Suffering and the Cross

Hello its Paul Sames and its July 7 in the year of Our Lord 2011.
Today I watched a youtube clip of the wonderful world missionary Arthur Blessitt. I cant think of a better example of a missionary/evangelist anywhere or anytime.
This man is in the same league as St Paul or any of the ancient faith greats, in my humble opinion.
Arthur was telling the story of how he had carried his 12ft Cross on this particular trip from Sierra Leone West Africa 2000 miles through very inhospitable, superhot and humid dangerous conditions. He told how every day for a couple of months he was dreaming of arriving at a missionary hostel at a certain place. He told of how deeply exhausted he was and how he dreamt of resting for 2 or 3 days in the airconditioning the hostel had, before pressing on into the marathon slog with the Cross.
He told of how everyday he would think of the place as an oasis and how much he needed to rest. Finally, the day arrived when he was at the missions hostel and he walked in and asked could he pay for a room for a couple of days. The man at the hostel unbelievably said " Im sorry this place is only for missionaries, you will have to leave". Arthur explained that he was a missionary and an ordained minister.
The man said that this place is only for regular missionaries (whatever that is) and he couldnt start letting intinerants and backpackers in.
Arthur said alright and walked off weeping, as he struggled on in exhaustion and pain, a car pulled up with 2 young married people who identified themselves as local school teachers and they said Arthur could come at stay at their airconditioned house as long as he wanted. They also said they were atheists but that they had been impressed by the news reports they had read about him.
As you can imagine, Arthur was dumbfounded that the church missionary hostel had rejected him but the atheists had shown him deep love and acceptance. They even moved out of their bedroom to accomodate him with their best hospitality.
This shows that religion can really blow it badly and even atheists can be more like Jesus than the church in some cases.
Jesus talked about this in the Gospels. (do a search)
All of us who call ourselves missionaries or ministers or even Christians need to be on guard against the pharisaical spirit. Many fall prey to this, in the name of being professional or correct.