Walking down the corridor and passing by the many people that were coming the other direction, the soldier entered a room and walked over looked around the many pigeon holes to find his. In it was a an envelope. He picked it up, placing it inside a folder that he had with him, and left the room. It had been a long time since he had received mail. Being overseas, he seemed to have lost contact with those people that he had called friends. Many of them too busy to keep up with communication, he continued each day as the last. Sure, he had a few friends in the service with him, but his heart was not there.

He walked past the cafeteria and decided to go inside for some lunch. Sitting at a seat near the back, he watched the people going in and out. A few people came in and walked over to the counter. They laughed a lot, a couple of them swearing. One of the ladies glanced over at the soldier, but quickly returned her gaze to the group that she was with. He asked them to clean up their language. Now they all looked at him, saying that he was crazy. As they left the room, he pulled out a book. Flipping through some of the pages of it, he read some of it. In the
meantime, many people came in and out of the cafeteria. Finishing his lunch, he got up and left.

He then went to see his commanding officer. After being shown inside, he was given his orders. The man behind the desk then explained his job to him. Opening the orders and reading them, they seemed to contradict what he was being told. He tried to reconcile this with the officer, but the more that he tried, the more on edge both had become. The officer finally dismissed him, saying that he could read the orders and then make up his mind.

Arriving back at his room, he sat down on his bunk and opened the envelope. There wasn’t much inside. He took out the two sheets of paper and started to read the familiar writing on it. It was from his parents. His mom had, once again, took pen in hand to keep him up to date with what was going on at home. After reading all of the stuff about Thelma Jane was getting married to George, and how the pie turned out bad, there was something that caused a tear to come to the soldier’s eye. The mother, not really wanting her son away from home, stated that she loved him no matter what he did. The language wasn’t the best English that you’ve seen, and isn’t wasn’t the most eloquent of speech, but the point was made.

He didn’t quite know how to respond. His entire life in the military had been a battle. Not just with guns and machines, but also emotionally. It wasn’t easy to leave home. It hadn’t been easy to take stands alone, when seemingly else was there. This one letter, for that one moment, changed his entire outlook. It gave him renewed strength, and vigor to stand, knowing that his parents were behind him…

Christ is behind us and loves us unconditionally. He came to die for us when we were least desirable, and longs to save us from our sins if we but ask. It matters not how the storm may blow, or what problems seem to come our way, but that our God is in control of all things. So be of good cheer, He will take care of you and keep you. Continue to follow Him and get to know Him better through His Word.

Two people drove up in an elegant car and stopped in front of a house out in the country. The two exited the car, a man in a suit leading a man in a pair of bib overalls. The two
were a sight to behold. Walking up to the house, the man in the suit turned to the other. “Well, here we are, Mr. Stevens.” The old man eyed the door, and stepped into the building.

The man in the suit followed Stevens into the building, and shut the door. “You said that it could use some work, and you were right.”

“I didn’t think that it was this bad. The picture that we have back at the office…”

“How much did you say you wanted for it?”

“Let me go back out to the car and check.”

“Don’t you have the pamphlet here with you?”

“Yes, but this house doesn’t look anything like this picture!” The man in the suit showed the picture to Stevens once again. They both looked around the room and again at the picture. The man in the suit placed the picture back into his pocket and proceeded to go back to his car, carefully.

Stevens walked around the room, eying the wood. No, this house didn’t look anything like what He had envisioned. As he walked over toward the fireplace, a piece of wood came down from the ceiling and smacked him in the jaw. He took the board and put it back into place. Pulling a hammer out of his pocket, he quickly secured the board. Blood dripped down his face, but he quickly stopped it by placing a handkerchief up to his face.

The man with the suit reappeared. Seeing the bloody handkerchief and everything, he immediately inquired as to what had happened. Stevens just looked up at the board. The other man replied, “I’m sorry, sir. Let me show you another…”

“I’ll take this one.”

“Pardon me?”

“I said, I would take this house.”

“But sir, this house is…”

“I know, but I think that I may be able to do something with it.”

“Are you sure?”

“How much is it.” Stevens answered. The man in the suit started to object once again, but ended up stating the price. Stevens whipped the money out of his pocket. The man stood looking at the money, and Stevens asked, “Isn’t that enough?”

“Yes, it is, but where did you get all this cash?”

“Out of a mayonnaise jar in the back yard. It’s my entire life’s savings.” The man in the suit again objected, but Stevens refused to take the money back. The man in the suit gave up and left the building. Stevens stood and eyed the room he was in, and then started to get to work.

