June 2013 - Costa Calida Chronicle

Never judge a book by its cover
The above saying brings back reminders of
my Mum; it was one that she drilled into me
as a child, along with the reasoning behind
it and it still stands true today.
So often we can make judgements about
people and the only evidence we have is
the way that they dress and maybe something
they said, which we could well have
taken out of context. I was once told by a
member of Wellspring Church of a comment
made about me by someone on Camposol
they had met… what was said has always
made me smile and continues to do so. The
comment about me went something like ‘He
can’t really be a pastor.. have you seen the
shirts he wears!’ Admittedly, I have toned
down the colours and patterns of my summer
shirts these days, but can assure you
that it was not because of that brilliant comment.
As I write this article, the television news is
full of the story of the three young women
who had been held captive at 2207, Seymour
Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio for the past
ten years. I do not know about you, but I
find this kind of crime absolutely amazing
and find it unbelievable that anyone, let
alone three victims plus a child born to one
of them, could have been held captive, unnoticed
in a normal house and in a normal
street, in a normal city. I am sure that there
is much yet to be revealed about this crime,
committed by a seemingly normal guy, who
did a normal job driving the school bus; but
the situation was anything but normal and if
what has been reported is true, a number of
lives will have been devastated by the acts
of this man and his two brothers.
a sweeping statement I know and there
are many heart-warming stories of people
who care and are concerned about the welfare
of their neighbours and friends. Things
though, have changed in the world at large
and people tend to want to keep themselves
to themselves. I was sitting in the car park
of a large supermarket last week and nearby
there was a parked vehicle with its alarm
booming out every few minutes. Not a soul
took any notice of the extremely loud horn
sounding and the flashing indicators! There
are less and less folk who want to get involved
anymore and that is such a shame…
one day our nosiness may just save someone’s
life… and would that not be worth it?
It is so true… we cannot judge a book by its
cover and there is a story behind the face
of everyone we meet. So often we think,
or make comments about the people we
see; things like, she’s thin, he’s fat, look at
the state of him or her, but what is the real
story behind the face, body or clothes that
we see?
I am glad that God does not look at me from
the outside. The Bible say’s that He looks
at my heart. 1 Samuel 16: 7 contains the
following words, “The Lord does not look at
the things people look at. People look at the
outward appearance, but the Lord looks at
the heart”. God looks at what makes us tick
and not how we look or dress. He could
not care less about my loud shirt and looks
past my outer appearance and tells me that
he loves me…. Now that’s something to be
happy about!
In association with Costa Cálida International Radio and www.angloINFO.com
Whatever the outcome of the trial of those
accused, many neighbours will be asking
themselves the question ‘Why did I not
see anything over all of these years; how
could I not have noticed that something
was happening at number 2207?’ I believe
that in this modern day we do not look out
for others the way we used to do. This is
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