The Vineyard
Dear Friends:
Today I had to take the two younger boys to the doctor. They had to leave school early, so they were elated. We drove to the doctor’s office, and after it was over we went next door to an “Ingles” grocery store. We spent twenty minutes shopping, but this time I let them each have a cart and “help” me shop. Of course they picked up a lot of junk food, stuffed animals, and things we did not need, but they had a great time—even though I made them put much of it back.
We then drove to an old country store where I allowed them to each purchase one snack. Again, this is not something I normally do. They spent ten minutes finding the perfect snack (for one it was an ice cream sandwich, for the other it was a bag of potato chips). As we left the store and drove to pick up the third boy from track practice, I realized how happy the boys were that we had an “adventure” together. At least, that’s how they described it. It was nothing more that going to the grocer, then to an old country store for a snack, and then take a drive in the car listening to their favorite music.
And I suppose the music is what really set the backdrop for this adventure. Each one got to choose his song, and so we listened to Christian praise for a while, then “Puff the Magic Dragon”, “A Lover’s Concerto”, “YMCA”, and so forth. And then, as we drove through the mountains to our last destination it hit me that this day would probably be one of those days that the boys looked back to as one of those “perfect days of boyhood”. It was a golden, happy, “adventure”—— an afternoon of their childhood that they will one day long for. And it could easily have been lost if I had not thought of them and their needs more than my needs and the needs of my little business.
How many times during the week have I allowed opportunities of a golden moment—-or worse, a God moment—to be lost because I was too busy or too preoccupied with what I had determined was the most pressing consideration. Today alone I received more than four contacts/conversations with some very special people who were hurting and truly needed to be heard. I look back now and realize that when those phone calls and meeting began, I was wanting to look at my watch, find an excuse to cut the meeting short——anything—to get back on my schedule. But each time, something (His Spirit) told me to shut my mouth, turn off my phone and trust Him to handle my little concerns if I would allow Him to work through me on the big things——and the big things are investing time into the lives of those that Jesus died to redeem.
God forgive me for majoring on the minors and looking through the microscope and not the telescope!
Today three of us had a marvelous adventure because one of us remembered to not be a self absorbed adult.
Warmly,
Dean Barley
The Vineyard
Dean@VineyardCamp.com
336 351 2070
919 360 8493 (Mobile)
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