Tale of Two Jimmys
August 2, 2007
Bible Reading: ” …10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” ~Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)
Bonus Reading: 2 Timothy 1:9
Last week was one of those weeks when I felt like a frog in a blender…it was all I could do to swim fast enough to stay above the spinning blades. I followed a busy week and a late Sunday night with an all-night Monday hospital vigil, following an ATV accident—where the Lord came through magnificently, granting grace and healing to a dear member of our parish family. Then came a week of lessons, sermons, and the joyous preparation for Recognition Sunday—all works of love, but still, requiring energy be invested, so I did. But not without a price. I just was not aware when the bill would come due.
About ten minutes into the 11 AM service, the cumulative effects of sleep deprivation on someone well past the half-century mark in age began to show themselves. That debt was called due—and my mind simply rebooted.
First, I went blank on the Absolution about halfway into it. Then, my research for St. James failed me, as I deftly (if thickly) blended my studies on history of two SS. James—one, called Theo Delphos (the Lord’s Brother) by the Eastern Church and the other, called “the Great.” (In my more lucid moments, I like to remember them as
Jimmy Bro and Jimmy Big.) Both men vividly reflect a personal and powerful filling of the Holy Ghost to Kingdom purpose—wonderful, personal commitments and sacrifice for our Lord, and excellent examples of lives truly sold-out to and on-fire for the Lord. But, duh! Like a big dummy, I made them into one guy in my 11 AM sermon (although how will remain a mystery of the Church!).
As I was kicking myself later for being so dull, I realized—it didn’t really matter. The Father was still on the throne. Jesus was still Lord. The Holy Spirit was still filling and baptizing. The whole week came into focus. We live and move in Him, and if we are following Him with our whole hearts, peripheral matters are just that…peripheral. And the Tale of Two Jimmys I told does not detract from the power of His love and message. If we love Him, we have work to do, and it’s time to be about it. The blender blades are not the issue. It’s my job—all our jobs—to keep swimming as hard as we can, with our eyes on Him. We have a task at hand for Jesus, if we can maintain that holy focus, and pour our energies to that end. That
is the real priority. The Two Jimmys would be the first to agree. Message received, Lord. We’re swimming!
Think about it: Are we so focused on the details and activities, we forget about our primary purpose—to love and serve the Lord? Is He really Lord when we are so distracted?
Grace and peace,
Chip+
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