The Destination! - Don't Judge A Book by It's Cover


	The Destination! - Don't Judge A Book by It's Cover

Don't Judge A Book by It's Cover by Bob Pruitt

Outside the little church the sun was burning brightly and a cool breeze made it a perfectly great day. Inside the church, though it was a totally dismal congregation gathered for the funeral of old Sam. I don’t believe there was one person in that room that was there of their own volition, but the pastor had insisted that each and every member be in attendance.

Sam had died rather suddenly just the day before. There were no known relatives to come to the service and all of the church had not really known much about him. Everyone knew that his wife had died some thirty years earlier and it appeared to everyone that each and every Sunday when he walked in the sanctuary he was still wearing the same clothes that he had worn at her funeral. It didn’t look like he had cut or combed his hair or even bothered to shave since that day. His shoes were completely worn out and you could plainly see his ragged socks out of the back as the sole of the shoes flopped with every step.

Sam had not been a friendly or outgoing man while his wife was alive and after she died he just became even more withdrawn. As a result the children of the town looked on him with fear and the parents with disdain. At church when the congregation would stand up for the ‘meet and greet’ and everyone would perform the three “h’s”(handshake, hug, ‘how are ya?’ old Sam would just sit there with closed eyes and head bowed until the music would start up. If anyone had bothered to notice, they would have seen those ragged old shoes tapping in time to the music.

Towards the end of the service as everyone bowed their heads in prayer, old Sam would quietly slip out the back door and walk home without a word to anyone. As a result, no one really knew anything about Sam, other than he lived in an old rundown house at the edge of town, he made daily trips to the post office and then the bank, walked everywhere he went and never said a word to anyone. Some even thought he might have been deaf or mute, but no one really made an attempt to find out. If you did say “Hi” to him he would nod his head and move on.

Now the pastor stepped up to the podium and began to speak.

“Well, I know that all of you are curious as to why I have asked you here today for this funeral. Let me begin by saying that this is not part of Sam’s wish for you, but mine.

You see, there’s a lot about Sam that you don’t know, and I made a promise to myself that upon his dying you would find out some truth.”

“Let me begin by telling you a little of Sam’s life. Sam never knew who his parents were. He was an abandoned baby and grew up in an orphanage outside of Chicago. When he turned 18 he went into service and soon after found himself in Europe fighting Hitler. After Sam came back from the service in 1944, he met and married the love of his life, Abigail. She and Sam were very happy and they were both very active here in the church. Sam had saved most of his money while in service and God blessed him by giving him wisdom in the ways of the stock market. Sam invested in a number of different companies and the Lord just continued to bless him as his portfolio grew to the point that he just spent a few hours a day with the stocks and was able to devote the rest of the day to Abigail and the church.“

“Then disaster struck as Abigail became very sick. The doctors diagnosed her with lung cancer and within six months she went to be with the Lord. Sam was so grief stricken that he could barely speak. After Abigail’s funeral, Sam came to see me and we had a very long discussion on many topics. Sam said he was taking a vow of silence and would do so until he got to go and be with the Lord and see Abigail again. I couldn’t talk him out of it. The other thing we discussed was that Sam wanted to honor Abigail in some way that would be lasting and unique. Since he had amassed millions in the twenty something years of investing, he wanted to give back to the orphanage, the church and to help other folks out. So that day he made me promise that I could never let anyone know as long as he lived just what he was doing. He wanted to honor Abigail before God and lay up for himself ‘treasures in heaven’ as he put it. Therefore, no one here must know of it while he lived.” When some need arose I would call Sam and he would come over to the church and we would sit down and pray about the situation. Afterwards, Sam would write out three checks; one for the situation, one for the orphanage and one for the church. They were all for the same amount. So, every time a need arose it made Sam happy, because here was a chance to honor Abigail. Then without a word, but a great big smile on his face he would leave.”

“Jim, remember about twenty years ago, when we had that terrible drought and all of your crops withered and you came to me because you had lost your crops and the bank was threatening to foreclose and you didn’t even have enough money for food, much less the payment or even seed to plant for next years crop? We prayed about that and a couple of days later I told you that the mortgage was paid by someone that wished to remain anonymous?”

“Helen, what about you? I can remember when your husband left you and your son alone and you had no job. The rent was due and you weren’t even sure if you had enough money to buy groceries. We prayed together and I assured you that the Lord would help you and for six months you received enough money each month to get you through until you found that job as a secretary. I told you that someone wanted to help you, but I couldn’t tell you who it was.”

“Henry, you benefited in the same way when your wife was sick in the hospital and you had to miss work for two months so you could take care of her and yet there was always enough money for you to pay the bills. I told you that a friend was helping you and wanted to remain unknown.”

With that the pastor turned to the church and said, “You have all received funds at one time or another from a secret source. Sam never spent a penny on himself, because he wanted to make sure there was always enough money in his funds to be able to honor that love of his life.”

Of course, this is not a true story. The point is, however, substantial!! Take a moment and reflect on the number of times that there has been someone in your congregation that just seemed a little odd, didn’t quite measure up to the standards that you set. Then think of how you might have handled the situation with this story in mind. My prayer for all that read this story is to be careful in the future how they handle those ‘different’ souls that cross the church door thresholds, and that they will not be too quick to ‘judge a book by it’s cover.’