{"id":20607,"date":"2020-06-24T21:47:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T02:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=20607"},"modified":"2020-06-27T10:20:02","modified_gmt":"2020-06-27T15:20:02","slug":"those-little-things-you-do-when-you-think-no-one-is-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/those-little-things-you-do-when-you-think-no-one-is-watching\/","title":{"rendered":"Those little things you do when you think no one is watching"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cGod is Watching.\u201d\u00a0 \u2013sign over the door of Gwen Williams\u2019 home in Picayune, Mississippi.<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Ed Mathiston told his congregation in Montgomery, Alabama a story about kindness.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot long ago, a man from the Middle East walked into a new car showroom and asked to speak with a particular salesperson.\u00a0 The receptionist called for him, the fellow walked to the front, and they\u00a0greeted each other.<\/p>\n

The foreigner said, \u201cI\u2019d like to buy some trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some trucks.<\/em> That caught the sales guy\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you have in mind, sir?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to buy 750 heavy duty trucks and 250 pickups.\u201d<\/p>\n

The salesman is stunned.\u00a0 Surely someone is pulling a prank.\u00a0 This cannot be happening.<\/p>\n

The Middle Easterner pulls out a letter of credit with a huge American bank.\u00a0 It is legitimate. This is the real deal.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The salesman says, \u201cSir, you know you can go to Detroit and buy those trucks at a huge discount.\u201d<\/p>\n

The customer\u00a0said,\u201dSir, ten years ago I was a college student in your city.\u00a0 Being from the Middle East made it hard for Americans to befriend me.\u00a0 I soon discovered you have to have a car in America, so I came to you.\u00a0 I picked out a car.\u00a0 You said to me, \u2018I can sell you that car and I\u2019ll make a nice commission. But you would not be happy with it.\u00a0 It\u2019s more car than you need.\u2019 So you sold me a smaller car.\u00a0 It was the nicest thing anyone in America had ever done for me.\u00a0 And I decided I would repay you when I got a chance.\u00a0 So, I want to buy one thousand trucks through you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Mathiston, who told that story, was pastor of Frazer Memorial UMC in Montgomery (until he retired in 2008).\u00a0 I heard him tell the story, wrote it down, and then used it on the radio in New Orleans.\u00a0 Today I found it in my journal for that year, 1999.\u00a0 No other details are given.\u00a0 Nor did the pastor cite his source.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a great reminder that sometimes small acts of kindness reap great rewards.\u00a0 But whether they do or do not, doing right is always the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

Historians tell us that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto studied and traveled\u00a0in America in the 1920s.\u00a0\u00a0He was once turned away from a San Francisco barber shop because he was Japanese.\u00a0 And he never forgot the slight.\u00a0 In 1941 and for two years after, he\u00a0oversaw Japan\u2019s\u00a0attacks on the United States, at Pearl Harbor and beyond.<\/p>\n

We may assume the barber went home that day\u00a0without a clue as to the chain of events he had just triggered.\u00a0 (Or at least, contributed to.)\u00a0 Just a small thing, showing prejudice to someone with no power.\u00a0 Surely nothing would ever come from that.\u00a0 He\u2019d done it countless times.<\/p>\n

Showing kindness or acting with malice.\u00a0 Small things.\u00a0 And in most cases, unnoticed.<\/p>\n

God sees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eyes of the Lord roam to and fro in the earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His\u201d (2 Chronicles 16:9).<\/em><\/p>\n

The recipient of\u00a0those small acts of kindness or malice\u00a0is forever changed, however slight, for better or for ill.<\/p>\n

Our Lord spoke to this issue in Luke 14, a memorable chapter to be sure, but one that gets overshadowed by the chapter which follows (with its story of the Prodigal Son).<\/p>\n

In the heart of that chapter, our Lord says, \u201cWhen you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you.\u00a0 But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you.\u00a0 For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small things. Small people, if you will pardon the expression.\u00a0 It means people under the radar.\u00a0 Those unnoticed by the world, slighted by the powers, not \u201csomebodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

What we do for them goes unseen by the passing parade. But God sees.<\/p>\n

This may be the biggest test of all: What we do when no one is looking.\u00a0 How we treat a child.\u00a0 How we relate to the forgotten elderly in a nursing home or hospital bed.\u00a0 Or the tramp on the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a stranger and you took me in.\u201d\u00a0 (Matthew 25:35).<\/p>\n

Apparently, this matters to the Lord far more than our great displays of talent and endowment.<\/p>\n

A seminary professor once\u00a0gave a low grade to\u00a0a gifted\u00a0student\u00a0after\u00a0he delivered an inspired sermon on love to the class.\u00a0 The student was incensed. \u201cI thought it went over well.\u00a0 The class received it well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The professor assured him he had done well.\u00a0 \u201cYou are as gifted as anyone\u00a0I\u2019ve ever had in my class,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen why the C?\u201d said the student.<\/p>\n

The professor asked him to sit down.\u00a0\u201cI want to tell you something I saw on the street two days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the corner of Elysian Fields Avenue and Gentilly Boulevard, the professor said, he had been in the turn lane behind two other cars.\u00a0 An elderly woman was driving the lead car, and this seminary student was second.\u00a0 The professor was third.<\/p>\n

When the light turned green, signaling that those in the turn lane could proceed, the elderly woman was slow to react.\u00a0 The student behind her laid down on his car horn. Finally, in exasperation, the\u00a0student drove his car around the woman\u2019s car, passing her in the intersection.\u00a0 All the while, he was leaning out of his window yelling harsh words to the woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd two days later,\u201d the professor said, \u201cthat student stood in my class and\u00a0delivered a sermon on love.\u00a0 Clearly, he doesn\u2019t have a clue what love means.\u00a0 I probably should have given you a failing grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The student never forgot that lesson, harsh though it may have felt at the time.<\/p>\n

There came a day when the Lord and His disciples stood in the temple treasury area, watching how people were giving their contributions.\u00a0 That\u2019s Mark 12:41.<\/p>\n

That day, the disciples noticed people bringing large sums and dropping them into the huge brass runs designated for the upkeep of the temple, for the support of the priest and for feast days, and for benevolence.\u00a0 But Jesus paid little attention to them.<\/p>\n

He pointed out the little widow lady who dropped in two small copper coins and went on her way.<\/p>\n

She had no idea that the Lord of Heaven and earth had noticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cTruly I say to you,\u201d said the Lord Jesus.\u00a0 \u201cThis poor widow put in more than anyone else.\u00a0 They all put in out of their excess.\u00a0 But she out of her poverty, has put in all she owned, everything she had to live on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lord was mightily impressed by the smallest gift made that day, by the least conspicuous person.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s that way.\u00a0 He sees and cares. And remembers.<\/p>\n

Oh, does He ever remember!<\/p>\n

And by the way,\u00a0that little lady who brought the ten cents for the offering, she\u00a0just made honorable mention in Holy Scripture. (Here we are two thousand years later, still talking about her!)\u00a0 Boy, she got her money\u2019s worth, didn\u2019t she?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGod is Watching.\u201d\u00a0 \u2013sign over the door of Gwen Williams\u2019 home in Picayune, Mississippi. John Ed Mathiston told his congregation in Montgomery, Alabama a story about kindness. \u201cNot long ago, a man from the Middle East walked into a new … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,93,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-grace","category-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20623,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20607\/revisions\/20623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}