Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth by Hugh Halter

Author:Hugh Halter [Halter, Hugh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Books & Bibles, Christian Living, Ministry & Evangelism, Discipleship, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, Tattoo, Redemption, Incarnation, Pub, Jesus, Earth
Amazon: B00GNOCISO
Goodreads: 17738724
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2014-02-01T06:00:00+00:00

8

Turning Tables

Pick Some Fights for God

It was about five degrees out, and I had just pulled into a gas station to fill up my truck. I jumped out quickly, stuck my card in the self-pay slot, and found myself muttering as the computer kept delaying my gas purchase with silly questions.

“Do you want to use debit or credit?” I’ll pay in drachmas if you’ll speed it up, sparky!

“Do you want a car wash?” No—my windshield would crack!

“Do you want a receipt?” Yeah, and I’ll use the paper as insulation in my underwear!

The gas robot finally let me begin pumping, so as soon as the ticker started, I jumped back into my car to warm up. As I sat there, staring out the front window, my eye caught a man sitting down on the street corner, holding a sign up asking for help. As you know, these nameless individuals are ubiquitous, and it’s easy to forget they are real people.

But not this time.

I barely got gas in the tank without passing out from hypothermia, so how could this guy be surviving? I was overcome with curiosity as much as concern for this man. I reached down into my side door console and pulled out two handfuls of spare coins, put on my hat, zipped up my coat, and made my way to the corner.

Expecting the man to be mentally ill, I was blown away when he looked up and said, “How’s your morning going, sir?” Because of the beautiful inflection of his voice and his kind tone, I knelt down right in front of him, hoping to shield his face from the arctic wind.

“I’m doing well today, but how are you making it through this cold?” I asked.

Without a tone of manipulation, he responded, “Yeah, it’s a pretty tough day today, but I’m thankful; I’ve been out here when it was much colder.”

Amazed by his humanness, I told him I had a few coins for him. As he tried to cup his frozen hands, copper and silver began to fall through the cracks in his fingers. He made intense eye contact with me and stammered out, “Sir, I really appreciate the help today, but my hands are too cold to grab these coins. Is there any way you could take them back and see if the gas-station attendant can turn them into dollars or, better yet, just buy me a coffee?”

At that moment, I was incredibly grieved at myself. It was like the anger of God came over me about … me! My self-talk sounded like, Halter, you dipwad. Instead of cleaning out your spare change, why didn’t you just give him a ten-dollar bill!

“What’s your name, sir?” I asked. He told me, and as I gently scraped the coins back out of his hands, picked up the ones that had fallen onto the pavement, I said, “Joe, hold on just a minute. I’m going to run in and grab you a few things.” I left Joe in the frigid

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.