To be expected?

ok, so a day in the life of a "normal" Christian. Well, a day in the life of a certain Mr. Andrew B. Myers, and by a day I mean the one I'm still having right now. :) Its been a fun one so I hope you enjoy the tale I'm about to share with you.

It all begins with a lie down at a bit past midnight, maybe 1am which turns into Spiritual warfare until 7:30am when my wonderful alarm goes off. Now I don't know about you guys but alarms for me mean snooze button in all instances, which then turns into sleeping HARD till 10:10am. 2hr40mins of sleep is the kinda sleep that I'm pretty sure you're better off not having, but God knows, and He's sovereign, back to the tale.

I roll outta bed, and you know how you feel like you're gonna kill someone but you gotta throw a pork shoulder in the slow cooker and get ready for church, yeah, well that's how I felt this morning. (you know you've been there, pork shoulder and all.)

I church it up for a few hours and then cook BBQ for the church Fam which very quickly turns into playing with kids and scarfing the random charred piece of meat in my face until 3:30pm.

STOP! Energy drink time :)

Now I'm off for a few mile walk to take care of food for the coming week, and then come back, work out, and prep dinner for 6 guys.

Eat and have a beer and think seriously about going comatose at 7-8pm.

Then we watch a guy try to beat-up/drag a young woman down a dark alley and while we are still in relative shock she gets free and runs across the street with him in pursuit. So myself and 3 guys rush to protect her and almost have to/(lets be honest) get to (remember the 2hr40min sleep/long day I've had so far) kick a guys face in. Alas/Glory to God (yeah, I'm that mixed in my emotions towards this situation) he calmed down and walked away for a bit. Then he came back and kept just enough distance to keep us from having to get involved physically. She hops on her bus and if this was a normal story it would have ended but Ohhhhhh, no.

we start to walk off and so does he and then we see him legging it HARD to the next stop chasing her bus to the station (2 miles away). CRAP!!!!!!

we're in pursuit and we have to run so flippin fast! All the while knowing that we're gonna have to be fit enough to protect this young lady. (imagine a sarcastic smiling Andrew face here) we get there moments after him and sure enough, he's harassing her. (my rage is nearing an 8/10 at this point)


Now he's getting bold and we're having to physically stand in the way and eventually he gets a bit shook and takes off. We then get to share the love and gospel of Jesus Christ with this girl and at various points her face is in utter disbelief that God would love her that much which then turns into tears of joy and the tears you get from being overwhelmed. We let her know that if she ever needs anything she can come by and we'll be there for her because she is created in the image of God and has value and worth and because of the great love of Jesus in our lives we have love for her. Now its tears and a smile so big and so permanent it almost looked like it hurt. (you know the smile)

Then comes back the guy. I don't know of another time I've gone from such extremes in emotions. Pure love and compassion to probably the most unrelenting rage I have ever felt in my life. My adrenaline was pumping so hard my vision became blurred around the edges, my fists clenched, profanity flew through my mind, and God Almighty held my tongue, guided my mind, and restrained what I was so eager to pour out all over this, and I have to remind myself, image bearer of God.

Finally he took off, she boarded her bus to a few towns over and this particular incident was done, minus a couple more miles of walking back to the church.

Then the day should be over, I wanted it to be over so badly, but its not, not yet. In comes the finishing of my now lukewarm beer, a few final bites of pulled pork sandwich, and then... several hours of being a brother in Christ to a brother who was struggling. It's now 1:30am-ish, this had to go down on record as one of the most insane days of my life thus far, and now we're on to the lesson learned like a good puritan has to put down. (fyi, theologically and practically I'm a puritan minus a few small things)

The trite Christian saying of "God never gives you more than you can handle", that's a lie. A better way of putting it is that "Without Christ, we can handle nothing. As He is willing, there is nothing we cannot handle."

God doesn't just want to save to rape victim but the rapist as well. The mugger and the mugged. The persecutor and the persecuted. When you understand that His rage toward the sinner is nearly unquenchable, His grace and mercy become completely unfathomable.

Ecclesiastes 5:12
Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. 

I'm holding onto this one tonight. I know its only an observation of a God inspired man. Wisdom not necessarily definitive fact, but I really hope its true tonight.

Anyways, blessing brothers and sisters.

May God shower you with His grace, love, and peace.
-Andrew