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Is this your church?
It was a beautiful Sunday morning. People were filling the church to its
full
capacity! As they entered, each were given a bulletin filled with
announcements, topic of today's sermon, what songs they would sing and
who to
pray for.
At the end of the line stood an older man. His clothes were filthy and
you
could tell that he had not bathed in days. His face was covered with
whiskers, for he had not shaved for a very long time. When he reached
the
usher, he removed his tattered old brown hat in respect. His hair was
long,
dirty, and a tangled mess. He had no shoes on his feet, and wore only
soiled
black socks to cover the sores upon his feet. The Usher looked at him
turning
up his nose at the old man and said, "Uh, I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid
we
can't let you in. You will distract the congregation and we don' t allow
anyone to disrupt our service. I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
The old man looked down at himself and with a puzzled look on his face,
he
placed his old brown hat back upon his head and turned to leave. He was
sad
as he loved to hear the choir sing praises to the Lord. He loved to
watch the
little children get up in front of the church to sing their little
songs. He
carried in his pocket a small worn out Bible and loved to see if the
minister
preached a passage from the Bible that he had underlined. But he was
respectful, and didn't want to cause any commotion, so he hung down his
head
and walked back down the steps of the big brick church.
He sat down on the brick wall near the edge of the church yard and
strained
to listen through closed doors and windows to the singing going on in
the
church. Oh how he wished he could be inside with all the others.
A few minutes had passed by when all of a sudden a younger man came up
behind
him and sat down near him. He asked the old man what he was doing? He
answered, "I was going to go to church today, but they thought I was to
filthy, my clothes to old and worn, and they were afraid I would disrupt
their service.
Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is George." The two men shook
hands, and George couldn't help but notice that this man had long hair
like
his. He wore a piece of cloth draped over his body tied with a royal
purple
sash. He had sandals on his feet, now covered with dust and dirt.
The stranger touched George's shoulder, and said: "George, don't feel
bad
because they won't let you in. My name is Jesus, and I've been trying to
get
into this same church for years -- they won't let me in either."
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