JUST A FEW FEET

(NOTE: I have put off posting this blog for a few months, not wanting to alert those who may not know I have a past - to the fact that - yes, and it is somewhat checkered)


Last July, on a typically searing and stifling summer afternoon in Tampa, I purchased a couple of large, cold bottles of water.

With no air conditioning in my 92' pick up, I planned to drink them both before I drove back to my home in Oldsmar. My windows were down, of course, as I attempted to create even the slightest stir of a breeze.

As I pulled to a stop at a red light, about a mile into my six mile trip, I glanced over to the sidewalk. There, just a few feet from me, sitting all alone on a park bench, was an elderly black man. It appeared the Florida sun was taking a toll on him. I said, "Sir" and he looked at me. I held out a bottle of water and offered it to him. He immediately walked over to my truck and took the water from my hand. He said, "Thank you" and I said, "God bless you." As he was walking back to the park bench, I said to the Lord, under my breath, "Forgive me." I had had a flashback.

It was 1971, in Palatka. It was about midnight and I was with a couple of other fellow seniors, up to no good. We had just paid an after hours visit to some groves in Satsuma and the floorboard was filled with stolen oranges and grapefruit. We were driving around, throwing the citrus at signs, dogs, cats, mail boxes, etc.

On a lonely stretch of road, an elderly black man was walking on the edge of the grass. He was just a few feet from me as I leaned out the window and hit him square in the back with a grapefruit. He stumbled forward. We laughed and sped on.

Back to 2007, in Tampa: The light turned green and as I pulled away, the Lord spoke to me in that still, small, but strong voice that is uniquely His, "Forgive what?" In order to see the road clearly, I had to wipe my eyes several times on the way back to Oldsmar that day. Sort-of like I am doing right now, as I write this, three months later.

Of course, I understand the "as far as the east is from the west" and "I will remember your sins no more" references but what a struggle it is to truly comprehend God's great forgiveness.

We are often guilty of trying to cover past sins with our good deeds. Not to demean good works. But even to subconsciously feel that we are somehow paying God back for living a life of rebellion is an age-old trick of our adversary. Either our salvation is "through grace, not of works, a gift of God" or it is not.

However, good works hold a legitimate place in God's plan. Though we owe God nothing, due to the nature of a gift, we do owe our fellow man. Paul said "to owe no man anything but to love him." That statement is not just about staying out of financial debt but also staying in a debt of love to others.

The long debated "faith and works" issue between the writings of Paul and James becomes clear when we understand this concept. James was not saying that we are justified in God's sight by our works, pretty good bet he knew that it was by faith, not works. But he was saying that we are justified in the eyes of our fellow man by our works because, as Paul said, we owe a debt there.

I asked the Lord about the "debt" we owe. He said to compare it to a natural debt. Most of us have some debt, if nothing more than a mortgage. I know I have a whopper! Come rain or shine, that mortgage debt has to be paid on a regular basis. I cannot lose focus concerning that debt. If I have to get a second job to meet that obligation, so be it. It's that important! However, I don't lose sleep over it. I don't get anxious and let it control me.

I believe that is the way we should look at our indebtedness to others. We cannot lose focus and forget about those around us this month. We cannot shirk our obligation to love, but it needs to become a part of our nature, not just something we do. We need to avoid the danger of letting the need to express our love make us anxious and cause us to lose sight of Jesus himself.

As "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost," let us be sensitive to and quick to respond to the needs of others. Those needs are not only in far off deserts and jungles but quite often - just a few feet from us.