Most people need to talk, and the holiday season makes that more pronounced than the rest of the year, for a variety of reasons. It is a time of memories and creating memories and, if you are content to sit and listen, it is a time of gaining great insight.

In this blog, I want to focus on two such individuals. Very similar backgrounds, Spiritually, financially and physically. When I say 'physically,' I mean growing up in the same area. This involves a woman and a man who are both seventy four years old. They grew up attending the same type of churches and both have very fond memories of those times. Their fathers both earned roughly the same money and provided well for their families. And, finally, they grew up less than five miles from each other, but went to different school systems and never crossed paths. They are both financially secure, money is not a problem and they both live alone. In the last week I have sat down with both of them and listened to them share their lives.

The woman has no friends here at our senior apartments. This is not just her statement, either. This is truth. As far as I have seen, I am the only person who ever says hello or who will engage her in conversation. This does not say that the folks who live here are snobbish. Most of the people who are here are very friendly and love to interact. People maintain their distance from this woman because she makes it clear that she doesn't want to talk to anyone. She only talks with me because I am persistent and she has become used to me. In fact, we have a set time to sit and talk now every week. For her, it is a chance to vent about how everything has been wrong with her life and how everyone she has known has done her wrong. For me, it is a counseling time to try and get to the root of her problem and help her deal with it. It is a depressing time for me, but it is something I have done a lot of over the years. She is such a negative person that some of the folks here wonder why I am bothering.

The man in question is the exact opposite. From what I can see, he has yet to meet someone who doesn't like him. Apparently, then, he and the woman in question have never met, which is entirely possible here. He is active in his church, attends a regular Saturday morning men's Bible study and loves to sit and talk and listen. Our chat this week came about because we are working up a special worship service of remembrance for everyone in the complex. (Interesting point; when I came here there was no interest by the management of having any kind of religious gathering. Now we can do pretty much what we want. Moral of that story is, Prayer, Don't Leave Home Without It.) We sat at the kitchen table and ate peach pie and drank coffee and worked out the odds and ends. And told stories. And laughed. He has never done anything like what we are doing with this service, and I have, but I want it to be his. My ideas tend to be, "We always did it like this..." because I have done this while his ideas are fresh and really interesting because it is new to him. We had a very pleasant and productive time.

The lives of these two people really did mirror one another until they got into their early twenties. Then their life paths began to diverge until they got to the point where they are now. Anyone who met them would wonder why God would create two such different people. But I know the background and I know what happened to these two people.

After high school (they graduated the same year) they both went to college. Away from the immediate influence of their parents, they embarked on their life journeys. They both naturally gravitated to churches, but here is where it began to differ. For the woman, church cut into studying time and soon her attendance became more sporadic. Finally, it ended all together. Oh, she still believed, but while Christ was her Savior, He was not her Lord. There is a difference. The man, on the other hand, felt he needed that anchor in his life. Christ was his Savior, but He also became the man's Lord. And this defined their lives until now, when the woman is miserable and the man is exuberant. 

I have seen a lot of miserable Christians. Nothing to do in life but grumble and complain and do the whole 'woe is me thing.' But I have also seen a few Christians who relish their faith, who face life's bricks and just keep on with a song and a prayer and a smile. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 says this, 12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. The church at Thessalonica was the most persecuted church that Paul wrote to in the New Testament. Here he tells the beleaguered people to be the best Christians they can be, regardless of what they face. Verse 18, specifically, tells us to always give thanks and verse 22 ends the thought by telling us to avoid evil things. I am certain that this means not evil things in our eyes, but evil things in God's eyes. The woman in question has lived a life void of any of Paul's words while the man has made them his very life.

I believe most of the folks who read my blog have taken Christ as Savior. Otherwise, why would you read my writings? I know my own limitations. But how many of you have taken Jesus as Lord in your lives. It makes a huge difference.

Blessings.