Diseased Angels?

When Francis of Assisi turned his back on wealth to seek God in simplicity, he stripped naked and walked out of the city. He soon encountered a leper.... He passed him, then stopped and went back and embraced the diseased man. Francis then continued on his journey. After a few steps he turned to look again at the leper, but no one was there. For the rest of his life, he believed the leper was Jesus Christ....

I bet that most of you have not been ignored, passed by, forgotten, left behind, despised or even broken hearted because of a disease. Maybe you have. IT DOES HAPPEN. Yet, Jesus lives in these people. And sometimes, perhaps when you've walked away, looked the other way, avoided, or simply just ignored someone because they have a disease, you may have just done that to Christ himself. Or perhaps an angel. Perhaps the reason isn't leprosy or even a diease, perhaps it is mental retardation, or HIV, or social anxiety, perhaps it is the girl who works in the "gentlemen's club" for a living desperately wanting a way out. Or what about the divorcee who has to live with herpes for the rest of her life because her cheating ex-husband brought it home to her? Or the person that always has that strange awful smell? The guy who always talks way too much and makes you uncomfortable because he invades your personal space? The strange couple that wears all black and are full of piercings? Life is full of reasons to pass people by---to not get too close. To be afraid. To ignore. To look away. To avoid. But what if that person/people were placed in your path to see just what you would do? What if it is an angel that you just avoided, walked away from, and hurt? What if your biggest blessing was wrapped in a package that you were "afraid" of? That's tough to think about. Really it is. We never know what God has planned for us. How it may come about. The people and roads to be traveled to get there. But one thing we can be sure of, we will encounter angels along the way. That is biblical. Don't expect them to take the appearance of an angel. Perhaps it was the person you just passed up?? Perhaps now, you will always think twice about it and wonder. Perhaps you should, like Francis of Assisi, go back and embrace them...there may be blessing there that you never could have imagined. You'll never know...if you never go... He is where you least expect Him to be. Look into that face again...you may be surprised who you will find there.