Activate Kevin


Psalm 119:25 – “My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to Thy word.” Come on! I have snow and ice all over my car, and you, a hotel employee standing there idle with a broom in your hand … doing nothing! I started scraping my windshield but turned momentarily to see you catering to a well-dressed individual with a luxury car. (I mutter to myself – “Go figure!”) In that moment I just about wrote you off as another useless gift to mankind and a sorry representative of your Hotel chain … Note to self: I don’t even want to know his name. {I’m thinking under the influence of my scars.} But He knows you by name …Kevin! {Now, I’m thinking under the influence of Jesus’ scars!}

Smack dab in the middle! Caught in the cross fire! Wrong place, wrong time! Call it what you want, but this world’s brokenness is caused by a constant gnawing wicked desire for more power, more possessions, and more preeminence. It is bad enough when the ”simple ones” latch on to this plundering way of life; but when those who are positioned for “greatness” have hearts corrupted by lust. Woe unto anyone getting in the way of their unchecked and uncontrolled desires! Many of us can attest to self-inflicted wounds obtained by our own insatiable thirst for sin and unrighteousness. And without a whole lot of coaching, any one of us can easily tell stories of scars of abuse that we have incurred while being caught in the way of another’s relentless pursuit of self-fulfillment.

In Psalm 36:1-4, Observable characteristics the human condition are listed: 1. No fear of God. 2. A pride fed self-image. 3. Troublesome and deceptive speech. 4. Anger towards wisdom and kindness. 5. No rest, just scheming. 6. Animosity against the goodness of others. 7. Evil is not despised but espoused. Romans 3:23 states: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. THIS IS imbedded in OUR FALLEN HUMAN DNA, and it will surface to our embarrassment at the most inopportune times. Don’t you dare plea ignorance nor purport immunity while connected to this dust! WE will either be problem antagonizers or solution activators. Watch how you push other people’s buttons!

An icy snow flake actually hit me in the eye just as I was about to release a verbal dagger of self fulfilment - PUSH HIS BUTTONS! Then a still small voice said, “Come now let us reason together saith the Lord; though your sin be a scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”. Suddenly, I found myself weaving this verse into the conversation that would take place. This “Word” would activate this man’s faith and bring tears to him and me.

TO MEET KEVIN WAS TO LOVE KEVIN: Broken past but a God-promised future, Graying hair with a youthful praying heart, limping walk with purpose for the King, a castaway in this world but Kingdom cherished; though blind in one eye, he actually had clearer vision than most of us to trust the power of God in everyday living. He prays over every room that he maintains that the next weary travelers will not only find rest for their bodies, but rest for their souls. Psalm 36:10 –“O continue Thy loving kindness unto them that know Thee; and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart”.
I would not have known Kevin had I not spoken the Word, which immediately brought him and me to life. God calls us from the fading and failing rewards of the dust to be activators of faith through His spoken Word.

Rise up in courage, O Faith Activators, live openly and loudly for the sake of our King. Your grateful songs of mercy from the dust of your day will create a believable message to call others to God’s Way.

Speak His Word into the lives of others.

HLFA,

Jeff