LIVING PARABLES

It is interesting to me that last week I wrote about what being Colonists in the Kingdom was all about because immediately after that post, I saw the Kingdom Colony in action here in my own community. The very next day an ice storm hit and most of the area had no electricity for days. That meant no heat for the majority of families. We lost water for over a day and when it came back on, it was not drinkable. We lost phone lines. After six days electricity was restored to my home, after seven we got phone – and internet – back, and after eight days water was declared safe to drink.

I have to admit that I kind of enjoyed the challenge of learning to cook on a gas grill while dressed in many layers out on my porch. (Especially when it resulted in things like perfect scrambled eggs and homemade potato salad). Reading by candlelight made me admire my pioneer ancestors. Being woken up by the cold and forcing myself to stay awake until the propane heater brought the two rooms we had blocked off livable again made me appreciate heat that one can sleep through without fear of dangerous fumes. We were very blessed by having a propane heater, a gas grill, lots of propane – and a generator for the last three days.

But the thing I loved most about our crisis was seeing the Kingdom Colonists in action. Neighbors on our street came and cleared away the tree limbs and ice that blocked what would be an escape route if we needed one. Neighbors from another town came and chopped down dangerous limbs over our yard and driveway – and hauled them away. Those neighbors were not employees paid by anyone to do that, just volunteers we’d never seen before that would take no pay for their help. Neighbors from other states called on our cell phones to make sure we were okay. Neighbors from our church brought drinkable water from their well. We found out that neighbors we still have not met told our children they would come to our town to check on their parents if needed. Neighbors that are our children brought in food and fuel supplies. And a neighbor who happens to be my sister sent money to cover the extra costs incurred.

I was sorry that the training event where I was to present a ninety minute power point presentation on “Become A Living Parable” had to be cancelled. BUT I was thrilled to see Living Parables in action all around me.

On our local radio station here in Danville, KY and on the radio station in nearby Stanford (and probably others that I just haven’t heard about) the personnel not only kept the public informed about progress and shelters and available help; they took calls of people with needs and calls of people saying they were on the way to meet those needs. They too calls from the lonely, and they calmed the anxious and depressed, and asked that people who lived nearby visit and comfort and share with them. I never heard so many “God bless you’s” and “Keep praying’s” on public communication vehicles (and these were not “Christian” radio stations). I didn’t hear the call where a woman phoned in with complaints – but I did hear the call when she phoned in to apologize for her previous impatience and expressed her gratitude for all the crews working 24/7 to help restore her losses. That and many other calls including other thank you's and prayers for work crews brought tears to my eyes.

Many people who had generators or alternate heat sources took others into their homes. I heard of one lady who worked at a bank in Frankfort and saw an elderly woman of another race looking sad and shivering. On questioning, she discovered that the woman and her husband were without heat or electricity or propane heaters or any alternate shelter. The bank employee, who lived alone, took that elderly couple into her own home for two days until their power was restored.

When Jesus and a lawyer agreed that the great law is ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,” the lawyer asked “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered by telling the parable that we know as “The Good Samaritan” where a Jewish man was in trouble and two people of his own race passed by without helping him before a Samaritan provided all he needed. Then Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which of the three was neighbor to him?” and the lawyer answered “He that showed mercy on him.” Jesus said “Go and do thou likewise.”

That was the parable that I saw come alive in my community and region recently; that was the Kingdom Colony at work. I hope I never forget it and am at some time in a position to also become a Living Parable to many.

“Go and do thou likewise!” (Luke 10:25-37)