Day of Praise

Tu, 03/04/14, "Day of Praise"

Numbers 15:15 - "You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord."

And so it is true. Jason really is a lot like me.

"Who is Jason?," you ask.

A better question would actually be, "Who am I?" Well, late last night, I was the sojourner, travelling from Birmingham, AL to Kingsport, TN to see my dad. I needed to stop, and my phone needed a charge. So I charged toward the restroom, and I stopped to ask Jason for a plug. Ya know? For my phone. Apparently, when Jason works the late shift at the Whizzaroo Gas Station, he doesn't get many preachers stopping in at 12:30 a.m. asking for a plug for their phone. I surmised this when his face looked more puzzled than my closet full of boxes of 500-piece pictures. So I gave Jason the Reader's Digest Version about my dad, and Jason pointed me to the plug on the way to the men's room.

When I came back through to get my phone, Jason said, "I'm sorry about your dad." And he proceeded to tell me about his own dad's failing health and his mom's passing seven years ago and his twenty-one year old nephew's tragic death in a car accident, which was not that long ago.

I listened; he cried. Then he listened, and I cried.

Total strangers.

But we're just alike. Created by the Lord for a relationship with the Lord and for relationships with loved ones and strangers.

So unless you're in solitary confinement, (which means you can't possibly be reading this devotion), you're going to see someone today who's just passing through your life. Ya know? A sojourner. You may not know if their phone needs a charge; but you can be totally certain that their heart does. Maybe their body needs a room for some rest; but you can be absolutely sure that their soul does.

So give 'em your ear, like Jason gave me. Then tell 'em a little of your story. And you'll discover you have much in common, just as God says in Numbers 15:15 - "You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord."

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson