The Pastor of New Town

Once, in a remote town, lived a Pastor who was highly intelligent and knew the Bible inside out, he was so good that he had almost by heart, memorised all the important verses by its book and chapters with precision. Over the years of preaching continuously in the town and nearby areas, he had mastered his knowledge of the Bible. His fame grew far and wide and he became a highly sought after and respected member of the community.

But with great Knowledge comes great pride, the pastor was always in a habit of quizzing the congregation whenever he used to preach, his questions were very rare, outlandish and difficult to answer quickly for anyone who wasn't well versed. Sometimes the gesture was for a moral lesson, a spiritual insight, sometimes it was to sheer ridicule.  Many members from the church who used to feel offended, shifted to a nearby older part of the town and eventualy formed a new but smaller fellowship, called the Old Town Fellowship, and the part of the town where Pastor and the Church was active came to be know as the New Town Fellowship.

Due to Pastor's position and value, he always enjoyed treatment of the higher order and used to make the commoners feel unimportant and less useful. He had ammased great wealth over the years due to his exceptional knowledge and fact filled preaching, the congregation submitted tithes on time and donated large sum from their earnings, Pastor also received a good amount of donations from other sources as Church grants. 

Amongst all the regular Church goers, was a widow, whose husband had died fighting in the army at the border, with very lil to save for her family she was unable to contribute upto the same level as other wealthy church members, she did as much she could do, one day while preaching the pastor casualy pointed at the widow and asked her a question, " So Rachael, tell me how much was the widow able to contribute, when Jesus was watching over and speaking to his disciples?
The widow taken by surprise, uttered in a low voice, "two small copper coins sir"
"So can you tell me the chapter and the verse where its mentioned?" Pressed the pastor gaining on the shaken Rachael.
Rachael was silent!
Mark chapter 12 ver 41 - 44 exclaimed the pastor in a loud voice, "and if you read the bible more often youl be able to contribute much more than 2 small copper coins"
The words pierced through Rachael's heart like sharpened knives, her helplessness of not having a husband loomed over her, tears welled in her eyes, she couldnt take more and started to leave the church in tears.
The church was silent for a while, but then humiliated ones leaving the church in such manner was a usual fashion, so things were back to normal, the ones who left were forgotten and life continued in the New Town. The New town Church Members seperated themselves completely from the old town, building a Wall and a gate which kept both the towns apart. Nobody used to cross the gate, except the postman to deliver letter. Due to Pastors presence in the New part of the town, the members used to enjoy all privileges provided from the State and district.

Many years passed, the Pastor now had a huge bunglow, a car and all required ameneties to live a lavish lifestyle, adorned by his knowledge of the bible, nothing could stop him. The church members often provided him with services at their expenses. Life was going all good until one day the Church received a letter from the Tax Department, the letter mentioned explicit irregularity in accounts of the church and non disclosure of several grants received by the church. The covering letter mentioned a fortnight to respond with complete details and explantions or face a hefty fine, sealing down of the church and imprisonment of the pastor and several office bearers. The news spread and the tension mounted everywhere, people started to gather in the church and waited for the pastor to address the issue, The situation was so severe that amongst the members quarrels started happening and during the blame game some entered into fights, it was a complete chaos, Pastor's favourite supporters were speaking against him. Not knowing what to do and the deadline coming closer the Pastor could only pray for deliverance from this Burden. He asked for Two days time to work upoun the matter and come up with a Possible solution. The congregation reluctantly agreed.

In the Evening, a very old man, by the name of Simon visited the pastor and suggested him to meet the only Accountant in the town and seek help from him. The only problem was he used to live in the old part of the town, in the smaller fellowship, who had seperated from the church due to humiliation faced from the pastor. Soon the news spread that the only person who could save the church was this accountant from the other fellowship and everyone pushed the pastor to visit him and find a solution. Out of no other choice or option, the pastor agreed and decided to pay a visit to the old town and meet the accountant. It was evening, As he entered the main gate of the old town, he realised the entire area on this side of the town was covered in darkness, there was no electricity, just the oil lamps glowing from the doors and window sills in the neighborhood, soon after seeking directions and guiding his way, the Pastor reached the Accountants home and knocked.

