...In His Hands.

My friend has used his hands to serve and glorify God for a long, long time.  Even before he called himself a Christian, he used his hands to do God's work.  He delivered his own daughter in the dark, during a power outage.  As an exterminator, he has used his hands to keep others safe from bees, rats, bedbugs, or whatever other kind of crawly thing you can imagine.  He is a volunteer first responder, and has answered the call many times.  He is a great neighbor, always willing to lend a hand with whatever project you are working on.  His hands have comforted the hurt, (rubbed spice on some AWESOME barbecue,) consoled the grieving, and helped save MY life.  The fingers on his "good" hand pushed the button on the AED that restarted my heart.  I am thankful for those hands, and the kind-hearted gentleman who owns them.   

It's kind of weird, though. I am amazed that God chose this friend to be His Hands.   You see, My friend has one "normal" hand, and one deformed hand.  It's never really slowed him down much, he was always determined to do what everyone else was doing.  I love that about him, and his unwillingness to give up is a trait his wife and kids also share.  So God gave Boo these hands, then asked him to use them to show God's love to the world.  Amazing, really, but he does it over and over and over.

God does this same thing, over and over too.  I have a blind friend who can see past the physical things of the world, and sees right into my heart.  She is being the Eyes of God.

Another friend has a kidney problem.  Not sure why, but they don't work.  The odd thing is that the job kidneys do is to filter out toxins from your body.  This friend has a gift for "filtering" out the doubt of any moral dilemma, until you are left with the cold pure truth.  She is like the Kidneys of God! 

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you can think of examples in your own life.  Or even from Scriptures.  If you look at the Bible stories from the world's perspective, they take on a whole different light.  Those people thought Jesus was the son of an adulteress, not a virgin!  The most powerful existence ever took the form of the most helpless, weak creature on the planet, an infant human.  He inspired love, right from the start.

 As far as getting gifts from the maker, the preschool rules apply. "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!"  We are all called to be parts of the body of Christ, but we can't all be the fancy parts.  Someone has to be the gall bladder or spleen.  Any volunteers for the "Transverse Colon of Christ"?  I didn't think so.  He gives us what we get.  He asks us not to make it perfect, but to use what we have in perfect love.  When God allows us sufferings, we have to remember that we may be going through this so the Glory of God can reveal itself.  Maybe that will happen in a healing.  Maybe not.   Maybe it happens by God showing his love to others through the grace and courage you show in the face of this situation.  I don't know.  What I do know is that we aren't perfect. Not one of us.  But God made us perfectly lovable. 

So, Boo has given his hands in the service of the Lord.  Now his "Good hand" is boycotting. It won't work properly, and it causes much pain.  Please pray that God will show his Mercy.  Thank you Boo, and all my friends for being the Body of Christ.   

Blessings!