If Jesus Was In Disguise...

 Yesterday I was picking up some medication at our local pharmacy which is in the same carpark as our supermarket. I was driving through the carpark on my way out when I say another car coming. For some reason I purposely stopped and let the other car go first. Then I saw who was driving the car and I was so glad I did. It was an elderly lady I knew from our outreach dinner!

Yesterday an elderly lady rang up. I thought it was someone ringing about The Little Haven, so I listened patiently. (I didn't catch her first words properly.) When she asked why she hadn't got her newspaper recently, I realized she had the wrong number! But the fact I thought she was ringing about the Little Haven, made me more patient. I am someone who does not like talking on the phone! And most of the phone calls we get are not people we know, which is annoying. You know, like surveys, spammers, or people fundraising for something.

There are times I've had a phone call after a few annoying ones, and I've thought it was another time waster. I was a bit short with them, and then realized they were ringing up in connection to my husband's outreaches!

My point is, how we view people can entirely change how we treat them. If we view them as a time waster, we can be very impatient. If we view them as someone we are trying to reach, we will be much more patient and kind. If we saw every human as someone we are trying to reach, what would we change? Often, we can be so focused on what we are doing and where we are going, that people across our path can just seem like hindrances.

I read a story to my children once about a railroad conductor. There was an old lame man at the station who was going to board the train. Because of how poor and lame he looked, the conductor treated him very unkindly. He was absolutely horrified when someone told him that the old lame man was the president of the railroad!

It makes me think that if Jesus was in disguise in our area, how horrified might we be?

I read another story recently which brought tears to my eyes. I will tell it how I remember it. A guy became a Christian and turned up at a conservative church where people were dressed up and everything was very proper. He came in with bare feet, jeans, a tshirt and scruffy hair. He walked down the aisle and couldn't find a chair. So, at the front of the church he just sat down on the carpet so he could listen to the preacher. Slowly making his way down the aisle to this guy came an old elder with a walking stick. Every body watched to see what this elder would do with this guy who was so out of place and sitting on the floor. He painfully knelt down and joined him on the carpet! (I don't know about you, but I thought he was going to kick him out.) Tears still come to my eyes every time I think of the ending of that story!

How do we view people? How do we treat people?

 These thoughts are to challenge myself, but I hope they will challenge and inspire someone else aswell.

"Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40