A family planned a weekend...
Illustration
Object:
A family planned a weekend in a large city. Anne and Bob thought it would be good to show their young children one of the museums. Early on Saturday morning they rode the bus to the museum. The morning was cooler than normal for that time of the year; the boys complained that they were cold. The younger son spotted a homeless person sleeping near a steam grate on the sidewalk. "Why is he there?" he asked his mother. As they continued walking Anne explained to her sons that the man did not have a home and slept near the grate to keep warm. Anne quickly changed the subject to all that they would see and experience at the museum that day.
What made a lasting impression on the younger son was not all the wonderful things they saw that day but rather the homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk. Derek's prayers for the next month would include "people who had no home, who were cold and shivering on the street."
There was not a homeless shelter in their community, so they thought they did not have any homeless people. The family became involved in a program to provide meals for children at an after school program. Anne joined others from their church to prepare meals. Several others help the children with homework, while still others play games with them.
Anne says she is "grateful that I can show my son how love can go beyond words of prayer to become acts of kindness."
The apostle Paul teaches that we are saved through God's grace. As a result we will naturally want to reach out to others, "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life."
What made a lasting impression on the younger son was not all the wonderful things they saw that day but rather the homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk. Derek's prayers for the next month would include "people who had no home, who were cold and shivering on the street."
There was not a homeless shelter in their community, so they thought they did not have any homeless people. The family became involved in a program to provide meals for children at an after school program. Anne joined others from their church to prepare meals. Several others help the children with homework, while still others play games with them.
Anne says she is "grateful that I can show my son how love can go beyond words of prayer to become acts of kindness."
The apostle Paul teaches that we are saved through God's grace. As a result we will naturally want to reach out to others, "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life."
