Bill is an average guy. Well, an average father of two who owns three businesses, one of which is struggling and takes him out of the state 4 or so days a week.
Last week, that trip also took him 17 feet in the air to do some maintenance work for the shop when he reached out to steady himself on a piece of equipment. Unfortunately it had been mis-wired and the equipment frame was ‘hot’, as in electrified, just waiting for Bill to come along and complete the circuit. With his own body.
As the high voltage went through him, unable to breathe or let go, he prayed that God would give him the strength to pull his hand off the machine. Somehow he did it, but in the process fell the 17 feet into a nailer machine. Fortunately for Bill, a horse had trampled on his right leg a few years ago, so when it hit the machine the titanium rod kept his leg from breaking. He received only a pretty nasty, deep cut in his leg, but he was alive.
Like I said, a regular guy.
But this is not about Bill, really. You see Bill and his wife, family and businesses to run, have taken care of LJ for the past few years. LJ is a member of our church.
He’s a 60 year old single guy living in a basement efficiency apartment, smaller than my living room. He works across the street at Damon’s making sure the 4 big screens are showing the right games for the folks who come to watch, eat and drink. He’s got congestive heart failure and diabetes. He’s on blood thinners, so he can’t shave. He’s always got pain in his back and finds it hard to sleep, so he’s always tired. He has little family and who he does have is hundreds of miles away in Kentucky. He’s just trying to make it to retirement, so he won’t have to walk across the street to work any more.
Bill makes sure he gets to church. He (or his wife) makes sure LJ gets his groceries and doesn’t have to carry them home. He makes sure he’s got money if he needs it. He, and others, get LJ to his doctors appointments. Tonight, I was fortunate to be the one to make sure he got to church and to make sure he got some groceries. He promissed he would pay me back after payday, but as far as I’m concerned I’ve already been paid.
LJ is one of the bright spots of the church. He smiles often and it warms the room when he does. He knows that Jesus loves him and he loves Jesus too. My kids, and others, just love LJ and he loves them. They run to him and give him a big hug. For years, LJ played a very convincing Santa at the church Christmas party.
Apart from the church, LJ would be a lonely man in a tiny, crowded basement apartment. He’d have no one and nearly nothing and no one would care. He’d walk to the store and back with his groceries. And few, if any, would be warmed by that smile.
That’s what the gospel is good for.
Category: Just Like Jesus
Jasper Christian Church
Go read Daniel’s post about the blessings of being a part of his church, the Japser Christian Church. He describes a fellowship of believers that sounds to be exactly what Jesus wanted us to be. That is why He came, to become like this. Here’s a snippet:
What can I say about our small group and others in our church family? They’ve been an absolute gift from God, there’s no other explanation. A journalist isn’t exactly the career choice for one who wants to be fabulously wealthy and times are often tight in our household. I am the financial worry-wort of the family and I have shared that struggle with our group often.
But, it’s amazing how, when you share a struggle with a small group that’s really intends to share their lives together, God uses those people to provide for you.
Go read the examples of God working in concert with people in tune to His Spirit and the needs of others to make a difference in the life of one family. Very, very encouraging.
A Sad Farewell
It started with a simple question (“Would you be interested in coming to church with me?” or something similar) delivered at the gas pump. Bob, about 5′ 8″ white guy, was asking James, about 6′ 3″ bald headed black man he didn’t know. As it turned out, James’ marriage was on the rocks (the divorce papers were on the passenger seat), he was new in town and ready for help.
That was 6 or 7 years ago. James came to church, his wife Kym moved to Columbus, they were baptized and their marriage was restored. Today the church mourned their last day with us as James has accepted a job in Louisville. James has been out of work for months, this new job is long overdue. They will be closer to family, but we in Columbus will miss them greatly.
Today the church had an outdoor service and picnic afterwards where we honored them and what they’ve given to this church. Person after person stood and paid tribute to this family that was all but destroyed when we met them, but turned around to give far more than they received. They have been through much over the past year or so. He’s lost and acquired several jobs, her sister was killed in a tragic car crash, other family members have been sick, Kym lost her eyesight in one eye from sinus surgery, James tore up his knee (twice), they found out their youngest son has a blood disease and they’ve had their home here on the market for about a year and the mortgage company has blocked several offers on it.
If you had met them at any time during this you would have never known anything was wrong. Their lives are characterized, just as Jesus’ was, by dedication to others. If there was a need for a place for a gathering, James and Kym would open their home, many times opening the door and leaving to allow the party to go on without them. They took people in when they were sick and couldn’t stay alone. Several who stood up today indicated how their being there – through counseling, advice, challenging or just as an example – had transformed their lives. More than one mentioned how their example had led them to consider how they personally might do more. Their love and concern are genuine and profound.
They did much of this on their own and in the background. Other than their leadership of our teen ministry for the past year or two (which they nearly begged to do, such was their heart for those kids) and a couple times leading a family group, they were not in an official leadership position. Yet their influence carried into marriages, singles, teens, and campus – really every corner of the church.
As I sat and listened to the sharing, I was struck by what an influence they have had here, quietly yet consistently, just due to their hearts. I wish them well; they leave a hole that won’t be easily filed.
A Work Day
This past weekend my sister and I went to our parents’ recitals – uh, shows. My Dad is an avid Barbershop singer (for about 38 years now) and my Mom is a tap dancer. Dad’s placed as high as 13th in international quartet competitions and Mom’s danced on the big star in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. On Sunday they did a joint show, so I got to see both of them perform in one outing. Most near 40 year olds are having Mom and Dad come watch their kids (we do that too), not going to watch their parents.
But that’s not the subject of this post. Heading to Toledo, I picked up my sister at a church gathering. I thought that her church marrieds group was having a retreat of some kind. Instead they were having a work day.
