UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

! A story is told about a soldier who was coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents. "Mum and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favour to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me" "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him." "There's something you should know about him, "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 and live with us." "I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live." "No, Mum 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 a way 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 local police department. Their son had died after falling from a building; they were told they believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror and amazement, their son had only one arm and one leg.The parent in this story reflects us in many ways. We find it easy to love those who are good looking, fun to be with but most times we don't all like people who inconvenience us in our comfort zones. Some people would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful or smart as we are. Our prayer this week is that God will give us the strength to accept people as they are, and help us to be more understanding of those who are different from us! There is a miracle called Friendship which dwells in our hearts. The gift of Friendship that loves unconditional.