3 Life Lessons from the Rain Puddle

If you live in Texas you know it's been nothing but rain for the last few weeks. Yesterday was trash day and despite the down pour of rain I knew I needed to bring the trash bins inside.  I grabbed an umbrella and with my 4 year old son in tote we went to brave the storm.  As we got down to the bottom of our driveway I could see the bins were half full of water already.  Before bringing them in I tipped both of them over on their side to let the water drain out. Just as I was struggling to get the first one back upright a car flies by and drenches us in water.  As I was returning from the shock of the fact that a car did not slow down in the pouring rain and flung a puddle of water on us another car drove by and did the same thing!  At this point it was a very good thing that I had an umbrella in one hand(useless at this point) and a trash bin in the other because this sweet church girl may have given them a gesture that I would have later regretted.  As I began to mutter not so sweet nothings under my breath I heard The Lord say "How many times do you fly by without noticing people struggling too?"

Wow God knows how to give me amazing perspective when I really need it.  It reminded me of the parable Jesus told of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37:

"There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

“The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’

Here are 3 simple life lessons God taught me in my rain puddle moment:

1. Don't be too busy like the Priest.

How many times have we missed ministry opportunities to serve others simply because we were too busy?  Many of us pray for more opportunity and bigger platforms but we fail to serve those right in front of us who are hurting.

2. Don't be too good like the religious Levite.

Again, how many opportunities have we missed to be the hands and feet of God because we felt we were "above" the need?  We pray for God to use us but when it doesn't look as glamorous as we envisioned we tend to ignore the need and hope someone else will meet it.  I'm on no soap box here, God was speaking this directly to me too!

3. Have a heart, like the Samaritan.

I love that the story says the Samaritan's heart went out to the man.  It takes yielding to the Holy Spirit on a daily basis and not allowing our schedule to take most importance when God asks us to be the Good Samaritan in a person's life. 

I hope my rain puddle moments speaks to you today.  I just love when God takes what was meant to be a mess and turns it into a message!