One of the group members lives in the country north of Columbus near Delaware OH. Not much around them, but the property next door is an older house that may have been an old farm house. There’s an elderly woman, in her late 70’s, living there alone. She’s evidently been pretty quiet, keeping to herself.
This past winter as this couple was leaving their home, they noticed something odd at the house. I don’t remember what, but something made them stop and check the woman’s home. They found her, without a coat in sub-freezing temps, on her porch barefoot. She had evidently gone out to get the mail or newspaper and locked the door. She dropped her keys along the porch and couldn’t retrieve them. She had taken her shoes off in her confusion thinking it might give her a better grip on the ice. Paramedics were called and when they arrived they were not able to get a body temperature to register on her. She spent some time in the hospital, but has recovered fine.
Since then, she’s warmed up to them a bit, and they to her. I suppose a near death experience will do that. They noticed that her property needed some attention, peeling paint, overgrown trees and flower beds, etc. So this couple arranged for their Bible study group to come up for a Saturday work party. They scraped and repainted, trimmed trees, cleared beds and planted flowers. The old woman, I guess, looked on at all these young folks (mostly in their mid 30’s) scurrying around her usually quiet property.
I picked up my sister before they were quite done, so I don’t know how she felt or what she said at the end. No matter, I guess, they were just doing as Jesus did and I know that He was thankful they cared.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
An Amazing Finish
Uchenna and Joyce win the Amazing race in style. After coming in last on the second to last pit stop, they were stripped of all their possessions and money for the final leg. After begging for cash and getting what looked like 6 or 7 hours behind, the caught up with the others in Puerto Rico. Both other teams made critical mistakes and Rob and Amber had trouble finding their last clue, putting Uchenna and Joyce in the lead. But the cab ride to the finish was more money – by like $50 – than they had, and Uchenna refused to go to the finish until they had paid the cabbie the full fare. Begging from the few pedestrians and passing cars, they managed to raise the money and pay the driver before the second place team arrived.
My hat’s off to Uchenna for insisting on doing the right thing, even with a million dollars on the line. It would have been easy to blow off ht lowly cab driver, I’m certain that Rob would have (heck I was kind of wishing he would!), and run for the finish, but he refused to walk on the little guy for his own gain. Am I making a big deal of this? You bet, but it is a big deal. Yeah, I know it’s an extravagant around the world race for fabulous wealth and to enrich the companies that advertise on the show, but in the midst of that, Uchenna managed to act like Jesus.
Righteous Among the Nations
I’ve meant to do more with this category and this story is just why I created it. I want to share stories I hear about people who go out of their way, sometimes at great personal risk, to take care of someone else. From The Week magazine, April 22, 2005, in the “It Wasn’t All Bad” section:
Israel has honored a World War II German army officer who saved about 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust. Maj. Karl Plagge ran a vehicle-repair facility for the army, using Jewish workers. When the SS began annihilating Jews in the nearby Vilnius ghetto, Plagge kept requesting more and more workers. He also convinced authorities to take along their families, supposedly to boost their motivation. The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial group accorded Plagge its coveted “Righteous Among the Nations” title. Plagge joins 20,757 others who have been recognized for saving Jews from the Nazis. Only 410 are German, and just a handful were German soldiers.
Go check out the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial site. You can read more stories of their “Righteous Among the Nations”, including the famous Oskar Schindler.
BTW – If you’ve never heard of The Week, you should check it out. It’s sort of like Cliff’s Notes for other newspapers and magazines, a collection of snippets from all over. They pull in opinion pieces from different sides of issues in the news as well as things from overseas sources. Good stuff.
Thanks Monica Stewart
I stayed work late tonight working on a personal project for a friend. I left work around 9:00. I got home and went to put my Sony Clie on the table, but it wasn’t hanging from it’s belt clip, only the broken pivot. A wave of panic came over me as I retraced my steps back to the office. I went out to the car, but it wasn’t there. The only other place it could be was in my office parking lot (20 miles North East) or in the office – or at the corner where I had jumped out to clean off the back window. Yikes. I’ve got about $200 in that thing between the Clie and the case, not to mention my debit card and driver’s license …
So after I downed some spaghetti, I headed back north. While on my way a nice woman named Monica Stewart (or Stuart?) saw it lying in the street where I had gotten out. She stopped and picked it up, somehow finding the number of a friend inside. He called my wife who called her back. Even though it was after 10:00 by now, she waited for me to arrive. I had no idea until I rounded the corner, scanning the ground for it and wondering what that blue van was doing there. Monica popped out of the van, waving her arms. “Are you Doug?” she asked with a big grin as she crossed the street. She handed me the Clie and headed quickly back to her van (It’s below 5 degrees in Columbus now.) I managed to thank her several times and determine that she had just picked her kids up from down the street when she saw it laying there. I figure she waited there for me for about a half an hour, with her kids in single digit temps.
Unfortunately someone else didn’t see it and it had been run over and the screen cracked to bits. But, I don’t have to worry about canceling my debit card and getting a new license. Thanks Monica.
An Inspiration
Kudos to Aaron and his wife Andrea at Radical Congruency for completing P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon in an effort to raise money for leukemia research and in honor of a kid named Samuel Job Mashariki Carrasco. They raised $5,000. Read about it here, it’s an inspiring account of a man who traveled across the country (From PA to AZ) to tackle an excruciating task for a child he doesn’t know.
I’ve been meaning to start a new category here called “Just Like Jesus” with inspiring anecdotes that remind me of Jesus’ character, compassion and concern for men. People that recognize a need or feel a hurt of another and take it on as their own, just as Jesus did. This seems like the perfect post to start that with.
Congrats Ogle’s.
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