There have been more things than I can recall in the last year that have stunned me—in a positive way.
     God’s timing.  The generosity of people.  Things people made me.  The prayers of God’s people.   The list is almost endless.
     An early morning meeting with a customer added to the list this week.
     I stopped by to see a customer in Lexington on Wednesday morning after I lived through a dentist’s appointment.  I got the usual lecture from the dental hygienist that I have received for most of my adult life.  Maybe I ought to heed her advice more closely.  Chemotherapy is hard on your body and I was told that it is hard on your teeth, too.
     Some things had changed with this customer over the past couple of years, including my contact there.  I had met this new contact only once and that was in the first few weeks of him being in that position.  I had had contact with the person who was his supervisor, but I have had no other contact with this new contact since that initial meeting.
     I walked in on Wednesday, intending on dropping off a new quote.  Some things had changed on our end and I was able to give them better pricing.
     I reintroduced myself to this young man.  He immediately asked, “How are you feeling?”  That wasn’t the most stunning moment.  He then said, “I believe that you have been treated at Mayo.”
     Words cannot describe the blessing that encounter has been for me the last couple of days.  Someone I had met only once knew a great deal of what I have been going through this year. 
     Relationships are what matter in this world.  My relationship to God.  My relationship to immediate and extended family.  The relationships we share with others at church make the church what God intends for it to be.  The relationships with other believers. The relationships that we have with our neighbors.  The relationships with friends and co-workers.
     And for me, the relationships that I have with business associates from vendors to customers.  The benefits of owning a business go far beyond the financial blessings.  Some of those blessings may even be eternal.  Not the financial blessings, of course. 
     Jesus did say something about storing up treasures in the next life.  The blessing this young man gave me on Wednesday might just be posted to his heavenly account.
     Who might I bless today in the relationships that I have that might just be credited to my account?   As with this young man was to me, it might be that I may never know in this life.
     Lord, help me today to be available for you to use to be a blessing in someone’s life.  Help me deepen a relationship I have with someone or maybe even mend a relationship.  Help me to value someone today by my response to what may be going on in their lives.
 
Addendum:
     On Wednesday, I walked out of the meeting and headed to my car.  A young employee of this business was on break.  It wouldn’t take much thinking to speculate on what kind of break.
     As I passed by him he said, “I like your jacket.”  I was wearing a Daybreak jacket.  It opened the door for me to have a conversation with this young man.  In a very short time we talked about church and where he was in his life.
     Looking back on it, maybe what I thought was God’s intention for my stopping by that business wasn’t correct at all.  Dropping by a quote was third on the list.  Maybe a “chance” encounter with a young man who is seeking might have been God’s plan all along.
     And in the middle I was the recipient of a blessing.
     What a great God we serve.

     I knew it wasn’t a good thing when the blood pressure machine “recalibrated” on Monday morning prior to the chemotherapy treatment. 
      
     I had let down my guard.  Several things affect my blood pressure.  Some I can’t control like stress and the “white coat syndrome” of medical treatments.
 
     I had let down my guard on the three things that I can control.  Salt intake, weight, and exercise.
 
     I love most any kind of nuts and most of them are high in salt.  I had eaten some pork that has lots of salt.  Maybe even a sausage ball or two.  Then there was the return of the cinnamon raisin biscuits at Hardee’s and my nephew’s pralines.  Not to mention a Reese’s cup.
 
     I think more than anything else it was the lack of consistent exercise that makes my heart pump.  I hadn’t swum since August.  That part wasn’t my fault.  I swam until we went to Mayo Clinic for what we thought was going to be the stem cell transplant.  We returned there for thyroid surgery and I was prohibited from immersing in water for several weeks.
 
     I got in the swim spa yesterday and I’ve laid off the salt, not to mention most of the rest of the stuff I like to eat.
 
     Keeping your guard when it comes to physical issues is a daily practice.  I had changed my lifestyle at one point, only to revert back to the old way.   A higher than what I wanted to see on the blood pressure machine was enough to get me back on track.
 
     Wouldn’t it be a great thing if there was a machine that would measure our spiritual heart?  Put on the cuff, pump up the machine, and look at the result.
 
     Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
 
     In Mark 13:33 Jesus commands us to “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.”
 
     Paul admonishes the believers at Corinth to “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”
 
     Lots of things can get us off track spiritually.  Some significant event has that potential, just like surgery got me off track from exercising.  It may not be something sinful, but at some point we must recover from it.
 
     Most of the time we get off track when we simply let our guard down.  That, too, may not be from something sinful.  We can simply lose our focus.  Then again, some tempting spiritual pleasure may come along like that cinnamon raisin biscuit!  Or worse.
 
     With God’s help we may change our lifestyle at some point, only to revert back to the old way if we let down our guard.  
 
     There isn’t a machine that measures our spiritual heart, but there is that still small whisper of the Holy Spirit who does speak.  His voice may not be as concrete as the blood pressure machine.  I wish it was. 
 
     Yet, His voice can be heard and our spiritual sensitivity be known.
 
     Lord, help me guard my heart today.  I know I am in a battle.  I can’t let my guard down, even for a day.  Or even for a moment.