Joey's "Story"

(Copied from my FaceBook Page)

My grandson, Joseph Paul Lovell, Jr. passed on May 1, 2010 from an accidental drowning.

At his celebration service, Josh, an administrator at Kiddie Kollege where Joey attended, gave the message and related his first encounter with Joey. It was Josh’s first day at the school as well as Joey’s first day. Joey was not happy to be there and was sobbing. He spotted Josh and went over to him. Josh asked him if he would like to hear a story. Joey’s smile came back and the sobbing stopped as Josh made up a story. The two immediately bonded. Joey would continue to come to Josh each day for his story, but he would always bring someone with him. That someone was always one who was sad or hurting in some way and they would get a new story from Josh to brighten their day.

Now Joey is with the greatest story teller ever. He had to go through a difficult transition to get his first story from Josh. He had to go through a difficult transition to get to the great story teller. In both cases the tears were immediately dried and the smile returned to his face.

Just as Joey always brought someone who was hurting to the story teller here on earth, his desire is to also bring someone today to the great story teller so their hurts can be healed. Maybe you are going through a difficult transition right now. Won’t you allow Joey to take you by the hand to the great story teller while you are still here on earth? Keep Joey’s story alive! This may have been the purpose of Joey’s short stay here on earth. Let his five and one half years not be wasted. Let him take you to the One who can take away your tears.

I find it interesting that the story teller at Kiddie Kollege is named Josh, which is short for Joshua. In Hebrew that is Yeshua. In Greek it is Jesus. Quite a picture isn’t it?

Imagine meeting the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Himself, just like Joey has, and having Him tell you a story to comfort you. You say, “Well, maybe when I die, but I’m not quite ready for that yet.” The good news is that you don’t have to wait. The invitation is for right here on earth, it is not reserved just for heaven. “But”, you say, “How can He heal the heart aches that I’ve suffered? That just doesn’t make sense to me! And how can He tell me a story if He’s in heaven? I don’t believe in that stuff about hearing voices. It spooks me.”

Good questions. Let’s take them one at a time. To get to know someone you have to meet them. To meet them you need to invite them or accept an invitation from them. Jesus has extended that invitation to you. He said, “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”(1) Then you need a meeting place. He wants to meet in your heart, or spirit. You see, He is a spirit being, kind of like an angel is a spirit being. He therefore communicates spirit to spirit rather than with a physical voice and ears. If you acknowledge who He is and sincerely invite Him, He will let you know He is there. All it takes is that invitation. “But”, you say, “I need to get my act together before I can do that. And I don’t want to give up a lot of the things I enjoy.” Don’t worry about that. The good news is that He takes you right where you are. You don’t need to clean yourself up. He says that He wants to live His life through you.(2) In other words, He will do all the things you cannot do yourself, through you. That takes a lot of pressure off you. All you have to do is to invite Him to do it and co-operate with Him in it. He won’t do anything against your will. That’s the freedom He gives you. He will take you step by step. It won’t happen all at once.

When your heart aches because of something that has happened, all the logic and reasoning you try to do, or others try to do for you, doesn’t seem to help. Sometimes it just makes it worse. That’s because the ache is not in your mind, it is in your heart or spirit, but your mind processes it. The processor, or computer, can only work with the data that is put in it. But the mind and the heart do not communicate in the same language so it gets complicated. The language of the mind is logic and reason and it never seems to communicate well with the heart. The heart has a language all its own. The language of the heart is pictures, emotions, and intuition (a flow of thoughts). You’ve probably heard the expression that a picture is worth a thousand words. That is why all the logic in the world cannot change a picture, especially a traumatic picture, in your heart. You just cannot reason yourself out of it. The picture remains. It is equally difficult to reason yourself out of a negative emotion, or out of the flow of thoughts flowing through (or to) you. But the Lord can change the picture by showing it to you from His perspective(3), and He can change the flow of thoughts by interjecting His thoughts into your spirit, and He can replace a negative emotion with His love and peace. This can be done by inviting the Lord into the situation. It sometimes requires the help of a trained counselor to walk you through it if the situation is really disturbing to you.(4)

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice.”(5) If you have invited Him into your heart, you are one of His sheep. This is as true today as it was in Biblical times. Hearing His voice is part of the relationship you get when you invite Him into your life. Can you imagine a relationship with a person without two way conversation? It wouldn’t be much of a relationship would it? With a little practice it can be part of your everyday experience, not something mystical or strange.(6) The bottom line is that God loves you, He wants to be a part of your life right here on earth as well as in heaven, and He wants to heal the hurts within you.

(1) Matthew 11:28
(2) Galations 2:20
(3) 2 Kings 6:15-17
(4) Mark and Patti Virkler, Prayers that Heal the Heart, (Gainesville, FL, Bridge-Logos, 2001); See also www.cwgministries.org for TV and radio interviews on this subject.
(5) John 10:27
(6) Mark and Patti Virkler, How to Hear God’s Voice, (Shippensburg, PA, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2005); See also www.cwgministries.org for TV and radio interviews on this subject.