A successful businessman, sporting a new Jaguar, cruised smugly down a city street. While going faster than he should have been, the man certainly wasn’t watching for children darting out from between parked cars that lined the street. Suddenly a brick smashed into the side of his new car. The executive slammed on the brakes, jumped out of the car, grabbed a frightened looking lad and pushed him up against a parked car. “Just what do you think you’re doing? Look what you’ve done to my Jaguar. Do you have any idea what it’s going to cost to get this car fixed?”
“Please mister, I’m sorry,” the boy stammered. “I didn’t know what else to do to get your attention. I threw the brick because no one else would stop and we really need help.” Tears streamed down the boy’s cheeks as he pointed to the side of a parked car. “It’s my brother,” he explained. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up. I’m so afraid someone won’t see him and will run over him.” Through his sobbing, the youngster pleaded, “Won’t you please help me get him back into the wheelchair and onto the sidewalk? He’s hurt, and he’s too heavy for me to pick up by myself.”
Sure enough, the handicapped brother was wedged between two parked cars, strewn there like a sack of potatoes and flirting with a traffic disaster. His swollen, fear filled eyes silently begged for help. The executive was moved beyond words. With strong arms he lifted the boy back into the wheelchair and using his own handkerchief, tried to soothe the child’s scraped, tear streaked face.
The boy in the wheelchair sobbed, “Thank you sir, and God bless you.” The executive watched one brother wheeling the other toward their modest home down the street, snagging every crack in the uneven sidewalk along the way.
You and I are called to be alert for opportunities to show love and kindness to those in need. ‘Love cares more for others, than for self,” writes Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:4 (The Message). When we aren’t alert for opportunities to show love and kindness, sometimes bricks are thrown in our paths!
March/April 2001