HMHY

I was going into the ATT office this morning and a young man stopped me and asked me for money. He had a story that sounded pretty good and was clean-cut and respectful (but of course the Devil can wear those attributes as well). I told him that I didn’t routinely give out money but if he wanted to I would pay him to work. Of course I couldn’t think of what work that might be at the time but I told him to wait around and after I concluded my business at ATT I would talk to him some more.

When I finished at ATT, I hoped he would be gone but nope there he was waiting on me. In the meantime I had thought of two jobs he could do… a hard one and an easy one. So I sprung the hard one on him and told him I had some brush that needed to be cleared and I would pay him $10/hour and could give him 3-4 hours work (Actually it was on the neighbors vacant land). I asked him why he didn’t have a job and if he had a drug or alcohol problem. He thought about the job and said he really needed $60-70 and could I give him a ride to Violet and Hwy 37 and he offered to ride in the back of my truck. I let him ride in the front and along the way he asked why I questioned him about a drug/alcohol problem. I told him because the reason most people aren’t working is because of some underlying problem and usually that is drug/alcohol related (laziness is a factor as well but I didn’t offer that). I then told him that I can usually find someone a job if I see something in them… like trying to work on sin in their lives. I told him that I teach a Bible class every Sunday morning at 9:30 am and gave him a church business card. He took it and thanked me.

I share this because when we choose to help someone we can offer a much greater gift than simply forking over some money. Believe me that would be easy for me to do and I wouldn’t miss the $20 or so that it would cost me to get rid of him. Instead, I offered to pay him for work. I gave him a ride up front (I wasn’t afraid of him). I expressed a level of concern for him and offered to help him with his physical needs if he would first address his spiritual needs, i.e. making peace with God though living righteously. That is a gift worth a lot more than $20. We’ll see what happens.

Building Us

Jesus, in John 17 while he was deep in prayer to his Father, prayed that his followers (you and I) would all be “one”. That we would bury pride and ego and live lives of service to each other… true humility. 1 Corinthians 12:26 adds further instruction to that concept. When one of the members is sad… all are sad. When one is happy… all are happy. We all understand these concepts but how should they be applied? In 1998, when my father died, fourteen from Parkway made the three hour drive to attend his funeral. I was impressed with that then and I’m still impressed. I understand the sacrifice that is made for such an effort and I’ll never forget it. I also understand that I’m a pretty high profile member at Parkway. Let me urge this… when one of our members, perhaps of a lesser profile, loses a loved one… attend that funeral. If there is a sacrifice in time that needs to be made then to the best of your ability make that sacrifice. At funerals, all the façade of self- control is stripped away and you see people in their purest form with all their raw emotions exposed. It is an experience that is huge in developing compassion and love for each other. Through those and other experiences we become a congregation that is a true family not just an assembly of casual acquaintances. Sometimes people will say, “Well I didn’t know the deceased”. No, but you do know your fellow Christian. Parkway is a great congregation but we can make it better. It becomes better when every member decides to live a life of service, expressed in deeds, to every other member in the congregation.