Written by Dawn Rutan
The following is more or less what I shared with our church family today:
Lately in Sunday school and church we’ve been talking about how the apostles and the early church in the book of Acts were available and obedient to what God called them to do through the Spirit’s prompting. I wanted to share a couple small opportunities that came my way this week.
As you know, Lawrence Efird’s body has been failing for quite some time. I had visited him at the rehab center, but hadn’t gone to see him in the hospital. I kept finding excuses not to go—first the holidays, then the busyness of work, and so on. And the worse he got, the easier it was to find reasons not to go. It’s not that I didn’t want to see him and Shirley, but I didn’t want to see him in that condition, for that to be my last memory of him. If you were at Dulin’s Grove last Sunday you heard Matt pointedly urging anyone who’d been thinking about it to go visit Lawrence, and then he preached on God’s authority and how we can’t call Jesus “Lord” if we won’t do what He says.
So I told God, “I get the message, I’ll go see Lawrence and Shirley.” But after church I started thinking, “Well, I can go Monday since I don’t have to work and will have more time,” trying to put it off again. But as the day wore on I kept hearing, “No, you need to go today.” So I finally got in the car and drove up there. I was nervous wondering who else might be there that I may or may not know. I arrived just as the girls were leaving, so it was just Lawrence and Shirley and Amy there. Shirley and I chatted for an hour or so, shared some tears, and prayed together before I left. When I got the word that Lawrence passed Sunday night, I wasn’t surprised, because I knew that God had a reason for me to go up there and not put it off one more day. I was glad that I had listened to His promptings when I did.
Then Tuesday after Phyllis Hord’s funeral, I went over to Burger King to grab some lunch before returning to work. While I was waiting in line, I heard the cashier asking the man in front of me, “Have you heard anything? Is he okay?” And the man answered, “No, he passed away Sunday.” Now I knew that couldn’t be a coincidence, but if you know me, you know that I don’t generally talk to people I don’t know. In fact, I often don’t talk to people I do know. But I felt compelled to ask, “Are you talking about Lawrence Efird?” And he said yes. It turns out it was Paul, who had often sat with Lawrence and Shirley and Pat for lunch at Burger King on Sundays. As I was talking to him and telling him how to get to the church, the manager came out and asked about Lawrence. I was able to write down the details on the arrangements for him. And I was glad to have the chance to be in the right place at the right time.
Thinking later about the fact that these “strangers” knew Lawrence well enough to want information about his funeral, I knew that it wasn’t just because he was a frequent customer, but because Lawrence never met a stranger. He would talk to anyone, and I’m sure that the conversations often turned to his faith, because that was what was most important to him. He wasn’t one to shirk opportunities that came his way.
I’ll be honest, when we started the Sunday school series on Acts and when I heard Matt was going to be preaching on Acts, I was less than enthusiastic. In my mind, Acts is a nice narrative of how God worked through the Apostles, but it doesn’t have a lot of theological meat to chew on, and I’m not sure how to apply it to “real” life. So I had reluctantly prayed that God would help me figure out what to do with this study. It turns out that God answers even reluctant prayers! He provides opportunities to apply His Word if we’ll just pay attention. It may be small things, but God still speaks and we have to choose whether to listen and obey. So my prayer for all of us is that we’ll learn to listen to the Spirit’s promptings and to obey Him all the time, not just when it is convenient or comfortable.
As I was getting ready to post this, I thought of the song “The Voice of Truth” and its reminder that we can step out in faith and not be afraid of whatever God calls us to do.
© 2018 Dawn Rutan. The views stated may or may not reflect the beliefs of the pastor or leadership of Dulin’s Grove Church.
