Talk to Strangers

Hebrews 13:2
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."

I don't know about you, but I was always instructed NOT to talk to strangers, let alone invite them into my house. This verse has a lot of wonder connected to it. First of all I should not FORGET to entertain strangers. As if this is something on my list of "to do" things. Thanks for the reminder, because I might absent-mindedly skip inviting strangers into my home while attending my daily chores. Then, the author casually tosses out the reason we might want to talk to strangers. Oh yeah, they might be ANGELS. ANGELS!? How do we know that they are angels? Do they act any differently than regular people? Are they believers in Jesus Christ their brother? Do I set out the good china for them or offer them a glass of wine? So many questions and so little to go on for answers.

Now before you leave comments, I got the Bible verse from Heartlight's Today's Verse that I receive everyday. Love it as I do, the devotional did not give me a lot of answers. In fact it was the same old, "Greet the visitors that come to your church" speech. Yes, of course I agree with that, but I don't say hello because I'm looking for celestial wings. I do that to be friendly. Still, I don't automatically invite them to my house. If only they could give me some angelic clue. A slight sparkle to their smiling eyes or perhaps a hint of angel dust still resting on their shoulders would help to clue me in as to their heavenly identity.

Well, apparently I have not seen any angels because none of the strangers I've met lately have given off any heavenly vibes. Except maybe a few of those guys in that inner-city church we visited last Sunday. They weren't very cleaned up, but they sure liked the food our church brought to them. Then, there are those people downtown that don't have a home and sleep on the sidewalks. You know the ones that we pass on our walk to the baseball park? There was that one guy though. He was sitting near the place where we parked our car for one of the games. He was certainly homeless and he spoke real friendly as he advised us that our car might get hit if we didn't pull in a bit more. I wonder about him. He had nothing to gain by talking to us. He asked for nothing in return and he even assured us that he would be there all evening to watch over our car. Now even though he was gone by the end of the game, our car was sitting untouched right where we had left it. Maybe the people like that man and the people we fed are the strangers. Come to think about it, the guy that "watched" our car really did have a sparkle in his voice. I wonder?

"On A Clear Day"

Words are bumping around in my brain this morning like balls in a pinball machine. Too much is happening in the world, with friends, with my family, at church, I could go on and on until my eyes glow, "TILT". So, what to post today? The recent bombings, explosions, and terrorist suspects in London? Do I talk about how a friend of mine who is going through such hard trials with her family? Do I talk about the privileged society we have become in this age of technology when we can text message our son in NYC while he is on an intermission break at a Broadway show? Or how we are learning that if we enter ICE on our saved cell phone numbers with the name and number of our emergency contact, that police will be able to use our cell phones to quickly call our "In Case of Emergency" number if we are in an accident and unconscious? Or I could write about how it seems that more and more people are calling for prayer? Or should I write about how I still struggle with the issue of drinking alcohol and what is healthy and what is not? I could write about the very long Defensive Driving course I finally completed online because yes, I got a speeding ticket. Or do I want to write about farmer's markets and food we should be eating that do not have pesticides? Or the fact that all the processed foods that American's eat are making us a fat nation? Maybe I should just write about my husband's 5th job this year and how it is going to be the best career change he has ever made. Although, I could just write a "feel-good" piece about my two adorable, forgiving cats that seem to love me no matter how badly I behave.

No, that's all too much for my brain to process today. I'm still sitting among boxes I've mentioned in past posts and I still have a garage full of "treasures" to sift through. No, I won't write about any of those subjects. I'll just leave a scripture for you and I to ponder over today.

"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

The Older Woman

I have become the older woman. No longer do I sleep blissfully through a whole night. I wake up two, maybe three times in the night before I give in and get out of bed. My legs, hip joints and bunions begin to hurt when stationary for too long. My husband, bless his heart, is the older man next to me snoring and snorting all through the night. Now why doesn't that wake him up? It is so irritating that he is comfortably sleeping while I'm tossing and turning right next to him.

Another reason for my sleepless nights are those flashes of heat we older woman get to experience. Without warning these hot flashes come at any time of day but especially during the night when we are trying to sleep. #*??!! I realize that God was mad at Eve for the whole eating the fruit in the garden thing, but I ask you...is this fair? Wasn't it enough that women were sentenced to "pain in childbirth"? Where does it say, "Thou shalt have great flashes of heat in your older years."? In the middle of the night I kick my covers off letting our ceiling fan do its job of cooling. Then, with a sudden chill the heat is gone and I'm covering up again. Meanwhile, there is that noise beside me, my joints ache and now I have to go to the bathroom! AAhhhhh! "Calgon take me away."

Excuse me now while I adjust my thermostat and take a few pain killers.