A long week again...

As I am finishing up another day here at work, I've reflected on how LONG my days have been recently. They have been REALLY long and drawn out. I can't explain it much other than saying, "They are long enough and slow enough for me to almost stop breathing." I just might have stopped breathing two times today...:) But it also have given me plenty of time to reflect on life and where I am...and where I want to go. I am blessed to work with some dear friends of mine who I can talk about life with. My "twin" at work and I have a lot of "life" talks. Today we talked about marriage and the hopes and dreams of it all.

I learned yesterday of a dear friend of mine who lost a close friend of his. My heart just sank when I thought of the loss that he is experiencing. We never know what we have until we loose it. Isn't that the unfortunate thing. I've lost a few friends and a parent over the years and it just makes you stop and think of the impact they had on your life. Was it positive? Was it negative? And then in turn I think...did I impact their world at all? It makes me think of the song, "Lifesong" by Casting Crowns. What a powerful song. Does your lifesong sing to God? Whose name is written at the end of your day? I want God's name to be the signature at the end of my time.

I have to tell you about the man named Brad that I met over the weekend. His friend flew him down here to help pack and move his family back to Ohio. Well, on Friday night he went out and got wasted then woke up in someone's back yard without his shoes on. When we awoke, not knowing where he was, got up quickly and left. He was so disorientated. He smelt of alcohol and was dirty and had no shoes. I noticed that there wasn't even a pair of shoes next to where he was sitting. I thought to myself, "I'm sure he's got a pretty interesting story." Well, next thing I know he followed me into the laundry mat and asked, "Ma'am, may I ask you something?" "Sure," I responded. He proceeded to tell me his story and was embarrassed to not have his shoes at all and didn't even have a clue where they were. He asked if I would purchase him a pair of sandals from Wal-Mart so that he could walk back to his friends house. I agreed. So I took off and purchased a pair of sandals & a t-shirt w/$5 he gave me. On the way back I returned w/McDonald's as well. I thought, the least I could was feed him as well. He was blown away at the generosity and kindness. He said, "You must be an angel. I am not a bum or a bad person, I just made some stupid decisions that got me her." I reassured him that we put our pants on the same way and it could be me in this situation. I was blessed to be able to give to him and what a blessing he was to me in disguise. I had the opportunity to pray for him and bless him...something that I will never forget about it. When he asked me how he could repay me, I challenged him to pay it forward. He promised he would. So Brad, if you ever find this blog, remember our conversation and always remember to pay it forward!

I'm out...Beckster