When we look at a person what are our first impressions of that person or in others words, how do we see
them? Can we make a determination about a person’s characteristics both personally and spiritually by only seeing their
outward appearance? If we would spend some time conversing with them, in most instances we discover that the
person is not who we thought they would be just by the way they looked and our initial impressions of them.
In an article from Psychology Today, “All About First Impressions”, it talks about some things we should be aware
of concerning our first impressions of someone. “Human beings are built to size each other up quickly. Our first
impressions of each other are influenced by a number of factors, such as facial shape, vocal inflection, attractiveness, and
general emotional state. We tend to get attached to our initial impressions of people and find it very difficult to change
our opinion of them, even when presented with lots of evidence to the contrary.”
The tendencies each one of us have that influences the way we see or think about other people and make a
determination of who they are and or their characteristics, good or bad, can be influenced by our biases or prejudices,
misconceptions and cultural beliefs about a certain race and or specific appearances of a person.
When Eliana and I ministered as Missionaries for the Foursquare Church in the country of Honduras, our family
had an opportunity to return to the U.S. for a period of six weeks. We spent a short period of that time visiting family
and the majority ministering in Foursquare Churches, sharing what God was doing through the Foursquare Church in
Honduras.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord
does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
After traveling for more than two weeks, continually eating in restaurants and staying in hotels, I was getting
weary of the impersonal aspect of our routine. So I prayed asking God instead of staying in a hotel and eating at
restaurants, that He would provide our family with the blessing and opportunity to be able to stay with a family from
one of our Foursquare Churches.
It was very shortly after I prayed, while in the state of Washington, after a Sunday morning service, I was
approached by an unshaven man in overalls. My first impression of the man was not spiritual at all. Before he had an
opportunity to introduce himself to me, I already had him in my unspiritual mind profiled him as someone who drove a
rusty old pickup truck, who lived on welfare in a rundown trailer park in the outskirts of town with his eight kids and half
a dozen dogs. The only aspect of the man that did not fit my unspiritual profile was he had good dental hygiene.
As I mature in my relationship with God, the more I discover that God has a sense of humor and many times He
uses it to teach me many things about myself that I do not see, but most importantly to trust Him. That Sunday morning
God taught me an important lesson how much my heart needed to change.
The man in overalls introduced himself and asked me if my family and I would like would to spend a few days
with him and his family at his house while we were in the area? Forgetting my prayer request of a few days earlier, I
immediately did my best to try to say thank you but no thank you. I even had a very good reason that I thought would be
to my advantage of politely telling him no thank you. I told him the checkout time at our hotel was as at noon and it was
now 12:30. I told him (but seriously not meaning it) if I would had been able to cancel that days reservation, my family
and I would be blessed to stay with him and his family. I really believed that after commenting about my hotel situation I
did a good job of avoiding a potentially bad situation and that our conversation was finished.
As the potluck that the church had after the service was winding down, the man in overalls approached me
again. I thought to say good bye, but to my surprise he happily told me that he talked to the owner of the hotel, he
canceled our reservation, we were not going to have to pay for that night and now our family was able to stay at his house! Reluctantly I had to accept, I could not come up with any other reasons to refuse his invitation. He told me to go
back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and that he would meet us there so we could follow him to his house.
Back at the hotel as we were loading up the van, the man in overalls appeared in the parking lot excited to take
us to his house. I was trying to be as friendly as possible but inside I was very reluctant and apprehensive of the situation
I got my family into. As we were pulling out of the parking space, there it was, exactly as I had thought, the man in
overalls drove an old pickup truck. The only thing missing was the half dozen dogs.
A few miles out of town as we drove on a windy road, and just around the curve, I saw it, the “rundown trailer
park in the outskirts of town”. But to my surprise and relief he did not turn into the driveway of the trailer park. We
drove a few more miles in an area that was beautifully forested, when he turned on to a dirt road, in spite of
appreciating the beauty of the forest all around us, the first thought that came to my mind was, “what kind of rundown
trailer are we going to find at the end of this dirt road?” After a short drive on the dirt road, which turned out to be his
driveway, appeared a very large beautiful two story house. It turned out that the man in overalls was very wealthy, he
was a successful salmon farmer who was also a lobbyist for the salmon farmers for the State of Washington, but most
important, he and his family of three children, not eight, were God’s answer to my prayer.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” Ephesians 3:20
It was not until later did the Lord remind me of my prayer. Even though I was not really specific when I prayed
about our family staying with a family from one of our Foursquare Churches, why did I expect so little from God? Was
the Lord really going to put us in an unpleasant situation like I had imagined when I saw the man in overalls and his old
pickup truck?
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you,
then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:9-12
Why did I profile the man in overalls as I did? God’s answer to my prayer and the blessings that God provided
exposed many issues that He needed to work on in my heart. Mainly how easily I tend to think of the worst (profile) of
someone just by the way they look without even knowing anything about them.
The lessons I learned from this event about myself happened over twenty-five years ago, but I thank the Lord that even
though I forget at times what I learned in the past, the Holy Spirit still lovingly, gracefully and continually reminds me
again and again.
Pastor John
