GOD RESTORES BANGED-UP PEOPLE
Gary Inrig’s story in his book, Quality Friendships:
Years ago, one family had a son who was in the Korean War. They had not heard from him for 10 months and were very concerned. Time went on and the war ended. Finally their son called home. The mother was excited. She said, "Come on home, son."
He said, "I will, but first I have a request. I have a buddy from the war that has been banged up pretty bad. He has only one arm, one leg, and one eye. I would like him to come and stay with us."
The mother said, "Great, son, let him come for a week and let’s see how it goes."
He says, "No Mother, you don’t understand. This friend is really banged up. He is going to need a lot of help. I am asking you if he can come and live with us permanently."
At this point, the mother objected. She said, "Son, you don’t know how difficult this is going to be. That is going to be a serious time commitment and a real drag on everyone. Son, this it too much for us. But please come home."
At that point, the telephone clicked dead. The next day, the Army personnel came to see the mother. They said their son had committed suicide the night before. They needed to come to the morgue and identify the body.
So the parents went to the morgue. When they did they confirmed that it was their son--with one arm, one leg and one eye.
While I have some difficulty in a son who would set up parents like that, the story makes its point. But it does communicate how much we need to be accepted by one another.
Friends, this is a society with banged-up people. We serve Jesus who specializes in restoring banged up people like you and I.
(From a sermon by Randy Hamel, "How to Work Together in Ministry" 1/12/2009)