Glorious Inspiration

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Encounter with Jesus
 Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter.
  She picked it  up and looked at it before opening,
but then she looked at the envelope  again. 
There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address.
 She read the letter:

 Dear Ruth,
  I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday
afternoon and I'd like to  stop by for a visit.
               Love Always,
                       Jesus

  Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table.
"Why  would the Lord want to visit me? 
I'm nobody special.  I don't have  anything to offer." 
With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty  kitchen cabinets.
 "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to offer. 
I'll have to  run down to the store and buy something for dinner." 
She reached for  her purse and counted out its contents. 
Five dollars and forty cents.  "Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least."
She threw on her  coat and hurried out the door. 
A loaf of French bread, a half-pound of  sliced turkey,
and a carton of milk...leaving Ruth with grand total of
 twelve cents to last her until Monday. 
Nonetheless, she felt good as  she headed home, her meager
offerings tucked under her arm.  "Hey lady, can you help us, lady?" 
Ruth had been so absorbed in her  dinner plans,
she hadn't even noticed two figures huddled in the  alleyway.  
A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than  rags. 
"Look lady, I ain't got a job, ya know, and my wife and I have
 been living out here on the street, and, well,
now it's getting cold and  we're getting kinda hungry and,
well, if you could help us, lady, we'd  really appreciate it."
 Ruth looked at them both.  They were dirty, they smelled bad and,
 frankly, she was certain that they could get some
kind of work if they  really wanted to.
 "Sir, I'd like to help you, but I'm a poor woman myself.
  All I have is  a few cold cuts and some bread,
and I'm having an important guest for  dinner tonight
and I was planning on serving that to Him."
   "Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand.  Thanks anyway." 
The man put his  arm around the woman's shoulders,
turned and headed back into the  alley.  As she watched them leave,
Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her  heart.
 "Sir, wait!"  The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley
 after them.  "Look, why don't you take this food. 
I'll figure out  something else to serve my guest." 
She handed the man her grocery bag.  "Thank you lady. Thank you very much!"
 "Yes, thank you!"  It was the man's wife,
and Ruth could see now that  she was shivering.
 "You know, I've got another coat at home.
Here, why don't you take this  one."  Ruth unbuttoned her jacket
and slipped it over the woman's  shoulders. 
Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the  street...
without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest.
         "Thank you lady! Thank you very much!"
 Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door,
and worried  too.  The Lord was coming to visit
and she didn't have anything to offer  Him. 
She fumbled through her purse for the door key. 
But as she did,  she noticed another envelope in her mailbox.
 "That's odd.  The mailman doesn't usually come twice in one day."
She  took the envelope out of the box and opened it.

            Dear Ruth,
 It was so good to see you again>
Thank you for the       lovely meal.
And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
                        Love Always
                                  Jesus

 The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer  noticed.
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