Under new management

A man was converted to Christ through the work of the Salvation Army. He was a simple man — illiterate. Neither he nor his wife could read or write.

This man started worshiping regularly at the Salvation Army services. But one day he came home looking glum. When his wife asked what was wrong, he said, "All the people in the Salvation Army wear red sweaters, and I don't have a red sweater."

His wife said, "I'll knit one!" — and she proceeded to do that.

So the next Sunday, the man went to the worship service dressed in his red sweater. But he came hone looking glum once again. His wife asked what was wrong, and he said, "I just noticed that all their red sweaters have yellow writing."

Keep in mind that neither the man nor his wife could read or write, so they had no idea what the yellow writing on the Salvation Army red sweaters meant. So let me tell you what it says. The Salvation Army symbol is a yellow eightpointed star with the words "Blood & Fire" written in red letters.

But this man wasn't sophisticated enough to understand that. He just knew that there was a yellow symbol on the Salvation Army sweaters, and he wanted one on his sweater.

So his wife agreed to embroider some yellow writing on his sweater. But she was illiterate too, so she had no idea what the letters should say or how she should say it. So she walked downtown and looked in some of the store windows. She found some writing in one of the windows that didn't have too many letters — she thought that she could copy those letters onto her husband's sweater. So she wrote down the letters exactly as she found them in that store window and went home to embroider those letters onto her husband's sweater.

The next Sunday, the man went to church again. When he came home, his wife asked if the people liked his sweater. He told her that they loved his sweater. In fact, some of them said that they liked his sweater better than their own.

So what was it that the wife had copied from the store window sign? What was it that she embroidered onto her husband's sweater? It was this! "Under New Management!" That's what the sign in the window said, and that's what the wife had embroidered onto her husband's sweater — "Under New Management!"

That's what it means to be a Christian, isn't it? That's what it takes to get ready to meet Jesus face to face. We need to put our lives under Christ's management. We need to make Him our Lord. When we do that, we will then do what He wants us to do — or at least try. We will go where He wants us to go — or at least try. And then we'll be ready whenever He returns. To get ready for Jesus' coming, we need to place ourselves "Under New Management" by making Jesus Lord of our lives.Rev. Charlotte Austin

McCary's Chapel United Methodist Church