We have been mourning the loss of a life long friend of Charlie's. While we are certain that he is at home with the Lord, safe, secure, healed and enjoying every minute of his new life we still miss him. Charlie and I have been composing a long letter to his wife and four children who are all grown with families of their own. To accompany our letter which includes childhood memories we found some pictures of Bill as a teenager to send with the letter.
We took these photos to Sam's Club to have them duplicated. The photos are all in excess of 60 years old and were small and quite yellowed with time. I was uncertain just which machine to use. The technician behind the counter graciously offered to help me. He looked at the photos and listened to my unfolding story and said that he would be sure that the machine recognized all the areas that should be duplicated. One problem was that two of the pictures had a lot of snow in them and to further complicate matters there was wash hanging on the clothes line. (I did mention that the pictures were 60+ years old! I did not mention that they were taken of a snow fort built after a blizzard hit Pennsylvania in 1948.)
Once the photo technician had corrected the pictures he asked me if I could now continue the order on my own. I assured him that I could.
When I checked out the slip that came out of the machine was proof that I was not able to properly follow instructions. I had ordered the pictures I intended but I had also managed to order several 8x10's and 5x7's that I did not intend to order. I thought oh well, I guess you have to pay for your mistakes!
Sam's club is not a small place. The technician saw my order come through, knew that is was more than I wanted and tracked me down and said that he could cancel the unwanted photos!
I was surprised and very grateful. He also volunteered that he was not very busy and he could finish the photos before I left even though I had not paid for or requested one-hour photos.
All this was enough to have me thinking about how gracious and kind he was. When I went to pick up the pictures he said that he was not happy with the results and he had made corrections and they would be ready momentarily.
The finished results are wonderful! They are even better than the originals. I thanked the technician profusely and told him how pleased I thought Bill's family would be.
Now I have to confess something. The gentleman, and that is exactly what he is, had a pronounced accent and appeared to be from a middle eastern country. When I initially went to ask him for advice I thought that I would not be (how shall I put it?)well received. My thoughts could not have been farther from what actually happened. My little foray into "profiling a person" turned out to be 100% incorrect.
I needed to apologize to the Lord. You see, my study and prayer time this morning focused on nothing other than ... are you ready....? The Good Samaritan.See Luke 10:25-37.
Just as the Priest and the Levite crossed to the other side of the path to avoid an uncomfortable situation I had been tempted to do the same.
Help, graciousness and forgiveness were offered to me when and where I least expected to find those qualities.
I am reminded that our Lord was not what others expected either. Many judged Him and scorned him. I hope and pray that I will take this lesson to heart.
I will share the whole saga with Bill's wife Joan. To me the incidents described here are examples of our Lord caring about all the small details of our lives. Drawing near from heaven to gently give us a lesson and provide comfort to a grieving family.
Thank You Lord Christ.
I remain your child, ever in need of your love and instruction.
