Work, Cough, Rest and Friends

Well, I’m here in Albany, GA.  Not much to say for the town so far…seems kinda small.  But more about that later.

I’ve got a friend here in town named Bill.  I’m crashing at his place for a few days until it’s time to take the Greyhound northward.  Bill’s got kinda of a ‘mini’ Koinonia going here.  A house full of people…a garden…scuppernongs…a small orchard and plenty of animals.  One thing he does have that Koinonia doesn’t is a swimming pool…or as the Clampett’s used to call it “a cement pond”.  I’m going to try to check it out tomorrow.

Anyway, it appears that Bill lives right in the middle of town.  I’ve rode with him today as he did some errands and kept pestering him with questions before we left the mini Koinonia estate.

“Where is the library, and how far is it” I asked.
“Bout a mile that way” said Bill…pointing north.

“How far is the grocery store”?
“Bout a mile that way”…pointing south.

“How far is the McDonald’s?”
“Bout a mile that way”…pointing southwest.

So I figure that Bill lives pretty near the center of a small town.*

It’s kinda nice to have friends that will let you come crash at their place for a few days.  Kind of unwinding and stuff.  Getting a little respite from all the drama of late.  I asked Bill what I could be doing for him since he’s allowing me to put down very shallow and very temporary roots here.  He responded by walking me around the 1.7 acre estate…pointing out asparagus that needed to be covered up…weeds that need to be pulled…a black garden hose that needs to be buried and some other stuff.

This morning I got up and promptly went to work on the garden.  I planted about a dozen tomator plants and weeded two whole rows of crop.  Then went and got myself something to drink…and fell asleep for ’bout an hour.  Seems like my recovery from the heart surgery is still going painfully slow.  So my pattern has kinda become…

Work…cough…rest…rest…work…cough…rest… Get it?

Despite that stumbling work pattern, I think Bill is acting out one of Jesus’ teaching.

I think this might be what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Whenever you do it to the least of my brothers, you’re doing it to me”.    And the message I get out of it?  Well, it’s a little different than when I was in Mrs. Shaver’s 1st grade Sunday School class.

Then she kinda taught that when we give someone a cold drink…we’re also giving it to Jesus.  When we give a homeless person a meal…we’re also giving it to Jesus.  In short, what I got out of her teaching was that anything “good” we do for someone, we do for Jesus as well.

But the opposite is true also.

When we fail to practice Christ’s love with others…we’re doing it to Him too.  When we gossip and backbite about others…we’re gossiping about Him too.  When we fail to practice pure, brotherly love with one another…well, we’re spitting on the cross.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying I’m perfect and I get this right 100% of the time.  I’m just saying that having a few days to rest, reflect and ponder have given me this new insite.

Catch ya later.  I’m going to get me a cup of coffee…and see if He wants one too.

*PLEASE NOTE: This isn’t EXACTLY how the conversation went down.  It is, however, based on a real conversation we had.  So lighten up and understand that it’s NOT meant to be a documentary.  Thanks.