The Invitation

What is the point of rsvp'ing yes and then continually forgetting to show up for the party?

How late is too late to arrive?

Mine has been a slow, slow faith journey. It's not because God hadn't extended the invitation over and over again. From the time I was young and attending a Catholic church with my family to the the time I was a teen going to Bible study at a friend's Presbyterian church, God was there. He was there on that June day when I lost my mom to cancer and again the next day when my mother-in-law lost that same battle. God's been there and many times in between, inviting me to fellowship with Him.

I said yes; yes, I received the invitation and yes, I knew the sender, but somehow I just didn't get the gist of what I was being invited to. So, I said yes, but I never quite showed up. It was like I just carried the invitation around with me for all those years. I believed the invitation was real. I knew I was invited and I accepted, but I spent so long preparing for the party that I almost forgot to show up.

What changed? There were a lot of factors that came together and encouraged me to open the invitation and really read it again. One was that I was hearing or seeing other people who were at the party and it made me want to have that experience too. And there were also things that happened in my life that made escaping to a party seem like a good plan.

I finally figured out that I had to actually read the invitation to understand what the party was all about. Ten years ago I picked up my Bible , after a long hiatus, and started to read and understand what the invitation that God had extended to me meant. The more I read, the more intrigued I became.

That's when life started getting really interesting.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in....
~Matthew 25:35

To be continued.............