Luke 24:13-17, “And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?”
The Lord took the time to hear people's story. Everyone has a story! I think one of the saddest commentaries on today's shallow church pastors is that they are TOO BUSY to take the time to listen to someone's story. I have attended numerous churches over the years, where I had started to share my story, but they didn't want to hear it. I told them of my constant neck pain. I told them that I am divorced and hurting in my soul, lonely and tired. But they didn't ask to hear my story. I so often have hoped that a pastor would invite me out for lunch, or to come into his church office, so he could hear MY STORY and pray for me. But they didn't.
My website intimidates some pastors. I literally had one pastor stand afar off, observing me with admiration from 50 feet away, but he wouldn't come near to speak with me. At first my feelings were deeply hurt, for a few months. But as time passed the Lord helped me to understand that my sharp tone of writing intimidates people, especially pastors who don't know me personally. In truth, I am a big Teddy Bear. I am admittedly a social misfit. In any group I feel awkward, like I don't belong. Many people feel like that. I have always been that way my whole life. I can get up and boldly preach to 10,000 people, but then out of the pulpit I am an introvert, reserved, private and self-conscious.
When is the last time dear friend that you took the time to hear someone's story. Some of my fondest memories in life was when I took the couple hours to befriend someone, to just let them talk and tell me everything that they wanted to tell me. You would be amazed at the stories people will tell you. I have heard countless stories from hurting people about situations in their life where someone did them wrong, or lied about them, or betrayed their trust, and they just need to share their pain with others. I don't know about you, but I always feel like a million bucks after I get a chance to share MY STORY with others.
I remember in 2013 at a Watchcare Meeting, at a staff members house on Guam at the church I was attending. We were all sitting around outside. About 40 people from the church came to the event. I was new. It was around Thanksgiving time. As we sat and talked, they were curious about who I was and MY STORY. I didn't plan to tell my story, but I did, and about one dozen people sat around and listened to all the suffering I had been through. I shared my painful divorce, losing my home, my longtime chronic neck pain and failed surgeries, my loneliness and losing $50,000 in a failed attempt to move from Guam back to the United States in mid 2013.
In desperation I came back to Guam, after surviving out of a suitcase for 4 months. I distinctly remember that some of the group were crying, as they sympathized with my suffering. I shared many hurts and pains with them, and how God had delivered me through it all. I couldn't remember the last time I felt that loved. I had met some true friends who cared about me. I had a church family. That was one of the happiest days of my life. A man who was there said he had an apartment for rent, and I gladly accepted his offer. I lived in that rundown apartment for the next 7 years until 2021 when I finally moved to Pensacola, Florida.
What made that day so special to me was that a group of people took the time to hear MY STORY. When you take the time to hear someone's story, you are showing them that YOU CARE about them. People don't care what you know, until they know that you care. Taking the time to hear someone's story shows them that you care. I love to hear people's story. Jesus saw two men walking along the road to Emmaus. He saw that they were sad. Jesus approached them and asked them why they were so sad, because He wanted to hear THEIR STORY.
As I am writing this blog, I just remember a wonderful sermon by Evangelist Tom Williams titled: 'On Our Way To Be A Christian We Often Forget To Be One.' There are lonely people in nursing homes all across America who have been forgotten about, and no one cares about them. What a ministry opportunity! All across America men and women are rotting behind bars in prison, forgotten about by the rest of busy society. Most people think they are getting what they deserve, and couldn't care less about them. But friend, God still loves them and they still have a soul. They need to hear the Gospel. Somebody needs to take the time to go visit them to hear THEIR STORY.
To the same degree that American society sinks into the depths of sin, people don't want to hear other people's STORY. We have become selfish. People don't care as they should. As our society descends into wickedness and perversion the divorce rate is skyrocketing because we can't get along with each other anymore. We have become a very selfish society. I had reserved a hotel for 31-days. I had my confirmation information with me. Everything was set to go. But my flight was delayed because United Airline's plane had a mechanical issue on Guam. I had paid $2,500 for a Business Class flight. Because of United Airlines' fault, my 23 hour flight turned into a 43 hour flight. So I missed my connecting flight to Denver.
Instead of my Business-class seating, I was put into an inferior seat and my trip was not very enjoyable. My neck pain was horrible. I don't recommend United Airlines. They took my money and I didn't get what I paid for. Consequently, the Woodspring Suites Hotel in Pensacola cancelled my 31-day reservation, because they were greedy and instead of my $55 a night reservation, they could bilk people over the 4th of July weekend for much more money. I end up sleeping in Wal-Mart's parking lot for 3 nights. The Bible teaches that since I am a child of God, that hotel hurt and defrauded Jesus (Matthew 25:45).
Dear reader, I encourage you to take the time to listen to people's STORY. There are lonely people in elderly homes all across the country who never receive a visit from their own children. That is a sin! Consider the millions of homeless and hurting people on the streets of our nation, and that the problem never goes away. The reason why is because people are selfish and don't care about the poor. What most people do is foolishly donate money to some fat-cat charity which pays its executives outrageous 6-digit salaries.
Go to Charity Navigator and type in the name of your favorite charity to see how much money the CEO gets paid annually. You will be absolutely disgusted as I am! Just think if all those billions of dollars in ridiculous executive salaries were given directly to the poor! There wouldn't be any poor. You could literally buy a home for every homeless person in America, if we just took all the money paid to charity executives and gave the money directly to the poor. Big charities are the biggest scam in the United States!!! For example: ASPAC (a charity to help suffering animals) paid its CEO Matthew Bershadker $852,231 in 2019). That is sickening! Yet they beg TV viewers for 63 cents a day to help hungry abused animals. You are a fool if you donate money to these scammers! I'm sure you will agree that people come before animals. The average life span of a homeless person in the U.S. is only 40 years!
I don't know about you, but I want to hear people's STORY. I look for opportunities to listen to hurting people. I tell them, “I'd like to hear your story.” You'd be surprised how many people who seem cold, uncaring and unfriendly just want to be loved. They just want to someone to care enough to listen to THEIR STORY! Jesus took the time to hear Nebuchadnezzar's story in John chapter three. Jesus took the time to listen to the story of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in John chapter four. Everyone has A STORY to tell and we ought to listen.
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