~The Land of The Lost~

Today is Sunday…a day some would call the day of rest.  Or maybe even Sunday Funday if you’re into that phrase.  But for my husband it was anything but a relaxed day of slumber and rejuvenation.  Instead it was a day of work, of responsibilities, of following the beckoning that compels him to show compassion to those who maybe don’t necessarily deserve it from the world’s point of view.  Maybe even my view depending on the day.

I was barely out of bed this morning before he was up and gone, tackling the task at hand of cattle chores and preparing to spend a majority of his day working cattle and hauling them to the auction about an hour away one way with the help of a couple of friends who agreed to freeze their behinds off all day beside him.  And it wasn’t going to be a job filled with warmth and cooperation but instead frigid temperatures and uncooperative, stubborn animals.  And to test his patience he was going to attempt two loads and two trips if everything went as he hoped and planned.

My day?  Well I spent the morning drinking coffee in front of our fire, working out until my limbs were jelly, heading to church to enjoy time hanging out with some of my more favorite humans on this planet and spending the afternoon in 80 degrees {thanks to the woodstove I never wanted but love beyond words} watching old Grey’s Anatomy reruns while running a few more miles on the treadmill .  I also prepared meals for the upcoming week, attempted to start taking down the Christmas decorations and loving on all our fur babies.  To me it was the perfect weekend day except I was missing my best friend like a mad woman!

It was peaceful, quiet, and relaxed for me.  Something that most of us probably yearn for weekly and rarely enjoy.

I spent a chunk of time in the early evening hours in anticipation of Tom getting home, for it to be just us tonight doing our normal boring things that we love.  Sharing stories and tales from our separate adventures during the day {mine are just puppy stories}, watching football, cooking up delicious goodness from food we have grown together during the summer and on our farm.  We are some of the lucky ones.  The ones who have a marriage that is easy, where you are truly best friends, where spending time together isn’t a chore, but a joy and I was truly longing for an evening together to complete the day!    

But here’s the thing.  That’s not what God planned for him or us today.  We didn’t conclude the evening hanging out on the couch tonight, laughing at each other, sharing in a comfortable solid bond we are blessed to have.  Instead I’m at home, keeping the fire going and doing tedious, boring tasks around the home that are the norm for most wives and women. 

I WANT to be disappointed, I WANT to feel lonely and selfish.  I want to text him and say stupid, jealous girl things that I try to keep to the bare minimum because he already knows I’m crazy. 

But I can’t be disappointed or upset.  I can’t….I mean I really CAN’T be selfish that way.

Why?  Because God is asking him, compelling him to reach out to the lost. 

There are so many who are lost in this world.  We call it The Land of the Lost in our never ending discussions together revolving around the wounded, the weary, the ever searching for “something” they just can’t put their fingers on.  The ones who are close friends, or maybe just acquaintances and the ones who might even be considered enemies…depending on the day or view.  We are continuously contemplating our current season of life together as a team.  A plain jane, sometimes helter skelter, some would even call crazy team but we are in it together nonetheless. 

TEAM….there is no I in team my hubby reminds me all the time.  Ugh…honestly he is so much better at this then I am.  So much more laid back, easy going, don’t sweat the small stuff type of guy/human.  The opposite of me, another reason our team jives so well together and I am thankful.

So tonight he opted to visit a friend who has turned from God, who is travelling down a dark path, who has been choosing the ways of the world at every turn, every wall, every stumble in the road.  Someone who needs my husband more than me tonight. 

The Land of the Lost needs a man like what I have been blessed to be tethered to until the day I die.  Someone who doesn’t judge a book by its cover, who doesn’t consider himself better than any other individual being that walks this earth, who shows me every day what it TRULY means to extend grace to people who may not deserve it but gently reminds me and shows me by example that their soul and eternal resting place are what really matter.  Because he himself will tell you he was once living in The Land of the Lost but now lives and walks in the peaceful assurance of having Jesus as his Savior, his Guide, his Redeemer, his Promise for eternal salvation.

Neither of us are perfect….far, far, far from it.  We know it.  We will tell you about it honestly, and are humbled every single day of how far he has brought us and blessed us so greatly in the process. 

Yet in spite of our own transgressions, our failures, our vices and selfish sinful ways, and wanderings in The Land of the Lost ourselves, God has always opted to listen to us at the end of the day.  Little ole, nobody special or spectacular us.    

He has been there when we were travelling down our own dark paths, choosing the ways of the world, putting up walls and turning from Him.  We both long for people to see who God really is, to see He is the end to the searching, the answer to the emptiness they are replacing with vices, and sins, and things that will never fill the void they feel in the depths of their souls.

Do you know Jesus?  Do you personally, REALLY know THE King of Kings, THE Lord of Lords, THE Alpha and THE Omega, THE Beginning and THE End?  

If you do, I am asking you to strive to be less selfish this year.  To do some, incredible, unimaginable unselfish things that you never imagined you would do EVER.  To really do the hard work, the grace filled, back breaking work of reaching out to those who are currently living in The Land of The Lost with unconditional love and Jesus as your guide.

Surprise some people, surprise yourself and thank God for your humble blessings in the process.    

Time is precious my friends and so is eternal life.

Don’t waste either one of them!