The last line has not been written!

PUNCTUATED BY COMMAS

The call was unexpected and from someone I didn’t know. “Mrs. Tuck,” the voice began, “I understand that from time to time you and your husband take in people who need a place to stay.”

The result of that inquiry led to a temporary house guest who stayed with us for six months. Beverly (not her real name) had major problems. She had just gotten out of jail for writing bad checks and her step-mother wanted nothing more to do with her.

Apparently her recent incarceration had not been her first brush with the law. Charlie and I did our best to point her to Christ and to show her there was a better road to travel, but our efforts seemed in vain. One day I came home, only to discover Beverly was gone. Much to her credit (and my relief) she had not absconded with any check books!

We lost track of Beverly for some time; finally we learned she had wound up in a women’s prison where she stayed for several years…on bad check charges. Needless to say, we felt our efforts in helping this young woman had been in vain.

Several years later there was a knock at the door and there she stood. “Hi Mom, I thought you would like to know how I turned out.” To my utter amazement the story unfolded that one of my Aglow sisters, Doris Brown, had prayed with Beverly, and as Beverly put it, “I was saved and delivered from that bad check demon.”

I couldn’t help but laugh and rejoice over the changed person sitting across the table from me, recounting the happy story of her deliverance from sin. I must admit I was a little nervous when she told me she was living in Atlanta and working as a bookkeeper.

In the ensuing years Beverly got active in church, joined a singing group and went on to Bible College. When she went on a mission trip for a year, you can be sure we were happy supporters, rejoicing at every victory she shared in her mission letters.

We learned a good lesson from this incident in our lives. Sometimes the seed sown doesn’t sprout for many years, but you can be sure if you plant something there will be a harvest down the road.

Someone once said that our life story is punctuated by commas rather than periods. How true that was in Beverly’s case. The end of the story was not when we discovered her disappearance, or when we heard she was in prison, or even when her mission tour was completed. The story of her life on earth won’t be over until she meets her Savior face to face!

One time we poured a year of our lives into helping a young man who had lived in a drug saturated world at a place called the Yonder Farm located just out of Jeffersonville, GA. We, along with many friends and church members, helped him clean up physically (he hadn’t had a bath or shower in six months), got him a job, an apartment (complete with furniture, bedding, etc.) fed him, clothed him and loved him. One day he was gone… another comma in the story.

The other day someone asked me about Mark. I could only say that God knows where he is and God never forgets to honor His word. “He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:6. I’m waiting for a knock at my door. I’m waiting to hear Mark say, “Mom, I thought you would like to know how I turned out.”

Investing in people’s lives is never a waste of time, effort or money. People are the only thing we can take to heaven with us. It’s not our houses, lands or stuff! We will leave all these behind.

For those of you who faithfully teach and preach the word, day after day, month after month, year after year…don’t measure your success by what you see. Continue to cast your bread upon the waters for after many days it shall return to you. (Eccl. 11:1)

The writer of Ecclesiastes goes on to tell us not to be deterred by the clouds, the wind or the rain when it comes to sowing our seed. Just keep on sowing and eventually we will see the harvest, if not here…there. Keep your eyes on the master seed planter and follow His example. Oh, excuse me. I have to go. I think I hear a knock at my door.