"Do not judge, and you will not
be judged, and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned, pardon, and you
will be pardoned. Give, and it will be
given to you. They will pour into your
lap a good measure - pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be
measured you in return". Luke 6:37-38).
Hey Gang: Lesson one, to every young person who crossed
my path, began with a very basic principle: "We are going to reap what we sow". (Gal. 6:7). It doesn't matter whether you believe it or
not, it works every time. The reason I
have a deep compulsion to alert the troops to this principle is that I learned
the hard way. It is a principle set in concrete and I have many examples tucked
away in my life that proved this principle so I could teach it with a great
deal of gusto.
I believe Luke was driving home a point that we all need to
understand: We have much to do with the harvest of our lives. Keep in mind, we are not harvesters but planters
only. However, Luke tells me I will
receive in the same measure that I give, that I pardon (forgive), and in the
same measure that I love, even those folks that tend to tick me off.
In the last morning message I mentioned two boys who impacted
on my life greatly. Two boys that had a
common denominator- their lives were a mess, and they had committed sufficient
crimes to be placed in a facility where their lives were totally controlled,
even to the point of when they went to the rest room. Ted
was considered dangerous enough to staff and other residents, that he had to be
locked away in the isolation cells in another part of the building.
He had been with us for several weeks and was scheduled for
pick up and be transported to a juvenile prison down state. My job on this, his last night with us, was
to check him every half hour and make sure he was okay, and provide for his
needs. His room was secured with a cage
inside of a room and a slot in the door where I could push his food through and
provide for those needs that he was permitted to have, which on this occasion
was 'zip'.
On the first six visits he greeted me with a string of
expletives that turned the entire hallway blue; but on the seventh trip, I
found him sitting in the corner of the cell with what appeared to be a young
man in deep thought, and no expletives.
On the next round I found him sitting in the same corner with the same
deep-in-thought look.
At that point I asked him if he was okay and if I could help
him. We used to have a saying in the
detention home that we could tell how tough a kid was by how many hours he
cried himself to sleep at night. I saw
no overt tears, but I believe I did see Ted cry that might, perhaps not outside
tears but I sensed he was crying inside.
In a calm voice he said, "Mr. H. could you get me something to
read?”
Keep in mind this sixteen year old, 200 pound, very good-looking
young man had never been to a church in his life. I asked him one night if anyone had ever
talked to him about Jesus and his response was an emphatic, "NO". I then asked him if he ever felt pangs of
guilt when he was involved in one of his crime sprees; I was amazed with his
answer, “Yes, sometimes I even cried.” He
said, “I often felt like someone or something was telling me it was wrong.
The only reading material I had available to give him was a
Gideon Bible. On my final check of the
night I found Ted sitting in that same spot in the corner reading the
Bible. That night, in a cold cell he
gave his life to Jesus and a profound change came into his life. And that is a story in itself that I will
share at a future date.
Soooo, what is the nuts of bolts of this morning message,
Luke wrapped it up in seven wonderful words, "Give and it will be given to you". John wrote, "For God so loved He Gave". Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News”, and ‘Jesus
loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so’. SOOO, Why Eagle Village? Because Jesus loves
me and I want every child,that brings their baggage of pain and agony to my
door step to know that. I want them to know
there is a Savior who loves them, and died in their place so that one day all
the hurts will be gone and they will run and leap and praise God in that place
called "Paradise."
I pray you will join with me and pray for each of the more
than one hundred children who are at Eagle Village today, because God provided
for all the wildernesses we experienced as we followed His commission to
"Go and build a refuge for hurting children".
Blessings,
Gramps
No comments:
Post a Comment