The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Christmas and Quiet Love

Episode Date: December 23, 2022

After a profound encounter with a complete stranger, Jeff has a special Christmas message to share. Snippet from the Show Keep your eyes open for all of the opportunities God gives us to love. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and I want to tell you about my latest podcast launching January 1st, the Catechism in a Year. Where we will read the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church over the course of 365 days. That is the 2,000 years of the church's beauty and truth and teachings of the church that Jesus Christ himself founded coming to contact with us and allowing that contact to change our lives. You know, after the Bible, the catechism is the most important book for Catholics. The catechism is much, much more than a reference book. It is the distilling, the unpacking, the summary of all that Christians have believed for hundreds and thousands of years and what Christians believe today. To see what we'll be reading each day, get the reading plan at ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y.

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 302, Christmas and quiet love. Well, thanks for joining me. Here we are. about the end of the year. And our whole team really is taking a couple of weeks off. They work so hard throughout the year.

And I asked them, I said, can I just give like just a three-minute little message to my friends to let them know that I'm praying for them and love them? And they said, sure. So I'm just going to share just for a few minutes with you today, something regarding Christmas and quiet love. something happened to me just this morning that, man, it really opened my eyes. It really did. I got a call from the Social Security Administration, and they called me out of nowhere and

said, there's a discrepancy between your name on your Social Security card in a form that you filled out. your social security card says you're Jeffrey, J-E-F-F-R-E-Y. And they said, the thing you sent into us says J-E-F-F-E-R-Y. Which is it? We got to know.

And I thought, well, I'm pretty sure it's Jeffrey, J-E-F-E-R-Y, because I remember my mother saying that it was actually a mistake on the birth certificate. It was supposed to be Jeffrey, instead of Jeff R-R-E.

And so I called back in Chicago, and sure enough, it was a social security administration. Yvonne was her name, a beautiful lady in spirit. And she said, yeah, we've got this. We need to figure out who you are. She said, okay, you need to bring your birth certificate and your driver's license. And you need to fill out an SS5 form to change your name, your social security. And I said, are you serious? He goes, yeah, I'm sorry.

you do. So anyway, this morning I did. I went to the Social Security Administration and I walked in there and lo and behold, half of Minneapolis wanted to change their name apparently because it was so full and I had to take a number. I was number four, five, six. And I sat down and and I just waited and waited and waited. And I thought, when is this going to happen? And then there was one seat next to me and I was looking at my phone and I recognized. that there were some legs in front of me, and the person was just standing there, but I had my briefcase was on that seat. I looked up at the lady, and she's just looking at me, like, can I sit there? And I'm thinking to myself, why don't you say something? Why don't you

just open your mouth and say, do you mind if I sit there? And so I thought it was sort of odd, and here I am with the attitude, you know, of kind of like, all you had to do was ask, you know. And so I took my stuff off the seat and she sat down and her family sat down next to her. So I think there was three altogether. Yeah, three. So I'm fooling around with my phone and she all of a sudden starts sign language. I'm thinking to myself, oh my gosh, she's death. She can't hear.

That's why she was just looking at me. She didn't speak. And I felt horrible. I was like, I was about ready to tell her. Why don't you just open your mouth? She was deaf. The Lord was actually bringing me a gift. And she was signing to her friend.

And she apparently didn't know what number was up at the window right now. So she's thinking, how long do I have to wait? So I held up my number. And I gave her just a little bit of sign language and showed her my number. And that answered her question. and she showed me her number and we had this little relationship there at the Social Security Administration

but then when I was done changing my name I walked back and I looked at her and I don't know a lot of sign language but I looked at her and I did the signs for Jesus loves you so much and she let out with the noise and the people who are with her new sign language,

and they all start clapping, and they're going, the people over there that did speak were saying, yes, yes, Jesus loves us. And we're right there in the middle of the Social Security Administration building with all of these people sitting around, and here are people signing that Jesus loves you. And this is what we're talking about. I shared that just because God gives these gifts in the midst of Christmas.

And if you're frustrated with something around you or someone, just pause and look for an opportunity to love. For me, today, Christmas, it was quiet love. Quiet love, just a sign. No talking. Just a sign that in the midst of the chaos, Jesus loves you. Keep praying for me, my friend. I'll pray for you.

Just wanted to share that with you. bless you and I'll see you next week.