Getting Around

TITLE:  Getting Around
DATE:  July 29, 2019
TEXT: Mark 2: 10b – 12 – ESV -  he said to the paralytic— I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

It was 2009 and Philip Pavone’s Pawn Shop had a problem.

No, Philip’s difficulty was not the screwy kind of problem the TV pawnshops always seem to be having. His problem was a very simple, very common difficulty. Philip had run out of floor space and he needed to make room for more inventory.

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Looking around he realized that he had been carrying some motorized wheelchairs for some time. So he did what seemed to be logical, albeit not profitable. Philip called the paper and offered the chairs to the public for free.
Two weeks produced sixty letters in response to his offer.
Many, if not most, said their insurance didn’t help much and when the bill for a chair was somewhere  between $4,000 and $40,000, they simply couldn’t cough up the cash.
But it got worse
As the letters kept coming in, Philip says he realized just “how many people out there were suffering. It was unbelievable….Some of the people writing to me hadn’t left their homes for months, even years at a time. Many were elderly and had no one to help them.”
That’s when Philip decided to do something.

1. The first thing he did was buy, repair and give away four more wheelchairs. When he picked up the chairs he found them being stored in basements, garages, attics and closets.
2. The second thing he tried was encouraging people to donate their chairs.
3. When Philip received a donated chair he repaired it and handed it out. Always Philip does his best to pair the needs of the individuals with the abilities of the chair.  
4. Lastly, around the holydays Philip gives out 100 chairs and scooters in  one day. Recepients of a chair include a Holocaust survivor, a World War II veteran, a woman in her 20s with a rare degenerative disease, a number of patients at local nursing homes and children.

All-in-all it is an impressive and a most efficient process. The only one I know which is better is what Jesus does to help. Imagine the best humankind can do, and take that up a whole bunch of notches.

The disciples are afraid, Jesus doesn’t hand out life preservers, He stills the storm. Jairus’ daughter is ill and dies. Jesus doesn’t send a Hallmark card… He wakes her up from her sleep. The thief on the cross asks to be remembered, Jesus doesn’t help him down from the cross, He gives the man eternal life.

Now I don’t now what you need but the Lord does, and I’m pretty sure He will respond in a better way than you might not expect.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, grant that I may rejoice in what You have done for me, and look with gladness on what You are doing right now. In Your Name I pray. Amen.

The devotion for today was inspired by various recent news articles. For further reading you may wish to go to this addresshttps://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/gift-of-mobility-pawn-shop-in-connecticut/ : and the article written by the Good News Network
The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html