Monday, January 02, 2012
NOT HOME YET
Author Unknown
January 2, 2012
An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years and was
returning to New York to retire. They had no pension; their health was
broken; they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. They discovered
they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who
was returning
from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.
No one paid any attention to them. They watched the fanfare that
accompanied the President's entourage, with passengers trying to catch
a glimpse of the great man. As the ship moved across the ocean, the
old missionary said to his wife, "Something is wrong.
Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in
Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us?
Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much
over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us."
"Dear, you shouldn't feel that way," his wife said. "I can't help it;
it doesn't seem right." When the ship docked in New York, a band was
waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were
there. The papers were full of the President's arrival.
No one noticed this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and
found a cheap flat on the East Side, hoping the next day to see what
they could do to make a living in the city.
That night the man's spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I can't take
this; God is not treating us fairly." His wife replied, "Why don't you
go in the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?"
A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was
completely different. His wife asked, "Dear, what happened?"
"The Lord settled it with me," he said. "I told him how bitter I was
that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no
one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as
though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and simply said, 'But
you're not home yet!"
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