For whosoever shall give you a cup of water
to drink in My name, because ye belong to Christ,
verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
Mark 9:41
Mike’s Sister Dee* is dying...
to drink in My name, because ye belong to Christ,
verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
Mark 9:41
Mike’s Sister Dee* is dying...
She’s forty-five years old, living in an apartment in New York City, and has AIDS. Several weeks ago, he had asked me to write his sister to try to encourage her. So I sent a letter to Dee urging her to continue to trust in Christ, and that no matter how sick she feels, to never lose faith in the Lord.
Back in the late 1990s, some of Mile’s family members rescued Dee from a crack house. She had been missing for a few days, and they were finally able to track her down. When they found her, Dee was semiconscious and sprawled on a tenement floor. They had to carry her back home. But the years of being an addict and using intravenous drugs in addition to sniffing crack, all came crashing down on her life when she began to get sick. Then came the doctor’s diagnosis.
Dee’s tragic story is typical. Succumbing to the temptations of the streets while growing up in Harlem, she’s now on her way to an early grave. A life once full of hope is eternally detoured.
Mike told me that his sister may not have much longer. She’s gravely ill and, most of the time, too weak to attend church. But it is in reading out to people like Dee, however, that God has been showing me that value of simple things. There is everlasting worth in acts of kindness. It’s the small things we can do that will make a big difference in someone else’s life. And as I travel on this spiritual journey with its many times of trials, tests and temptations, I rejoice at the opportunities to touch needy lives in the same way that God has so often touched and helped me.
I am thankful, too, for the occasions when I could help another man by writing a letter for him, or by getting him an item from the prison’s commissary because he’s broke, and he cannot afford anything.
Then there are the times when I am able to pray for a man who’s sick or feeling stressed out.
It is a joy doing what I believe Jesus Himself would do. I am certain that God takes notice of these simple things, as well as every kind deed.
D.B.
*Dee is not her real name.
Back in the late 1990s, some of Mile’s family members rescued Dee from a crack house. She had been missing for a few days, and they were finally able to track her down. When they found her, Dee was semiconscious and sprawled on a tenement floor. They had to carry her back home. But the years of being an addict and using intravenous drugs in addition to sniffing crack, all came crashing down on her life when she began to get sick. Then came the doctor’s diagnosis.
Dee’s tragic story is typical. Succumbing to the temptations of the streets while growing up in Harlem, she’s now on her way to an early grave. A life once full of hope is eternally detoured.
Mike told me that his sister may not have much longer. She’s gravely ill and, most of the time, too weak to attend church. But it is in reading out to people like Dee, however, that God has been showing me that value of simple things. There is everlasting worth in acts of kindness. It’s the small things we can do that will make a big difference in someone else’s life. And as I travel on this spiritual journey with its many times of trials, tests and temptations, I rejoice at the opportunities to touch needy lives in the same way that God has so often touched and helped me.
I am thankful, too, for the occasions when I could help another man by writing a letter for him, or by getting him an item from the prison’s commissary because he’s broke, and he cannot afford anything.
Then there are the times when I am able to pray for a man who’s sick or feeling stressed out.
It is a joy doing what I believe Jesus Himself would do. I am certain that God takes notice of these simple things, as well as every kind deed.
D.B.
*Dee is not her real name.
