I've frequently heard that you never know how something as inconsequential as a smile for a stranger passing on the street, or helping someone in need, can radically change their life and yours. Sometime ago I experienced it myself.
An old gentleman named Elmer had been coming around to our place for over a year to get parts to fix little kids' bicycles. When he found out we had children, he began to bring a chocolate bar for each child every time he came. In very broken English, he explained that while a soldier conscripted into Hitler's army he had come to value chocolate bars as a special treat. They were a special treat for our kids, too. Every time Elmer drove up on his BMW motorcycle saying, "Hoy, hoy!" they would race each other to get to Elmer first. He loved it!
One winter I grew concerned as I hadn't seen Elmer since September. By early March I began to wonder whether he had survived the nasty winter we'd just gone through. No one seemed to be able to tell me anything about him. On a day when I was traveling in his direction, I stopped to discover myself how he was doing. He was so happy to see me. The elation on his face made up for that old Slav's language barrier as he invited me in to the one room building where he lived.
During the course of 'conversation' Elmer asked whether I had any salt at home. Meat, even fresh from the butcher, just didn't taste good without salt. However, he didn't want just any salt. He wanted salt from a round package. When he learned I had three kinds of salt at home for him to could choose from, he dragged out his BMW to follow me home to take a look at what I had. After looking at the containers, he rejected two of the varieties of salt. I'd stored the third kind, canning salt, in a container other than what it had been purchased in so I gave him a sample. "Is good!" Elmer pronounced. "I take, OK?" In addition to the salt, I gave Elmer some other food that day. He paid me way too much money for what I'd given him, but he left a happy man.
A week later Elmer returned for more eggs saying, "You have given me a life! I tell you, you have given me a life!!" I couldn't really fathom what he was talking about. I thought possibly he was referring to his salt-renewed taste buds.
The next week Elmer returned again saying, "I tell you, you have given me a life! You have more eggs? I eat three every day!" (Elmer always spoke in exclamations.) In addition to the eggs, I got some more food from our storage cellar that day for him. He was grateful. His eyes shone as he kissed my forehead and my hand.
I wrapped his eggs and the glass jars in pieces of blanket to protect them on the journey in his motorcycle basket, then helped Elmer carry his treasures out to the BMW. We 'chatted' a little and he confessed to me how I had given him a life. It seems he'd become very depressed for lack of food that he considered pure. He was nearly suicidal. But he said, "I know Jesus say no (he demonstrated the action of putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger to indicate suicide)." I want to go to heaven, not to hell, so I not (again the demonstration). I tell you, you give me a life!"
Instantly, it became crystal clear to me what he was saying! I was reminded again that with his BMW motorcycle and his Slavic accent, people thought he was a Nazi. He suffered persecution from those who judged without knowing. He felt oppressed. No one he knew locally could speak any of the four languages he was fluent in (Russian, Hungarian, Czechoslovakian, and Polish) and he didn't speak either English or the German most locals knew a smattering of.
Hunting was one of Elmer's passions; a hobby that was frowned upon by the ever-vocal animal rights groups. TV news reports about old people being murdered in their homes caused him to fear for his life. Grocers thought he was a potential thief by how he looked and smelled - like an eighty-year-old bum. To top it all off, the only food he considered 'good' was meat from a butcher shop. It had to have been an awfully long winter for him. But at our home he had found acceptance and 'good', life-giving food. We had given him a life!
In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus taught His followers the eternal rewards of feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, and taking in strangers, saying in verse 40, "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to Me." Jesus also taught in Matthew 7:12 the Golden Rule we all learned as children: "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you..."
The Lord showed me that day the meaning of these teachings of His. By obeying the Lord's directions, I had been able to enrich the life of a very lonely old man who is just as precious to Him as any king. God's purposes had been served, Elmer had a life, and I was blessed with a new revelation of this teaching of Jesus. What a mighty God we serve! You just never know how you're going to affect someone's life....
Darlene has raised nine children with her husband, David. She continually seeks the opportunity to affect people's lives for the Lord's sake. Email Darlene.
