OBEDIENCE - today's story

OBEDIENCE — Today’s Story

Go Back. Pray.

This morning began almost too perfectly.

Beach.
Sunrise.
Quiet.
Ruby.
Prayer.

The kind of morning that feels already blessed before the day has even asked anything of you.

I was walking with Ruby when I met a gentle man and his sweet dog, Tunes.

The dogs played.
We chatted kindly.
We wished each other a blessed day.

And I kept walking.

Then, several steps later, that word came back to me.

Blessed.

Did I have on a Jesus shirt?
Of course I did.
A prayer shirt.
And then the question hit me:

Why didn’t I pray for him?

Not later.
Not from a distance.
Not as a nice thought.

Go back. Pray with him.

I looked back.
He was far behind me now, walking south. I was walking north.

Go back.

I hesitated.
I tried to make it spiritual enough by praying for him from where I stood.
Nope.

Go back. Pray with him.

So I turned around.
Barefoot.
Soft high-tide sand.
Hard walking and now a long distance.

He kept walking.
I walked faster.
He still didn’t turn.

Then I was half walking, half jogging, trying to catch a man who had no idea the Lord had sent me back after him.

He and Tunes turned up the walkway toward the campground.

I thought, as though negotiating with God, Lord, if he goes into the campground and I can’t easily see him, then that must be it.

Really?
As though I was going to set terms for obedience.
As though delayed obedience becomes optional if the logistics get inconvenient.

But I kept going.
And then, just as I crossed toward the campground, he suddenly turned around. WHAT! He turned around!

He saw me - I was doubled over, laughing, breathless, ridiculous, and he asked:
“Are you following me?”

“Yes,” I said, trying to breathe. “I am.”

Then I told him: “I was convicted to come back, find you, and pray over you.”

He stopped.

His face changed.
He lowered his head.
He shook it slightly.
Then he began to weep.He pushed his fingers under his glasses to wipe away tears.

And then he said:

“My wife was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer. We are leaving here today.”

There it was.
The reason.
There is was: GOD'S PURPOSE.
The assignment hidden inside the interruption.
The holy appointment dressed like an ordinary beach walk.

So we prayed.
Right there.
For his wife.
For healing.
For peace.
For courage.
For the presence of God to fill the space fear was trying to occupy.

And I walked away stunned.

Stunned by the command: Go back.

Stunned by the timing.
Stunned by the mercy of God, that He would chase one hurting husband down a beach through one stubborn, barefoot woman trying to negotiate her way out of obedience.
Stunned by my delay.
Stunned by His patience.
Stunned that God was not only speaking to Mitch and his wife: He was speaking to me.

And maybe to anyone close enough to witness the holiness of that moment.
Because sometimes obedience is not dramatic.
Sometimes it is simply turning around.
Sometimes it is soft sand and breathless steps.
Sometimes it is looking foolish.
Sometimes it is interrupting your own perfect morning because God is trying to enter someone else’s breaking heart.

Today’s lesson was not complicated.
It was not theological.
It was not polished.
It was this:

When God says go back, go back.

Someone may be waiting on the other side of your obedience.