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OK...I'm a softie.
Remember that TV commercial where the little girl asks her Dad why he doubles over his peanut butter sandwich? And he says,
"I don't know...I guess it's because my Dad did it, and I always wanted to do things just like Dad did. Then we see her
folding HER sandwich, and the ad closes with her leaning on his side, looking up into his face. It always brings tears to
my eyes. And remember when Andy Griffith found out that Opie had broken open his piggy bank to buy a coat for a girl in his
class at school? It always gets me, just like when Andy finds that there really IS a Mr. McBeeBee.
I got it from my Dad. He had a soft heart; so much so, that he once prayed that he could get rid of these tears that
came so easily as he preached. And his prayer was answered. And he said it was the most miserable time of his life. Thankfully,
he prayed for God to give back that tender heart, and again it was answered. He had learned the hard way, what really caring
can do.
It can be embarrassing. I learned not to read a heart-rending story in public, because I'd end up with my eyes red.
I once told you a story about a woman seeing a poorly-dressed girl on a bus on a cold night, and spent block after block,
wondering what she could do for such a needy person. Then a young boy got up at his stop, and as he walked past her,he dropped
his gloves in her lap. And now I'm tearing up, all over again, because things like that touch me so.
Am I telling you guys to be sissies? No. I'm saying that each of us should have a care about others. The fifth Beattitude
says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." This indicates to me that the more forgiving we
are toward others, the more forgiving Christ will be on Judgment Day toward us. I feel that the way to judge the heart of
another person is to see how he or she treats little children, the elderly, and animals. In another Conquest article, I
once quoted Leigh Hunt's poem, Abou Ben Adhem, who woke and saw an angle writing in a book of gold. Asking what was being
written, the answer was "The names of those who love the Lord." Again asking, he was told his name was not on the
list, so he told the angel, "I pray thee, then, write me as one that loves his fellowmen."
The next night, he woke and found that Lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest! If you have a problem being kind, make
the world one person better, by changing your ways. And if you're already that nice and good person, remember that Christ
told Nicodemus, a religious leader of that time, as good as he was, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." That means that you must confess your sins, however large or small they
may have been at some time in the past, and tell Christ you will do things His Way from this time onward. Say it from your
heart, and you'll be accepted. Now's the best time to take care of that. Who knows...it may be the LAST time you'll have
the chance.
37BT Bill Thornton December 17, 2004
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