Saturday, September 02, 2006

be the sermon

Yesterday as the rains fell allllllll day from tropical storm Ernesto, there were things to be done. Unfortunately it required us going out! I picked up Alex and his friend from their middle school orientation and headed to Wal-mart.

As we were leaving and being assaulted by the local gymnastic center to buy something for "good cause", I noticed a very old and fraile woman trying to wrestle with her loaded cart and umbrella. The wind was blowing pretty hard. I watched as people just rushed by her and didn't pay any attention to her and her trying to figure out how in the world she was going to get to her car. Yes, I know you are thinking that I was standing there and watching but I was curious as to what people would do.

So I turned to Alex and I said, "what should we do?" He said, "help her out". So he and I went up to the lady and said that we would like to help her get her stuff in her car. She grabbed Alex's arm and said "bless you, bless you".

You see, we learned that her husband is home bound and the healthcare nurse was only there one day a week. That was the only day she has to go shopping. She couldn't help that all hell was breaking loose in the skies. It was the only day she had. I won't name specifically what she had in her cart but nothing was frivolous. It was all items necessary for her to get her and her husband through the next week.

When we finished loading her stuff in her trunk, I looked at Alex and said..."God expects us to serve". We got soaking wet!!! It didn't matter.

We sit, well I don't but my kids and husband do, in an auditorium filled with people every week and we get our cup filled. We are blessed to be able to have this freedom to do this.

I will be honest, I ahve been remiss in returning the blessings. I will also confess to you that it will happen no more. I have heard sermons, almost every Sunday of my life...now it is time for me to be the sermon.

So come on! Do it with your kids or your spouse. Can you imagine if every Christian went out on Mondays and their goal was to be the sermon that week?! There just might be more people in heaven because of it!

3 comments:

Tanya said...

Go Ellyn and Alex! I'm so proud of both of you for helping that lady. It reminds me of the time when I went Krogering with the twins - OH MY! Colby freaked out on me and I was holding him between one arm (football style) while using my other hand to push Abby in the HUGE cart. People kept staring at me - NO ONE offered to help me! I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the van because Colby was TOTALLY freaking out. Finally, I had to ask a lady who was walking past me "can you help me!?" She pushed Abby to the van so I could have both arms to hold onto Colby. Helping others is a good thing!

Jacque said...

Awesome!! How did the service Sunday go this past weekend?

Ramona said...

Great post Ellyn. Please let me help so that you and Lisa can attend services sometime :)! This reminds me of not too long ago when I went to the laundromat in Manassas that can do like 8 loads of laundry at once. My kids started melting down and these ladies totally came to my rescue. I was so humbled. It's often shocking in this area when you go out of your way to help someone, but it is exactly what we are to be doing. Great lesson for Alex too!