"Barb, Barb! Wake up!! I'm leaving." With her eyes still blurred from sleep Barb rolled over to see a monster hanging over her. She screamed as she saw an antenna rose out of the top of his head from where small flames were coming. It had splotches all over its body like a frog and a big hump on the side of it. Barb flew out of bed and stopped half way to the door when she heard the "THING" speak again.
It said, "Morning honey, I'm off for visitation!!" (To keep this story on a high level, we won't fill in what happened for the next 30 minutes --this part you can write.)
Sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee between two shaking hands, Barb says, "Leo! Don't ever come in and wake me with your fishing hat and fly rods on again!" A few sips of coffee and, "Leo, what did you say about going on visitation? It's 6:30 in the morning, are you loony?! !"
"Barb, work on your coffee there, and I'll explain." Since Timmy is at camp, I invited his best friend, Eddy, to go fishing with me because he doesn't have a dad any more. Believe me, he's up and raring to go, I'm sure. We should be back before supper." Barb kissed her "monster", waved goodbye, looked both directions to see if any neighbors saw her in curlers, and closed the door.
The waves were just high enough to create a lazy lapping sound against the bottom of the boat. The column of bright sunlight, reflecting on the water seemed to be pointing directly at Eddy. The only other time he had ever fished, was at a carnival out in Nebraska. Since the war took his daddy, he really longed for someone he could talk with; someone he could look up to. Today he really felt special as he learned a lot of things that Leo and Timmy had enjoyed together.
"Eddy, we've caught a few fish, but, have you ever heard of a fish catching a man?" "Okay, Mr. Reynolds, What's the joke?" "It's no joke, son. The bible says his name was Jonah and he was disobedient by trying to run away from God and what He wanted him to do. And Ed, just as sure as that dragonfly is sitting out there on that bobber, God directed a great fish to catch Jonah and put him back on the right track.”
“Jonah became a mighty soul winner in Nineveh, and God was pleased. Ed, we ought to want to please God because of all He's done for us."
Last month's men's prayer breakfast had really started something. The evangelist had opened the men's eyes as to what visitation really was; not just address cards on Thursday night, but using life's activities with a broken heart, to share your testimony with those around you. The men thought this visitation was going to be fun. Frankie, the welder, was going to have a boy help build a trailer, Barry Jackson, the dairy farmer, invited a teen to help him repair his tractor and Mrs. Jackson enlisted the help of Brenda Thompson, one of the bus kids, to bake some cakes.
I didn't get the whole story, but something about taking a couple of them over to the nursing home with a whole stack of old greeting cards and sewing them together to make baskets, I think. You get the picture anyhow.
Of course, it doesn't matter whether you're a truck driver, beautician, insurance salesman, a hard working housewife, or a pianist; we all have talents that can be used to share the good news that Jesus shed His Precious Blood to buy our salvation, once and for all. The question is:
WHAT
DO
I
ENJOY
DOING,
WHAT
TALENT
CAN
I
USE,
TO
SHOW
SOMEONE
HOW
SPECIAL
THEY ARE IN
GOD'S EYES?? ~~
