Dr. John

^" Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:31 (NIV)

There were quite a few children on tree lined Springfield Street when I was growing up.  Most of the time we got along well but, as children are known to do, occasionally there was a ruckus among us; particularly if there were three playing together.

Johnny and I always got along great.  He was not quite a year younger than me but our personalities just seemed to mesh well and arguments were for the other kids to have.

I remember well the morning we were playing jacks on the breeze way of my house.  The telephone rang and in a few moments, my mother came to the screen door.

"That was your dad calling.  Your mom is home now with your new baby sister so if you want to go see her, I'll watch while you cross the street."

Johnny, never looking up from the jacks, said,

"Nah, I'll dis stay here."

We rode bicycles together around the block racing each other and laughing. His bicycle was maroon and mine was blue. Both bicycles had horns and we'd honk our horns as we passed each other.

Many years later, Johnny was Dr. John and I was his patient.  I hoped and prayed the first time I sat down in his dentist chair that he would remember the good times we had growing up and be easy on me.

......and he always was.

I read some of the hateful things on the media; people bashing people for just little things. As my daddy use to say, "makin' a mountain out of a mole hill." There are people who just seem to rub people the wrong way and incite a word bashing incident.  Or, there are those who just seem to look for someone to bash. I wonder if those people have ever thought that the person they are bashing may be the very one that could save their life one day......they might just be the EMT who came to the overturned car you were trapped in.  Or the fireman whose job it was to rescue you from a burning house.

I was very glad when Dr. John was filling a tooth that he and I hadn't had cross words and I hadn't bashed him while we were growing up.........

How are the sandpaper people in your life doing? Have you prayed for them lately? Remember, you can't control their actions but you can control your actions toward them. " Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ." Ephesians 4:32