It was early fall, and the leaves on the trees were beginning to turn colors, as they do every year, when a police officer spotted a man asleep on a park bench. Immediately arrested as a vagrant, Charles Owens knew he was in trouble. This was just what he needed, a day in jail. Later that day he was brought before the Magistrate for charges. To his surprise, the Magistrate was his cousin the honorable Phillip Owens. Now Phillip knew that Charles had Ben thrown out of his house by his wife after he lost his job, but he didn’t realize exactly how down on his luck his cousin was.
Charles was found guilty on vagrancy charged and released. He accepted his order to do community service. As he was leaving, Phillip asked the bailiff to take Charles to the conference room. Moments later Phillip called a recess and went in to see Charles.
“Charles,”he said, “I didn’t realize things were so bad for you.” He replied, “ Nobody really knows what I’ve been through, but there’s no excuse. Your judgement was fair.” “Well this ends today, said Phillip. Go to my house, the key is under the flowerpot on the porch. Go in, make yourself at home, have some food, and we’ll talk after work. For now, my home is your home. You’ll get through this and I’ll help.”
Phillip was very kind to his cousin, and helped him get a job, and get back on his feet. He eventually made things right with his wife and the family was restored. Did Charles deserve help? Not really, but Phillip saw through that and helped anyway, through kindness and love.
The Bible teaches us, “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7)
If God can do it for us, then we should do it for others.
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