[A friend sent this report on a special Christmas present]
Paul received an automobile from his brother the stock broker as a Christmas
present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin
was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it.
“Is this your car, Mister?” he asked.
Paul nodded. “My brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was
astounded.
“You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing? Boy, I
wish . . . ” He hesitated. Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish
for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said
jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.
“I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could BE a brother like that.”
Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he added, “Would
you like to take a ride in my automobile?”
“Oh yes, I’d love that.”
After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes aglow, said, “Mister,
would you mind driving in front of my house?” Paul smiled a little. He
thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he
could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again.
“Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked. He ran up the
steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not
coming fast.
He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom
step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to the car. “There
she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for
Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And some day I’m gonna give you one
just like it . . . then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in
the Christmas windows and decorations on every block that I’ve been trying
to tell you about.”
Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The
shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began
a memorable holiday ride.
On this Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when he said “It is
more blessed to give than to receive.”
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
“Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!”