The Old Fisherman
11-05-2010, 12:17 PM
#1
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Crystal River Florida
Posts: 9,785
Someone sent this to my DH and I wanted to share it with all of you.
>
>
>Our house was directly across the street from the clinic
> entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in
> Baltimore We lived downstairs and rented
> the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the
> Clinic.
>
>One summer evening as I was preparing supper,
> there was a knock at the door I opened it
> to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's
> hardly taller than my eight-year-old, ' I
>thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled
>body.
>
>But the
> appalling thing was his face, lopsided from
> swelling, red and raw Yet his voice was
> pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to
> see if you've a room for just one night. I
> came for a treatment this morning from the
> eastern shore, and there's no bus 'till
> morning.'
>
>He told me he'd been hunting for a room
>since noon but with no success; no one seemed
>to have a room. 'I guess it's my face. I
>know it looks terrible, but my doctor says
>with a few more treatments..
> .'
>
>For a moment I hesitated, but his next
>words convinced me: 'I could sleep in this rocking
> chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the
> morning.' I told him we would find him a
> bed, but to rest on the porch. I
> went inside and finished getting supper.
> When we were ready, I asked the old man if he
> would join us. 'No thank you. I have
> plenty' And he held up a brown paper
> bag.
>
>When I had finished the dishes, I went
>out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes.
>It didn't take a long time to see that this old
>man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny
>body. He told me he fished for a living to support
>his daughter, her five children and her husband,
>who was hopelessly crippled from a back
> injury.
>
>He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact,
>every other sentence was prefaced with thanks
>to God for a blessing He was grateful that no
>pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently
>a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving
>him the strength to keep going.
>
>At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's
> room for him. When I got up in the morning, the
> bed linens were neatly folded, and the little
> man was out on the porch.
>
>He refused breakfast, but just before he left
>for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor,
> he said,
>'Could I please come back and stay the next
>time I have a treatment? I won't put you
>out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.' He paused
>a moment and then added, 'Your children
>made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by
>my face, but children don't seem to mind.' I told
> him he was welcome to come
> again.
>
>And on his next trip he arrived a little after
>seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a
>big fish and a quart of the largest oysters
>I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that
>morning before he left so that they'd be nice
>and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4 a.m. , and
>I wondered what time he had to get up in order
>to do this for us.
>
>In the years he came to stay overnight
>with us there was never a time that he did not
>bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his
> garden.
>
>Other times we received packages in the mail,
>always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed
>in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every
>leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk
> three miles to mail these and knowing how little
> money he had made the gifts doubly precious..
>
>
>When I received these little remembrances, I
>often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor
>made after he left that first morning.
> 'Did you keep that awful looking man
> last night? I turned him away! You can lose
> roomers by putting up such
> people!'
>
>Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice But,
>oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps
>their illness would have been easier to
>bear. I know our family always will be grateful
>to have known him; from him we learned what it
>was to accept the bad without complaint
>and the good with gratitude to
> God.
>
>Recently I was visiting a friend who has
>a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we
>came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden
>chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But
>to my great surprise, it was growing in an old
>dented, rusty bucket.. I thought to myself, 'If
>this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest
> container I had!'
>
>My friend changed my mind.. 'I ran short of
>pots,' she explained, 'and knowing how beautiful
>this one would be, I thought it wouldn't
>mind starting out in this old pail. It's just
>for a little while, till I can put it out in the
> garden.'
>
>She must have wondered why I laughed so
>delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene
> in heaven. There's an especially beautiful
>one,' God might have said when he came to
>the soul of the sweet old fisherman. 'He won't
>mind starting in this small
> body.'
>
>
>Our house was directly across the street from the clinic
> entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in
> Baltimore We lived downstairs and rented
> the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the
> Clinic.
>
>One summer evening as I was preparing supper,
> there was a knock at the door I opened it
> to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's
> hardly taller than my eight-year-old, ' I
>thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled
>body.
