If you don’t have your New
Year’s resolutions nailed down yet, can I suggest one more? Keep your eyes open to new
possibilities. Let me spin you a yarn…
As I’ve said elsewhere,
my dad was a
carpenter and he had a wry sense of humor.
Those two attributes came together in the Summer of ’69 when dad was
doing some work on the new sanctuary of
University Baptist Church in
Fairbanks. This picture shows
Dad and some other men scuttling around the sanctuary. As in most churches
the “business end” of the sanctuary is a platform raised on top of the main
floor. This was Dad’s project on the day
I joined him as his carpenter’s helper. Mid-afternoon, Dad called me over just as he was putting the final
piece of plywood on the raised deck . With a benignly-wicked smile scratched across
his face, he pointed down to the sub-floor.
More on my nutty dad after a word from our Sponsor:
Do not neglect to show
hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without
knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)
Do you need more motivation than
that to show kindness to all people? I
would hate to think I snubbed an angel (who then reported to HQ!). I’m not sure what the writer of Hebrews had
in mind, but the downstream application is quite clear… followers of Jesus
should not pick and choose who we show kindness to. Followers of Jesus should consider all people
as created in the image of God and we should do whatever is in our power to
bless others. That is part of the
calling “Follow Me”.
 |
happy to have my family
join me at my childhood church |
In June 2009, I was privileged
to take my family
back to
Alaska. On June 21, the longest
“day” of the year, my family joined me at University Baptist Church where my
spiritual foundations were laid and where I occasionally helped my dad, the
carpenter. I asked for permission to say
a brief word to the congregation. I stepped
up on the platform my dad had built – exactly 40 years earlier, probably to the
day. I thanked the congregation for
their dedication to the Lord’s work and I told them I had been called into
ministry myself. Four decades earlier,
none of those dear people had any idea that the knucklehead kid of Carl and
Ruth’s would become a pastor. (In fact,
they probably would have doubted it seriously.)
Then I stepped over to the far right side of the stage and stomped my
foot. I told the congregation of the day
my dad pointed to the sub-floor before sealing the upper decking. Carl A Smith, in his own inimitable way had
written with his broad carpenter’s pencil,
“What are you looking down here
for?” He then took a plank of plywood
and sealed the message away for posterity.
For four decades no one but Dad
and I knew that message was down there.
The same is true of the people that cross our paths every day – we don’t
know what untold story is written on their hearts. We don’t know what need they have that must
be met and we don’t know what gift they have which will bless others richly. We don’t know. But God does and He calls followers of Jesus
to “join Him in what He is doing”. In my
last post, Emily Kemak’s brother had no idea that seventy years later some
knucklehead in Kansas would be
retelling
his good deed, quietly done between brother and sister. He displayed his kindness because it was the
right thing to do. As you make your way
into the new year, won’t you add “be kind to strangers” to your list of virtues
you want to nurture. I can’t promise you
that people will be singing your praises when the new century dawns, but you
never know. That’s the point, isn’t
it? You never know. I promise to be good for goodness sake.
Clark H Smith
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