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Miracles and Noble Deeds often rise from pain and despair. Spiritual Sisters of the Internet Cafe is borne out of past pain. Its purpose is working toward the alleviation of pain through the Memorial Fund.
Roger Dean Kiser has used the memories of a painful childhood to bring attention to the plight of orphans and children living the life of the orphan when parents are unable or incapable of assuming their responsibilities towards these children.
This story makes us mindful that love is just as necessary as money in the alleviation of pain. Noble are those who can give of themselves freely as God freely gave His Son.
NO SHOES
He appeared to be very nervous as he walked through the large wooden
church doors. His head was lowered and his eyes looked directly at the
tile floor as he walked very slowly towards the far back pew, away from the rest of the congregation.
The preacher immediately ceased talking and slowly lowered his arms,
which he had been flinging about during the course of the sermon. He
shifted his eyes towards the young man as he accidentally slid the heavy wooden church bench while trying to quietly sit down.
The deacons and choir master began to whisper among themselves as
several of the other members of the church began to turn around and look
at the unshaven figure. I had noticed when he walked into the church
that he was very thin, dirty and that he was not wearing any shoes, and
that he looked awfully hungry.
He constantly smiled at all the little children from the orphanage, when
we would turn around to look at him. But then the matron slapped me on
the leg because I dropped the nickel onto the wooden bench, which the
orphanage had given me to put into the collection plate. So I did not
turn around and look at him any more. I always liked the money
collection part of the church service best because I knew that it was
almost over and we would get to go home soon.
The preacher started talking, on and on about how people should dress up
for church and that they should cut their hair and be clean before
coming to services. I knew that he was talking about the man in the back
of the church because he had long hair and he was not very clean
looking. But the man just smiled and never said a word. He just sat
there, once in a while raising his hands towards the church ceiling and
saying out loud "Praise my father in Heaven", real loud like. The older
church people would look at him like he was crazy or something, but he
sure didn't look crazy to me.
The preacher finally walked off the platform and whispered something
into the deacons ear. The deacon got up from his chair and walked down
the side isle, next to the pretty colored glass windows and he asked the
man to leave because he was disrupting the church service. The young man
just looked up at the deacon and smiled. Without saying a word he rose
to his feet, turned and walked towards the two large wooden doors
leading out of the church. As he reached the doors he once again
stopped, turned around and smiled at everyone. He reached over and
picked up the entire stack of "The Upper Room" pamphlets, which were
always sitting on the table by the entrance and he turned them face down
and then he walked out the large wooden doors.
I will never forget that smiling man with the very kind face having to
leave the church that Sunday morning because of the way he was dressed,
and not clean shaven. I never saw that man's face ever again after that,
I don't think. But he sure looked an awful lot like that man in those
six shiny pictures in the middle of my bible.
by Roger Dean Kiser