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Laurence Housman put a blessing to the truth when he wrote:
Light looked down and beheld darkness.
Thither will I go said Light.
Peace looked down and beheld war.
Thither will I go said Peace.
Love looked down and beheld Hatred.
Thither will I go said Love.
So came Light and shone.
So came Peace and gave rest.
So came Love and brought life.
And the Word was made flesh
And dwelt among us.
There is a knock at the door. It
is late and your response is one of irritation and perhaps the
beginning of a little fear - who could be calling at this hour? “Ouch!” you mutter as you trip over a pile of school books, “can’t that kid ever put away his stuff?”
As you look out your open window, a scowl crosses your face. The front porch light shines brightly on a figure strangely garbed. Who on earth is this man dressed in a long, white robe and sporting a beard? And look at those hands. Those scars…I wonder how he got those?
“May I come in?” he asks. His voice is soft but still penetrates the insulation of the door.. As you open the door you think to yourself, I know better than this. After all, it’s the year 2004 and you just don’t open the door to some stranger. But
the expression on his face, the way he speaks, pushes aside your fears
and though you are certainly not in the habit of admitting just anyone
into your home, especially in the middle of the night, you move aside so
he may enter. For some reason you feel at peace. A quietness settles inside you. Something is strange…different…heavenly? Yes, heavenly, that’s the word.
He walks into your living room and picks up the magazine from on the couch where you had dropped it when you answered his knock. He puts it back and picks up the TV Guide from the coffee table and glances at the favorite programs checked off so they won’t be forgotten. And you realize they are more than mere choices - they define who you are. He says nothing, just looks up at you. Is he about to make some sug-gestions? But he doesn’t have to - you already know good programs and programs not so good.
“You had a busy day.” And it isn’t a question, it is a statement from one who has been with you all day long. Your legs are now a little shaky and lower you into the chair next to his. “The world makes one weary,” he continues.
Weary! That’s not the half of it, you think to yourself. And again, you are aware that he does know the half of it. That this stranger knows what you have thought and done all of your life.
He looks across the room to where hangs a copy of The Lord’s Prayer in a golden frame. “It’s a good prayer,” he muses. “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come…” and he stops.
Why did he stop on those words you wonder…thy kingdom come…? And some words begin to form in your head. “Where He leads me I will follow; I’ll go with Him all the way.”
It is almost midnight. A stranger is has just sat down beside you in your favorite chair. Without really thinking about it, you left it there for him. You are singing hymns in your head…and you begin to wonder if you are losing your mind.
“I think we both need some sleep now,” and the voice is, compelling and powerful. There is no way, really, to describe the voice. You lead him to the guestroom and gently close the door.
Come morning he is at the breakfast table looking out over your neighborhood. There is a look of such sorrow, such lamenting on his face.
“Mornin’, dad, mom…” your son has burst upon the scene. “Who’s your friend? And what’s with the robe bit?”
You cringe at his rudeness.
The morning paper lies on the floor beside his sandled feet. It is wet, but the sun is shining. Could it be from tears? The headlines blare WAR IN…. and you realize that where the war is, is really a fill-in-the-blanks kind of thing. There seems always to be a war somewhere.
And a caption under a picture reads 150 KILLED IN A TERRORIST PLOT. And in smaller print the paper lets you know that a 15-Year-Old Guns Down Friend. You are all too aware that the rest of the paper will tell all about rape, and pillage and pain. Man’s inhumanity to man.
The rude, the crude, the irreverent elevated to an importance greater than acts of kindness, love, forgiveness. “It is the way of man,” he comments for he is reading your thoughts. And there is such a sadness on his face as he says it.
This is Sunday morning and there’s no need to hurry through breakfast. No where to go. No work to rush off to. No football or baseball game demanding your son’s time, at least not this Sunday morning. You may go to church. You may not.
As
happens too often, conversation turns to gossip about the neighbors,
caustic comments about a fellow worker, complaints about everything and
anything. Your family has done this for so long it seems incapable of doing otherwise.
For
awhile the stranger just sits and listens, then he looks at you with
those eyes and gently says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Thy kingdom come… Now you know why He stopped at those words. You know why there is a catch in His throat as He speaks of love.
And as you look at Him you think, do I want You this close? Sitting at my table? Maybe even going with me to work tomorrow? Becoming perhaps a permanent resident in our home? And tears begin to form in your eyes for you honestly think, I don’t know. I’m not really sure.
He has walked over to your desk and picked up a letter you have been writing. Anger and frustration build inside you. Meddling or mending? you wonder. Your letter is one of retaliation. There is rancor in it. Someone has hurt your feelings and you are fighting back. You always fight back when you are hurt. You always say to yourself, “I will show them.” You know false pride makes you act the fool, but you cannot, you will not, act any differently.
As He finishes reading it, he simply raises his eyes and in a tone more serene than you have ever heard before comments, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.”
And you think of all the fights and feuds in your lifetime. The petty and the picayune with their driving force. The snubs given, the slanders expanded upon, the thoughtless stories spread. You think about that and how it is hurting you and hurting others.
He walks over and takes your hand in His, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And suddenly you know this scene has been played out a million times a million times. One Jesus of Nazareth, the resident expert on life who would have us set the thermostat of our souls on God control. Planting our emotional and spiritual feet on top of the hill, Golgotha, and thereby viewing the world with a new perspective.
“Love God and do as you please.” That’s the way St. Augustine put it. Not just believing in God. That makes it legal, but it’s not a relationship. Knowing that if we do not bow down before the God who made us, we will bow down before God’s of our own making.
Do you hear that knocking sound? It IS Christ knocking at the door to your heart.
And
if you let Him into your heart and home, let Him sit in your favorite
easy chair, allow Him to take up residence in your guestroom - beware.
For if you really let it happen, you will never be the same again.
And,
of course, if you have already let it happen, you know that what I have
just said is absolutely, fantastically, wonderfully, overwhelmingly
true.
TO
WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all
around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and
Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is
worth the wait)
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING
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QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book
"Positive,
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strength."
Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)
"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an
extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the
spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very
readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the
President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'
William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn
"Wyrick
has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of
American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and
readable book that has a rich depth of information."
Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister
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