Being His Hands

If you missed the previous blogs in Justin's story see links at the end!

"These Are Their Tears" By Justin
Showing how God transforms our tears into beauty

My God

 By: Justin Bee

My God, Your name is most precious among names

Your good- is our perfect

Your words of creation are not to comprehend

Your Truth is just

You allow choice, You provide options

Lord, You set in motion all things from the beginning to the end

The air I breath is perfect

My flow of blood: Graceful

Your teachings are unforgettable

Belief fuels faith and Your faith performs miracles

Answers to all questions are within Your words

God Your power is superior, beyond imagination

Your glory IS only

Your Son was and is our Savior

Your will is sometimes mystery

Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall

In Jesus Name- I live

When Justin handed me his note book with the following story in it, I flipped to the page before it

and found the above prayer and instantly was transfixed by the raw honesty and sincerity of it- but more than that, by the truth. As the fourth line says, God's truth is just- it's always just. From my very first encounter with Justin, I gave him the nickname "Justice", since after all it's what his name means. Often when I write him, I put Justin Justice Bee. God changed Abram’s "high father" name to “Abraham,” "father of a multitude" (Genesis 17:5) and his wife’s name from “Sarai,” “my princess,” to “Sarah,” “mother of nations” (Genesis 17:15). God changed Jacob’s "supplanter" name to “Israel,” “having power with God” (Genesis 32:28). He changed Simon’s "God has heard" name to “Peter,” "rock" (John 1:42). There is something to your name. Around here we call Matt, Kansas and in a way it wipes clean your past and gives you a new identity. When we surrender our lives to Christ "behold, all things become new" but what I find interesting, especially with the story you are about to read is how often times we find God there, in our past, when we look back, gently calling us forward, leading us even before we knew Him. After all, He is the Master Carpenter, and in cases such as Justin's story here, we see His beautiful handiwork taking shape. 

This story started out as a memory and as Justin dug deeper into it, he saw God's hand on this day and set out to reenact it to the best of his ability that he might document the powerfulness of God moving in his life before he called Him Savior.  

March 17th

On my way down here to the class room I prayed to God that as I go to write this memory, He would help me to separate what actually happened that day, from anything that I might accidentally over expound upon just to make a better story. Also, that the truth that I see in God's presence in my life, even before I knew He was there, I will be able to express to the exact conclusion that I have personally made from the experience.

I was 21 or 22, and while I can't remember the entire day, (as in before and after the actual events of the story) the first thought to the last and everything in between are very dear to me still. 

I had many close friends at the time- well, actually, looking back, not very close at all I guess. I should say, I cared about many friends I had in those days. 

The unique experience started when I was driving down the road one day, I just got this feeling that I should call my friend Krista, only, I didn't know why. I couldn't shake this feeling, so I went ahead and called her. The first thing, well, the only thing I could think to say was, "Is everything okay?" She answered with shock- something like, "How did you know? Who told you my aunt died?" I said, "nobody, I just had this strong feeling that I should call you for some reason." She told me that her aunt had just passed away that night saying how crazy it was that I called her out of nowhere, knowing something was wrong. 

After I got off the phone with her, I pulled over into the next parking lot, which was right down the road in between Sugarcamp and Dry Run on RT 50. Little did I know at the time that the Teen Challenge Women's home was directly across the street. I only know that I felt compelled to get out of my truck, kneel down on the curb of the parking lot and start to pray. I can't remember what I prayed, but immediately after I stood up and returned to my truck I remembered where her aunt lived. I had been there once, only one time, and had never met this woman, but all I wanted to do was be there- somehow. 

On my way over, I was lead to stop at Meijer to get something to show her family that... well..., I'm not even sure... I didn't really know what I was doing or why I was doing it, but it felt right. So as I went into the store, I realized I had no idea what I could get. I walked outside to the garden center when I turned and saw these beautiful, bright orange flowers. Instantly I

knew they were perfect, so they were the ones I bought. It felt odd that I was about to take these flowers to her husband, who I also did not know and had never met. I almost turned around and didn't go through with it, but I felt like I just had to. 

