When the song's over, then I'll shoot him

For where two or more are gathered together

in My name, I am there in their midst"

- Jesus in Mathew 18:20

 
 
Yesterday I was surrounded by kids and grandkids, laughter and swelled bellies. It was great. Love was abounding and I thought again "what if everyday were like Christmas?" There'd be more love and peace shown between all of us, even adversaries. I know, not every where, but there is for those connected a certain way.
 
Here is a story that displays that connection. A love, a peace, that only comes from a connection with the Holy Spirit. Whether we're at work, or play, home, or on the road..."where two or more come together in My name...
 
Ira Sankey provided the music for D. L. Moody's evangelistic meetings. One night after singing a solo called 'The Shepherd's Song' a stranger asked him, 'Did you serve in the Union Army?' When he said he had, the man asked, 'Were you on picket duty one bright moonlit night in1862?' When Sankey said yes, the man continued: 'Me too. But I was in the Confederate Army, and when I saw you I decided to kill you. Then you started singing that song, so I took my finger off the trigger, thinking, 'I'll let him sing then I'll shoot him.' But you stirred up so many childhood memories of my Godly mother that it was impossible for me to follow through. That night when I thought of the God who saved you from certain death, my arm went limp.'  (as told by  Tim Hetzer, President of Lutheran Church Charities)



What caused the arm to go limp? Love, a common love for a neighbor. Jesus said "....and the 2nd is to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Mat 22:39). Our neighbor isn't just the one we wave at across the yard. Our neighbor isn't only the one we share the dinner table, or an office, or the road, or the line at the grocery store. That neighbor might be an adversary, a competitor. A neighbor can be someone we can never benefit from a relationship. A neighbor can be someone we're simply connected through a memory, a common love, a common Spirit.

To that end...........I pray that I pause, listen and let Devine intervention do His part.