No, the afternoon treat, was NOT this frappacino. It was a podcast. Well, sort of.

I’ve heard it said, “we live life between the ears.” It’s true. My afternoon turned around while I was running – it wasn’t the activity, but rather what I listened to – what I poured into my head – that changed my heart and attitude, and therefore my perception of the day. Today, what flipped my afternoon sunny side up was an episode featuring Shelene Brown on a podcast fittingly the “The Influence.”

Shelene expounded on her latest book “Ridiculous Faith.” What would life look like, she invites us to wonder, if we had as much faith as Moses, as Noah, as Daniel? What would it look like if we placed as much trust in God’s promises as we do in the fact that the chairs we sit in won’t break, that the banks where we keep our money won’t go bankrupt? You see, she points out, we unconsciously put so much faith in what is seen. But what if, she challenges, we lived based on ridiculously unshakable faith in what is unseen – in God’s promises. That God loves us so unconditionally. That we cannot go anywhere and not be seen and known and loved by God. That he sacrificed his precious Son for us (parents, can you imagine sacrificing your child?).! That ultimately he desires a relationship with us – not because he has something to gain, but out of a completely selfless love and desire for his loved ones to unlock life to the fullest.

What if we followed where he led without coming up with a “Plan B” in case his crazy plan didn’t work out? What if we shared words of encouragement and life-changing truth and acts of kindness with others as the Holy Spirit led us to share without a filter? What if we lived in complete and utter freedom, not dictated by fear?  For the Lord says, “Fear not, for I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10) – there is nothing conditional about it. What if we placed complete and actionable trust in the King of the Universe?

Join me in a thought experiment about what that would look like.

Overcome by these thoughts and the example of Moses leading at least 600,000 Hebrews out of Egypt and still taking time to go to the mountain to meet with God, I absolutely needed to pause my run. I needed to let God’s faithfulness steep inside my heart, mind, and soul. I need to make room for those “mountaintop time” with God. That daily time with him will allow me to live out this faith I so long to live out. Because without “mountaintop time” – without taking time to commune with God to ask him to use me as an instrument in his eternal plan – I am running a frivolous and altogether meaningless race. Without making “mountaintop time” to meet with God, I am founding my life on sinking sand when a solid foundation awaits me and calls to me. So I paused my run to pray that God would grant me the grace to be part of his butterflies-in-the-stomach, holy, worthy “Plan A.”

I should add, It is not at all because I am great or my faith is noteworthy that he invites me into his story. No. It is purely because of his faithfulness that I am allowed into his fold. And you are invited too.

Friends, what started as a dreary afternoon marked by fatigue transformed into a blood-and-spirit-pumping experience.

Okay, here is where the frappacino comes in. Before hearing the encouraging conviction of Shelene I was trudging through the day. After, I felt like it was a day to celebrate, so I treated myself to my first-ever double chocolatey chip frappuccino and sat and enjoyed it on the adirondack chairs on the summer turf in the middle of Menlo Park. It represented taking time to think, be, observe, rejoice, enjoy and not always “do.” We live in a “time-scarce” culture where few people feel like they have enough time. But we do. An Irish proverb I found on a tea bag one time claimed, “when God made time, he made enough of it.” It’s all about how we use it.

So I sat and enjoyed the frap and thanked the good Lord for the gift of his faithfulness and giving me a boost in faith in him.

When I made my way from the turf to the sidewalk to return home, I ran into a homeless man named Alan whom I had spoken with previously. Per usual, he struck up conversation. We talked for a few minutes – I reminded him that we had met before and he asked me why I got married so young and how my hubby was doing. We high-fived five times in the course of our five minute talk. It was the perfect end to such a life-giving excursion. Our world is thirsty for love. And I know I only have the capacity to love when Jesus abides in me. Love God to love others. So first, let’s love God. Shall we?