The Most Beautiful Word

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I’ve been sick, tired coughing from having this allergy symptoms this whole week. Despite the weariness from suffering from this seasonal illness, I went to see our child right after him and my husband left to go to the DMV to take his driving test last Friday.

I was barely fixing my car in the designated parking spot when I saw my son parking the car he took with him a couple of spaces from where I was. A lady dressed in a semi-formal suit came out and smiled when she saw my husband and I talking by my driver’s door and hollered, “What a good driver!”

We both thanked her as we waved at our son who had a wide grin and said, “0” to us.

“Huh?” my husband and I replied, dumbfounded.

“0 error, mom and dad,” he added after intentionally pausing for a few seconds.

"Good job!" we both signaled.

As my husband accompanied him inside to have our son’s picture taken, I sighed as I waited outside and stared at my son’s footsteps following his father’s.

I didn’t want to miss this new stage in his life even if I had been sick. My husband’s life I met with my own that merged to form another of our own and brought another life. Life we both treasure as it brought us immense joy. This is the life that made us more careful in our way of making decisions. Those wrong paths we took, we had told him to make his own footsteps to take another route.

Yes, I kept looking at my son’s footsteps. Footsteps that I always pray for, praying that his feet will follow no one else’s but that of his Father’s, because this life whether battered, beaten, crushed, or short-lived, will always be precious. What better way to live it than to know Who gave this precious gift in the first place.

The door was pushed by a pair of young hands as my husband followed this time as they both exited the building. I coughed a little bit. In between, we were all laughing. I was tired from both but it was all worth it as I heard this young man softly whispered, “Thank You Lord.”

He gave me a hug and his father and asked me, “By the way, mom, guess why I felt good from the moment that lady sat next to me in the car?”

“Why?”

“I said ‘good morning’ to her and she said 'hi' and told me, “My name is Grace…”

"Grace..." Yes..The most beautiful word I have ever known...

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:4-10 (ESV) (emphasis was mine).

Disrespectful and Lying Tongue

“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

 – Matthew 15:18-20 (ESV)

“What?” I asked the acting charge nurse. “He’s coming down now?”

I went on a short break and the Charge Nurse had advised me and the other nurse that there were two inmates requesting to be seen. As soon as I heard the last name, it sounded so familiar. No wonder, it was the same name that the unit had called about the precious day. He committed drug abuse until it happened. He was arrested for possession of illegal substances. Maybe he got addicted to them because of his complaints of chronic pain. But when the medication nurses had caught him hiding the pills or the prescribed narcotics by our jail doctor to help him with his pain, maybe he wasn’t having true pain after all.

He had to pay for that action. The jail doctor discontinued his narcotics and was given a lesser strength medications that would still help him with pain control. He had been angry ever since and had complained of his symptoms becoming severe. One thing he didn’t know, the medical staff would at least observe something obvious if there was really something wrong with him.

“Oh man,” I sighed. “I wished I was here when the unit called because I wouldn’t let him come down here,” I told the Charge Nurse.

Limping and his mobility aided with a jail-issued wooden cane, he complained of his pain and dizziness being ignored. I would have listened to him but he added, “Aren’t they going to give me my “(name of narcotics)”?

I barely was trying to explain without putting him to shame, he kept cutting me off.

“Mr. E!” I yelled. “Let me speak! How can we understand each other when you are talking at the same time as I am?” The Infirmary Deputy was next to me, standing on guard if he would attempt any disrespectful words or actions. He kept yelling in angry tone but stayed careful, swaying his ID card with previous medications sticker taped on it and kept yelling, demanding for them.

Until he caught glimpses of our 2 medication nurses who both had caught him hiding the pills every time back then and who knew that he lied to exacerbate his symptoms in order to gain those narcotics back.

“Not until you see the doctor again, which is in the morning, no one can give you the medications you are requesting!” I ended the conversation and motioned for him to go back to his unit.

He was very upset but all he did was traced back his footsteps back to his cell.

I made sure his shadow had long disappeared before I spoke to my co-workers, “His unit was way far from our Clinic. If he was having trouble walking, he wouldn’t make it this far.” He got in trouble from their unit deputy for his argumentative behavior so he was written up for disrespecting staff.

Every one knew, it was always those simple things to look out for, and to listen to their complaints. How else can you catch a “lying tongue” but from the words they say? How else can you determine their true intentions but to observe their actions for actions speak louder than words, too.

“A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.” – Proverbs 19:9 (ESV)

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” – Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV)

“Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him”

- 1 John 2:4 (ESV)

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” –John 8:44 (ESV)

Watch how disrespectful this inmate was to a judge....I often wonder, how am I acting and speaking in front of the "Judge"?

The Only Treasure

I used to enjoy going to work in the prison. After my battle with some people in higher positions started, I dreaded the atmosphere, but not the work. I knew from the beginning that the Lord wanted me to learn so much by bringing me into this dark place after I injured my neck in 1997. The moment He found me, I knew that He started working in my heart. Despite being surrounded with evilness and darkness, He blessed me tremendously as soon as I started working here and got out of my comfort zone from the hospital.

And He continues to bless me by faithfully being there at this troubling time.

I looked around and observed the people I worked with.

Those who loved money had been killing themselves working extra, longer hours to earn more.

Those who were conscious with the way they looked, often, talked about undergoing cosmetic procedures to maintain their physical beauty.

Those who were seeking pleasures for themselves were seeking in wrong places to satisfy whatever hunger their bodies had.

Those who wanted power only acted to feed their interests and they often spoke only about their accomplishments.

My self-fulfillment and satisfaction only occurred when Christ found me. What this world programmed in my heart was being replaced with His work in me. The process was painful. And it is still on-going…But nothing in this world would ever equal the joy and peace that Christ gives to a surrendered heart.

Christ indeed is the only treasure that fulfills everything.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21 (NIV)

"For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen." - Romans 11:36 (NLT)

Only The Tip Of His Iceberg

“ ¹ The Lord says, "All you who are thirsty,
       come and drink.
    Those of you who do not have money,
       come, buy and eat!
    Come buy wine and milk
       without money and without cost.
 ² Why spend your money on something that is not real food?
       Why work for something that doesn't really satisfy you?
    Listen closely to me, and you will eat what is good;
       your soul will enjoy the rich food that satisfies.
 ³ Come to me and listen;
       listen to me so you may live.” – Isaiah 55:1-3 (NCV)

“Daddy, please turn up the volume more,” I requested as we played one of my favorite songs in our car, my son driving for us so we could go to our church’s earliest fellowship.

I looked through the tinted window  and saw the dark clouds ready to drop its carried weight of  precipitation.

Down below, I saw the dry ground, so dry that everything below that cloud was in grave need of being watered. I wondered how receptive the trees’ roots would be once those clouds release the much needed drops of water down below.

As my son carefully veered the car to the left, about to enter the parking lot in our church, there it was:  the big, white cross they had placed in front of the church.

It had remained unchanged despite the passing of seasons. The symbol of what Jesus had done to save all sinners like me. He died with open arms, always ready to receive anyone who is willing to acknowledge His sacrifice. The Living Water Who is able to quench anyone’s thirst.  The Living Water that is always available and is ready to be poured out to a thirsty heart.

And I wonder…how receptive is your heart to Jesus’ pouring of mercy and grace?

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Jesus is everything for me. He completely satisfies all of our needs. To think that I have only seen the tip of an iceberg about Him...To realize that I have only heard the faintest whispers about His great work...

“No eye has fully seen, how beautiful the cross
And we have only heard
The faintest whispers of how great You are…”

                - lyrics from “Wonderful Maker” by Chris Tomlin