Once God lights your candle and you begin your life-long study of God’s Word, you become thankful in everything and your mind begins to be renewed then you become a true blessing to everyone that you meet. Some of the happiest people I have ever met were in wheel chairs. Their testimony will truly inspire those who hear them. They do not feel sorry for themselves and they do not blame God for putting them there. It seems that several of them go visit people in jail on a weekly basis. One gentleman I met a couple days ago told me a lot of what had happened to him in his life.
He had fought in the Vietnam War and saw men die all around him, but after four years there he came home without a scratch. A few years passed back home and many times he heard the Word of God preached, but rejected it every time. Someone told him God was calling and that he should repent. He responded that he didn’t need God. Two days later he was in an accident and a truck rolled up on him pinning him to the ground. It took a while to get the truck off of him and now he was paralyzed from the waist down.
This happened when he was thirty-four-years old. He is in his late sixties now after spending about half his life in a wheel chair. He had been a member of the Black Panthers and said that for many years he had an intense hatred for white people. By the time I met this man, he was a changed man. He was a pleasure to talk to. He is very happy now and his face reflects the joy in his soul. He is living a joyful life in spite of his wheel chair, and as we spoke of the Word of God and shared stories of God’s goodness, we both laughed and praised God. Oh, and he does not hate people of any color any more. A former Black Panther and a redneck hillbilly praising God together show me God is real.
Let the Lord light your fire and set your feet to dancing and set your sights on things above. Forget the past if it was bad and sad. Plan to live and not die and declare the Good News to everyone who will listen. This man said that “we talk about what we love” and I only heard him talk about a bright future of sharing the Gospel of Peace.
Jesus is the Way.
© KPI 2013
|
Print
