A Preacher's Story

"Let me tell you a preacher's story," our speaker interrupted his sermon by saying. The service had run late, and the elderly gentleman promised he would speak only 15 minutes. That was disappointing, as we, or at least, I, thoroughly enjoyed the 88-year-old's sermons and life experiences he shared.

He told of an exciting trip he and his wife had made to Galveston several years ago to attend a tent revival by a well-known preacher of the day. Bad weather sprang up, however, forcing the revival indoors into what he said was a very fancy, luxurious church. Their plans had been to live frugally on the trip, combining services with free time spent fishing, intending to pack ice chests full of fish to take home. Due to the weather, they couldn't fish and had to pay $50 for a tiny truckers'-like room with only a bed and a nightstand.

"God," he prayed, "please make a way for us to attend the revival by giving us a place to stay that we can afford!" That night he heard a voice behind him in church saying, "Where you stayin'?" He turned his head around, glancing at the floor to see a pair of ragged tennis shoes with a couple of toes sticking through the holes. As his glance climbed upward, he saw a giant of a man wearing cut-offs and a well-worn t-shirt.

"I told him I didn't have a place to stay, since we had checked out of our room that day. 'Stay with me!' the voice boomed. Well, I had asked God to provide a place, and he had, so I accepted, even though I figured that a man dressed like that wouldn't have much of a house," he explained. The preacher said he couldn't believe it when they drove up to a palatial home. After a good night's rest, a knock on the door told them breakfast was ready. "We ate like kings all week and had a great revival!" He said they were treated so nice, he got over his racial prejudice right then.

A WWII veteran, our speaker told of the prejudice among servicemen toward the colored troops. "We called them "Eleanor's Boys", he recalled, since the name, Eleanor Roosevelt, became associated with the "Tuskegee Airmen" when she was given an airplane ride by an African-American aviator and chief of the program to prove to her that they could fly an airplane. The black fighter pilots became known as "Red Tails", since they painted the tails of their airplanes red. Interest has been piqued with their story recently with the release of a movie about them by that name.

The Bible says in Galations 3:26-28 that there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free, neither male nor female, but all are children of God who have trusted in Jesus Christ. The old soldier telling the preacher's story would be the first to agree.