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.
He replied "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
home-coming, 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,
'You're not home yet'!