In the late 80's and early 90's we lived in North Bend, Washington. During that time we attended church in Fall City, Washington where, for most of that time, a young man named Billy Wolfe was the pastor. We attended church there on at least a biweekly basis so we heard from Pastor Wolfe a lot. His sermons were always good but one in particular makes the number three spot of my favorite sermons.
As we drove into church one morning we saw a homeless man standing just outside of the parking lot. This was not an area where we would ever see a homeless man so the sight was very unusual. He was minding his own business, gathering trash from the side of the road but he looked forlorn and worn down. His clothes were dirty and tattered. Thus, our deduction that he was homeless.
We looked at him and commented on how sad he looked and proceeded to park our car and make our way into the church building so we wouldn't be late for services.
Imagine our surprise when it was time for the sermon and in walked the homeless man. He walked straight up to the altar, turned around and stood before us. It took a minute but pretty soon a gasp was heard and we all realized that it was Pastor Wolfe! He had always had a dark beard before and now he was clean shaven. Dressed in his dirty, tattered clothes he told us that he had been standing there the entire time that the the people of the congregation had entered the parking lot and only one....only one of us had stopped to see if they could help him or invite him to come into the church!!!!
Sadly, we were not the one car that had stopped and it was a tremendously effective wake up call!
Truthfully, I can not remember what he said after that. The illustration though has stayed with me for all of these years.
Have a good day! Love, Sue
P.S. I have never seen anyone transform himself quite so effectively as Billy Wolfe on that day! Well, maybe in the movies!
No comments:
Post a Comment