knew what I was to do….but couldn’t it just be healing?….

nope.

I would go out to gather in the morning… and all was quiet.

So another day I took my ash bucket out… because aren’t we all just an ash bucket?  A life of  burned off bits?  But that day there were more workers then normal… all hovering about with ladders and saws and hammers and noise.  So there I stood for far to long with my dirty bucket of ash…and the opportunity just never appeared. So I poured my ash into the garden to feed the plants in the next season.

I went out this morning into an icy throne room and while I walked I knew why it was all so quiet.

But hadn’t I tried to talk to him?

Then later… I took my lights outside and I wrapped them around the tree to light up the darkness so our friends won’t stumble…and Chris the worker started to walk towards me from across the driveway… and I whispered “only You be Glorified…not me …not him…just You”, as I wrapped the lights The Vine twined around the yard.

Do you remember Chris?..You met him here….Of God and Goldfish and you saw a glimpse on St.Nic day, we gave him our last chocolates:

I could feel it all behind me… and I stepped right in… Because if my God is talking…and He is… I want to show Him I am  listening and willing.

I.am.willing.

“So Chris… your grandfather was a pastor?…. I think I may have repeated this a few times as I found my way staring into that goldfish pond...funny how things have been lining up.

he looked up at me…”Yes a Baptist preacher”.

“so what does that make you, ” and I knew at that moment my words would no longer be my words…I just needed to get out of the way and from here  on in, just pray as the words flowed out of me

He looked up at me , and as if he was reading from a script….”That makes me a man who is doing the best he can each day to do what he knows best to do, the best I know how.”

“does that mean you get to go to heaven?”

“no it doesn’t but I have done a lot wrong…I mean alot”…he said waiting for me judge him.

“So what?  Are you going to wait till your life is all cleaned up and then sign up under Jesus, “I said casually,” because I will tell you right now we are all a mess.. I am …you are… and your box of sin and my box of sin are still just sin… and are you going to let that stop you?”

“no.” his face sort of shifted about and he looked up at me…”but I had people force their religion down my throat my whole life and I never cared for that”

and then I said, “Well Chris.. people shoved cooked carrots down my throat for years….but as a grown up I decided I like them just fine…and you are a grown ass man  who can make his own choices…So as a grown ass man what do you think now?”

and from there we went over what he believes… and wouldn’t you know it God hasn’t been leaving him alone lately.  He said things like, “funny you bring all this up..because I have been praying lately…and I knew  there was something more.”

Yeah “funny thing” right?

So after awhile I dared say it..to speak it right there into the cold frozen morning…”So would you want me to pray?” and he grabbed my elbow with one hand and shook my hand with the other, “absolutely…would you?”

So there we stood in the cold frosty morning…and no workers came and interrupted…and towards the end I opened one eye and said…”So..do you want to pray Jesus into your heart?”

And with a strong determined-holding-onto-something~ reaching-out-for something he said,
“I sure do”

and then all of heaven sang Chris’ name…right there on my deck with two boxes of sin just sitting there….

All of heaven sang his name…. because our God knows our names.