Moving from Feeling to Doing

Imagine a hot summer day.  It’s easily over 100 degrees! You’re outside feelin’ it.  Not only are you outside, but if you’re like me… (I’m 5’ 16” tall), you’re closer to the sun than most everyone else outside, so you’re feelin’ it even more!  Get the point?  Then you hear that old welcome sound of the ice cream truck.  Anyone remember those days? And not only does it approach, but the driver gets out and says, “It’s on me… everybody take an ice cream.  I gotta get home fast.”  So there you are, 30 seconds later with an ice-cold ice cream in your hand.  Just what the doctor ordered.  And you’re so glad you got it.  You feel so thankful how perfect the timing was.  You tell yourself there couldn’t have been a better thing come your way.  And you feel so good inside about receiving this ice cream.  What an experience! You think of a friend or two that you wish had been there to have that same experience on that hot summer day and you even look forward to telling them all about it.  But you never ate the ice cream!  You never did anything with it.

Far too often this is what we do with those precious insights the Lord brings our way each week.  We appreciate them and we are glad we didn’t miss out on them.  We sometimes admire the way they were presented (song, sermon, testimony, guest speaker, etc.).  And we’re so glad we had that experience.  End of story.  “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (Jas. 1:22): So here’s my first 84 effect.  Sometime within the next 168 hours… give someone an ice cream.  It’s that simple.  Be DOERS.  You’re already halfway through your normal week with whatever marching orders you may have received from your Sunday time together.  Has it had an effect on you? Or did you just get a thicker notebook? When you come here each midweek (84 hours into the 168) I’m just going to present another little sompin’ sompin’ for you to think about.  I won’t be telling you exactly what to do, like, “give someone an ice cream,” but I will hope to present a specific action of some kind that you can put into practice in a practical way within one week and be able to clearly know what you DID because of what you LEARNED.  A thicker notebook? Amen.  A little more tread off the tires? AMEN! Let’s press on together.

  My specific this week is: