2 Corinthians 12 verse 5 includes this phrase – I will boast about a man like that,
When I was 13 years old, and thanks to the intervention of an aunt, I started work on Saturdays and some school holidays on a Land Settlement Association holding in Newbourne, Suffolk. It belonged to a Christian man who also attended the same church and for a few years, this proved to be one of the most influential periods of my life.
This man demonstrated the truth of the phrase from Titus 2 verse 10 so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive. He had a wonderful sense of humour and I recall that after lunch one day he was watching a young daughter learning how to knit. After struggling with it for a while, the man said, “You have dropped a stitch” and immediately got on his hands and knees and for several minutes helped her look for it. His laugh was so infectious that we all joined in.
However, it was in a meeting a few years later that he participated briefly as he read the words from John 19 verses 25 to 27 – please take time to read. There was something about the way he read that brief passage that stayed with me for the rest of my life. For me, Jesus brought together two people who probably appreciated Him more than anyone else. Mary, the mother of Jesus who “pondered and treasured” with John who recognised that he was “a disciple who Jesus loved”. I would have loved to have eavesdropped on their conversation as they walked home and their subsequent lives together.
Some years later, that Christian man became my father-in-law, and my appreciation of his Christ-like character was such a blessing for too short a period. This was a man who started work at 6 am yet still went to his church Prayer Meeting at 7.30 pm several miles away. I will boast about a man like that.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the people that we meet and for the Christian influence they have on our lives. Help us to know you in such a way that we may have a positive influence on all we meet. AMEN