Angels of Humility: A Novel (9 page)

“A jail in Bradbury, that’s not good,” said Paul over his weekly lunch with Mike.

“Be careful,” said Saldu. “You need to pray about this and not go off of assumptions.”

“It’s not a sure thing, but it’s proposed,” said Mike.

“If it’s proposed, can it be opposed?”

“Sure, anything can be opposed. They already tried to build it in Leesville, but no one there would sell them land. That’s why they’re here. Mayor Forbes is all excited though because of the additional jobs it’ll generate. But I think it’s going to be a hard sell to the residents.”

“Well, when we get the prayer meeting going on Wednesday we can spend time praying about this,” said Paul wadding up the wrapper from his corned beef sandwich.

All the way home from the pharmacy, Sarah prayed about last night’s dream, and she kept hearing Matthew 25:31. “God, was that dream from You?”

Last night’s dream was unusually vivid and just plain unusual. She was visiting inmates, telling them about Jesus. It seemed very out of character for her and scary too.
God, I’m certainly the least likely candidate to ever do that!

She pulled her old blue Chrysler into the driveway, bent slowly to pick up the
Gazette
, and went to the kitchen table with her Bible and a cup of coffee. She unrolled the
Gazette
and the headline made her gasp again.
It’s like that television show where the kid gets tomorrow’s headlines today
. She flipped in her Bible and started reading Matthew 25:31. She read about Jesus separating the sheep from the goats. She put down her coffee cup. I
don’t know what that has to do with a jail
.

“Keep reading,” said Joel.

Sarah felt herself tearing up.
It’s You, God—the dream was from You
.

“That’s right, Sarah; you’re learning to hear Father’s voice. He speaks to you through the Bible, through words in your mind, and even through dreams. He’s taking you through a season of letting you hear His voice very clearly so you’ll learn to recognize it and believe it,” said Joel.

“And,” added Malta, “He’s giving you His heart for the downtrodden, the rejected, and the prisoners. He wants you to know that He loves the widows, the orphans, and the outcasts. He wants you to know that no act of kindness is too small for Him to see and reward. God will never forget the deeds you do and the love you show.
³
Now read the rest of my friend Matthew’s chapter.”

Through her tears, Sarah continued reading,

“The Lord loves the unlovely—unfortunately His Church does not,” Joel said. “Many who have professed to joyfully serve the Lord find it odious to serve people.”

“Humble yourself, reach down to the outcasts, stoop to help the undesirables to their feet again,” said Malta. “The lower you reach, the more the Lord can fill you, the more He can use you. He says three times in His Word that He gives grace to the humble. Without His grace, you can do nothing. His grace is everything. It makes all the difference in your life.”

“That’s right,” said Joel. “Dead religion makes us exhausted workers; grace makes us lovers.”

Malta ministered an increase of compassion to Sarah straight from the Lord’s heart as he played the flute and then sang the Father’s love over her. Joel raised his hands toward Heaven. Flames ignited on his palms, and he placed them over Sarah’s heart.

Tears spotted the
Gazette
‘s article.

Just as Sarah was pulling herself together, blowing her nose and dabbing her eyes, Joel suggested she turn to Hebrews 13:2.
“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember
the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.”

Now she cried again, the burden of the Lord resting heavily on her.

“Father loves Sarah very much. I’m curious what He will do next,” said Malta.

Driving to church on Sunday morning, Paul saw four signs and three banners in people’s yards protesting the new jail. “It sure didn’t take this town long to get organized against the jail, did it?”

“Apparently not,” replied Kathy.

“Clarence Harvey, the Gazette’s editor, had posters printed and placed all over town. I hear he’s going to rent space on a billboard. Financing it himself.”

“Well, I can’t blame them; jails have to be located somewhere, but I can understand why they don’t want it in their town.”

