Entertaining Strangers - Part 1

Last weekend I was at Garden City Beach with some of our teenagers from church.  There's an annual beach retreat in which several churches from our area participate.
We went down on the beach ... as usual I was snapping some pictures of our teenagers and talking with the other adult chaperones when someone heading into the water caught my attention.  With a walking assistance stick (for lack of a more knowledgable term) in each hand, a young man made his way into the water.  He probably went out in the water about knee deep.  Then he either sat down or fell down, not sure which it was.  He sat around in the water for a few minutes and then he started making his way out of the water.  Only he wasn't walking.  He was crawling.  Yep, completely down on his hands and knees, crawling out of the water.  I couldn't take my eyes off of him.  I absolutely could not!  Talk about an inspiration.  I was getting slapped in the face with it!

As he crawled out of the water and made it to the sand, I witnessed an adult go up to the young man and ask a very simple question, "you all right buddy?"  It was quite evident that this person hadn't seen all that I saw.  My first thought was, "Really?  That's ALL you have to say to a young man who's crawling out of the ocean on his hands and knees?!"  Then I quickly realized that the person said this out of concern because he hadn't see "the whole story" like I had.

I just kept watching this young man.  I could not stop!  So many thoughts were going through my mind ... what courage, what determination this young man has! ...  how he wasn't letting his disability stop him from enjoying one of God's most amazing creations ... the never ending ocean!  I saw strength, confidence, endurance, perseverance. I was thinking how he didn't care what people thought.  And of course I was thinking of my own son Josh.

To me, he was simply amazing.  I thought about going over and talking to the young man, you know really talking to him.  But I didn't ... at first.  I turned around and headed back to my friends and then, well I'm pretty sure the Holy Spirit intervened because my thoughts turned to, "What are you doing Sandy?  You know how it feels when someone stares at Josh like he's got leprocy (spelling?) or something.  GO. TALK. TO. THIS. YOUNG. MAN.  You need to tell this young man what you see in him ... go tell him what you see! ... what an inspiration he is ... what an amazing person he is.  It will make his day.  Have some courage!  Walk the walk, don't just talk it!  Do what Jesus would do!"

So, I did ....

Tune in later for the "rest of the story" ...

Love,
SandraDee

Hebrews 13:2
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
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