>
>But the
> appalling thing was his face, lopsided from
> swelling, red and raw Yet his voice was
> pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to
> see if you've a room for just one night. I
> came for a treatment this morning from the
> eastern shore, and there's no bus 'till
> morning.'
>
>He told me he'd been hunting for a room
>since noon but with no success; no one seemed
>to have a room. 'I guess it's my face. I
>know it looks terrible, but my doctor says
>with a few more treatments..
> .'
>
>For a moment I hesitated, but his next
>words convinced me: 'I could sleep in this rocking
> chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the
> morning.' I told him we would find him a
> bed, but to rest on the porch. I
> went inside and finished getting supper.
> When we were ready, I asked the old man if he
> would join us. 'No thank you. I have
> plenty' And he held up a brown paper
> bag.
>
>When I had finished the dishes, I went
>out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes.
>It didn't take a long time to see that this old
>man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny
>body. He told me he fished for a living to support
>his daughter, her five children and her husband,
>who was hopelessly crippled from a back
> injury.
>
>He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact,
>every other sentence was prefaced with thanks
>to God for a blessing He was grateful that no
>pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently
>a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving
>him the strength to keep going.
>
>At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's
> room for him. When I got up in the morning, the
> bed linens were neatly folded, and the little
> man was out on the porch.
>
>He refused breakfast, but just before he left
>for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor,
> he said,
>'Could I please come back and stay the next
>time I have a treatment? I won't put you
>out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.' He paused
>a moment and then added, 'Your children
>made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by
>my face, but children don't seem to mind.' I told
> him he was welcome to come
> again.
>
>And on his next trip he arrived a little after
>seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a
>big fish and a quart of the largest oysters
>I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that
>morning before he left so that they'd be nice
>and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4 a.m. , and
>I wondered what time he had to get up in order
>to do this for us.
>
>In the years he came to stay overnight
>with us there was never a time that he did not
>bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his
> garden.
>
>Other times we received packages in the mail,
>always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed
>in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every
>leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk
> three miles to mail these and knowing how little
> money he had made the gifts doubly precious..
>
>
>When I received these little remembrances, I
>often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor
>made after he left that first morning.
> 'Did you keep that awful looking man
> last night? I turned him away! You can lose
> roomers by putting up such
> people!'
>
>Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice But,
>oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps
>their illness would have been easier to
>bear. I know our family always will be grateful
>to have known him; from him we learned what it
>was to accept the bad without complaint
>and the good with gratitude to
> God.
>
>Recently I was visiting a friend who has
>a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we
>came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden
>chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But
>to my great surprise, it was growing in an old
>dented, rusty bucket.. I thought to myself, 'If
>this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest
> container I had!'
>
>My friend changed my mind.. 'I ran short of
>pots,' she explained, 'and knowing how beautiful
>this one would be, I thought it wouldn't
>mind starting out in this old pail. It's just
>for a little while, till I can put it out in the
> garden.'
>
>She must have wondered why I laughed so
>delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene
> in heaven. There's an especially beautiful
>one,' God might have said when he came to
>the soul of the sweet old fisherman. 'He won't
>mind starting in this small
> body.'
11-05-2010, 12:31 PM
#5
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: South GA
Posts: 222
Thanks so much for sharing this! I plan to read it to my guild on Thur night. We need to reminded sometimes how to treat others and how to be grateful for God's many blessings regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.
11-05-2010, 03:31 PM
#8
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: SW Iowa
Posts: 1,137
What a wonderful story!! God uses the ugly and weak things to produce beauty in our souls.
In college way back when, we girls had some blind dates, except for one of us that is, and I ended up with a serviceman who I thought was the ugliest guy I'd ever seen. Well, after I got to know him, he was not so "ugly" anymore. We only dated a couple months, though.
In college way back when, we girls had some blind dates, except for one of us that is, and I ended up with a serviceman who I thought was the ugliest guy I'd ever seen. Well, after I got to know him, he was not so "ugly" anymore. We only dated a couple months, though.
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