A beautiful young girl in her late twenties opened the door and immediately recognising the pastor invited him inside and gave him a big comfortable chair to sit on. The Pastor was overwhelmed by the genorosity and warm welcome from a lady he just met and he wasnt expecting such a welcoming experience in this part of the town either, he felt ashamed of the fact that such nice people had seperated from the main church due to his pride and arrogant nature. The young girl entered the room and placed a brightly shining oil lamp on the table, the light almost filled the entire room, and the radiance magnified the beautity of the host prominently, she then neatly placed a cup of coffee and cookies for the Pastor, "Peter will be here in a minute, he just got back, poor guy, have to manage quite a lot these days at work, i have told him you are here, please feel comfortable" the cheerfulness in her voice dint feel made up for the pastor as he was in usual habit of hearing buttered praises and glorification from his congreation at most times, Pastor shifted in his chair and asked her, "Miss, iam highly overwhelmed with your hospitality and kind nature, if you do not mind may i know your good name?" "Oh its Sarah, Sarah Peter."  

Peter entered the room and the Pastor got up to shake his hands, the Pastor couldn't help but notice that Peter was a handsome young man in his early 30s looked well built and had a strong facecut that resembled to someone the pastor faintly remembered. "Greetings Pastor, myself Peter, please feel at home, i hope Sarah took good care of you since you arrived"
"Oh yes, i feel really good already, what a lovely wife you have got, may God Bless you both!"
Pastor being a habitual of air conditioning broke out a sweat, dapping his face with his linen handkerchief, he murmermed, "Its a bit hot in here eh...why no power?"
Peter was quick to respond, "oh we only receive 8 hours of power from midnight to morning 8, during the rest of the hours, our power supply is shifted to the main town as the power requirement is much more there."
Pastor hung his head low, he felt guilty of installing a brand new ac in each and every room of his bunglow, he even got the whole church air-conditioned, even the wealthy ones from the town followed similar practice.
Breaking the awkward silence peter pressed in,
"Anyways Pastor, tell me how may i help you"
The pastor was sweating, holding tightly the letter contents in a package, he stretched out his hand and handed over the package to Peter.
Peter took it, opened the package and read deeply the contents of the letter, he was silent for a moment
The Pastor wanting desperately Peter to help him, said, " Son i got to know about you from a senior member from our church he mentioned that you are the only qualified and able accountant in our town, and its only you who can help us, please Peter, the Church is in grave danger, all our hopes are on you, dont abandon us, please do something and save us," the Pastor was almost in tears.
Peter got up turned towards the shelves and opened the drawer, he took out a sealed envelope and started to open it, he read the contents from the only sheet of paper that was inside the envelope,

The Second Commandment
Matthew 5 : 44
Proverbs 21:21

The pastor quickly recollected all the verses but was unable to comprehend, why such contents were being mentioned at this time. The significance was missing and made no sense.

Peter turned towards the pastor and said,
"Dear sir, il help you with whatever i have got, but you will also have to to do what all you need to."

Pastor was overjoyed, he took peter in his arms and hugged him, he thanked him over and over again and shouted loud praises to God for the wonderful thing that has happened. 

Peter left with the pastor to his place to get the accounts right and fix everything possible before the deadline. They worked without break till dawn and Peter was able to prepare a complete summary and logical explanation for all the financial goof ups the pastor had done over the years. Even though the explanations for all the expenses made sense, their was a noticeable difference in the income and assets, Peter told the pastor, that unless these assests are invested in a community project, there was a huge risk that the Taxation department will figure out the missing funds and everyone will be in trouble especially the Pastor. "What shall we do?" The worried pastor asked Peter.
Peter cross checked the paperwork again and went silent, he took a deep breath and then spoke, "Since i have been introduced to all the financial assests of the church i havent yet seen any investment for any charitable trust run by the Church, no orphanage, no old age homes no welfare centres have been set by established by the church, the grants that came in were mainly for these purpose but instead they were used for beautification of the church and organising big fests calling in lavish expenses, so unless the funds are not invested in a charitable trust, the accounts wont be settled evenly in the eyes of the tax department. 

The pastor was hearing carefully, as soon as Peter was done speaking he got up and exclaimed!
"So this is it, we are going to establish a Charitable trust, Peter you have to help me with its formalities, meanwhile il inform the church office bearers and members and get their consent. Please come to church this Sunday, i want your presence there, its very important."
Peter agreed and left for home.

Sunday came, soon after the service the general body meeting was called, since this was such a grave issue the entire church was present for the meeting, nobody had moved from their positions, and waited for Pastor to preside over.

