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Get your own, Free HomepageWhen a hotel is built, all kinds of things are used to build it…
Things like…
Glass, for the windows,
Wood for the frame of the building,
Nails to hold things together,
Wire to strengthen and add support,
Cable for communications, and
Chain link fence to protect the site.
When a hotel is built, at least one-fourth
of everything used to build it is
thrown aside as useless waste.
And construction crews don’t just throw away bits and pieces.
They don’t throw away chunks of glass—OH NO..
They throw away WHOLE WINDOWS –
Windows that may just have a little, teeny chip in the corner.
They don’t throw away sawdust---
They throw away STACKS of BOARDS…
They don’t just throw away little bits of wire—
They throw away huge SPOOLS of the stuff,
Just because it may not be the right diameter.
And when they throw this stuff away,
They don’t always make it to the dumpster!
AND I’VE HAD THE FLAT TIRES TO PROVE IT!
I used to drive Larry to work, and
when he was building a new hotel
we’d drive through an obstacle course of
large plates of glass and metal,
TIRE-SEEKING nails, and
Huge spools of wire with the frayed end sticking out.
BUT ONE DAY when I drove him to work things were different.
There was no glass or sheets of metal to dodge,
No nails to test the quality of the tires,
And no frayed wire to scrape the sides of the car.
Someone had come along one day in a large pickup truck
And hauled it all away.
Every last nail, every window with a chip in it, and every board.
GONE.
IT WAS GREAT! NO MORE OBSTACLE COURSE!
Whoever it was who came to get all that stuff
Took it to a run-down house in his neighborhood.
And when he pulled up to the house a crowd was waiting,
Tools in hand.
One by one they unloaded what had been collected.
By sundown there wasn’t a nail, piece of glass, or board left.
By sundown they had repaired elderly Mrs. Foster’s home.
SOMEONE DISCOVERED GREAT VALUE IN
WHAT THE WORLD HAD TOSSED ASIDE AS USELESS WASTE.
Y’KNOW, WE LIVE IN A DISPOSABLE SOCIETY.
We live in a time when it’s cheaper, easier and
More convenient
To replace something instead of repair it.
It’s far easier and cheaper to throw away
a VCR and buy a new one than it is to fix the original one.
It’s more cost effective to throw away
A run-down cardiac pacemaker and implant a new one
Than it is to repair the original one.
And It’s A LOT cheaper and more convenient to throw out
A pair of contact lenses and put new ones in
Than it is to have surgery on our eyes.
THE WORLD’S WISDOM SAYS THAT
THINGS ARE DISPOSABLE.
THE WORLD’S WISDOM SAYS THAT
EVEN PEOPLE ARE DISPOSABLE.
Men, women and children—human beings—
bought and sold as property…as slaves.
Men, women and children—human beings—
Torn from their families and forced into gas chambers
During the Holocaust.
People with AIDS, who are often told that
AIDS is “killing all the right people.”
People like you and me,
Shut out of families,
called “abominations,”
labeled as worthless.
AND EVEN JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF….
He was labeled as mentally ill, a “lunatic.”
He was laughed at.
Much of the world in his time
thought it was foolish that
anyone claiming to be Messiah would
subject himself to the things Jesus went through.
And he was beaten and tortured for what he believed in.
THE WORLD’S WISDOM SAYS THAT
EVEN PEOPLE ARE DISPOSABLE.
THE WORLD’S WISDOM ALSO SAYS THAT
WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE PART OF THE “IMPORTANT” PEOPLE.
Many of the people in Corinth went to great lengths to be important.
To be important, people were claiming to be followers of whoever
It was that baptized them.
They thought that all they needed was to be associated
with the right person.
In high school I met a classmate named Michael.
We quickly became the best of friends…
Silly, “Laverne and Shirley” kind of friends…
Adventurous, (BUTCH AND SUNDANCE) kind of friends…
Proud, {Will and Grace!} kind of friends.
Ours was a friendship like I’d never had before.
As we both went off to college,
we became separated for a time,
Yet we eventually had a joyous reunion.
We picked up the friendship as if we’d never been apart.
We were “Laverne & Shirley,”
(BUTCH & SUNDANCE), and {Will & Grace!} all over again.
Eventually, Michael became quite popular among a certain crowd.
Not wanting to be left out, I became part of the same crowd.
These were people I thought for sure would
Embrace me…..or be there when I needed them.
Over time, though, things changed.
One Thursday I was talking to Michael about
coming for a weekend visit.
What he said cut through me like a buzz saw cuts through a tree.
He said, “Unless you can bring me drugs, then don’t bother coming.”
I wasn’t important any more.
The people I thought embraced me
Had instead thrown me aside like a chipped plate of glass.
The friend I thought would be there for me
Wouldn’t even talk to me.
I felt like all those thrown away windows and boards.
HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE THAT?
HAVE YOU EVER FELT UNWANTED? UNIMPORTANT?
The Corinthians did. They felt lost, too.
They were looking for ways to feel wanted, but in all the wrong places.
