Date: 3rd August 03
Text : 1 kings 17:8-16
Title: The Tramp
Today was a good day to die
not a cloud in the sky
But that was nothing unusual
Clouds had become a rarity recently
Haven’t seen one for months
Today was a good day to die
Gather up a few sticks
cook the last morsels of food
and wait for the birds
to pick our dead bones clean
Then he appeared
THE TRAMP
SAID HE had walked 70 miles
from a dry brook in Israel
SAID His name was ......
something Jewish and unprouncable
Slicker or HE..LIKE..HER .......Whatever
SAID his name meant .. My god is Jehovah
SAID he had shut up the skies
Stopped the rain
Him !!!
Everyone knows our God Baal
is the only one with the power over rain
Him indeed!!
Oh yes, he also said that Ravens had fed him
till the stream dried up
FOOL !!
Never heard of anyone
getting anything off a raven
without losing the tip of their finger first
RAVENS INDEED
70 Miles in the sun must have affected him
So when he asked for water and food
I certainly wasn’t going to argue
with a madman
I was right about the sun
he said my oil and flour would never run out
whilst the drought was on
SURE ....SURE
I BELIEVE THAT !!!!
More likely it is him that will run out
soon as he has a full belly
Off to nearby Sidon City, for better pickings
He’ll get a lot more there
than flour and oil
But knock me down with an Ashereth Pole
He was right
Every day I fed him
And as I gave away what I had
It was immediately given back
Baal, my God, is good
But I never heard of him doing a miracle before
HE..LIKE..HER said it was his God
But I never believed that
Well .............. not until that awful day.
The tramp had made himself at home
been here for ages
And I quiet liked
having a man around the place
He had become part of the furniture
Well if we had any furniture.. he would have
Then my son fell ill
got worse and worse.... till ..... he ...... died !
I thought we’d be ok
Food every day
A man around to protect us
My son he died ...just died
WHY.....WHY.... WHY ??
What had I done wrong ?
Was Baal punishing me for helping a stranger?
Wait a minute ...............
......THIS TRAMP
That’s it
If he could keep us alive with food
He could just as easily kill us
Jezebel was his enemy
We were her people
So we were his enemies too!!
NEVER TRUST A JEW
I was told as a girl
I should have listened
I faced him with this
Asked him
What have we done to you
Why have you done this
He didn’t answer
He didn’t argue
Then I knew I was right
He just took my dead son
and walked into another room
For all his posh words
I knew I couldn’t trust him
Then .......... sorry I find it difficult
to speak about this ........... without crying
Well ...my.....boy.......was..........................
Suddenly standing in front of me
...W..Well and alive again
The only person I had left in the world
had been returned ......... given back to me
If you’ve ever lost some one close
you’ll understand what that means !!
For a long time I said nothing
Just held him and ........ sobbed
I cried enough tears
to refill our countries empty streams
Now I believed
Knew this man had shut up the skies
Knew he had been fed by Ravens
And knew that from this day on
Jehovah would also be my God as well
Who would have believed
that the death of a child
could bring Glory to God
and honour to a prophet
Glory to God on high
Who replaces what is given
And who renews what is lost
Glory be to Jehovah
For ever and ever and... Ever
AMEN