The Pastor showed up and began addressing the congregation, "Dear members as you all know the ongoing issue and our current situation where Peter has extended his help and half of our problems have been resolved, but for the rest half he has mentioned that unless we establish a charitable trust in the town, we will still be under the radar of the tax department and face consequences, murmuring began among the congregation, the Pastor continued, we went ahead with the proposal to establish a trust but we still dont have a final consent on what the trust should be? Then a middle aged man from the back stood up and spoke loudly,
"Why should we start a trust? We can just have another big festival and enjoy ourselves, we all have everything we need, all our families are well, healthy and settled. What for the trust will be productive? We dont have any orphans, or old people without homes, then for what, we are trying to do charity? there aren't any poor people either." The congregation was murmering louder now, several gave consent to the man's statement. The Pastor shifted uneasily, and tried to gain control over the situation, he realised the church had grown fast beyond his control and they were all lacking the spiritual upbringing which should have been bestowed by the pastor. The congregation knew things, they were bold, smart and intelligent, they knew the Bible but they were far away from the love, kindness and giving nature towards Charity. But a solution had to be taken, and things were not going good.
Then an elder stood up and spoke,
"Since, It's Peter, who has given this idea and has helped us half way, let it be him who decides, we all will whole heartedly agree to whatever he proposes."

The pastor nodded and invited Peter to the front, he stepped down and allowed Peter to speak"

Peter eyes gleamed, it was like he was waiting for this day for so long, he spoke with conviction, "Many years ago, a women who was a widow was humiliated in this church and she left this town to settle in the older town, in a small house without electricity without proper water supply, she struggled hard to raise her two children, the toil took over her and she passed away few years ago, her Children were alone, but their mother had taught them everything she could do, gave them the real knowledge from the bible, and before her final breath gave them the three verses to remember all their lives.

The Second Commandment
Matthew 5 : 44
Proverbs 21:21

The pastor was listening intently and this time the verses hit him hard, with moist eyes and a lump building in his throat he was trying to recollect his memory about the woman whom Peter was talking about, the congregation also had tears welled in the eyes, many were turning pages of the bible to read the verses Peter had just mentioned.

Peter continued, "Today you all have everything, big lavish houses, cars, jobs, fields and what not but imagine the plight of those children who have lost their father and mother and were left alone to fend for themselves, but the Power of God's word became their strength and they were able to live their life and earn everything with his grace, if you can all do one good thing for such children its my humble request to establish a Trust for the welfare for widows and orphans. 

Round of applause errupted in the church, loud praises to God was heard, everyone was happy and rejoicing, but the Pastor broke down in tears, his atrocities took over him and his guilt made him weak. He remembered the widow he had banished from the church many years back. 

The congregation then asked Peter, what shall we name the trust as, we whole heartily accept the proposal, this would be the best and most meaningful decision ever taken by the church.
Peter invited the pastor on the stage to speak, Weak and feeling fragile, the pastor spoke in broken words "I Would like to dedicate this trust in the name of Rachael Thomas, who left us many years ago, for the children she raised in extreme difficulty, may this Trust be a welfare centre for anyone in need." 

The entire church joined in applause and cheered away! The decision was made and the day finally came to frame the paperwork for the Trust. Upoun knowing the formalities, the pastor was also informed about a requirement of a signatory from the family of Rachael to be present. The Pastor felt uneasy, how will he ever find the two children that Rachael had left behind. He decided to visit the old town once again and find out the whereabouts of Rachael and her two children, upoun entering the same old gate he enquired for Rachael Thomas' home, nobody was sure and gave incomplete and unsure directions, an old man sitting by the roadside recognised the pastor and called him, he knew where Rachael used to stay, he gave him the directions,
The road that lead to her home looked familiar, he felt as if he has walked this road recently, but he wasnt sure, he kept on walking, his heart pumping faster, the daylight made the town looked beautiful with trees and creepers covering most of the houses, the last time he visited the same part of the town was during the night, he faintly was able to recollect the same rows of houses and kept counting for the one he was looking for. He reached a big white house he was looking for and knocked heavily.
The door opened and the Pastor gasped for breath!

Sarah stood there, with a book in her hand, 

"Oh Pastor! Please come in! Nice to see you once again!"
The Pastor was out of words, and he was breathing heavily but he asked, 

"are you the daughter of  Rachael Thomas?"
"Almost the daughter but iam rightfully the daughter in law of Mrs Rachael Thomas. I married Peter a couple of years back."

The Ground shifted beneath, pastor felt his knees going weak, his mouth dry, he collapsed on the chair behind him. 

Peter, the man who helped the pastor and the church out of such a huge misery was none other but the son of Rachel Thomas. The widow who left the Church in Tears...

Instead of taking revenge for his mothers tearful exit from the town and church, Peter extended help and forgave the pastor, he did not put any conditions and never demanded anything, What his mother taught him from the bible had bore deep inside his heart that made him a true Christian as he should be. 

Moral of the story : Study hard and be a Charted Accountant!