Not Home Yet
An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years and were
returning to New York to retire. They had no pension; their health was
broken; they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. They discovered
they
were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was
returning
from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.
No one paid any attention to them.
They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President's entourage,
with
passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man.
As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his
wife,
"Something is wrong.
Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in
Africa
all
these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man
comes
back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody
gives
two hoots about us."
"Dear, you shouldn't feel that way," his wife said. "I can't help it;
it
doesn't seem right."
When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the
President.
The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of the
President's arrival.
No one noticed this missionary couple.
They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East Side,
hoping the
next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city.
That night the man's spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I can't take
this;
God is not treating us fairly." His wife replied, "Why don't you go in
the
bedroom and tell that to the Lord?"
A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was
completely different. His wife asked, "Dear, what happened?"
"The Lord settled it with me," he said. "I told him how bitter I was
that
the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one
met
us
as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord
put
his hand on my shoulder and simply said, 'But you're not home yet!"
Yes, there are rewards for faithfulness, but not necessarily down here.
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