This well-known true (?) story reminds us of the power of small acts of kindness.
Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed that the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove, and a small tape recorder.
Mark knelt and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped the boy carry the burden. As they walked, he discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball, history, and that he was having lots of trouble with his other subjects.
They arrived at Bill’s home first, and Mark was invited in for a Coke and they also watched some television together. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk; then Mark went home.
They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once in a while, then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up at the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally, the long-awaited senior year came and, three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill reminded Mark of the day years before when they had first met. “Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother’s sleeping pills, and I was going home to commit suicide.’"
Bill told Mark that he realized that he didn’t want to die after spending time together talking and laughing. “I would have missed that time with you and many other good times in my life that followed. I am trying to say, Mark, that you did a lot more when you picked up those books that day. You saved my life.”
When you reach out to someone with the love of Jesus, you might not be saving them from ending their life, as Mark did for Bill, but you just might change the direction of their life, even a little. Who knows what can happen when we reach out to people who are experiencing hurts, feeling left out, dealing with painful obstacles, and more?
In one of the last stories He told before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus gives us a glimpse into the future. The Son of Man will come and will separate the sheep from the goats. What is the difference? The sheep have unknowingly ministered unto Jesus Himself! “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35-36).
In a Star-Advertiser article dated April 10, 2021, Anton Krucky, executive director of the city Office of Housing, stated Oahu is now home to an estimated 3,000 people living on the street and another 3,000 who are sheltered. And 400 people who had been living in homeless shelters had to be forced out because of COVID-19 limits calling for a 30% reduction in beds, he said. “When you say that it (homelessness) seems to be growing on the streets, it actually is.”
Are you willing to help reach out to those in need, knowing you are ultimately ministering unto Jesus Himself? We can make a difference if we are faithful to follow the Lord and work together. There is great power in Unity!
This Sunday, August 15, is Compassion Sunday. Pastor Ron Peer will show us how we too can share the love of Jesus with our city’s poor and homeless. Please pray for the Lord’s anointing on this very important Sunday.
Hopefully you can join us in-person in the building at 10:35am for worship. If not, please join us online for the Live broadcast on both Facebook (Search: Honolulu AG) and our YouTube channel (Search: Honolulu Assembly of God). A link will also be posted later that day to our website (honoluluag.org).
Aloha and Aloha ke Akua!
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