Blessed to Be Alive. Blessed to Be Able to Pray. Sunday July 17, 2011.

I consider myself blessed to be alive.
I always have. But after this past weekend, I feel even more blessed.
Long story short, my friend and I had an encounter with a drunk man that could have been very dangerous.
The man happened to be roaming around our very quiet and safe neighborhood before 11pm on Friday night.
He was clearly drunk as he decided to pay his respects, if you will, to each of our license plates that all have to do with prayer and praying. He walked down the street but then decided to come back. It was then that things could have become dangerous. When he came back he decided to start a conversation with my friend and I.
He was uncomfortably close and started talking about random things including the licenses plates. He used a line that would be a prime line to use so that he could pull out a weapon. He told my friend and I to look around. I was just simply waiting to hear some sort of noise from a gun. Praise be to God he did not pull out any sort of weapon. As he continued about nonsense, it appeared that he was more than just drunk, he had a sliver of evil engrained in him. He was being used. He was being used to bring fear and panic into the night.
He finally left and I quickly went into my house.
I wasn't able to sleep for hours.
Every time I closed my eyes his face and his harsh, evil voice came to mind.
From the moments I laid in bed I started praying just simply to keep my mind off of what happened but it seemed impossible, even with prayer.
It was then it hit me.
I was fine.
I am fine.
I am safe.
Nothing bad happened in the big picture.
I was scared
but the situation could have been MUCH worse.
It was not me who needed the prayers but him.
I needed to pray for the guy who completely terrified me.
He was the one in need of prayer.
He was the one who allowed himself to be used for evil.
He needed the Lord and the Lord's peace.
It was by no means any longer about me.
My Hail Marys turned from prayers to bring me peace to prayers for him.
The man who was clearly so hurt and so far from the Lord's peace.
Despite the fact that the whole situation was just awful, if the Lord allowed it to happen so that that man could receive some prayers, then so be it. All glory to God.
By His grace I praise Him for all that happened.
Please join me in praying for the man.
Please pray for anyone who lets themselves be used for anything other than the glory of the Lord.
May our lives always reflect everything good about Him and His glory.
It is for this that we were created.
No less.
Let your life bring glory to Him.
Let your life reflect the Son.
All praise,
all glory,
all honor
forever be the Lord's.