He wore shorts to church!?

I can only imagine the reaction if our pastor stood in front of the congregation in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops.  I would wager a guess there’d be more than one person leaning over and whispering in outrage “he wore SHORTS to church!”  I’m also pretty sure that the reaction would change little in most churches today.

Now imagine if a stranger walked in front door Sunday, maybe a bit road weary, a face that’s not seen a razor in a few days maybe weeks, dust and dirt from the road covering his hair and clothes.  How would he be received, not how should he be received but just how would he be received?

I suspect that there might be a couple of people who’d come up to shake his hand and welcome him, but just as before there’d probably be even more people leaning over and whispering.   Yet if you think about it, Jesus would have been that man 2000 years ago; he would have been “unkept” even considered “dirty”.  Who are we to judge simply on appearance?  I’m not saying the next homeless person you see is Jesus, likely they are not, but what if it were?

A little story, one day when I was working as an insurance agent out in the field, I was having a bad day, a bad week,…let’s face it I wasn’t enjoying my work at all.  Not only was it not what I wanted to be doing, but what I was doing wasn’t truly keeping my family fed or a roof over their heads.  That day was filled with prayers and questions.  Finally in a bit of sarcasm I said, “God, I know I’m not supposed to ask but I can’t figure out Your plan for me, why am I here?  What am I supposed to be doing?  Please give me some kind of answer.”  I went on to say, “You gave Moses a burning bush, why can’t You give me a burning bush too?!”

As I worked through my day, I was brought to an apartment complex.  In the front entry there were some seats and it wasn’t uncommon for people to be chatting there with friends.  This day as I walked in there was an older gentleman.  He wasn’t well kept and quite honestly, the smell coming off of him was pretty overwhelming but as I walked in I said “hi” as most would in passing.  He smiled and said hello.  There was still so much life in that man but it was hidden.  I mentioned something about the weather and we began to talk.  We talked about sports, family and suddenly he looked at me and said “trust that you are headed in the right direction, He has a plan for you”.  I smiled and said thank you telling him that I had been questioning that grand plan today.  He smiled again and simply said “Trust in Him!”

I thanked him and let him know I had an appointment upstairs.  I signed in at the security desk, right next to where this conversation had taken place. I went up for my appointment but found that no one was home.

I’d been upstairs not more than 10 minutes, plenty of time to consider over and over again my conversation with the gentleman.  I decided I wanted to tell him thank you again.  I got downstairs and signed out and asked the security guard where the older gentlemen that I had talked with was.  Security told me that there had not been anyone sitting where I’d pointed all day.

I looked around the building for a bit but to no avail.  I had a few clients in that building, so I was there a couple of times a week but never saw this man again.

God gave me that burning bush, but instead of leaves branches and flames He’d sent me a man, man with His words, assurance and yes even comfort for that particular stretch of my journey.  If I’d just walked past this man, not engaged him in conversation, I’d never had a glimpse of God’s amazing wisdom.  As you walk along the path don’t turn away from the shorts and flip flops…don’t let the dirt and unshaven face keep you from Him today.