He stood there with the rarest of coins in his hand at last.  Years of research and bartering have finally produced fruit.  Destitute and homeless he now held in his hand 7 million dollars worth of gold.

For the next five years he wandered from city to city searching for some way to claw himself back to prosperity and the warmth of his own house.  He stayed in city missions.  He slept under countless bridges.  He ate what he could find.  And he gathered clothing from whatever source was free.  Still he held his wealth with a vague hope that he could not articulate.

Though his manner was usually joyful, suspicion was the rule among men.  The focused greed he had used to obtain his wealth was the very filter through which he saw all men.  Free to do as he chose he chose to be a prisoner of his wealth.

Day six of the year six, a generous man spotted him sleeping in a bus stop.  He approached the sleeping man with an open heart.  With a tender hand he reached out to the sleeping man’s shoulder.  But the touch did not wake the man to conversation.

Years of suspicion found their place.  A knife glinted in the light.  Fast and accurate steel plunged into the generous man’s heart.  The sleeping man was no longer asleep.  But now he would be called by a different name.

For thirty years more the man slept in a bed that was not his own.  No longer free and his riches taken, he was now a prisoner of his own folly.  Steel and chaos surrounded him.

No compassion carried him there.  No justice appeared to relieve him.  No friends or loved ones to console him. Thoughts of fatherless children and a widow haunted him everyday.  And dreams of prosperity became nightmares.

____________

What do we hold that will keep us from the glorious promise of God?  Is it truly worth you’re very life?

You have scratched hard against the rocks of this world to produce the things you love.  All the while your soul has been homeless, destitute and nameless.  In your present condition you will bear an entirely different name when you appear before Him.

Go!  Speak to Him and ask.  Justice and mercy are in His hand.  Why would you hold that which is not from God?  All the while everything you could possibly desire is offered to you freely.

“Unless the Lord builds a house the builder builds in vain.”

By His Grace