Phyllis Jones, from Harvey, Illinois went to the Metra station to take the train into Chicago the day after the historic blizzard of 2011. More than 1 ft. of untouched snow surrounded everything. She wasn’t surprised as she walked, crawled, and shuffled through parking lot snow drifts. This is the Midwest. She’d seen these messes before. She was surprised, however, when she got closer and realized someone was shoveling snow around the Metra stop. It was a welcome relief to find a path where she least expected it, through the snow right to the familiar, cleared bench she would sit on to wait for the train. The young man doing the shoveling was smiling and she smiled back. She thanked him for working so hard and asked him who he worked for, "Metra or the city of Chicago"? “Neither,” was his response, “my fiancé has to come through here after she gets off work and I just want to make sure she can get through.”
Marthas' heart melted, as did the heart of the waitress at my favorite coffee shop when I read her the Sun Times story. “Now he’s a keeper!” she said. A buddy of mine was sitting in the booth adjacent and overheard our conversation. As the waitress walked away, without looking up from his paper, he commented; “Probably just a stalker.” Cynicism shows up regardless of the weather.
No, Charles Pryor is not a stalker, he’s a man in love. The 36 year old trumpet player met a woman who changed his life 6 months ago and he wants to make sure she has a way through.
And then I read another story about a man who wanted to clear a path. As Mark tells it, it’s the “beginning of the gospel.” Mark, chapter 1, is the story of a man preparing a way. It's the story of John the Baptist “making straight paths” so that the lover of your soul could get you.
I was thinking about the path Jesus had to walk to get to me. Someone had to shovel the lies and the shame and the fear out of the way so Jesus could knock on my hearts door. It’s amazing how preconceived ideas, arrogance, and pain can snow us in. It's amazing grace that shovels us out.
Looking back... remembering, I can see more than one face out in the driveway of my soul, removing the mess, making a straight path in a crooked world so that I could meet Jesus.
Thank you Mom & Dad, Lindy, Peggy, Bill, and Lynn! Thank you, Mike Stipp, Randy Hird, and Dale Campbell! These are the names of just a few of the "shovelers" in my driveway that cleared the way for Jesus to change my life.
Here's to all of you "shovelers" out there; pastors, teachers, greeters, friends of the forgotten and lovers of lost souls, those who continually remind us of God's love and our value! Don't give up! Some of our drifts are deep, but the truth you tell and the love you share is the "beginning of the Gospel" for us and you are making a difference!
