Story sent by co-workers

[Guest guest]

JUDGE ME BY THE FOOTPRINTS I LEAVE BEHIND

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming

home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents

from San Francisco. 'Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but

I've got a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to

bring with me.' 'Sure,' they replied, 'we'd love to meet him'

'There's something you should know,' the son continued,

'he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a

land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else

to go, and I want him to come live with us.'

'I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find

somewhere to live.' 'No, Mom and Dad, I want him to

live with us.'

'Son,' said the father, 'you don't know what you're asking.

Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us.

We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something

like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just

come home and forget about this guy. He'll find away to

live on his own.'

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The

parents heard nothing more from him. A few days

later, however, they received a call from the San

Francisco police. Their son had died after falling

from a building, they were told. The police believed it was

suicide.

The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were

taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son.

They recognized him, but to their horror they also

discovered that their son had only

one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it

easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have

around, but we don't like people who inconvenience us or

make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from

people who aren't as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there's someone who won't treat us that way.

Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that

welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how

messed up we are.

Tonight, before you tuck yourself in for the night, say a

little prayer that God will give you the strength you

need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be

more understanding of those who are different from us!!!