And since the Corinthians weren’t important enough any more,
Their former friends wouldn’t even THINK about
putting themselves on the line for them.
I KNOW Michael would NEVER have put himself on the line for me.
And I CERTAINLY know that Michael would NEVER have
been crucified for me.
Would anyone who ever said you were unimportant have
Put themselves on the line for you?
Would they have been CRUCIFIED for you?
FOLKS,
IT IS JESUS CHRIST WHO PUT HIMSELF ON THE LINE FOR
US.
IT IS JESUS CHRIST WHO WILL BE THERE FOR US.
IT IS JESUS CHRIST WHO WAS CRUCIFIED FOR US.
IT IS JESUS CHRIST WHO SHOWS US WHAT IS IMPORTANT.
FOLKS, THE WORLD’S WISDOM IS NOT GOD’S WISDOM.
The world’s wisdom says that things and people are disposable.
GOD’S WISDOM
IS LIKE THE PERSON WHO COLLECTED
ALL THE
USELESS, UNWANTED STUFF THAT OTHERS THREW ASIDE.
The world’s wisdom says that certain people are useless and
that only the right kind of people count.
GOD’S WISDOM
IS LIKE THE PERSON WHO SAW VALUE
IN WHAT OTHERS SAID WAS UNWANTED
& UNIMPORTANT.
Just like that person deliberately chose all those panes of
glass, nails and boards,
GOD HAS DELIBERATELY CHOSEN YOU AND ME.
GOD SEES VALUE IN US.
Those chipped, twisted, crooked, wasted parts of our lives
Are God’s BUILDING MATERIALS!
Just like the person who saw the value in what he discovered,
GOD SEES GREAT VALUE
IN THE
CHIPPED, TWISTED, CROOKED, WASTED
PARTS OF OUR LIVES.
GOD
TAKES THOSE PARTS OF US AND
TRANSFORMS
US.
When others see us as “less than,”
God picks us up, and we become God’s chosen.
When we come up against the worst parts of ourselves,
God touches those parts, and our worst becomes God’s best.
And God finds the best building materials in the most unexpected places!
One Saturday I had just arrived to start my day as
Chaplain of an AIDS hospice.
As I made my way to the door
I was met by two VERY active,
VERY rambunctious young children.
The nurses explained they were the children of a
Mother and stepfather who were there to visit their son.
They told me about Peter, a man
Who had just come from the hospital
After his 7th bout with pneumonia.
He was barely conscious,
In and out of a coma.
SO I decided to visit Peter and his parents.
I made my way down the quiet hall
And arrived at the very last room, the corner of the unit.
I tapped on the door then pushed it open a bit.
As I opened the door, it scraped against the foot of the bed.
The room contained Peter’s bed, a dresser, a chair,
And a rack for his clothes.
His bed had been shoved into the corner so the nurses could move
Around to tend to him.
Peter’s parents were leaning against the dresser, just watching him.
I introduced myself and greeted them.
As I listened to their story and heard about their
Profound love for their son,
I looked at Peter.
He was an African American man who looked
More like a 59-year-old than a 29-year-old.
His body was covered by the sheet.
A blanket lay over his legs, which were bent at the knees.
His eyes were closed.
He was so thin and ill that I could count the number of his ribs.
I asked his parents if they’d like to pray.
We reached for each other’s hands, and
I put my hand gently on the blanket over Peter’s ankle.
As we closed our eyes, Peter’s room took on a quiet, holy atmosphere.
It was as if his room was now a chapel, and we were the only ones there.
Not a sound could be heard but the rise and fall of Peter’s chest as he struggled to breathe.
Suddenly a noise interrupted our
prayer.
We opened our eyes.
Peter had suddenly awakened and sat
straight up in bed.
His eyes were open, and he whispered,
“Y’all sayin’ that prayer for me?”
His parents and I looked at each other.
As we all answered, “Yes,”
Peter slumped back down and fell back into a coma.
I looked down at the bed.
When Peter had slumped down after suddenly speaking to us,
His head was turned and slumped down to one side.
His knees were bent, and his arms were limp.
His body took on the exact position as Christ on the cross.
I wasn’t looking at Peter any more.
I was looking at the body and presence of Christ.
Christ in the form of a 29-year-old man with AIDS.
Peter was someone who most of the world would push away.
Someone who much of the world would consider unimportant.
“A 29 year old man with AIDS as a vessel of God?”
YEAH, RIGHT…NO WAY!
But the world’s wisdom is NOT God’s wisdom.
God finds the best building material in the most unlikely places.
God saw the value in Peter.
And through Peter, we see the value of God.
PEOPLE, GOD SEES THE VALUE IN US.
YOU AND I ARE SOME OF GOD’S BEST BUILDING MATERIAL.
Look around inside yourself.
Find those chipped, twisted, crooked, wasted parts of
yourself.
Let God work with what you find.
Let God pick up those parts of yourself.
Let God touch them.
God knows how valuable they are!
REMEMBER—what we think is our worst is God’s BEST.
AMEN.
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