I updated my website today and yesterday with more prayer requests. There's a link over on the lefthand side of this page. So click on the prayer tab when you get there. I'm posting a picture of some kids in Venezuela. Some missionaries I know work there. They just sent a newsletter to me. I put a link on their section of the prayer page. Please make sure you pay attention to the Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church section as well as the Wayfarers on the Silk Road. Each of these three have been updated in the last couple of days. The others have dates on them as well. Please pray for these missionaries and the work they are doing around the world.Clay ball
A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a
canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled
clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.
They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the
bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw
the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it
cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each
contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in
the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.
He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the
clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of
thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands,
but he had just thrown it away!
It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and
we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It
isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it. We see that
person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known
or wealthy But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden
inside that person.
There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to
get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He
sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to
shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown
away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May
we see the people in our world as God sees them.
I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with each of you.
Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.
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