As I arrived at her street, there were people outside so I drove past and didn't stop because I didn't know them, nor did they know me. So I turned around and drove back up; this time, there was no one outside. I thought I would just place them on the sidewalk and go- and I did so- only as I was getting back into my truck, a man opened the front door and just looked at me. As a stranger in the driveway of someone who had just passed away, all I could say was, "I brought some flowers", and pointed to them. In return, the only reply he could make was, "Thank you." Then I just got in my truck and left.

This was all so very weird because looking back on the entire thing, I really didn't want to do like, any of it- from the phone call (which I didn't want to do at first but then had to), to the prayer, and then the flowers I saw and thought, "no, those won't work." I just kept hearing a voice telling me where to go, which flowers to pick- every single thing I did felt like it meant something. I don't know exactly what but those specific flowers meant something. Maybe it was the strong orange color of them, the type or the reason I chose the one with three flowers verses the one with only a single blossom. 

I've never seen that man, neither been to that house since. I know it was some sort of message for her family, from God. I never told anyone of the flowers, not even Krista. Somehow I didn't feel it would be right to tell people what I had done. Only now looking back on it all, I know why... because it wasn't me that did it, it was God using me to do what He wanted.

Matthew 25:40 says, "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."

Justin didn't know at the time that he was being Jesus that day, or that he was doing it to Jesus as well, he just obeyed. It was Justin's obedient spirit that answered the call to accept Jesus as Lord over his life, to enter Teen Challenge, and to walk upright before Him daily. If only we all could have such an obedient spirit. To be His hands, to be His feet, speak His words- to do unto the least of them! Go out and "Bee" those things today! 

As always, remember that Jesus is that beautiful light that expels all darkness!

Till next time- the Carpenter's Daughters and Sons love yall!

Previous blogs: His Crown Jesus the Carpenter: Making a Heroin Addict a Hero

The above photo was taken of Justin with the painting "Calvary" by Stephen Sawyer, www.art4god.com it has literally save Justin's life- and countless others' I'm sure.

Steve posted this on his Facebook page along with the following:

A YOUNG MAN NEEDING SPONSORS

"Justin is a 24 year old guy, who has been secretly battling a severe heroin addiction for the past 5 years.

After accepting Christ in Nov. ’13 he saw the painting "Calvary" posted on a friend’s blog. He was overwhelmed with emotion, he couldn't stop staring at it and felt the Lord speak to him saying, “It’s time”.
He sat his friends down, opening up to them about his past. They got him "Calvary" for Christmas and it has become one of his most prized possessions. As a result of that chance glance, he has entered the Teen Challenge program- in his own words- he wants to come out, “looking like Jesus, acting like Jesus and talking like Jesus.”
This painting has literally saved Justin’s life; you can see with the huge smile on his face he is doing amazing! Justin is in desperate need of sponsors to help finance his stay in what they call the “Jesus Factory”.
If you are interested, you can send a donation in the name of Justin Bee to: Teen Challenge Cincinnati, P.O. Box 249, Milford, OH 45150 or for more information e-mail Masfaith3@aol.com "
Thank all of you for reading this and considering helping someone.
They contacted me, thanked me for my work, and hoped for some assistance in a very difficult and brave recovery. The photo and comments in quotations are from them.

Stephen

Skunks, Snakes and Sugar in the tank...

As Jasper raced up the stairs the other night after a last potty before bed, Matt followed behind with a big sigh and an intense "shew, that was close!" I thought maybe he had tripped on the steps but when he came into the kitchen I saw the look on his face and I asked what was wrong. "Jasper just chased a skunk and ran into a cloud of spray!" Sure enough I smelled my beautiful girl and she stink, stank, stunk!

 It wasn't as bad as if she had been sprayed directly, but the stench filled the entire back yard so that we had to close the windows because it was beginning to fill up our house. Matt is not one to cause alarm, so when he saw the skunk running away, he just called Jasper, gathered the rest of the four legged crew and came back inside. There was no shouting for help, or yelling at Jasper. In fact, if it hadn't been for the stench and the look on Matt's face, it might have been several minutes before we heard the whole story... as for Leah, she tends to have a flare for the dramatic...

