Recently, I stopped for a doughnut and cup of coffee. Before I could pay, the


man behind me said, “I’ll pay for it.” I had never seen him before. The employee at the counter said this happens a lot. The others in life need to hear from those who care. We get so caught up we forget or just pass them by. One man, recently said if he did what I am advocating it would tie up his day or certainly take more time than he could offer. That’s just the point the Apostle is making to be a Christians having the mindset of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5b)


Consider the “Others” of Your Life Think for a minute of the “others” in your life who have made a difference


in your life. When was the last time you checked in on them? A pastor, former boss, longtime friend, a school teacher. People who gave time and care to help make you and your future. And they still may be doing it. A few years ago, I read the account of three high school classmates at one


of their class reunions. Each had done very well in life. One was a physician, another a lawyer and the other a banker. One of the classmates asked about Miss Wood, their English teacher, who had given them a love for the classics. Each one wondered where she might be. Each lamented that they had learned so much from her and had never told her since high school days. William, one of the boys made it his objective to find his former teacher. He located her in a retirement home. He wrote her a letter of thanks for himself and his two class- mates. In a short time, a response came. It went something like this:


Dear Willie, I am now 92 and in a retirement home. The day your letter came it was dark and


gloomy and I was very lonely. And then I read your letter and it was as though the sun came out. Thank you, Willie. I have been retired for over 30 years and yours is the only letter from a student I have received. Willie, you have made this day joyful.


Sincerely yours, Ruth Wood


Thankfulness shouts energy into discouraged lives and sends one forth with new enthusiasm. Valuing Others The Apostle tells us, “in humility to value others above yourselves.” Dr.


Mannford Götze encourages us to ask some questions when we think about any person. If I had been born where she was born; if I had had for my father the man she had for her father; if I had had for my mother the woman that she had for her mother; if I had been brought up in the home that she was brought up in; if I had gone to the schools where she went to school; if I had gone to the church where she went to church; or if I had spent my Sundays the way her family spent their Sundays; if I had had the kind of preaching to listen to that she has had to listen to all her lifetime, isn’t it possible that I might not be as good as she is? I might not be as far along as she is. Or think of this possibility. If that person had been born in my home; if he


had been born the child of my mother or the child of my father; if he had grown up in the high school I went to; and if that person had met the preachers that


September/October 2019


I have met, isn’t it possible that that person would have been way ahead of where I am? It is quite possible to “esteem others better than” yourself. (Plain Talk on Philippians, pgs. 78-79) When we “value others” we might


find them far ahead of us. This is where humility comes in. One has said, “This is not to say such persons are better, but only to say that you will think of them as if they were better.” And what a difference such thinking can make in our lives, our churches and the contacts of everyday life.


Me Third I recall the story of a Christian


young man going off to college. He wanted his life to make a difference. He didn’t know who his roommate would be. But more than anything he wanted to have a clear testimony for Jesus. He had a little sign on his desk with the words, “ME THIRD” embla- zoned on it. The young man’s roommate was


not a believer in Christ. Daily, the young man lived out his faith. As the year ended and the roommates were parting, the roommate said he had a question to ask, “Throughout the year I have seen the sign on your desk. What does it mean?” In response, the Christian student said, “Some years ago I made a decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And the sign is a daily reminder of that.” God is first, others are second, I


am third. Barbara Johnson, in one of her pub-


lications, shares a quote from Donna Watson that too fleshes out the subject before us: “Have you given someone your smile? Have you shared your laughter? How about a hug?” Let us go to the “others” and make


the difference the child of God, and only the child of God can make.?


Reverend James Rice is a re- tired ARP minister in Second Presbytery.


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