SCRIPTURE: Psalm 107:7-9
(TM)
He put your feet
on a wonderful road that took you straight to a good place to live. So thank
God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves. He
poured great draughts of water down parched throats; the starved and hungry got
plenty to eat.
STORY:
A young couple
moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating
breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
”That
laundry is not very clean”, she said. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap”
Her husband looked on, but remained
silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman
would make the same comments.
About one month later, the woman was surprised
to see nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: “Look, she has
learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?”
The husband
said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”
And so it is with
life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window
through which we look.
OBSERVATION:
Oh so many years ago, as a young pastor, the appointment
system of the Methodist Church took our family to live on a street in St.
Petersburg. We had neighbors of all sorts. There Methodists from a different
church. There were Catholics. There were Lutherans. All of them were unique and
loving and supportive. It was a great neighborhood. It was probably the best
neighborhood we have ever lived in.
There was one family, members of our new church to which we
were assigned. Their sons were mere teenagers. Tom, Pearl, Doug and Tommy Lang
became more than just neighbors ... more than just mere friends ... more than
fellow Christians on the journey through life. They became family.
Our lives began to be woven together. They walked with us
through happy times and sad, through laughter and tears, through death,
adoption, baptism, and weddings. Our hearts were interwoven at every turn of
life. They sure made our journey a lot easier during a particular difficult
time.
They placed no expectations or requirements on us as they
lent their new car to us when it wasn’t possible for me to journey with my wife
and sick son for those many, many medical trips to Gainesville. Their Tennessee
home became a second home to us for some much needed vacations. They were
special … very special … extra ordinarily special.
Through their love, concern, support and sharing they taught
our young family how to see others … with a purity of heart and soul. We are
eternally thankful.
Yesterday evening the patriarch of that wonderful family
entered into life eternal. Tom will be missed. He left a hole on earth that no
one else can fill, but he took his seat among all the saints of the church
before the throne of our Mighty God.
Tom was a college professor by trade, a Sunday school
teacher by desire, a gentle soft-spoken man by design, and a Christian by
choice … but he was always teaching by words, lifestyle or action. The window
through which he saw the world around him was clean, clear and pure. For his
life, his witness, his lifestyle, his servants heart, his teachings we remain
ever grateful.
He shared with me on Thursday from his hospital bed, “When
the EMT people were wheeling me in this morning I told God that I am ready to
come home if that is God’s plan or if my task here on earth isn’t finished and
God has something else for me to do here on earth, well, that’s okay with me as
well. I’m okay and ready either way.”
His journey on earth is now finished, but his joy is just
now starting to be realized in all of God’s glory! Praise be to God!
PRAYER:
Thank you for sharing your servant Tom with us for these
many years. Our lives were touched, transformed and made better because he
touched us in so many ways. The window through which we see others and the rest
of life is a lot cleaner because of him.
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