One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock
at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. “Why he’s hardly
taller than my eight-year-old,” I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled
body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and
raw.
Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, “Good evening. I’ve
come to see if you've got a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this
morning from the eastern shore, and there’s no bus ’til morning.” He told me
he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to
have a room. “I guess it’s my face… I know it looks terrible, but my doctor
says with a few more treatments…”
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me:
“I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the
morning.” I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went
inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if
he would join us. “No thank you. I have plenty.” And he held up a brown paper
bag
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to
talk with him a few minutes. It didn’t take a long time to see that this old
man had an over-sized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished
for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who
was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.
He didn’t tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other
sentence was prefaced with thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that
no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He
thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.
OTHER POST:
THE TREE
LOVE, WEALTH, SUCCESS
THE FOX IN THE VINEYARD
HOW DO YOU KNOW IT WAS ME?
OTHER POST:
THE TREE
LOVE, WEALTH, SUCCESS
THE FOX IN THE VINEYARD
HOW DO YOU KNOW IT WAS ME?
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