The Stranger

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say until him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?  James 2:1-5

My sister wrote to me yesterday from Arizona about something she witnessed in her church Sunday morning. This is what she wrote: 

"We went to church yesterday, and just as the band started the worship music, what appeared to be a homeless man came in and just stood at the front of the sanctuary next to the wall.  Security was close because they just didn't know what he would do.  The music went on fine, then he moved to the front wall on the other side, so one of the security guys went to sit in the front row.  The guy just hunkered down to the floor.  The sermon was about how suffering brings us closer to God.  We may not understand it, but it happens for the good.  Our Associate Pastor, who was preaching today, lost a daughter a little over a year ago, and he had lost another daughter prior to that.  He talked about how he felt like he stepped away from God a little, but he stayed in the Word, and he knows that God carried him and brought him closer to Him. 

At the end, our Associate Pastor had us all close our eyes and bow our heads and he began to pray.  He said that if anyone wanted to pray and accept Jesus, they didn't have to pray out loud, but the man on the floor did. Then the Pastor said another prayer, and the man repeated it aloud, then started crying.  When he first came in, I prayed he would be fine to remain in the service and that God would open his heart.  That is exactly what happened.  After the service, the staff went up and spoke to him.  He may have just wanted to get out of the heat, and who knows if he is homeless or not, but whatever happened was a blessing."

How differently this all would have turned out if this stranger had been asked to leave.  Instead, this assembly of Believers witnessed a miracle in the life of a man from the street who, perhaps, only walked in to escape the heat of the day.

He walked in homeless...

    he walked out with a home in Heaven...

            Isn't God good?

                But that's just me!