The Invisible Gardener

Heroes

Heroes inspire us, how we need them today!

There are so may present day heroes. Captain Tom, NHS workers, all other key workers. So often we hear stories of selfless people going the extra mile for others.

In previous generations we can think of people like Winston Churchill or Florence Nightingale, people who made a lasting impact on their world.

You and I can be heroes today in the present crisis. We are being told more and more that this crisis will be with us for a long time. As time goes by, our contribution will be more important. Small things can make all the difference in the world. Maybe just calling someone or helping to collect shopping. These things can help others to feel valued and not forgotten.

I want to tell you a story.

There were once four men with leprosy; they were not allowed inside their home city because people feared catching the disease. Their city had a high wall all around it and wooden gates to keep intruders out. The four men were fed from the scraps that came over the city wall, a miserable assistance! Things became much worse when an enemy attacked and surrounded the city. The intension was to starve the inhabitants into submission. As you can imagine as time went by, the four men were getting less and less food and they were starving. They said to one another, “If we sit here we will die. If we try to go back into the city we will die. What if we go to the enemy camp? Maybe they will kill us, or maybe they will take pity on us and give us some food!”

The men decided to take a risk and go to the enemy camp. They walked very slowly as the disease had caused numbness in their fingers and toes and they had sores where they had grazed their feet. As they limped lamely towards the camp the enemy was making dinner; it was just being put on the table, when they heard what they thought was the sound of hundreds of iron chariots racing towards the camp. “The people inside the city have hired an army to rescue them”, they said. Panic filled the camp; they ran as fast as they could to escape what they thought was a large army. What they did not realise was that God had sent the noise in their ears and the only people coming into their camp were the four lepers!

The lepers hobbled in and quietly entered the first tent. There was no one there, just hot dinner on the table. They sat and ate as much as they could and tasted the delicious wine. Next, they went to the next tent and had some more. Eventually they realised that the camp was empty. “We must tell our friends in the city!”, they said. They hobbled back to the city gate (a bit more wobbly than before on account of all the wine that they had drunk!). The people in the city told the King, who didn’t believe that the enemy was gone. “It’s a trap”, he said, but some of his advisers encouraged him to take a risk and send a small group of soldiers on some of the remaining horses to check their story out. They soon returned with marvellous news. The enemy was gone, with so much panic that they had left everything. So the city was saved.

I wonder how long it would have taken for the people to realise they were free, if the four men hadn’t gone to the camp. They were the heroes of the hour.

The moral of the story is this. Be courageous. Make a difference. Ask God for help and direction.

We can all do something to help, but without assistance from above it will be in vain; therefore pray to the Lord God for help and do all that you can to help others at this time.

WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS.

WE WILL OVERCOME,

BUT IT WILL TAKE ALL THE COURAGE AND FAITH THAT WE HAVE TO SUCCEED.

REMEMBER, GOD IS FOR YOU;

JESUS LOVES US SO MUCH THAT HE WILL ALWAYS HELP US

AS WE CALL OUT TO HIM.

God bless and keep safe,

Martin Bunkum

Why doesn't God stop all the suffering in the world?