{"id":80,"date":"2026-03-09T06:20:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/?p=80"},"modified":"2026-03-09T06:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:20:57","slug":"when-god-tugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/2026\/03\/09\/when-god-tugs\/","title":{"rendered":"When God Tugs."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”<\/p>\n

Romans 12:21 (ESV)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

Marcus, 43, has had a full day. He’s talking about the kind of day where you eat lunch at your desk, skip the afternoon coffee because there’s no time, and then realize at 4pm that you’ve been in back-to-back calls for six hours. Then practice. Then another practice. Now it’s 7pm and he’s got two tired boys in the back seat and a drive-thru line between him and home.<\/p>\n

Then the SUV cuts across two lanes without a signal. Both boys feel the jolt. Marcus grips the wheel so hard his knuckles go pale. He wants to lean on the horn. He wants the guy to know.<\/p>\n

Here’s where this gets very human, and very honest.<\/p>\n

As Marcus follows the same SUV into the drive-thru, he watches the driver confidently swing into the left lane. The left lane is blocked with orange cones. Closed. And Marcus, a man who would describe himself as a Christian father, feels a burst of genuine, ugly satisfaction. He grins. He may have muttered something. He is not proud of this.<\/p>\n\n

\n

Then God tugs.<\/p>\n

Not loud. Not a lightning bolt. Just a quiet, persistent nudge. You don’t know what’s happening in that car. And your boys are watching.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

Marcus turns down the radio. “Hey guys. See that man up there? We don’t know what’s going on with him today. Could be a really hard day. Something might have happened that we can’t see. We don’t hold that against people.” It’s not a sermon. It’s two sentences. But his boys hear it, and more importantly, they see what comes next.<\/p>\n

The SUV loops back around and ends up in line right behind Marcus. There’s a moment. A temptation to let the guy sit in the awkwardness of it, to let karma do its work. But Marcus gets to the window, pays for his order, then says: “Add whatever the truck behind me orders. I’ve got it.” No note. No reason given. No eye contact with the driver. Just gone.<\/p>\n

The guy never knew who paid. He never knew about the near-wreck. He never knew the family behind him had a reason to let him stew. He just got a free meal, from someone whose fruit he never saw growing.<\/p>\n\n

\n

First Fruits to Strangers \u2014 What This Looks Like:<\/p>\n

Leviticus and Deuteronomy are full of commands about generosity to those who have nothing to give back. Widows. Foreigners. The poor. You were to leave the edges of your field for them. You were to bring your best offering, even when it cost you. The principle was never about the recipient’s worthiness; it was about the posture of your heart and what it teaches those watching you.<\/p>\n

Marcus’s boys didn’t need a devotional that night. They watched one.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

\n

Heart Check \u2014 Monday:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • When I’m wronged by a stranger, what do my kids see on my face first?<\/li>\n
  • Am I bringing first fruits to the people who have done nothing to deserve them?<\/li>\n
  • Is my reaction something I’d be comfortable with my children repeating?<\/li>\n
  • Do I use my kids as an excuse to vent, or as a reason to be better?<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n\n

    First fruits don’t wait for the deserving. They go out first, before you know how the story ends. That’s what makes them first. That’s what makes them fruit.<\/p>\n

    Overcome evil with good. Even in the drive-thru. Especially in the drive-thru.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 (ESV) Marcus, 43, has had a full day. He’s talking about the kind of day where you eat lunch at your desk, skip the afternoon coffee because…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heart-and-habits"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SU_20260309_BLOG.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}