When your commitment faces the fire

As I sit here at the UAMS (University of Arkansas Medical Sciences) watching Carmens mother laying there struggling for some comfort, I felt I needed to get out for a few minutes. In the hall I saw an elderly black gentleman standing in front of a patients door. We nodded towards each other and I went to get a cup of coffee in the nearby room. While fixing my coffee, I suddenly felt a strong presense to go back and offer him a cup of coffee. As I approached him, I asked him if he would be interested in drinking a cup of coffee with me. He said "yes". We walked into the breakroom and fixed our coffees. I introduced myself and asked his name. He responded that his name was Al Bosley. Al was wearing a hat that showed he had spent time in both the Korean conflict as well as Vietnam. Asking Al if he was with a family member here, he held up his right hand, which I noticed was very badly scarred like it had been burned, "My son, is in the room. He was in a very bad car wreck and was thrown out of the back window. He has massive brain trauma and the doctors said he only has the use of his left side". Asking how old his son was, he said "29" and has just had a new baby which is a month old. He mentioned that his son was also named Al and had been living a not so good life style.
I mentioned that I was a part of the prayer team at Life Tabernacle and I knew a God that could lift his son back up and would he feel alright if I could pray with him. We did pray for Al Jr. and every time his heart rate would go up about 15 to twenty beats a minute. He hear us and knows.....God is near him..
Al told me this story.

"I have been raising my children to believe in God and to live right. You see, I am a single Father and have been raising my 4 children alone since they were very small. You see this hand. I am badly burned all over my body. My son in there, Al was asleep the night our house caught on fire when he was little. I was outside with all my children and realized that Al was still in the house. I ran back into the burning house and tried to find him. Suddenly my hair burst in flames and I realized that my body was on fire. Al was huddled in a corner and in one swoop I had him. As I was racing for the doorknob, it was glowing red hot. Then as I grabbed the door knob, the heat just melted the skin from my hand. I knew that my body was on fire, but, I felt no pain. This was my son...my namesake and I had to get him out. I took a very deep breath and shut my eyes not realizing that the heat from the fire had exploded the right eye, and ran and finally made it out.

I got my son out and he was o.k.. he was not burned but I had lost all the skin on my back, and am now scarred from my palms to my toes...But....as I said this was my son and I could not give up on him...my life for his...my life for his."

He was wounded for my transgressions, battered and bruised for my eniquities.....beaten beyond recognition....still he never cried out in pain.....all he said to his people was....my life for theirs...my life for theirs. Carrying the scars that was meant for me and you....more than ever it is time to take account and not let his life, death and ressurrection not be reflected in us....when we see someone such as Al Jr., would you go through hells fire for one such as him....really....would you?

In a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour

A man sat at a metro station in Washington D.C. and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute late, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late to work.
The one who paid the most attention to him was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only six people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recogniton.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best violinist in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.
Just two days before his playing at the subway, Joshua Bell sold out the the Boston theater and the seats were valued at over a hundred dollars a ticket.
Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and the priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Doe we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected visitor or context.
Born in a stable after being turned away by the inn keeper, preached to untold multitudes, rejected by some of his own followers even his closest friend denied him and finally crucified and the only ones that recognized him was Mary his mother: "my son" and the Roman soldier "surely this was the Son of God". There are so many thought patterns that my mind can't even began to put them into words. What are your priorities when in the presence of the Master....do you ever recognize him when not in the church house. Would you be able to understand it when he sets people in your way to see where your priorities go. What is so important in life that we can't seem to take the time to enjoy his presence in its many forms. His song is the most beautiful and only we can feel it and sing it (not even the angels can understand it).
Lord, it is all about you...and always will be.