You Never Know Where a Small Good Deed May Lead

I will begin my official retirement on May 13th, 2013.

 

Matthew 14

Some things that are very important are very difficult.

You never know where a good deed may lead.

The men and women who have stood firm with God throughout history have had some hard times. Elisha and John the Baptist come to mind as well as Isaiah and Jeremiah. The ultimate perfection in standing with the Father in heaven is Jesus. He, too, was killed for standing up for the truth. He never let it change His love for people.

Here are five of the seven sayings from the cross:

“Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

“Today you will be with me in paradise.”

“Mother, your son. Son, your mother.”

“Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.”

These sayings showed where His heart was as He was dying ~ with God and with people.

Stephen gave a speech in Acts 7 in which he pointed out how God’s children can be stubborn about doing the right thing. He died with love and grace in His heart. As he was being stoned to death, he said , “Father, do not lay this sin to their charge.”

God has a vision for how things work the best and we rarely follow His way. His bold prophets just keep pushing forward for the will of God to be done.

Sometimes the best of people are the ones who have the hardest times on this earth. Mother Teresa worked with the poorest of the poor. She stood up for what she believed regardless of where she was. Once I remember her speaking at an event where President Bill Clinton was present. At the end of her speech, she added, “Mr. President, you need to do something to stop the abortions in this country.” Then she sat down.

People will come to us when we stand with God. They need compassion. We need to receive, love and help them with forgiveness and a fresh start if they want that from Jesus. We need to gently draw them to walk along with us as we search for the best way to honor our Savior.                      

Compassion is a very healing thing.  I heard on the news yesterday of a forty-year-old woman who is a leader in the military affairs in Washington D.C.  She was raised in an orphanage and had always wondered about how she got there.  Someone wrote her story in a small circulation Vietnamese newspaper.  A man saw her name, “Little Pearl”. He remembered one of the last things he did as South Vietnamese soldier was to blow up a bridge to slow down the enemy forces.  Just prior to that, a man told this soldier, “There is a baby on the other side trying to nurse her dead mother. Go see.” The soldier rescued the baby.  The baby grew up to become a leader in the US military. The soldier was expatriated to the USA. They met recently for the first time. You never know where a good deed may lead. The darker the night, the brighter is a candle lit for good.                                                                                                 

Look to heaven in dark times and pray.  I get so busy in my world that I don’t take time to pray.  Because of breaking my tendon loose from my knee cap, I have had 23 days of withdrawal from the normal activities of my world. Some of the time has been wasted, but the time when I prayed and connected with God, my Father, and Jesus, my older brother, has been good.                                                              

I have determined to start over again to surrender the control of my life to God. It is a moment-by-moment experience for me. I haven’t arrived at any new insights in the 23 days. The 2,000 year-old Gospel has become more precious to me.  Jesus’ grace, mercy and gentleness have become clearer. The number of great doctors and nurses and the American medical system has stood out as a blessing.   

I was very restless during some of the nights with my leg straight in a brace. God was there to be near to me when Sheila needed rest. Sheila and I have been married 45 years. She has kept her vows when it was hard, “in sickness and health”. She is not only my wife, best friend, editor, secretary, but now, my nurse for three years in a row.  Marriage, from my point of view, is a good thing.

Storms come into a marriage and into a family. Jesus is often in the midst of the storm telling us that He is in control and things will be okay. He is the voice that says, “It is I. Take courage. Don’t be afraid.” He will do amazing things to help us through the storm. Sheila and I have had hundreds of people praying for us in these medical emergencies for the last three years. Jeff, Donna, Amy, Jared and Jordan, our siblings have been prayerful and helpful in many ways. Our brothers and sisters in Jesus have gone the second and third mile of service.  The Southeast church in Aurora has supported us with prayers, salary and medical coverage
for 30 years. How could we be more blessed?                                                                                                                   
            I will begin my official retirement on May 13th, 2013. We hope to move closer to our son and daughter-in-law in the Fort Worth area in the next few months.                                                                                               
          Jesus’ people are the most amazing people. You never know where a good deed may lead. 
              My small encounters with suffering have taught me that I need to look at Jesus and not at the winds in a storm.  One writer put it this way.  God is the mountain and the current storm is just the weather for the day.                                                                                                                                                                                 
            Sheila and I will never retire from trying to help others in the way we have been helped, but simply change the location and arrangements.

Compassion is a very healing thing. The concern and investment of people in my healing has been significant. I hope to come out of these three years of hospital experiences with a deeper commitment to compassion for the lame and hurting.                                Larry Wishard