ON BRICKS AND DONKEYS

A young and successful executive was traveling down a
neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new
Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from
between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he
saw something.

As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a
brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on
the brakes and drove the Jag back to the spot where
the brick had been thrown.

The angry driver then jumped out of the car,
grabbed
the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car
shouting, "What was that all about and who are you?

Just what the heck are
you doing? That's a new car and
that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money.
Why did you do it?"

The young boy was apologetic. "Please, mister...
please, I'm sorry...I didn't know what else to do," He
pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else
would stop..." With tears dripping down his face and
off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around
a parked car. "It's my brother," he said. "He rolled
off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't
lift him up."

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned 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
driver tried to swallow the
rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly
lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair,
then took out his fancy handkerchief and dabbed at the
fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him
everything was going to be okay.

"Thank you and may God bless you," the
grateful child
told the stranger.

Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy
push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk
toward their home.

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The
damage was very noticeable, but the driver never
bothered to repair the dented side door.

He kept the dent there to remind him
of this message
"Don't go through life so fast that someone has to
throw a brick at you to get your attention!"

God whispers in our souls and
speaks to our hearts.
Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to
throw a brick at us.

It's our choice.

Then the LORD opened the
donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you
beat me these three times?"
Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a
fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."
The
donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden,
to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"
"No," he
said.
Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD
standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

~Numbers 22:28-31~