For God does not show favoritism. – Romans 2:11 (NIV)
Why do think God may not show favoritism? How do you show favoritism? Why do you show favoritism? How great is it that God does not play favorites with you?
The following story was e-mailed to me about a soldier coming home from Vietnam:
He called his parents from San Francisco.
“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve got a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring with me.”
“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”
“There’s something you should know the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mined and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”
“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”
“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”
At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.
A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.
We are not very good at accepting others for who they are. We are not even very good at accepting ourselves for that matter. Thank God we accepted by God! However, if we are to be true to the God we follow, worship, and praise, we would do good to ensure that others who feel unloved in this world might find that we do not play favorites too. In that way those who feel they have no place in this world might find a place in our presence.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Showing posts with label alone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alone. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Where is God When We Cry
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest. – Psalm 22:1-2 (NRSV)
Have you ever felt like crying out like this? What was going on in your life? How bad was it? Where was God when you made this cry? Did this cry ever pass?
The following story has been sent to me before, and I have since discovered that it is a Fred Craddock story.
Nettie and I got acquainted in Chautauqua, New York, with a minister who had no arms. He was born with nothing from here. No arms. He was telling us one day there at Chautauqua the experience of learning to put on his own clothes without any arms. He said his mother always dressed him, and he’d gotten to be a pretty big boy. She fed him, she dressed him, she fed him, she dressed him. One day she put his clothes in the middle of the floor and said, “Dress yourself.”
He said, “I can’t dress myself, I don’t have…”
She said, “You’ll have to dress yourself,” and she left the room.
He said, “I kicked, I screamed, I kicked, I screamed, I yelled, ‘You don’t love me anymore!’ Finally, I realized that, if I were to get any clothes on, I’d have to get my clothes on.” After hours of struggle, he got some clothes on. He said, “It was not until later that I knew my mother was in the next room crying.”
I don’t know if God distances God’s self from us, but I know sometimes we feel distant.
Maybe God seems far away because there are times that God wants to make sure we know we can do what seems impossible to us. God isn’t really far away at all, just waiting for us to figure out that we can do things we never knew we could. So we cry out in our anger and our pain until we cannot cry anymore. Then looking at whatever obstacle is in front of us we charge ahead. And that is the answered prayer. Not that God does it for us, but that God just lets us be long enough to figure out that we can do it for ourselves, that we are stronger than we ever knew, that we are capable of the impossible, and God knows what else. So let cry our cries and shout our shouts, sooner or later we may find out that God was there the whole time.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest. – Psalm 22:1-2 (NRSV)
Have you ever felt like crying out like this? What was going on in your life? How bad was it? Where was God when you made this cry? Did this cry ever pass?
The following story has been sent to me before, and I have since discovered that it is a Fred Craddock story.
Nettie and I got acquainted in Chautauqua, New York, with a minister who had no arms. He was born with nothing from here. No arms. He was telling us one day there at Chautauqua the experience of learning to put on his own clothes without any arms. He said his mother always dressed him, and he’d gotten to be a pretty big boy. She fed him, she dressed him, she fed him, she dressed him. One day she put his clothes in the middle of the floor and said, “Dress yourself.”
He said, “I can’t dress myself, I don’t have…”
She said, “You’ll have to dress yourself,” and she left the room.
He said, “I kicked, I screamed, I kicked, I screamed, I yelled, ‘You don’t love me anymore!’ Finally, I realized that, if I were to get any clothes on, I’d have to get my clothes on.” After hours of struggle, he got some clothes on. He said, “It was not until later that I knew my mother was in the next room crying.”
I don’t know if God distances God’s self from us, but I know sometimes we feel distant.
Maybe God seems far away because there are times that God wants to make sure we know we can do what seems impossible to us. God isn’t really far away at all, just waiting for us to figure out that we can do things we never knew we could. So we cry out in our anger and our pain until we cannot cry anymore. Then looking at whatever obstacle is in front of us we charge ahead. And that is the answered prayer. Not that God does it for us, but that God just lets us be long enough to figure out that we can do it for ourselves, that we are stronger than we ever knew, that we are capable of the impossible, and God knows what else. So let cry our cries and shout our shouts, sooner or later we may find out that God was there the whole time.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)