The last time I heard Leah scream was when the pear landed in her eye... that is, until two nights ago when the loudest, most blood curdling cry came from her voice and it said one word, "MATT!"

It was actually guttural in sound, and to be honest the first thing that came to my mind was that an arm had fallen off, a dog had died, the end of the world was upon us- I had no clue. Matt and I dropped the bricks that we were unloading out of his truck and ran to see if we could somehow soften the blow of whatever this life altering event was. Then I heard, "it's a snake, a snake!" Now around here we have a very different cry for "snake". When Leah or my mom come upon them, it's a high pitch, girly type of sound that instantly alerts the hero to grab a shovel and come as soon as possible, just not at the speed of light as Leah's scream seemed to require. Fortunately there was a shovel close by but Matt only managed to mam the poor thing before it squirmed it's way into a massive pile of rubble from the old retaining wall we recently tore down. Not seeing where the snake went, and not willing to give up the hunt to save the damsel in distress from the creature that represents Satan's first triumph over woman (and man for that matter), Matt moved the entire pile for fifteen minutes chunk by chunk until the serpent was uncovered. I delivered the first blow chopping the devil icon in half, only to watch it's front slither away before Matt landed the death blow removing his head from the rest of his body.



     To Matt's disappointment, Leah was not there to see our heroism as she had taken the dogs back upstairs, but my mom watched from inside of the basement and if there is anyone Matt wants to look like the hero in front of, it's mom. Luckily, there are few better ways to look like a hero in her eyes than ending the life of one of those slippery creatures. I would just as soon let them live and take care the the bugs and varmints around here, like whatever it is that keeps getting into our wheat we have stored in the back of Uncle Jac's '52 Chevy pick-up in the shed.

 

We saw a bunny hop in there the other day, so Matt is in the process of building a no kill trap (although I can't promise what he's going to do with them after he catches them...). Our schedule has been so busy we haven't had the time to finish shucking the rest of our wheat. It's dry, but I don't know how much we will have left after the bunnies have had their way with them! It's the little things that weigh on my mind as I close my eyes before falling asleep. "We really need to build a mechanism to help us shuck the wheat; I need to go to Lowe's tomorrow to pick-up concrete; what kind of wood should we use to build those forms?; is it going to rain because my Jeep is out and the top is off; did I send an invoice to that client, we start their visits tomorrow!; we HAVE to can the tomatoes we picked tomorrow or they will start to rot; I really want to start writing a novel; I wish so-and-so knew how much God has a simple plan for their life and if they could just see it, all of their problems would be wrapped in His hands; God, please soften the heart of so-and-so, that they might see that beautiful plan you have for them..." and boom, I'm out like a light.

     My mom reminded me the other day of the time she got up to drive to work (as secretary of a mechanic shop) only to find that our Ford Festiva wouldn't go above 25 mph.

She called into work and while this particular shop usually only worked on expensive foreign cars, they told her to bring it in if it could make it. Since she only had a 12 min commute at the time, she chanced it. Upon inspection, they discovered that someone had put sugar in her tank. I have no idea who would do something like this, but we think it was just some punk kids, since friends/neighbors of ours actually had their car window broken too. How much like our lives this story seems to be though. I like to think of our minds like that gas tank.
 The world dumps all of this sugar in us and at first we think it's sweet. but little do we realize that it's slowing us down. They say that we only use 10% to 20% of our brain power. I don't think that's actually a quantifiable fact, but I do believe the idea of it has merit. Think about that; if we could tap into the other 80% to 90 % or even half- just imagine the things that we could accomplish. Sadly, when we are abused, lied to or cheated by bad people we lose even more of that relatively small amount of brainpower that we had. In the case of the Festiva, they flushed the lines, put in a new gas tank and away we went. How amazing would it be if that could happen with us! Go into the shop, flush our minds, and away we go! With Jesus, it is that easy. 1st Commandment: Think, I "Love God".   He renews our minds everyday!

There really are no dull moments around here and I guess we like to keep it that way.

As always, remember, Jesus is that beautiful Light that expels all darkness.

Until next time, thanks for the visit!

Love Yall,

~ Michelle