Once there was a young woman who had several small children, including a small baby. One day she went outside to hang cloths on the clothesline to dry. She had her small son with her, but he slipped back into the house and locked the door and she couldn't get back in.
The small boy had a fascination with matches and fire. He set the house on fire. Being just a small boy he didn't know what to do and his mother tried, but couldn't get back into the house. Of course, she was frantic and the situation was beyond her control.
Two men were working in a field nearby. They looked up and saw the fire and smoke. They rushed to the burning house and were able to gain entry. They were just in time as the flames had spread to the couch where the baby lay sleeping. They were able to save the baby and put the fire out. The two men were brothers. They were deaf mutes...both of them, but God directed them to look up from their work at just the right moment.
The reason that I know this to be a true story is because it was my own mother. The sleeping baby was my sister who married, raised a family and now has grandchildren. The boy was my brother. He had this love affair with fire. Later he set another fire and set the sandbank and brush on fire. He was finally cured of his penchant for fires after he dropped a burning match into a kerosene tank. The fumes exploded backwards and he was badly burned. It was his last experiment with flaming matches.
I met the two deaf-mute brothers when I was around 13 or 14. I didn't understand why my mother treated them so nicely and with such respect. Now, I do understand. They were in the right place at the right time and looking up from their work, gave my sister a chance to grow old and my brother another opportunity to learn that if you are not very careful you will burn your fingers badly.
I don't know all the pertinent details of that fire. I can't ask as my sister was only a small baby and my brother is deceased, as are my parents. I only know that it is a true story...no, not a story, but an incident of many years ago.
The reason I tell you this story is because everyone has a value, a worth in God's eye. We may not know our value or worth, but God does, and that is why He put us here. He uses us to glorify His name. Those two brothers certainly did live up to His expectation in that instance.
We are like those two brothers in many ways. The difference is that we do not always follow the path that He has set us on for one reason or the other. We have a choice in picking the direction we want to travel. Still, the choices we make may be exactly the options that God wants us to chose in life. There may be times that we run out of options, make the wrong turns, or just plain get run over by a Big Mack Truck, so to speak. God only knows what He wants and has in store for us. Sometimes we need to take a deep breath as we walk the road less traveled. We need to see, to hear and view the world in a new way. We should try to look upon our neighbors, brothers and sisters with corrected lenses. No, I don't have all the answers and I often make detours, but I keep moving along and pray that you do, too, and that I don't trudge along by myself.
+++
O LORD
YOU HAVE PROBED ME
AND YOU KNOW ME;
YOU KNOW
WHEN I SIT,
AND WHEN
I STAND.
YOU UNDERSTAND
MY THOUGHTS
FROM AFAR.
MY JOURNEY
AND MY REST
YOU SCRUTINIZE.
WITH ALL MY
WAYS
YOU ARE FAMILIAR.
Psalm 138: 1-4
END
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