I was asked to give the children's story this week in church and I wrote this. It is a little disjointed because it helps me not lose my place when I'm speaking.
What is love?
Did you know that God tells us to love each other?
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
So, if we love one another we can know God!
Now, I'm going to tell you a story that happened to me when someone VERY UNEXPECTED showed me love and compassion.
One time when I had spring break at school in TN and I wanted to come home to my parent's house in NY. I had to drive 14 hours all by myself from TN to NY, so I got a good nights sleep, woke up really early, and started on my way. I was following my GPS until the road it wanted me to use was under construction and the detour was closed off. So there I was in the middle of Knoxville, a big city, and I was lost. I wanted to find a place to pull over so I could call my dad and figure out where I was. I was weaving in and out of the streets and could not find a parking spot that didn't require money util...
Oooooh there it was! a nice open parking lot. I drove up and stopped and immediately called my dad and started crying because I was all alone and lost in a very stage place. I had my map out and my GPS and I was trying to figure where I was then, I heard a loud TAP TAP TAP TAP on my window.
I looked up and realized that I had parked in a parking lot that had a giant cage at the end of it and there were motorcyclists inside the cage like structure smoking and standing around. All of them were not friendly looking. I opened my door and in a harsh burly voice this long haired motorcyclist started to say, "You shouldn't be here...." then stopped what he was saying and changed his voice after seeing my tears and in a sweet sympathetic voice he said, "are you lost?" in tears I nodded yes and cried even more. He then proceeded to ask me where I was going and saying, "oh please don't cry it will be ok." Once I told him where I was going he gave me directions and started cheering me on like, "you can do this, just go up this street turn right and keep going till you reach Ohio! and you'll see signs for PA... and take this to NY."
I started backing out of the parking lot following his instructions with my window down and going down the street wiping my tears away and following his directions and you know what? He was running along the side walk cheering me on and repeating his directions he gave me before. He started moving his hands where I should go and when I was on my way I could still see him in my rear view mirror giving me, not one, but two thumbs up!
You know I was so scared of him in the beginning, but then he started showing me love an compassion and showing me where to go and cheering me on and motivating me that I couldn't help but feel so grateful and loved.
Jesus tells us to love one another by showing it to others.
1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
That is what Jesus did right before he died for us- he SHOWED us his love. He told the father "take this cup from me" he didn't want to die, but he then said it isn't my will that needs to be done, but your will or the heavenly fathers will.
So this week I challenge you to SHOW love to each other. to do the dishes or clean your room before your mom tells you to, or maybe even giving your sibling a back massage or write a card and send it to someone you know needs encouragement. There are so many ways to love one another that is what makes it fun!
When you feel like you can't do it just pray to Jesus and he will give you the strength to do good.
Let's Pray: Dear Jesus, Thank you so much for showing us love even when you didn't want to die you did it anyway and saved us from our sins. We thank you also for giving us the chance to show other people in our lives love. And we ask that when we don't have the strength to want to love that you give us the desire and compassion to love others. We love you Lord, Amen.
