Keep On Whistlin'

 

Back in the early 1970’s,  I went to Duke University for a youth rally in Page Auditorium and heard a man speak named Tex Evans.  In 1969, he founded a program called the Appalachian Service Project which is a program where youth come to rural Appalachia to do home repairs on persons in rural Appalachia.  Even though it was over 50 years ago, I still remember that the title of Evans talk was “get your hands dirty” and that he talked about how it was not enough to tell others about Christ Jesus, but that we also needed to be people that showed our faith in how we reached out to others especially for the “least of these” by getting our hands dirty.   Tex Evans inspired me that day to be in mission and I have lived that out in so many ways.   

Tex Evans started  his ministry in the mountains and tells a story about one day when some of his fellow parishioners asked to go up the road  in a holler above the general store to see a couple that lived there.    Even though Evans was told that the family were Baptist, he did not mind.   When Tex got to their  home, he found the man working outside in the yard and saw a woman sitting on the porch.    As Evans talked to the man in the yard, he noticed that he would do something that seemed a little out of the ordinary.     Every now and then, the man would stop talking and whistle.    Tex thought it seemed a little odd and finally he got up the courage  to ask why he  would stop talking and go to whistling.     The man replied to Tex Evans saying this:   “You see my wife sitting there on the porch?    What you can’t tell from here is that she is blind.   She cannot see.    I stop my talking and let out a whistle every now and then to remind her that though she cannot see me I am near by.”

There are a lot of people that are blind in this world.   Some are blind to be able to see a sunrise or sunset, the faces of family and friends.  Others are spiritually blind to the truth that Christ lives.   They cannot  see him like they can see the material things they possess or maybe even possess them.    If we believe in Christ and are His followers, it is our joyous task to keep whistling.   Let the spiritually blind know the wonderful truth that Christ lives and is near.    Have a joy-filled week.    He is risen.-   Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER --  O God,  I  praise you for the good news that Christ Jesus is raised from the dead and that as one of His followers I am one of the Easter people.   Thank you for the joyous task to share the resurrection story with others.    Praise you,  God and Father.   Amen.