One Man To Save The World

George Lambenson crawled into the front seat of his car in the dark hours of the early morning. He placed his brief case in the passenger side of the front seat, noticing his study bible was still on the front seat after last night's bible study. George backed out of the driveway and traveled down Green Edge Lane hoping to miss the jam-up on the freeway. To get to the freeway George had to travel through a part of the city now called Pencil Town because beggars, homeless, and the jobless were always coming up to his car at stoplights trying to sell pencils, beg for food money, or beg for anything at all. George had served in wartime overseas and this scene of people begging on the streets in a place where he grew up reminded him of cities during war time. As George approached the intersection of Mandorf and Landover Streets, George hit a patch of dense fog. The fog was so dense George lost all visibility. With no visibility George couldn't move. George pulled the button on his dash to turn on the blinkers on the front and rear of the car. In a few seconds, someone knocked on his driver's side window. George could barely make out the figure standing in the street next to his car. George was not going to roll down the window because in this part of town, crime was rampant. The person knocked on George's window again and called out his name. When George heard his name, he rolled down his window only slightly thinking whoever was outside the car knew who he was. Through the opening in the door's window, the person outside the car threw a small bible into George's lap and said, "Save the world, George." The figure outside the car disappeared in an instant and so did the fog. Dawn was breaking and George saw a lot of the homeless and indigent on the street but no one who he thought might have been the person outside his car.

Since the fog had cleared, George pulled through the intersection and headed north toward the interstate. At the next stop light, as George pulled to a stop, a homeless guy approached George's car. For a reason George could not identify, George rolled down his window part way and handed the homeless guy the bible he had been given a few minutes before. As he handed over the bible, George noticed a $5 bill sticking out from within the bible's pages. The homeless guy said "Thank you, sir." A flood of emotion and thought ran through George's mind as he pulled onto the on-ramp leading to the interstate. George was wondering how could one bible given to one man save the world? Would George ever know what becomes of the man who received the bible or if knowing was even important? What was going on with the fog, the mysterious figure outside the car, the bible…what was going on? George got to the end of the on-ramp and was now in the speed lane. In a few minutes, he was at the front door of his office. His mind switched gears and work dominated his thoughts until about mid-morning. George walked outside to get a breath of fresh air. He walked to his car and noticed a bible identical to the one he had given away sitting on top of his regular study bible. George unlocked the car door and he realized the bible had been put into the car while all the car doors were locked with the windows rolled up. George picked up the bible and in less than a minute a homeless guy approached George and said "Got a buck?" George started to say "No, I am sorry" but he looked down at the bible and saw a $5 bill sticking out from within the pages. George said "Here, take this. Lord bless you." The homeless man said "Thank you, Lord bless you back." George shook his head in wonderment, locked all the car doors and headed back to his desk inside his office building. The work day rolled on and the clock showed 6:00 PM. George was exhausted and bid the cleaning crew good night.

George went to his car and there was another bible with a $5 bill sticking out from within the pages sitting on top of his study bible on the front seat. George thought "Man, this is crazy but the Lord does work in mysterious ways." George backed his car out of his parking space and he headed home using the same route he used to drive into work. As George approached Mandorf and Landover another homeless guy approached the car. George rolled down his window, handed the bible with the $5 bill out the window, the man said "Thanks dude" and George drove on home.

George was dead tired but deep in thought that evening. What was going on? Was God doing a mighty work using George to give away bibles? What would happen next? What did giving away bibles have to do with saving the world? The next morning was a repeat of the previous morning with George giving away a bible that appeared on his front seat while the car doors were locked. George's little give-a-way activity went on as George was going into the city and coming back out of the city always at the same intersections. This activity went on for two weeks. At the beginning of the third week, there was a gathering of people on the sidewalk at the intersection of Mandorf and Andover. They all held up their bibles as George approached the intersection. George waved and the crowd waved back as George gave away another bible. The man who received the bible this day said, "Thank you. Take a different route to work for the next two weeks." George figured this was a message to be heeded.

When George pulled into a parking place in front of his office, George saw a man standing near the front door. George was suspicious because of the crime rate but George got out of the car toting his brief case as a defensive weapon if there might be some kind of altercation. As George approached the man, the man said, "George, you've done well. You need to keep up the good work. You will never know the result of your work, but the Lord knows." George replied, "Thank you. Would you like to step into the office?" The man said, "No, I have to leave. Keep up the good work." As George glanced at the lock on the office door, the man seemed to vanish into thin air.

The next day, George took a new route to work. Every day was a repeat as far as giving away bibles going from home to work and back home again. At the end of two weeks, George got another message about taking a new route to work. The messenger vanished as had been the case before.

This pattern repeated for years. New groups of people appeared on the street. There were even people dressed in suits with ties coming up to George's car. George never knew any of the people he gave a bible to or anything else about them. George often met the same stranger who gave him compliments. As time moved forward, George began to learn the meaning of giving, especially giving without the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing.

The next day the mystery man was standing at the office door as had been the case many times before. As George moved toward the man, the man said, George you are changing the world. George replied, "How? I don't see any changes taking place." The mystery man told George, "You changed the world for many people. Try and look at the world from other's perspective. Keep up the good work." As George glanced at the front door of his office the mystery man disappeared. As the day wore on, George realized changing the world does not always take place in physical ways but in the heart, mind, and the soul of other people.

Matthew 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth (KJV)

This message was presented in October 2011 as the Virtual Church message in Shepherd's Care Ministries virtual church site at http://www.shepherdscare.net