The Same Measure You Use For God, God Gives Back To You

4/29/11

“….For God sees not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at t the heart.” (I Sam. 16:7 B).

I am 77 years old and have not been back to the place of my youth for more than sixty years but when I go through periods of trials and tribulations, my mind escapes to the mountains where  although we were poor as church mice, there are memories of joy, and a serenity that people seek with all their hearts in our world of confusion and rapid paced everything.

In the back country of the Appalachian Mountains they referred to their place of residence as living in a hollow (known as hollars).  I lived in “Hunky Hollar.  It was said that we lived so far back in the sticks the hoot owls wore knapp sacks and they had to pump sunshine to us.

The holler next to where we lived was called Mesquit Hollar and the only resident who lived there was an old man that we referred to , as you might guess as “Old Man”.  He was often the object of harassment on the part of some the roughens from the other hollars.   Most of time the only sign of life we saw around the Old Man’s beat up cabin was smoke from the chimney.

And then one day the chimney went cold.  The hour glass had passed ”Old Man” by.   A man from the bank often visited the Old Man.  I wondered why, he certainly did not appear to have any reason to see a banker.  After his death the banker visited the cabin and in looking around one last time, he found a glob of very soiled and used papers under the Old Man’s bed.

It turned out to be  “Old Man’s” Bible and it was filled with little pieces of paper that said “Sally, leg surgery”, Harry, glasses, Pete, teeth repair, Mary, college and many, many others.  As he collected all of the pieces of paper he remembered the many times that suddenly when someone who was in dire need of the visitation by a Good Samaritan they would find a pearl of great price under their door.

The “Old Man’s” funeral wasn’t to be much – probably one would come but the word of ”Old Man’s” pieces of paper began to circulate through all the hollars and on the morning of the funeral people began to arrive.  They had to move the funeral to the local park due to the massive number of folks that wanted to say thank you to the person they never met and many had never seen who believed in the great commission.

Was “Old Man” unique.  Yes in this day and age when so much emphasis is placed on “being your own man and taking care of number one” but I want you to know,  you have the power to make someone’s life a wee bit better today.   Be like the “Old Man”,  a doer of the Word.  

Blessing

Gramps