At the end of the line stood an older man. His clothes were
filthy and you could tell that he had not bathed in days.
His face was covered in whiskers where he had not shaved for a very long time.
When he reached the usher, he removed his tattered old brown
hat in respect. His hair was a long, dirty, tangled mess.
He had no shoes on his feet, and wore only soiled, black socks.
The usher put his fingers to his nose and glared at the old man
and said,
"Uh, I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid we can't let you in.
You will distract the congregation and we don't allow anyone to
disrupt our service. I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
The old man looked down at himself and with a puzzled look on
his face, he placed his old brown hat back upon his head and
turned to leave. He was sad as he loved to hear the choir sing
praises to the Lord. He loved to watch the little children get
up in front of the church to sing their little songs. He carried
in his pocket a small worn out Bible and loved to see if the
minister preached a passage from the Bible that the old man had
underlined. He was respectful enough and didn't want to cause
any commotion, so he hung down his head and walked back down the
steps of the big brick church.
He sat down on the brick wall near the edge of the church yard
and strained to listen through closed doors and windows to the
singing going on in the church. Oh how he wished he could be
inside with all the others.
A few minutes had passed by when all
of a sudden a younger man came up behind him and sat down
near him. He asked the old man what he was doing.
He answered, "I was going to go to church today, but they thought
I was filthy and my clothes are old and worn, and they were afraid
I would disrupt their service. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself.
My name is George."
The two gentlemen shook hands and George couldn't help but
notice that this man had long hair like his. He wore a piece of cloth
draped over his body tied with a royal purple sash. He had
sandals upon his feet, now covered with dust and dirt.
The stranger reached out to touch George's shoulder and said,
"Hello, George, don't feel bad because they won't let you in. My
name is Jesus, and I've been trying to get into this same church
for years, and they won't let me in either."
Unknown
It was a beautiful Sunday morning. People were filling the
church to its fullest capacity! As they entered, each were
given a bulletin filled with announcements, topic of today's
sermon, what songs they would sing and who to pray for.