{"id":32235,"date":"2021-06-02T03:30:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T10:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=32235"},"modified":"2021-06-01T16:42:03","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T23:42:03","slug":"june-2-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2021\/06\/02\/june-2-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"June 2, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\u201cBut when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.\u201d<\/em> Matthew 9:36<\/p>\n

Change Your World in an Hour!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Really? Change your world in an hour? Sounds like one of those self-help programs or an on-line offer too good to be true. But wait\u2014there\u2019s more!<\/p>\n

But seriously, I was having a bad day not too long ago (lately I sound like a broken record on that subject), when in the midst of my self-focused thinking, it occurred to me that perhaps it would be good to reach out to an elderly neighbor whose wife had passed away.\u00a0 Hmm\u2026maybe I could make his family some cookies. Sure, I could do that.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, my oven wasn\u2019t working properly, and the first tray of cookies looked and smelled more like a burnt offering in Moses\u2019 day. Great, just great, I lamented, all I wanted to do was make one tiny, little batch of cookies. \u201cIs it too much to ask for just a little help down here?\u201d I threw the question straight through my blanket of self-absorption into God\u2019s domain. Maybe He would answer. But then, maybe He was busy just now; sometimes I wondered if my little stuff really mattered.<\/p>\n

Stewing along about my faulty oven, I finally got some decent cookies made that might be presentable for our neighbor. I wrapped them up and hopped on my bike to make the delivery. One look at the fellow is all it took to understand\u2014this aging gentleman was in serious pain. There was anger too, lurking at the corners of his eyes. Grief is such a chameleon, changing colors within moments. Poor man; I truly felt his pain and asked Jesus to heal and help him through this difficult time.<\/p>\n

After offering my condolences, I got back on my bike and headed home. Along the way, I spotted another aging gentleman-neighbor out working in his yard. I stopped to chat a bit and asked about his wife who had suffered with Alzheimer\u2019s for many years. \u201cOh, she\u2019s about the same,\u201d he replied sadly. He\u2019d been caring for her at home for fifteen years or more. My heart felt heavy for him, for her, and their family. It was all\u2014so\u2014very\u2014hard.\u00a0 Then, suddenly, \u201cHey, I\u2019m going fishing!\u201d he hollered with glee. As he shared about the lake, the camp spot and his buddies who\u2019d go with him, his eyes sparkled like they had so many years before. I\u2019m praying he\u2019ll catch the biggest fish he\u2019s ever caught!<\/p>\n

Heading on home, I somehow felt lighter, brighter, and entirely different; something inside was warming my entire being. From that first pan of burnt cookies til that moment, it had only been an hour, but mysteriously, my<\/em> world had changed forever.<\/p>\n

Oh, dear Jesus, You remind us in so many ways of Your compassion for others. You teach us to reach out to the hurting, just like You did when You walked the earth, for their sake and our own. In touching others, we experience Your love flowing through us, and that gift is truly ours. Thank You!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-8nV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32236,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32235\/revisions\/32236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}