A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford 
“Dr. Handford! Wait up!” a woman called, as Walt and I were walking out of a doctor’s office. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said. “For thirty years I’ve wanted to tell you how much it meant to me when you stopped on a Sunday morning to change my flat tire. You were in your preaching clothes [she meant his suit and tie], and your hands got all dirty. All these years I’ve wanted to thank you again.”
It was not uncommon for Walt to stop and help a motorist in distress. He really did love people and when he could, he met their needs. It was a simple act, but that woman was still grateful thirty years later!
A church member told us she’d invited her neighbor again and again to our church, but she was never interested—until one Sunday she accepted the invitation. “What changed your mind?” her neighbor asked.
“I was in McAlister Square the other night, and I saw your pastor and his wife walking and they were holding hands.”
Evidently that woman yearned for a pastor that was human, who obviouslyloved his wife, and so she came and heard the Gospel that God loves her too.
When we first came to Greenville, there was a little candy shop just a block from the church parsonage. Our seven children loved that store. The oldest two were eleven and the youngest two were four. I sometimes gave them each a nickel to spend there. One Sunday morning the candy shop owners came to our services. I was so glad they’d come. “What prompted you to visit us?”
“Your children. When they come, they are so polite. They’re kind and helpful to each other. We’re here to find out what makes your church so different.” And at that service they learned that Jesus loves them, too.
Such simple things! Not heroic, certainly not earth-shattering. Simple things. But obviously, people in this sad world long for someone to care about them. Where could they find that love, that care, except in us Christians? Jesus said, in John 13:36:
Love each other. Just as I have loved you,
you should love each other.
We’re to love people like Jesus loves us. How much does Jesus love us? He loved us enough to lay down His life for us when we hated Him! Romans 5:6,8 (nlt) says,
For when we were still without strength,
[unable to help ourselves]
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. . . .
God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
God loved us and redeemed us when we were horribly unlovable. Because God forgave us for our sins through Jesus’ death, we can love the unlovable people God puts in our lives. May God help us to do it!