Unto the Least of These

The Least of These------------------------------------------------------------------
The brown eyed girl and I decided to get away for a couple of days and ended up at the Smokey Mountains. After a ride in the mountains, we stopped at Taco Bell and promised to do better at dinner time. We had been riding along discussing spiritual things since she had been reading “Who is My Brother” by Lagard Smith. When I stopped at Taco Bell, we were in the middle of a spirited theological discussion and I jumped out of the van suggesting that she, “hold that thought and I will be right back.”
Standing in line waiting to order my Burrito Supreme, I noticed a fairly nice looking young man, plainly dressed and wearing a backpack approach the manager and announce in a heavy accent that seemed to be from a former Soviet Block country, “I am looking for a job, do you have any openings?” The manager explained that they were taking applications, but not hiring at that time. The young man took the application and noted that he did not currently have an address that he could put down. The manager replied that this would be ok but that he would need a phone number, to which the young man quietly replied, “I haff no phone.” “I sorry,” the manager said in a seemingly sincere way, “but without an address or phone number, I cannot take your application.”
The young man nodded, then ask if he could bother the manager for a cup of water. The manager smiled, drew a cup of water and handed to the wanderer who walked near the door and slowly drank the cold water. My mind was racing checking to see how much cash I had in my pocket, when the lady in front of me in line walked to the young man and handed him a ten dollar bill, saying, “Here, I want you to have this.”
“Why do you do this for me?” the young man asked with a genuinely puzzled look on his face. “I just want you to have it,” she replied quietly. He lowered his head, nodded slightly and folded the bill and stuck it into the pocket of his rolled up jeans. She smiled back, and walked out the door, got in her car and drove away. He also immediately exited and rode away on his bike, pack still on his back.
When the brown eyed girl and I drove past a nearby Kroger Store, the young man was looking at a large sign that said, “NOW HIRING.” I pray that his luck was better than at the Taco Bell.
Somehow the theological conversation we were engaged in, now seemed much less important than before and we simply sat quietly as I shared the story with my bride.
Matthew 25: 34-40 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Seeing the precepts of The King put in action is a humbling experience.

Visit us at Maple Hill, a church of Christ in Lebanon, TN as we learn together to be children of the King. Bob