Out of Sight
Theme for the Week: Redemptive Relationships
J Otis Ledbetter
Thursday, October 4, 2001
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God (1 John 4:7).
Bonus Reading: 1 John 4:8-12
Shortly after arriving in America from Ukraine, Ray Bohler and his sister were orphaned and tossed from family to family. Ray survived, married, and settled into God's call on his life: planting churches. He planted many, including the one I currently pastor. But Ray outlived his family and friends and got lost in a sea of forgetfulness.
My dad, Lloyd, who was 80, heard one day that Ray, now 93, was in a care facility in a city a good distance from our Fresno home. Moved by Ray's lonely situation, Dad made plans to visit him. He found that the home's workers had stolen his belongings except for his clothes, Bible, and a worn out cassette player. He longed to finish his earthly time at one of the churches he'd started.
Dad befriended this old warrior of the cross. He moved Ray to Fresno, handled his Social Security income paperwork, leased an apartment in a secured community, and hired someone to care for him. Gail and I
invited Ray to our house for holidays. Others in the church helped an old man recapture and savor his nearly lost identityuntil his death, a few years ago, at 96.
J Otis Ledbetter in Extending Your Heritage My Response:
One time I experienced the joy of meeting a critical need of another person was .
Thought to Apply:
A friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
Walter Winchell (journalist, broadcaster, 20th century)
Adapted from: Extending Your Heritage (Cook, 2000)
For your convenience, Extending Your Heritage is available in the ChristianityToday.com bookstore.
Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
 share this page
Jesus, enlarge my heart so that it reaches out to touch men for whom You died.
Men of Integrity
Connect with God | Transform my Mind | Live by His Power
Relate Better | Make an Impact
Home | Archives | Contact Us
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Try an Issue of Men of Integrity
Free!
|
 |
|
No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders.
If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless.
Give Men of Integrity as a gift
Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
|
RSS Feed
