Fill Me Up

I have a theory. I think our hearts have a heart-shaped feature to them that is meant to be filled up. Some people's cups are over-flowing while others are empty. Some cups are bigger than others, some younger, some older. The purpose of a cup is to have something poured into it while we enjoy it and savor it. How full is YOUR cup ?

This past Saturday I volunteered at Ruby's Pantry - a local food pantry. I LOVE serving there. It always "fills my cup" right to the brim.

It was 18 degrees out that morning. Kind of chilly I guess but I had dressed for it. I probably looked like that kid from A Christmas Story, all swollen up and hardly able to bend my arms. Then I saw a friend of mine and asked her how she was doing.

"I lost both of my parents last month. My mom on November 1st and my father on November 30th."

Turns out my arms could bend after all. As I gave her a hug and told her I was SO sorry, I was actually pouring love from my heart-shaped cup into hers. How awful to lose both parents, one right after the other. I prayed for her right there in the snow.

I think the love we have stored up for ourselves tastes the best when we serve it to someone else in need. The cool thing about giving our love to someone else is, God in turn fills OUR hearts back up for us again.

My wife and I have one, lone Christmas card remaining on our countertop. I has a name on it but no address. I had been sending Facebook messages and texts to this person for weeks but no reply.

Last night I saw this person on Facebook so I sent them a quick message. They responded! I got the address and I got something else too. Filled up!

It turns out that this person's heart-shaped cup was bone dry. After a brief conversation both of our cups were full again.

Love is an amazing thing. We only get love when we freely give of it ourselves. However, there IS a danger. If we give of ourselves without any way to obtain a refill, there is a danger that our cups might become chipped or cracked. That's where God comes in.

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” - John 13:34-35

That same day my wife and I were at a restaurant with our daughter, her husband and our grand daughter. The waitress came by and asked a question we should be asking everyone we meet.

"Would you like a re-fill?"

Pour into someone's life today and you will be filled with the love that never runs out.

Love Never Fails - Brandon Heath

The Parable of The Blue Dress

Have you ever felt alone in a crowd? I was in that position Sunday afternoon. Literally. I was at a funeral in a church where I knew absolutely no one. There were hugs being given out all over the place, tears were being shed and I was just standing there. Alone, sad and depressed. But then something happened that change my whole outlook on things.

The crowd of black suits and formal wear parted and a lady in a light blue dress walked up to me. She was young, beautiful, maybe in her upper twenty's, blue eyes, blonde hair and a thin build. I was about to check for the angel's wings when she asked me this question. "How are YOU doing?"

That's a typical question that gets asked at a thousand funerals I guess but not when you take into account the woman who asked it. You see, she asked her "how are YOU doing" question while she was leaning on her crutches. She had no right leg.

How was I doing? How are YOU doing? Her question sucked me right out of the gloomy mood I was in and made me realize that my situation wasn't as bad as others in the world. And that's when my thoughts turned towards Jesus and what He went through on the cross.

The image we have of Jesus hanging on a cross should be what we think of whenever we go through struggles or experience pain in our lives. Jesus paid it all.

As we walk through this life we WILL have trouble. But compared to others with deeper pain and more troublesome struggles, can we truly complain?

As Jesus hung on the cross, having heard Peter deny Him three times, Jesus lifted His head and looked right at Peter as the rooster crowed.

"Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”And he went outside and wept bitterly." - Luke 22:60-62

The woman in the blue dress taught me something. No matter how bad we might feel there is always someone who has it worse. I was feeling depressed and alone yet here was someone who's outlook was great - even after losing a leg.

We might go through some struggles but are they really any worse than someone else's struggles? Are they anymore painful than the death Jesus suffered on the cross for us? I don't think so. May we remember that and let that encourage us in our walk through this world. God loves us THAT much that He sent His one and only Son to erase our debt. Jesus indeed did pay it all.

Jesus Paid It All - Fernando Ortega

The Void

I saw this picture over the weekend. Do you know what this is? I'll give you a couple of hints. First of all, it's huge! The hole is over 3/4 of a mile across.

Second, it's man made. The spiral walls are actually roads. It is 1,722 feet deep and is located in Russia. It's a diamond mine.

There are holes like this all around the world. Once created, and stripped of all the diamonds, they are abandoned. Just a giant hole, waiting to be filled.

I feel like that sometimes. Used up, striped of all of my "good stuff" and abandoned. Left for dead. Do you ever feel like that? I think we're all like that to some degree. So, how can we change that? What can fill us up? How can we get rid of the hole?

Some say that we have a giant God-sized hole in our hearts. YouTube has many sermons about our God-shaped hole. How do they know for sure? There's nothing that tells me that in the Bible. Is it true? I think not. If we had an actual hole in our hearts . . . we'd be dead!

Perhaps it's a figurative hole then - a void maybe . . . or an unfillable emptiness. Or, and this is what I believe, perhaps WE are the hole.

There is definitely something missing in us humans though. And we spend our entire lives trying to fill it. Some try filling the void with drugs. Others fill it with work. Some try alcohol. Others try gambling, over eating or porn. Try as we might, we still can't fill it.

I have a theory.

I do believe we all have something missing in our lives. His name is Jesus. We all try to ignore Him but He can be pretty persistent. And He IS God after all. But He gave us free will and therein lies the problem.

But for those of us who have chosen to believe . . . something wonderful begins to happen. The void begins to lessen. It actually begins to shrink. The void gets filled up with stuff. All kinds of stuff. And we are the ones who chose what it gets filled with.

There is an old mariner's saying that goes, "One bad apple spoils the whole barrel." What do we fill our barrels with? Choose reading the Bible over watch television. Choose worshiping over gossip. Choose listening to uplifting music over watching the news. Garbage in, garbage out. Keep the garbage out!

As we walk through this place let us be careful what we chose to fill ourselves with. We don't want to become an empty hole or a landfill, full of trash and waste. Let us seek to be rich soil where things can grow. Let is be pure, with no room for darkness. Let us fill our void . . . with love.

^"8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." - Philippians 4:8-9

World's Biggest Diamond Mine
16 Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford