Old friends…

One thing I’ve learned in my relatively brief lifetime on this earth is that when life’s pressures tend to increase, sometimes the things that matter most can become more vivid and real…and that is something to rejoice in.



Yesterday I was having a pizza at one of my usual hangouts…eating and quietly minding my own business, while trying to keep my many personal concerns in perspective and not allowing them to monopolize my thoughts. As I was preparing to leave, something happened to show me that God was concerned about where my mind was going, and intended to protect me from myself.



A gentleman came to the counter…and gave me the kind of look that says, “Hey, I know you”…as he continued to look me over, I tried to think of where I remembered him from. He then introduced himself…”Hi, John…I’m Jim Orr…I remember you from the Bible study group we were in some years ago. How have you been?”



I was struck by how friendly he was, and how much he knew about me…especially since I didn’t remember too much about him. He seemed to know everything that had happened to me since those days…which HAD to be 10-12 years ago. We talked briefly, then as I was going out, he wished me well with a smile that revealed from where he was sent.



Now we all want to have attention, to have people show interest in our humdrum lives, to care about us. But we tend, as people, to be somewhat picky at times about who shows that interest…fine if it’s someone we want to have know and care about us, but if it’s just someone out of our past, occasionally we could care less.



Not me…THIS time. I’m as guilty of the above as much as anyone most of the time…but I felt God was clearly speaking to me through Jim Orr…and Jim was obediently there as His angel ministering to a need God saw in me. Now more than likely, Jim was just being Jim, and struck up a conversation with me because he wanted to, and had no idea that he was being used beyond that for anything else. But I for one, was thankful for Jim in that moment of time, and grateful to God that He brought a friend from my past at just the right time for me.



Stuff like that happens with all of us all the time, yet we still wonder why God is not doing more to address our needs as people when we actually are hurting. How ungrateful and thankless we must appear to our heavenly Father sometimes.



Not this boy, though…not this time anyway. Thank you Lord, and thank you, Jim.

Kimberly…

I don’t know Kimberly Dozier, but I have been praying for her a lot in the last few days.



Kimberly Dozier is a reporter for CBS radio and television, who is usually assigned to either Europe or the Middle East to report on breaking news. She is a very competent, professional reporter who always has done a good job.



As you might imagine, being a reporter in a foreign country has its perils from time to time. Lately, since Dozier has been part of CBS’s Iraq war coverage, she has been in particular peril.



This past weekend, Dozier was the victim of a bomb explosion during an assignment. She was critically injured and remains in critical condition, and is still recovering in an Army hospital in Germany. Nevertheless, she fared better than the cameramen who were accompanying her, both of whom were killed in the attack.



As I said, I don’t know Dozier that well…I have only talked to her a few times in the course of my won work. A few months ago, our news department was doing a story on a local soldier in the fighting in Iraq, and we enlisted Dozier’s help in finding him for an interview.



I was struck by Dozier’s calm, professional, and completely solicitous attitude in all of this…despite the situation and conditions she was working under, she was as helpful and kind and considerate as could be, going seemingly above and beyond the minimum effort we would have expected her to do for us. Her gracious assistance enabled us to not only to get the interview, but assure his family and loved ones here that he was OK. We are indebted to Dozier for her assistance in this matter.



So perhaps it’s only professional respect that leads me to think of her, but my feelings of concern when I heard the news of the attack are real indeed. I took the news of it as if it had happened to a colleague in my own building.



From the reports we’ve been getting, she is steadily improving. I thank God for that, and I pray she’s able to return to work ASAP. I could tell that she loves it…and besides, Kimberly Dozier is the kind of reporter we need to have more of out there.

Page 2 of 2 pages  <  1 2