Elder’s Corner: You're not from around here – Are You?

A few weeks ago I read a story about a town in Western OK.  As people would come in the local diner, a few residents would look them over and then comment “you're not from around here – are you?”  They would do this with uncanny accuracy.  Finally one of the locals shared their secret.  They would merely peek at a person's shoes to determine if they were from there.  The soil in western OK contains iron oxide “rust.”  It clings to the sole of your shoes like glue and gives them a reddish tint.  If you didn't have the stain they knew you were a stranger.

This reminded me of Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power He has to subject all things to Himself.”  So we're “not really from around here.”  Our real home is in heaven.

God has just given us a few years on the earth to serve Him by serving others.  I really like the part in that verse that says He can transform our bodies to be like His.  The more we serve others—the more we're like Him.

 I also think of it in terms of my wife Judy's diseased body and know that someday she will have a healed body as He transforms her.  We have been so blessed by all of you who have shared food, making bibs, haircuts, cards, candy and most of all the prayers you have shared on our behalf.  I can feel that you are in this struggle together with us and I like the strength that comes in numbers.  I think you have shared in these trials because you love us.  Now—Jesus love says you would share with someone whom you didn't even know or worse yet someone who didn't “love you back” (see Luke 14:12-14).  God loved those who crucified His own Son.  When you love people like that they will say “You're not from around here – And they'd be right!”     

—Alan