By John Heath, Chaplain
Glendoveer and Laurelhurst ElderPlace
An unusual trip took Josh on a drive through a crowded Chicago
neighborhood. A young and very
successful executive, he was driving a sleek, black, 12-cylinder Jaguar
XKE. It was his pride and joy, and he had
owned it for only two months.
He was driving a bit too fast – always, always in a hurry --
but being careful to watch for kids darting out from between parked cars. He
slowed down when he thought he saw something.
As his car passed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed out and –
WHUMP! – it smashed into the side door of his shiny black Jag. SCREECH…!!!
Brakes slammed! Gears ground into
reverse, and tires madly spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick
had been thrown.
Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him
up against a parked car. He shouted at
the kid, “What was that all about, and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?” Building up a head of steam he went on. “That’s my new Jag, and that brick you threw
is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why
did you throw it?”
“Please, mister, please.
I’m sorry! I didn’t know what
else to do!” pleaded the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would
stop!”
Tears were running down the boy’s face as he pointed around
the parked car. “It’s my brother,
mister,” he said. “He rolled off the
curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, “Would
you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”
Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately to
swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into
the wheelchair, took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, and
checked to see that everything was going to be okay. He then watched the younger brother push him
down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to his car, a long slow walk. He stopped
and stared at the dent in the side of his shiny black Jag. Five years passed
and Josh never did fix the side door. He
kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to
throw a brick at him to get his attention.
“What does the LORD
require of you? To act justly and to
love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”
(Micah 6:8). Too often we
forget what is important. Our lives get
out of kilter. We have blinders on as we
hurry about our business. Sometimes, a
brick is the only way to get our attention.
