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 4/15/98 Good morning.... +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ Just because the treasure box has
imperfections, doesn't mean that the treasure has no
value. +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ Good Morning Brethren!! Hope this finds you ok! Got some thought provoking stuff for you today..and hopefully we might, in the future think twice when we see someone that doesn't fit the usual "bill," in regards to their appearance. It's amazing how we subconsciously treat people according to the way they look. We can miss some beautiful hearts that way. May the Lord help us be sensitive in this area. Please..read on and be blessed!! Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? 2 Cor 10:7 Our house was directly across the street form the clinic entrance of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the clinic. One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face--lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus till morning." He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success -- no one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face... I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments. . ." For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: "I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning. I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. Meanwhile. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. "No, thank you. I have plenty." And he held up a brown paper bag. When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take long to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was preface with thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going. At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit I can sleep fine in a chair." He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind." I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us. In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious. When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. "Did you keep that awful looking man last night?? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!" Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh!--if only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God. Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse, As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all -- a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, "If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!" My friend changed my mind. "I ran short of pots," she explained, "and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden." She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one," God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. "He won't mind starting in this small body." All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand. The Old Fisherman JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§ We will more easily love the "undesirable people" and see them through the blood of Christ, as soon as we discern the fact that He died for them too. -Justaservn- JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§ I've concluded since I love God and can't
physically hug Him, as I hug His people, I am hugging
Him. As I show love to all men, I am showing love to Him.
I've asked Him to teach me how to love unconditionally so
I have to do my part to experience the example He has
set. JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§ "On the street I saw a small girl
cold and shivering in a thin dress, with little hope of a
decent meal. I became angry and said to God: 'Why did you
permit this? Why don't you do something about it?' For
awhile God said nothing. That night he replied, quite
suddenly: 'I certainly did something about it. I made
you.' JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§><<>@<><JE§U§ Prov 28:21 Me again Brethren!! Did you know that AOL has a special gift? It really does! That special gift, is an ability to enable humans to see past the externals, and look straight into the hearts of others. Let me ask you something. How many online friends have you gotten to know, without checking out their "face value," and yet, you drew close to them? Why do you think that is? Sometimes, we are blessed with the opportunity to see pictures, but if the truth be known, most people will only scan their best "shots," and even then, the "reality of the externals" is a bit vague. The point I am trying to make is this: I wonder, if we would still "buddy" up with these people if we got a gander at their skin suits first. Probably not. God's Word makes the reason for that very clear. 1 Sam 16:7 Since we can't see their face, or their daily habits, we watch the screen for the typed words that are poured out of these vessels. In essence, via IM's and chat rooms, we share our hearts with one another. How many times have we said to each other.."I wish we could meet!" You have developed a kindred spirit with this someone, and you literally "ache" to hug them, to make eye contact, to sit across from them, face to face. Ok, fast forward a bit. Let's say you DO meet this person. What happens next? I know that some of you reading this have already gone through this experience, while others are already making plans to do so. I'd like to share from my own point of view, based on my experience. So far, I have met 9 online friends. Six of these were couples, one was a dear Brother that I recently met online, one was a Christian Missionary, while another was a precious Sis, that drove 2 hours to see me! The last three were the only ones I met, that I didn't have a clue about their appearance. I have to say, that some of them were shockers. I don't mean they "looked bad." I mean they were not exactly what I pictured, despite seeing photographs. Somehow, our minds seem to build upon their images, and we make them "bigger than life." My friend Shannon, <the one I met in Denver> wrote an article based on HER standpoint of our meeting, and she titled it: "Will You Still Love Me If I'm Ugly?" And you know, that is a darn good question! Will we still love them, if they don't meet the standard that our minds have set for them? Will we judge by the externals once we have "seen" them, even though our hearts were knit together online? I'll just bet that some can testify to a "drifting away," afterward. It's like, the bubble has bursted, the magic is gone. And thus, what could have been a beautiful ongoing relationship, has hit the "skids." Look at it like this: You have a box, and inside this box is a pearl. You know this, but you haven't seen it yet. But you know that a pearl is in there. You start "talking" to the pearl, and sharing things, that you would never share with people, face to face. Then comes the day , you get to open your box. You are soo excited and your heart is pounding! As the box slightly cracks, you get a closer look. You open it wider, and your mouth drops open. Why, this pearl is marred! It has scars on it, and it is a bit discolored. It looks nothing like you dreamed it would, the nights you stayed awake, holding the box in anticipation. So, very discreetly, you set the box down....but not in the same room like you once did. You moved it to a different room. Then eventually you put it in a drawer. It was no longer a focal point in your day. As a matter of fact, you eventually forgot about it altogether. But you also forgot something else. It was STILL a pearl. Nothing will ever change that...but our perspective of it CAN change....if we judge "according to the flesh." I remember when I was a little girl, I was in a pharmacy with my parents, and this girl came in..and she apparently had the "Elephant Man's disease." I'll never forget the expression on the face of the lady at the counter. She looked at this girl with such love and compassion, and you could not tell by her countenance that she was taken aback. I, on the other hand, was wide-eyed and amazed. That receptionist was such a witness to me, a child, that was observing a Godly example. Will we still love them if they are ugly? I disagree with the saying that goes: "Beauty is only skin deep." I've seen some beautiful hearts online, and haven't a clue about how deep their "skin beauty" is. Doesn't matter. God put them in my path...and it humbles me greatly. If we are seeking Jesus, and we are focused on His Will....He will equip our hearts to see far past the skin..straight to their heart, and we won't have a computer in front of us when it happens, either. Because, what is poured in will spill out...and we will naturally love others "by the Spirit" no matter what they "look like." I just want to say to Bobby, Tiziana, Billie, Kellie, Tim, Shannon, Dewayne, Colorado Mike, and Casablanca Mike...."You guys are BEAUTIFUL, inside and out...and it was an honor and a privilege to meet you all. I know that I could have missed the true value of the pearls, but I am glad I didn't....and I am thankful that our paths have crossed! If and when I get the opportunity to meet more of my online "buds,"....I know it will be wonderful...because I will be sure to remember that you are my "pearls." And a lady treats her pearls with dignity. Of course, this is the part where my 'Sweetheart' says: "That's no lady, that's my wife!" God Bless you all!! I love you very much!! In Christ!!
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