Grandpa, Did You Hear What I Said?

Yesterday I went to my Grandparents house to clean and do miscellaneous things for my Grandma because she has polio and cannot do easily, and also my grandpa has been in the hospital for about a week. He is not in the hospital for anything serious, therefore I am not too concerned. However, I have a feeling that one of these times he is not going to make it home. He is living with CHF (Congestive Heart Failure), kidney failure, and last year he had half of his right lung removed due to lung cancer. He is in his 80's and he never did take care of himself. Neither him or my grandma have ever eaten very healthy and they also were binge drinkers and smokers (especially on the weekends). But in their defense I don't think that there was much knowledge on the effects of heavy drinking and smoking.

Anyways, so I cleaned for about 2 hours which I only made a dent in it. Then I had to take some things to my Grandpa in the hospital. I was at the hospital for only a short time before I needed to get back home. But before I left I gave him a hug and I told him that I loved him. But I didn't get much of a response from my Grandpa, so I asked him "Grandpa, did you hear what I said?". He shook his head. So I got down to eye level and I said, "I love you". I don't think that I will ever be able to forget his expression. He started to get choked up and spoke words of gratitude of me and my family for all that we do for them.

As I was leaving the hospital I could not remember the last time that I told my Grandpa Gene that I loved him, but really meant it. In our society we throw the phrase "I love you" around like dirty laundry. When will we learn to actually love one another, like the way Jesus loved... the genuine love???

Conversations at Starbucks

So on Friday morning I was at Starbucks drinking my Venti Mocha Frap and reading my Bible, but then I was interrupted by a lady cleaning tables. She asked me if I was reading a Bible, I nodded and she looked over my shoulder to see that I was reading Habakkuk. I told her that I was trying to finish reading the Old Testament. We talked for a minute about the Bible when she soon asked me what church I attend. I told her and she mentioned that she has been looking for a church. I asked her what types of churches she's gone to before (so I could quickly try and figure out her beliefs since she was on the clock). She mentioned many different churches, so I invited her to my church this Easter Sunday. I also told her that I recently came back from a type of Missions Trip and invited her to come and hear me talk for a few minutes about my trip. We talked for a minute or two more about my trip, before customers walked in the door. We introduced ourselves and she went back to work. I don't remember her name, but I do remember that it was an unusual name. As soon as she left a guy sitting on a couch behind me repeated her name a couple times to the 2 other people that he was sitting next to. As I tried to focus on The Word, I couldn't help but think... was this guy ease dropping on my conversation? If so I guess it's not a bad thing, maybe I should have spoken louder though. :o) Before I left Starbucks I wrote down the address to my church and when it starts, and I gave it to this lady.

I thought it was cool that God gave me this opportunity to talk to her, and even cooler for the unexpected ease dropper and his friends. :o) This experience just reminded me that everywhere you go and everything you do/say should be done for God because you never

By the way, who needs Starbucks when God can give you an energy boost?!

Eh! ... I LOVE Starbucks!

But God's my #1 all the way! know when someone is watching or listening to you... who knows, they might just choose to follow God because of your actions.