The Burning Bush
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Sometimes you get angels. Sometimes just characters. When the girls were little, I wanted them to be aware of the needs of others, so we would look for opportunities to do little things when we could. We didn't have a lot of money, but we had enough love to make up for just about anything.
One Thanksgiving week we made cookies and went down to a local park where the homeless were known to hang out. A public area and well traveled with slides and trains and kid-friendly apparatus, we spent an enjoyable morning, and the girls had a good time passing out bags of cookies.
There was a man who was living in his car by the park. Scruffy, needing a shower, he sat and talked for a long while as the girls played nearby. He told me of his family back East, and how it had been a long time since he had seen them. He told me of his love for the Lord, and that while he may have some unconventional ideas, he still knew that God was with him all the time.
Of course one thing led to another, and I invited him to join us for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. He gladly accepted, and we made the necessary arrangements. The girls were excited that we were going to have company for dinner.
When he arrived I was pleased to see that he had cleaned up. The girls sat with their dad as this gentle man enchanted the girls with stories as I looked on from the kitchen while putting the finishing touches on our meal.
We sat around the table talking, getting to know this man who looked 60 but was actually only 38, and he told us that he would be going to court soon and might have to serve some jail time. He explained that he had been arrested for his religious beliefs and that he was being persecuted.
In all seriousness, he TRULY believed that the burning bush through which God spoke to Moses was a marijuana plant, and spent the next half hour telling us his heartfelt conviction that we find God by smoking pot. The police officer that had arrested him the previous week didn't seem to be in agreement, and a trial date had been set.
In reading the newspaper a few weeks later, I found that he had been convicted of possession and, if I remember correctly, was going to have to serve jail time. Seems that the court ruled you have to have more than one person be a member of a "church" to have it be considered an "organized religion."
In retrospect I probably wouldn't do something like that again, but it all goes in to the overall experiences that shape our lives.
The burning bush was written by Mimi Foster
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