The first friend that we heard from was Susan and she told us about Zacchaeus .. and Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to see him really bad. Although he was a government official, he didn't care if it was embarrassing. He climbed into a tree to see Jesus. His efforts were rewarded. Not only did he get to see him, but Jesus stopped, and told Zacchaeus that he would come to his house to spend time with him. Zacchaeus was thrilled. He went home to prepare. But others were upset. Tax collectors were not respected people. And the Jews thought it was shameful for Jesus to spend time with a sinner. But Zacchaeus repented. He not only vowed to give away half his wealth, but to repay anyone he had cheated. Jesus said this was why he had come, to seek out and save the sinner.

Then we met Regina who told us about the good Samaritan. "There once was a Jewish man walking along a road. He was coming from Jerusalem and was heading to Jericho, which was a full day or two of walking. The road was rocky and there were small hills all around. The man was just humming to himself and enjoying the nice day when suddenly a group of men jumped out from behind a hill. They took all his belongings and tore off most of his clothes. They didn't want him to follow them so they beat him up very badly, and left him lying and bleeding on the side of the road. A few minutes later a priest was walking down the same path and noticed the man lying on the side of the road. Do you know what he did? You'd think he would run over and help the man. Instead he crossed the road and walked on the other side and acted like he didn't see the man. About an hour or so later another man called a Levite was walking down the road. Levites were people that assisted priests with their work. He would probably help the man. But you know what he did? He slowed down and walked a little closer to the man, but then kept walking without helping him at all. You might be thinking that maybe the man lying by the side of the road looked like he was resting or something, that's why the priest and the Levite didn't stop to help. The trouble is, it was easy to tell he was badly hurt. The man was bleeding, had most of his clothes ripped off him, and he was bruised and hardly breathing. Just a few minutes later another man came walking. He was a Samaritan. One thing you should know about Samaritans is that Jews didn't like them. Jews usually didn't treat Samaritans very well, so they never got along. The man who was dying on the road was a Jew. So what do you think the Samaritan did? You'd think he would walk by and maybe even laugh at the man. But as soon as he saw the man he went over to him and felt compassion for him. He put bandages on his sores and poured oil and wine (which were quite expensive) on the sores to prevent them from getting worse. Then he lifted the man on his own donkey and took him to a hotel to take care of him. The next day the Samaritan took out enough money so the man could stay at the hotel until he was well enough to leave. He paid the man at the front desk and asked him to take care of the man. If he wasn't better after about two months the Samaritan would come back and pay for any extra cost.

We will never forget about "Grandma Daisy". Grandma Daisy had a friend named Mabel. Her friend Mabel borrowed Miss Daisy's shovel one time. After a few weeks Grandma had not got her shovel back again.. and after several months Grandma still didn't have her shovel back again so she went to visit Mabel to ask her to giver her the shovel back to her. Grandma Daisy saw that Mabel had written "her" name on the shovel - because by this time Mabel thought it was hers. But then one day Grandma Daisy remembered that everything we own really belongs to God... so Grandma Daisy gave up and just went out one day and bought herself another shovel.

We all went to the Fellowship Room and stuffed ourselves with all the good.

One thing is sure -- nobody left hungry this night..


We surely do hope to see Judy and "Friends" back again someday

B A C K