We should always do our best to be kind, caring and compassionate when 
coming in contact with others because we never really know what is going on
in their life. The kindness that we show in casual conversation or even in
giving a word of acknowledgment can mean the world to those who are
hurting, discouraged or just don't feel good about themselves. The Lord
Jesus calls us the children of light who are meant to show forth hope in 
the midst of a dark and dying world. We are the salt or preservative that 
this world lacks and our actions as miniscule as they may seem to us can 
mean the world to that one in need of being lifted up. I encourage you 
with my whole heart to be a beacon of hope and light in every opportunity 
that comes your way and allow your testimony of God's grace to minister to
others in need sharing God's goodness and faithfulness. (Matthew 5:14-16)

I hope this message ministers to your heart to be just as humble, caring
and loving when someone crosses your path that is down or discouraged.


THE AUTOGRAPH

It was June of 1968, and I was fleeing for my life, carrying my 
two-month-old, baby daughter. My brother had managed to scrape together
enough money for a first class ticket on an airplane traveling from Atlanta
to Detroit. My first marriage had become too dangerous, and as I flew home
to be with my family, I felt very agitated. Anything, God, I silently 
prayed. Anything to break the monotony of my own tortured thoughts.

At that moment, my baby bobbed over toward a smoker, a bit of drool 
dripping from her chin. As she studied him with wide-eyed wonder, she let
out an enormous belch, right in his face! It was all I could do to keep 
from laughing! The man gave a disgusted grunt, and stepping over us, he 
retreated down the aisle into the back of the plane. I never saw him again.

Behind me, across the aisle, I heard someone laughing. Turning to look at
him, I saw a man with a beet red face, nearly helpless with amusement. Our
eyes locked, and we both cracked up.

“Out of the mouths of babes!” Said my conspirator, with a wicked twinkle in
his eye. We laughed for some time, and then we began to visit. He was 
heading home to visit his parents in Detroit, Michigan. My daughter and I
were also on our way home to stay with my parents, who lived just southwest
of Detroit.

“What a beautiful child,” he said, gazing at my little girl, with her soft
dark curls and her big brown eyes. I agreed. Something about this man was
vaguely familiar, but I just couldn’t place him. We talked. He was warm, 
kind, and funny. I was pensive from time to time, but it was a relief to 
have a kindred soul to distract me from my troubles.

I introduced myself, and he told me that his friends called him “Chuck.” As
we were visiting, I just could not get out of my mind, that I knew this man
from somewhere. I certainly knew no one who traveled first class, and it 
would have been unlikely that we had ever met. He was traveling from Los 
Angeles. I was traveling from the south, and we had no similar points of 
reference, except Atlanta.

His voice was mesmerizing. It was so familiar. Strong and evenly tempered.
Where had I heard that voice? All of a sudden, I knew him! I was sitting 
across from a very famous man. Charlton Heston! I couldn’t believe it, and
we were talking like we were old friends! Should I tell him that I 
recognized him? What could I say?! “I just loved you in The Ten 
Commandments?!” How stupid would that sound? Tell him that he was the 
famous Charlton Heston? I don’t think so. I was pretty certain that he knew
exactly who he was. I didn’t think that he needed me to inform him. And 
breaking into his privacy, to ask for an autograph, was simply not going to
happen. So, I never said a word.

He was charming and kind. He held my little girl, and he played the typical
baby games, speaking to her in a warm and coaxing way. She crowed in his 
face and giggled. I don’t remember what we talked about. Ordinary things.
We visited for three and a half hours. I didn’t tell him that I was fleeing
for my life, and he never told me that he was a famous movie star.

All too soon our trip was over. The plane landed and we both got our 
carry-ons. Mine was a diaper bag. His was something more Samsonite. He 
gathered his things, and I picked up my infant daughter. He left the plane
to be greeted by the press and cameras. I left to obscurity. We both hugged
our families, and my last sight of him was to see him smile and nod his 
head at me, as he began to answer questions from someone holding a 
microphone. I smiled back, and we parted forever.

I didn’t watch the news. I didn’t see the interview. I don’t know the rest
of his story. I did tell my parents, who doubted that the man was famous.
After all, on the plane we were simply two travelers, passing time. 
Somehow, this event was a pivotal point in my life. I had respected the 
privacy of a famous man, simply because I could. After eleven months of 
married hell, he had made me feel, well, normal.

Now, that he has passed-on, I remember a man who gave me my first glimpse
into a normal life, one where humor and kindness saved the day. Mr. Heston
could have been aloof and superior, but somehow I don’t think that was a 
part of his character. Often in the tumultuous days of my bitter divorce, I
would think of that very famous man, who touched my life with so much grace.

Now, more than forty years later, it occurs to me, how blessed I am, that
I did not invade the privacy of that famous man. He gave me a precious 
memory, and, by the way, he did give me his autograph. He wrote his 
autograph upon my life!

By Jaye Lewis


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

Colossians 3:16-17 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all 
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and 
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And 
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”

James 1:22-25 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is
like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth 
himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth
therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man
shall be blessed in his deed.”

Galatians 5:13-14 “For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use
not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love 
thy neighbour as thyself.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.


Today’s Selected Poem: HOLD ON TO YOUR DREAMS
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/enpoem172.htm

Today’s Selected Testimony: HE WILL WORK IT OUT
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony68.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry