{"id":5067,"date":"2012-04-02T14:51:51","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T14:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=5067"},"modified":"2012-04-02T16:01:58","modified_gmt":"2012-04-02T16:01:58","slug":"checking-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=5067","title":{"rendered":"Checking in……………"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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A friend sent this to me today, it was just to good not to post!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A Minister passing through his church<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the middle of the day,
\nDecided to pause by the altar
\nAnd see who had come to pray.<\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

Just then the back door opened,
\nA man came down the aisle,
\nThe minister frowned as he saw
\nThe man hadn’t shaved in a while.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
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His shirt was kinda shabby
\nAnd his coat was worn and frayed,
\nThe man knelt, he bowed his head,
\nThen rose and walked away.<\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

In the days that followed,
\nEach noon time came this chap,
\nEach time he knelt just for a moment,
\nA lunch pail in his lap.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, the minister’s suspicions grew,
\nWith robbery a main fear,
\nHe decided to stop the man and ask him, ‘What are you doing here?’<\/p>\n

The old man said, he worked down the road. Lunch was half an hour
\nLunchtime was his prayer time,
\nFor finding strength and power.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n‘I stay only moments, see,
\nBecause the factory is so far away;
\nAs I kneel here talking to the Lord,
\nThis is kinda\u00a0what I say:<\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n

‘I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I’VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

OTHERS FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. DON’T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, <\/strong><\/div>\n
BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.
\nSO, JESUS, THIS IS Ben CHECKING IN TODAY.’<\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

The minister feeling foolish,
\nTold Ben, that was fine.
\nHe told the man he was welcome
\nTo come and pray just anytime<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Time to go, Ben smiled, said ‘Thanks.’
\nHe hurried to the door.
\nThe minister knelt at the altar,
\nHe’d never done it before.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His cold heart melted, warmed with love, And met with Jesus there.
\nAs the tears flowed, in his heart,
\nHe repeated old Ben’s prayer:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I’VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH<\/p>\n

OTHERS FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. I DON’T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY,<\/p>\n

BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.
\nSO, JESUS, THIS IS ME CHECKING IN TODAY.’<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Past noon one day, the minister noticed
\nThat old Ben hadn’t come.
\nAs more days passed without Ben,
\nHe began to worry some.<\/p>\n

At the factory, he asked about him,
\nLearning he was ill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The hospital staff was worried,
\nBut he’d given them a thrill.<\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

The week that Ben was with them,
\nBrought changes in the ward.
\nHis smiles, a joy contagious.
\nChanged people, were his reward.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The head nurse couldn’t understand
\nWhy Ben was so glad,
\nWhen no flowers, calls or cards came,
\nNot a visitor he had.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The minister stayed by his bed,
\nHe voiced the nurse’s concern:
\nNo friends came to show they cared.
\nHe had nowhere to turn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Looking surprised, old Ben spoke
\nUp and with a winsome smile;
\n‘the nurse is wrong, she couldn’t know,
\nThat he’s in here all the while<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\nEveryday at noon He’s here,
\nA dear friend of mine, you see,
\nHe sits right down, takes my hand,
\nLeans over and says to me:\u00a0<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n‘I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, Ben, HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP, <\/strong><\/div>\n
AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN. <\/strong>\u00a0ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY,\u00a0I THINK ABOUT YOU EACH DAY, <\/strong><\/div>\n
AND SO Ben, THIS IS JESUS CHECKING IN TODAY.’<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
I imagine He would love for you to “check in” today!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
the pilgrim<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend sent this to me today, it was just to good not to post! A Minister passing through his church In the middle of the day, Decided to pause by the altar And see who had come to pray. Just then the back door opened, A man came down the aisle, The minister frowned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5067"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5075,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5067\/revisions\/5075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}