Just Checking In...
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

A minister passing through his church  in the middle of the day,

Decided to pause by the altar  and see who had come to pray.

Just then the back door opened,  a man came down the aisle,

The minister frowned as he saw  the man hadn't shaved in a while.

His shirt was kind of shabby  and his coat was worn and frayed,

the man knelt, he bowed his head,  Then rose and walked away.

In the days that followed,  each noon time came this chap,

each time he knelt just for a moment,  A lunch pail in his lap.

Well, the minister's suspicions grew,  with robbery a main fear,

He decided to stop the man and ask him,  "What are you doing here?"

The old man said, he worked down the road.

Lunch was half an hour.

Lunchtime was his prayer time,

For finding strength and power.

"I stay only moments, see,  because the factory is so far away;   as I kneel here talking to the Lord,

This is kind of what I say:

"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD,   HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN,

SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP  AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN.

DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY,

BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.

SO, JESUS, THIS IS JIM   CHECKING IN TODAY."
 
The minister feeling foolish,  told Jim, that was fine.

He told the man he was welcome

To come and pray just anytime.

Time to go, Jim smiled, said "Thanks."

He hurried to the door.

The minister knelt at the altar,  he'd never done it before.

His cold heart melted, warmed with love,   and met with Jesus there.

As the tears flowed, in his heart,   he repeated old Jim's prayer:

"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD,

HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN,

SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP

AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN.

I DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I

THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.

SO, JESUS, THIS IS ME CHECKING IN TODAY."

Past noon one day, the minister noticed  that old Jim hadn't come.

As more days passed without Jim,   he began to worry some.

At the factory, he asked about him,   learning he was ill.

The hospital staff was worried,

But he'd given them a thrill.

The week that Jim was with them,

Brought changes in the ward.

His smiles, a joy contagious.

Changed people, were his reward.

The head nurse couldn't understand   why Jim was so glad,

when no flowers, calls or cards came,

Not a visitor he had.

The minister stayed by his bed,

He voiced the nurse's concern:

No friends came to show they cared.

He had nowhere to turn.

Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a  winsome smile;

"the nurse is wrong, she couldn't know,  that in here all the while everyday at noon

He's here, a dear friend of mine, you see,

He sits right down, takes my hand,

Leans over and says to me:

"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, JIM,

HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN,

SINCE WE FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP,

AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN.

ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY,

I THINK ABOUT YOU EACH DAY,

AND SO JIM, THIS IS JESUS

CHECKING IN TODAY."
 
If this blesses you, pass it on...

Many people will walk in and out of your life,  but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.

May God hold you in the palm of His hand and

Angels watch over you.

~Author Unknown~

But for those of us who are already His, He not only holds us in the palm of His hand, but has  engraved our names there, and we are continually in His sight (Isaiah 49:16)

He keeps me functioning each and everyday.

Without Him, I will be nothing.

Without him, I am nothing but with Him "I can do all things  through Christ that strengthens me." Phil 4:13

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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.