Dunno What To Call This One

There he stood, blinking apologetically at me from behind my front door security gate. A strange sight he was, with his slight frame seemingly bowed by the flashy metallic-maroon crash helmet he was still wearing and his elderly but innocent eyes peering out from under it. He was toting a 2 litre plastic bottle of milk in one hand and a limp plastic bag in the other. "Are you Alison?" he asked "Am I the first?" He was in fact the first arrival at our recently arranged fortnightly meetings to pray for the patrollers of our Neighbourhood Watch and similar matters DH had been delayed at work so I was alone with our new arrival. "Are we going to have a little something to eat and drink first?" he enquired. I explained as gently as I could, "No, we don't do any of that. We want to respect people who have made an effort to come and pray, at an awkward time of day, by using the full hour for that purpose." "Well, do you mind if I have a little something - I haven't eaten since breakfast? And will you put my milk in your fridge?" "Well, of course you must eat something then, but you won't mind if I carry on while you do, will you?" I told him. "Someone suggested during the week that we read Psalm 91 tonight because it is largely about protection so I will read it aloud while you eat, ok?" Oh yes, he thought that was a fine idea He loved that psalm: he knew it well. When I came back into the lounge after putting his milk in the fridge, I found him standing near the front door unwrapping fish and chips. "I won't come further into the house because of the smell," he declared. Bu now I was thoroughly enjoying myself And told him, "No no, come and sit down - I'll bring you a knife and fork and serviette. The smell will be the same whether you stand there or sit here." He bobbled and bustled around, apologising, thanking me and praising the Lord in a torrent of words and tucked into his food with gusto. Just about hysterical, I sat and read aloud this beautiful psalm while he ate and listened and nodded and "Amen-ed" furously, sometimes with his enthusiastic mouth still full. I couldn't help thinking how much Jesus must have been enjoying the scene and loving this dear simple man. Just then my doorbell rang and two more people arrived, also first timers. They didn't know him and they didn't know me. They looked exactly as you would expect a godly, upright, sweet Christian couple would look. And they walked in to this scene And handled it with grace and composure (of course, I would given a lot to have been around when they drove home!) If you've never been in a prayer meeting, mostly people just pray out loud whatever is on their hearts to say to God. Well, our diner loved to pray And his prayers were fervent and formatted. He always started with laying out the whole gospel of salvation, prayed his requests in the middle and ended with the end of the world and the ramifications of that for us - and others. Every time he prayed. I was overjoyed when Theo came home and joined us - I would NEVER have been able to describe the scene adequately to him. I had to try to share it with you though, my blog buds.