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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Favoritism (02/28/05)
I was running late and had to grab a seat before the hymn was over. I didn't want to be too disruptive so I just slid into the first empty spot I saw. After putting my purse down and adjusting my skirt, I noticed that I
had plopped down beside Kelly. I smiled at her as she turned her hymnal to show me the number- 105. As the congregation continued "Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How Great Thou Art...", my mind travelled back to when Kelly first started coming to our church. She started bringing her two young daughters to Sunday School. I was a teacher then and remember how scraggly and anxious the little girls looked. Their clothes were wrinkled and plain. Their faces were sad and they clung to their mom unsure how this place would receive them. We welcomed them and included them purposely in our activities careful not to overwhelm them. Eventually they understood that they were accepted and began to relax enough to enjoy themselves. These girls would come and go with their mom for the next several years only to end up being removed from the home due to parental instability. I remembered praying for them during that time and I wondered now why I had stopped.

Kelly looked over and smiled, I smiled back.. "When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation..." Those were hard years for Kelly. She suffers with mental difficulties and her husband with schizophrenia. They have had tremendous highs and lows and her husband is now very ill. In spite of it all, Kelly has been so faithful. For many years, she would walk in all kinds of weather and would never miss an opportunity for fellowship. Now she gets a ride as her legs are feeling the effects of her diabetes. Glancing over I see her hat is tilted awkwardly on her graying light brown hair. Her glasses are large as was the style twenty years ago and magnify her eyes to twice their normal size. She's wearing a faded sweat suit and I catch a faint odor as she reaches for her tattered Bible on her lap. To a stranger, Kelly may be the last person they would want to sit beside, but today I caught a glimpse of the heart of Jesus. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7b NIV
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Deena Walls
03/07/05
Praising God for all the Kell'y in the world and for all the You's that have a heart for us when no one else does God does through the You's !Thank You !
Carol Adams
03/08/05
I am so glad that God shows His grace and mercy to all of us and He accepts all. Thanks for a great story.
Crista Darr
03/08/05
When Isaiah prophesied about Jesus he said, "There is no beauty that we should desire Him." You've written a lovely story.
donna robinson
03/08/05
I loved the way you and the church found a way to favor Kelly and not judge her by her lot in life. That's not easy to do sometimes and you had the reader feeling very humble.