A
friend of mine named Paul received an automobile
from his brother 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 on 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 that I've been
trying to tell you about."
Paul got out and lifted the lad to
the front seat of his car. The shingled-eyed
older brother climbed in beside him and the
three of them began a memorable holiday ride.
That Christmas Eve, Paul
learned what Jesus meant when he had said, "It's
more blessed to give...."