“Our town, dear,” he corrected. “Our town. I’m announcing the beginning of the prayer meeting this morning. When that gets going, we’ll put some time in on our knees about this jail.” Although Paul didn’t like himself
very much for the next thought, he couldn’t get it out of his mind:
If I can rally the church behind this movement, it could get me some communitywide exposure. And wouldn’t the church members love me if I was instrumental in getting this jail thing canceled?

“Paul,” said Saldu, “walk in the Spirit and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
²
The flesh always lusts; it’s lusting now for recognition and accolades. But it’s insatiable; it’s never enough. If you don’t learn to get your affirmation from the Lord, in your time together, you’ll continue trying to manipulate praises from people, but they’ll never satisfy. Only one opinion matters or satisfies. Seek the Lord on this jail issue and quit riding the wave of public opinion.”

It was a rainy Sunday morning, so of course, attendance was down. That meant the offering was going to be down too. Paul sat in the front row tapping his foot to the special music. When it was over, he took his place behind the lectern and shifted his weight from his left to his right foot and back again. He took a deep breath and began.

“A mother skunk and two baby skunks were walking in the woods when they were startled by a hungry bobcat. The bobcat chased them and cornered them against a rocky cliff where there was no place to escape. The mother skunk was unbelievably calm. The baby skunks cried out, ‘Mom, mom, what should we do?’ She turned to the children and said, ‘Children, let us spray.’”

“And we need to
spray
too. We need God’s vision for this church and for the lives of each member: every mother, father, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, everyone!”

By the time Paul had finished, most of the church was in agreement that what they really needed was a Wednesday night prayer meeting. “We’ll begin this Wednesday night at 7 sharp. Come and prepare to be blessed.

Amen?”

“Amen,” most of the congregation answered.

After shaking hands with everyone at the back door, Paul went to his office, opened his leather binder containing his five-year plan, and placed a big check mark in the empty box on page two. “Begin Wednesday prayer meeting—done.”

“Paul,” said Saldu, “you’ve barely prayed about your plan. You’re just assuming it’s also God’s plan, and it’s not. You’re excited because you think it will bring you glory and honor. Don’t make glory and fame your god and your goal. Humble yourself so He doesn’t have to; it is by far the wiser of the two plans.

“Humans are blinded by their pride because they compare themselves to one another. If you stop and look at Jesus alone, you will get a true comparison. Looking at Jesus is the only way we can see where we truly stand. It is in Him we find our example of love and humility. If we look at those around us, we will not get a true measurement of what we are supposed to look like.
³
Trust me, Paul; no one in Heaven is impressed with your five-year plan.”

There was a good turnout Wednesday evening; even Wilma, Bernice, and Carol had come. It was about 6:45 and Paul was chatting with a group of people; the conversation was predictably about the jail.

“We need to pray, to pray that place right out of our town,” said Wilma, shaking her fist. “Maybe we should pray and even
fast.”

“Yes, I agree. Our town will never be safe. Our kids could never play safely outside,” said John Seas, even though his main concern was really for his property’s value. He and Lori had been planning to sell off part of their acreage to help finance some travel when he retired in eight months.

“What if, Heaven forbid, one of them escaped?” questioned Bernice.

“Maybe we could pass around a petition among the church members,” added Carol. “The whole idea just gives me the creeps.”

“I can see that this is a very important issue to all of us,” said Paul. “I’ll lead us in prayer about it tonight, and we’ll see what comes out of this meeting.”

Sarah arrived about the time the group was breaking up. She snuck into the back row and didn’t wait for the meeting to start. She closed her eyes and prayed,
Lord, thank You for being good to me. Thank You for the way You’ve been talking to me lately. Help me to love the unlovely. Help me to pray more
,
especially for Pastor Paul and this congregation. Help me to love Your Word, and help me to hear Your voice in all the ways You speak to me—

“It’s 7,” said Paul, adjusting the microphone, “Time to start. Thanks to each one of you who came to this prayer meeting tonight. We’ll have an open mic so if you have something you want to pray about, I invite you to come forward. At 8 I’ll close, providing the Spirit doesn’t fall and keep us here all night,” he said chuckling.