consistency ... starts with me

a couple of weeks ago i told someone that "a little consistency within the church could change the world." i still believe this, but as usual my judgmental pointing finger came right back to my own face today.

driving home from work today, i was about to pass a car that was stopped in the street with it's blinkers on, but as i was beside it the driver decided to speed forward and i swerved back into my lane - wish that was the end of this sentence - but of course i started swearing about idiotic drivers. i'm quick to admit that i have road rage, and incidents like this happen nearly everyday. i just don't understand why people drive so slow, because to me it seems like they have nowhere to go. i've got kites to fly and fish to fry. people to see and places to be. however you want to say it, i'm a "time is money" kind of girl. and maybe a lead foot one too.

so this wasn't anything unusual until i was beside this car a few blocks down and around, and the guys inside were trying to get my attention. (and not because they had noticed my irritation, so much as noticed ... me.) in the past i've had a problem with always looking when this happens and my friends tend to lecture me about why i should not do this. (how is it not everyone else's instinct to look when someone whistles?) i compromised and gave a polite smile then went back to fiddling with my radio. they didn't stop and i had to look over and the guy in the back seat looked way familiar. after we said hello i was trying to figure out if i knew him from school or work when he said, "you came to the intervention center didn't you?!" bingo!

i had hung out at the youth intervention center one night this summer and talked to this kid about the Lord. he opened up and we had a solid conversation. fast forward a few months and i'm cussing out his buddy for driving like a douchebag. how's that for consistency?

he happily slapped his buddies on the back saying "see! i told you i knew her!" they stared sheepishly at me and i asked how he was doing and such until cars were honking behind us. (and no, i didn't give those cars any choice words.) we talked a bit more at the next traffic light and neither one of us could stop smiling.

in that moment God reminded me again, as He has been doing of late, that He intricately works everything together for His purposes. there is no such thing as coincidence! there is a reason we run into the people that we do, when we do. there is a reason we dream what we do, hear what we do, experience it all. one of my favorite quotes from Waxer (a legend of a speaker at YWAM maui) is,

"we go through what we go through to help others get through what we've gone through."

so whatever you're dealing with - big or small struggle - know that God is at work in your life! talk it out with Him and hear Him out - He has nothing but wonderful things to say to YOU.

i'm still getting the skinny from God on today's encounter, but the biggest thing i wanted to share was CONSISTENCY. i never stop being a christian, i never stop representing the Lord to those around me. even if i don't want to deal with my road rage, God does. even if there's other stuff i don't want to deal with, God does. and sometimes i have to start from a place of asking God to make me want to WANT to stop/change/etc. He is always faithful to respond to our hungry hearts.