Devotional 6-14-13

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ Fr I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ --Matthew 25:34-36

A + B = X

A. In Alice Hoffman's book The Third Angel, a country doctor tells his daughter that when he makes house calls he usually encounters The Angel of Life, The Angel of Death, or The Third Angel. The first two are obvious but the third one needed an explanation. When one helps a Third Angel, one becomes a better person. In my Koinonia Sunday School Class, Theo Tippett was our Third Angel. By loving and caring for Theo during her fight with cancer, we all became better people and a more cohesive, purposeful class.

B. My friend Marv Jones taught our Koinonia Class on May 19. In the course of his lesson, he told us that in college he was not always the best money manager and more than once went hungry due to lack of funds. "I know what it's like to be hungry," he said. Therefore, when someone asks him for food, he'll give it to them. Not handing them money, but physically going to the nearest restaurant and buying them a meal.

X. My birthday was three days later. I had a good morning with my co-workers treating me to gifts and the parents of my students (thanks to a couple of well-placed signs) stopping by to wish me a happy day. As I left work I was feeling pretty loved. I stopped at Speedway on the way home. Since it was my birthday I got 200 extra Speedy Points! As I got out of my car and started the process of pumping gas, a young woman came up to me and asked if I could help her. She said she had not eaten in a while and was hungry. (Marv's words were ringing in my head). She said, "You can watch me eat if you want to." Translation: "I am not going to use your money to buy drugs." I told her to go inside and pick out some food and I would pay for it after I finished at the gas pump. When I went inside she'd selected a pizza. "This is big enough, I can have some now and save some for later." I told her to pick out a drink too. As I paid for it (and got my 200 points), she thanked me and hugged me. As I walked back to my car, it dawned on me that I had been sent a Third Angel for my birthday, and that was the best gift of the day.

Anita Gardner Farrell

Today, June 14, is my son Marty's 27th birthday. He was born the day before Fathers' Day. When my Dad came to the hospital to see us, I said, "Your Fathers' Day gift is on my dining room table." He nodded toward the baby and said, "That's gift enough." That's a nice memory. Happy Fathers' Day to all the dads reading this.