Job 12:25

Without light, they grope in the darkness,

   Causing them to wander like a drunk.

Yesterday was the end of the month and felt so much like a Friday.  I now have more client computers in this room than of my own. My next dilemma is how to hook them all up so I can use them, but not have to get out of my chair to reach them. The solution is to share monitors, but …

The only real differences in my sources were “wander” vs. “stumble” and the concept that God was making them stumble as opposed to the lack of light.

I was confronted with two differing methods of interacting with people and realized it is something with which I struggle. One method was to have a list of who to contact and a repeating pattern of reaching out to them. The other was to have no list and reach out to whoever whenever. The first method is popular with sales tracking software. The idea is to make sure you contact your clients often enough to get work, but not so often as to annoy.

The conundrum was about recommendations to keep one’s list current. I have a list. I make one every time I worry about if I am being the witness or encourager than I am supposed to be. I never actually use them.  I think I want to, but then I just don’t. The last time I really tried to use it, I got the response: “As long as we do not talk about religion.” At that, I wondered if I should even bother. Do I need a friend who won’t talk about religion? No. But does he need a friend who will be a friend even with that restriction? Maybe, and maybe it is to be me.

Growing up, I was always the kid who would do nothing wrong and since it was the most common vice of many, I was the one who would not drink. I never really stopped to worry if I was limiting my witness by being known as the one who would always tell the truth if asked or whether I was avoided since I might snitch on whoever did wrong. Not that I would have done wrong or not told the truth if asked, but I never worried about the consequences of being me. I assumed the witness of my light was my calling, and I did not need to buddy up to those doing wrong to call them out, so to speak.

All that to say that some are called to have a list and diligently utilize it, and some are called to a different path. I do have individuals I feel called to keep up with, but the number of them is much smaller than any list I ever put together. I want to be a light unto the world and be someone who shines the glory of God through my following Christ. But as I now often fall back on, I need to focus on the doing and not the succeeding. If the drunk can’t see me, is he really going to respond if I reach out? No way for me to know, I just need to listen for the call to reach.

Written 2/1/24, Posted 2/21/24 Job 282