A Moving Experience
Theme of the Week: Try Liking Your Neighbor
Thursday, April 2, 2009
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow … (1 Thessalonians 3:12). Bonus Reading: Romans 13:8-10
When my wife, Chrissy, asked me to rally the men of our couples group to help move a family, I reluctantly agreed (because I hate to help move). Who enjoys lugging heavy refrigerators and tons of boxes, especially when it's somebody else's junk? But Chrissy had become acquainted with Tina (the wife), and she saw an opportunity for us to meet a need.
Tina's husband, Hans, was certainly grateful when so many helping hands showed up that Saturday morning. We moved everything, including their redwood Jacuzzi, to their new address just a mile away. While moving isn't my first choice for male bonding (I'll take a half-day mountain-bike trip any day), there's something about carrying furniture and lifting boxes that bonds people. And the pepperoni pizza party afterward didn't hurt either. Despite my bad attitude regarding the move, by the end of the day I felt that we were beginning a special friendship.
The next time I ran into Hans was a month later. I asked him how the move finished up and then mentioned how I thought God used the time to bring us together that day. When I said that, his eyes immediately filled with tears.
"Hans, are you okay?"
"Kenny," he choked out, "I was so alone."
—enny Luck in Every Man, God's Man
My Response: How could I help another man break out of his isolation?
Thought to Apply: People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges. —Joseph Newton (pastor)
Adapted from Every Man, God's Man (WaterBrook, 2003) by permission.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Lord, help me build at least one friendship solid enough to create openness to your good news.
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