RELATIONSHIP

How often did you date when you were courting your spouse—once a year?  Once a month?  I venture to say it was weekly at the least, not including countless phone calls, numerous letters, and the daily black hole fog that settled around your head, impairing your ability to think clearly—or even at all. 

How often do you go on a date with God?  Once or twice a year?  Once a month?  Once a week?

Daily involvement with your fiancée had its privileges, and daily intimacy with your Lord will benefit you likewise.

When you love someone, you let them know how well you know their various qualities.  Naturally they respond with gratefulness.  God is no different.  You experience the peace of God when God has a piece of you—and He’ll look out for both forms of that word as well. 

The indoor mini-golf we had was about 90 miles north of the arcade we owned.   Because of the distance between the two businesses I relied on others to run it for me.  Our manager was horrible, and when it came time to fire her I really didn’t relish the idea, especially as I figured she’d try to get others to cause me physical harm. 

In the great ‘Live free or Die’ state of New Hampshire, people are allowed to conceal guns they have permits for.  Before entering the mall, I put my Colt .38 revolver into the back of my pants and lowered my shirt over it.  While waiting for my now ex-manager to show up and get her final check, I decided to play one of my favorite arcade games—the shooting gallery.  I liked the game but I didn’t excel in it—but today was different.  I couldn’t miss—literally, a perfect score.  As I was shooting I heard a few big guys talking just outside the arcade.  One said to the other two, “No, guys, he’s too good.  Don’t fool with him.”

I presumed they were talking about me, and rightly so, but I couldn’t understand to save my life as to why three guys would be afraid of me.  Just then my new manager called me over.  “Did you know that your gun is showing?” he asked.  I didn’t.  I had been so active in the shooting game that the real gun had come out of its hiding place.  I began to leave the arcade—so did the three guys; we wound up going opposite directions.

Because of the relationship that my God and I have, He saw fit to preserve my life, and without my having to fire a single shot.

Proverbs 16:7 says that ‘When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him (KJV).”

Before and since that fateful day in 2002, the Lord has repeatedly seen fit to deliver me from other enemies as well—and I likewise see fit to continue a daily walk of intimacy with Him.

b(Les)sings