He worked diligently, repairing one flaw after another. It was amazing what this man could do. Soon, the house started to resemble the one in the picture. A few weeks after that first encounter, the man in the suit returned to the house. After welcoming him in, Stevens offered him a seat. “I don’t understand. How did you do this?”

“Well, it wasn’t easy, but through diligent work I was able to take this place and make it a great house.”

“I can see that. What about that board that smacked you in the face?!”

“Well, there were many times where I wasn’t so sure that I would be able to get this house looking just like this. It was like it had a mind of its own, not wanting to submit to my work. Quite a few boards were found like that one, striking me.”

“And you kept going?!”

“Well, the house was still there, and it still was mine. I just had to work at it. As long as the foundation was firm, I could work with it. Although, I would have preferred not be smacked as much.”

Christian, God wants to build a suitable temple for Himself our of our bodies. We are so unworthy of this, for we have a persistent habit of sin and not putting our full love and trust in Him. Yet, the Master Carpenter continues to work, for He loves us and is committed to finishing the work that He had begun. He owns our lives, for He bought it with His life, His all. When we resist He leadership and work in our lives, we are striking at the one who loves us tremendously. One day we will be presented faultless, but the path that we chose how we get there shows how much we love the Lord that saved us.

Walking upstairs, the two walked to the spot in the hall where the ladder to the attic came down. Using the pole that he had discovered the morning before, Joey was able to catch the little handle and pull down the panel. “It’s open,” stated Joey, looking back at his sister.

A big smiled came over her face as she watched her brother pull down the ladder. “Be careful, Joey!” Joey turned his head and gave his sister a look of disbelief. Turning back to his work, he pulled the ladder down and started his climb into the attic, his sister still standing below.

“Well?” Joey called down. “What are you waiting for?!”

“It looks so dark up there!”

“There has to be a light switch somewhere,” Joey stated, as he disappeared from the doorway. He stumbled around in the dark for a bit. Jill heard a crash, and called for her brother. He replied that he was all right. Jill looked around the hallway, and flicked a switch nearby. Joey appeared back at the doorway. “Found it!”

“Yep, I did. Right here.” Joey looked embarrassed, and Jill started to climb the ladder up into the attic. Once there, she looked around at all the dust covered objects. She saw a mildly organized attic with a lot of covered things.

“I wonder what’s in those trunks,” Joey wondered aloud as he pointed to some trunks in the corner. He headed over to them and started playing with the lock on one of them.

Meanwhile, Jill wandered toward some plastic covered dresses in another corner. Lifting up some plastic, she imagined wearing the fancy dresses.

As Joey finally opened the lock on the trunk, Jill found an old hat box. She lifted the cover and— “BANG!” She turned to see Joey wearing a cowboy hat and holding an old cap gun in his right hand. “I shot you!”

“So,” she replied. “A real gentleman wouldn’t shoot a lady.” She batted her eyes.

“Yuk.” He placed the that and gun back into the trunk and started to look for something else to play with. As he continued to do this, Jill wandered over to what she thought was a window. Looking at the large thing in front of her, she figured out that it was not a window, but a mirror. She could see her own silhouette in the dusty mirror, but as she moved her head around to try to get a better view she couldn’t seem to make out anything but her silhouette. She could tell that she was still wearing the hat, but that was about it.

She looked around her and found a rag on shelf next to the mirror. She picked up the rag and rubbed it once over the mirror. She looked into where she had wiped. She really couldn’t see too clearly. The dust had to have been there for a long time. She could now see a little of her face, but the size of the spot that she wiped and the amount of dust that was still on it caused her vision to be impaired. She started cleaning random spots, but everywhere she cleaned yielded the same result.

“What are you doing?” Joey asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Jill replied, placing the rag behind her. She meandered over to look at something else until Joey moved to another trunk. As soon as he was out of sight, she went back to the mirror. Finally, she started to rub increasingly harder on one spot. The more she cleaned, the more she saw, to the point that she finally saw just a bit, enough to see her eyes.

“Hmm. What’s this?” Joey asked. He picked up a black leather-bound book from the trunk. A thick layer of dust covered it, and as he blew the dust off and coughed a couple of
times, he tried to make out its title. He couldn’t quite make out all the letters, so he turned it on its side to open it. As he leafed through it, he saw that many pages were as if they’d never been read, while very few actually looked read. He then flipped to the front page and realized that this was a Bible.

Like a mirror, the Bible reflects the true image of the viewer. By looking deeply into it you see how holy He is and how you really appear to Him. The only catch is that you must take the time to look deep inside it to see yourself. A casual listening to it may show you a silhouette, and a casual glance at it might show you a better outline, but only digging deep will reveal the person that God sees in you.