“But a Samaritan, who was on a
journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he had
compassion, and came to him and
bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put him on his own
beast, and bought him to an inn and took care of him”
(Luke 10:33_34).
Hey Gang: I
introduced you to Happy Harry some time ago.
He was a very special person in my life.
Why? Because he taught me there are far greater things more important
than being in the “in club.” I have
been amazed, though the past nearly seventy years since I last saw Happy Harry,
that my memory of him is so very clear.
When the question is asked, “Who made the greatest impact on
you in your walk with the Lord?” My answer has always been my Grandma, my
mother and God’s gift to me in His giving me the bride-of-my-youth and, I would
also add, Happy Harry.
We have been to the Holy Land of Israel on several
times. Each trip was a magnificent
learning experience. On most trips our focus was on loving Israel and getting
our hands dirty in fulfilling the Word where it says, “Gentiles will bring the
children and home help to rebuild the walls.” Each trip had its life’s edifying
experiences.
But on two of the trips we were truly blessed to have a
wonderful Bible-Scholar Teacher and one who had made many trips to the ‘apple
of God’s eye’ as our leader. These trips
were very special because, although we had a set itinerary, with only twelve in
our group and traveling in a van, we moved much faster than the large bus tour
groups that spent much of their day providing for the basic needs of their many
travelers. It allowed us to go where we
pleased and made many more stops each day.
On one of these trips, we shared Sunday devotions at the
trail head of the place most agree was the pathway that Jesus refered to in His
story of the Good Samaritan. It is a
common pathway, although not as much traveled as in past times when there was
much better relationships between neighbors.
It is interesting to note, that the path is still plagued with bandits
and thieves.
As I reread the story of the Good Samaritan the thing that
seemed to stick out was “he happened by”.
I love the story of the events that transpired after the crucifixion
where each of the gospel writers made the point that “the women were
there”. No big deal, right? But when we are in the midst of a wilderness
experience, is it not comforting to
have a brother or sister in Christ that has walked that same
wilderness experience take us by the hand.
The Lord has blessed me with the ability to be an encourager
of children who have made bad choices and their world looks very dark. We had a saying in the juvenile hall, we
could tell how tough a kid was by how many hours he cried at night.
Thursday nights were always a very crucial time for the kids
who were awaiting their pick-up to take them to the facility where they would
“pull their time”. At that moment, there
was no hardness, no shells, just emptiness of mind, soul and heart.
As I went room to room and sat on the edge of each bed,
perhaps for the first time in their broken lives, they were truly truthful with
themselves and even a few knew they had failed all. Even God
Those Thursday night built a raging fire in my gut to either
do something about these kids that believe they have no hope or become a
plumber’s helper. God looked down and
said, “You will make a lousy plumbers help so why don’t you be my legs and
let’s build an oasis that will salvage thousands of these floundering
kids.”
Sooo, my young friends, It doesn’t take some great college
degree or high position in life to be a Good Samaritan like Happy Harry, it
only takes your willingness to “be obedient.”.
Blessings,
Gramps
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