Reach Up and Out

I’m sure that by now we have all had quite our fill of shoveling snow and chipping away at ice. As frustrating as the many ‘dumps’ of snow have been this winter, maybe for you it has opened doors to reach out and help your neighbors.
My story begins on a VERY snowy weekend in January. It was 11:30 on a Saturday night and I was spending some time ‘reaching up’ to the Lord before going to bed. It was then that I felt the Lord speak to me saying, “Jeremy, now it’s time for you to reach out. Look out your window.” As I gazed out my window, I saw a car stuck in the snow with smoke all around and its tires were spinning, but it wasn’t moving anywhere.
I will be entirely transparent here and let you know that initially I did not necessarily want to leave my 22 degree house at 11:30 at night to endure -40 degree weather outside to try and reach out to someone in need, not even being certain that I could help them by myself. Nevertheless, I walked outside with a shovel on my shoulder towards this husband and wife in their stuck car, and I was able to reach out to them.
What a life-giving experience to give up yourself and your preferences to help someone else in need in such a simple yet profound way. After helping them, the wife turned to me with such a puzzled look and said, “thank you so much, sir!” She could not understand why some random stranger would leave their house at 11:30 at night in -40 weather to help someone else.
Philippians 2:4 says, “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” Be encouraged this week and spend some time reaching up to God and then take a moment to lay down your own interests in order to take an interest in someone else by reaching out to them.
I promise you won’t regret it!
Jeremy