More Than You Can Imagine

We’ve all heard the slogan, “Actions speak louder than words!”

Yikes! If you have ever winced at the weightiness of that idea, you’re in good company.  I’m sure we have all yearned to retract an action or two at some point in our life. The notion that those around us may pick up on our less-than-noble actions is unraveling.

On the one hand, this idea can make our blood run cold but it also carries undeniable potential. The activities and deeds that you prioritize day after day are influencing and shaping the lives around you in ways you cannot imagine.

This week I celebrate, what would be, my dad’s 91st birthday, though he has been with Jesus for the past 3 years.

Frank James O’Grady:

He never earned a high school degree.

He wasn’t eloquent of speech or sharp with finances.

His skills were average at best.

Yet, this man impacted my life more than any other single human being.

It wasn’t the words my dad spoke that shaped me so deeply.

  It was the life that he quietly yet boldly lived.

Until the age of 46, my dad’s life had left a flurry of pain in its wake.  But one warm summer evening, he heard the Gospel in a way that thoroughly transfixed and transformed his heart. That night Dad exchanged all of his failure and inadequacy for the richness of Christ’s grace. New life emerged… in my dad… and in our entire family.

I am still amazed to see what God can do when we offer what little we have in our hands and place it into His limitless hands.  He will never ask for what we don’t have, but works creatively with that which our lives do have to offer.

Courage and purpose replaced inadequacy and shame. Dad began to live by design rather than by default.  He spent his second half of his life sharing his story in area nursing homes, passing out Bibles outside of school campuses, and driving a bus to pick up kids for church on the weekends. He sat with the sick and dying in the hospital and tended to those who were often ignored.  He carved out time for meaningful friendships.  He found joy in cleaning his local church in preparation for weekend services, and tidied it after the last guest left.  All of these opportunities brought a depth of joy and confidence to his soul.  I’m so grateful that he invited me to join him  in many of these adventures.  It was in these humble settings that I witnessed  the power of the Gospel when it is simply lived out.

My dad’s actions often pierced my soul and reminded me of  Jesus’ last actions before he was betrayed:

 On that night Jesus took a towel and a basin and washed the disciples’ filthy feet.
[from John 13:1-17]

It’s easier for me to read about Jesus miracles,
his mighty deeds or his mountain-side messages, but this act…

Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth,
kneeling before sinful men and washing their dirtiest parts?

The humility of God is a facet of his character that overwhelms me: While I have pridefully treated certain circumstances as “beneath me”, Jesus proved that NOTHING is beneath him or too lowly for his involvement.  Though I may wrestle with this portrait, I realize it’s the reason Jesus came – not to simply wash filthy feet, but to wash our grimy souls;  to lovingly hold and heal the dirtiest parts of our lives.

This week, as I celebrate and reflect on my dad’s life, I marvel again at Jesus’  humility which searched and sought out a lowly, uneducated, broken man named Frank O’Grady.  He cleansed the filth from my dad’s life and thoroughly captured his heart, forever altering him at his core. Frank was not beneath Jesus’ attention…

God’s generosity to him overflowed in rich generosity through him for the next 42 years. Each humble action that I witnessed in my dad’s life was a simple response to the love he had received.  Again and again those actions whispered to the Father, “Thank you!”

How do I respond to this transformation that Jesus allowed me to witness?

Oh Jesus, the work you completed in my dad’s life created a ripple effect into mine.  It shaped me…forever!  I have seen You…I have watched YOU at work… through a humble, simple man, who was known to this world as Frank O’Grady.  Tune my actions to mirror his humility… as he mirrored Yours.  Today, as I reflect on, and write about, your grace at work in his life, inspire hope in every reader.  May he/she recognize your grace in his/her life, as well.  Remind each one that he/she is not beneath your attention!  Enable us to see our lives as valuable and purposeful.  May we respond in humility to the needs around us and, thereby, experience a life that produces more fruit than we could ever imagine.  May you hear, in our actions, a resounding love-inspired anthem, “Thank you, Father!  Thank you!

Anchor of Hope: Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)

me and my dad – 1997