His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kind of esoteric and very, very bright.
He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it.
One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, trust me, this had never happened in this church before!)
By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick. About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves, You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?
It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can’t even hear anyone breathing. The people are thinking. The minister can’t even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won’t be alone.
Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control he says, “What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget……..
He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it.
One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, trust me, this had never happened in this church before!)
By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick. About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves, You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?
It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can’t even hear anyone breathing. The people are thinking. The minister can’t even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won’t be alone.
Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control he says, “What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget……..
Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read.” –author unknown
While looking for something to write on today, some “eloquent flowing words, that would touch your soul and challenge your mind“, I came across this simple story. and it struck a nerve with me. Why? Because I have been every person in this story. I have been “Bill”, young, full of zeal, and ready to save the world. My hair long, my clothes not “suitable Church attire”, my actions totally out of what you would normally expect in a Church.
I have been the congregation, looking at someone that is different than me, that may follow The Lord in a different way, wondering when the bouncer was going to come and remove him so that we could get on with the service and the way things are always done.
I have been the Deacon, where my actions were unexpected, and I embraced a person, even if those around me did not approve……
But the most powerful line from this story, one that I want everyone reading or listening to this devotional today to take away and apply to your lives is the last one. This line is a challenge to every Christian. Look at your life and how you live it, then search the scripture and look at how Jesus lived. If you find any discrepancies, change the things in YOU so that they match up to the things in HIM. We are His representatives on earth, we must live as He did, we must tell all the Good News without exception. We must break out of our comfortable rut and reach out to a lonely and dying world. We do not know who we may touch, who is looking at us, who may have been sent to us to hear about Jesus and salvation because their time may be short on this earth. Do you want to stand before God on your day of judgment and have no answer when He asks you why you didn’t let that teenager with the black clothes and long hair sit in your church? I certainly don’t, and if you do, then friend, you need to hit your knees and stay there until there is a change in your heart………
Just in case you are wondering where I am in the story now….. I am the natural progression, I am now Pastor Bill, who’s hair (what isn’t falling out) still falls well below his shoulders, who has been known to show up to preach wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and who tries his best everyday to look past a persons appearance and meet them at the point of their need. I sometimes fail, but by the Grace Of God, I get back up and try again…….
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