His name was Bill.
He had wild hair, wore a T-shirt with holes in it, blue jeans
and no shoes. In the entire time I knew him I never once saw
Bill wear a pair of shoes. Rain, sleet or snow, Bill was
barefoot. This was literally his wardrobe for his whole four
years of college.
He was brilliant
and looked like he was always pondering the esoteric. He
became a Christian while attending college. Across the street
from the campus was a church full of well-dressed,
middle-class people. They wanted to develop a ministry to the
college students, but they were not sure how to go about
it.
One day, Bill
decided to worship there. He walked into the church, complete
with his wild hair, T-shirt, blue jeans and bare feet. The
church was completely packed, and the service had already
begun. Bill started down the aisle to find a place to sit. By
now the people were looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one
said anything.
As Bill moved
closer and closer to the pulpit, he realized there were no
empty seats. So he squatted and sat down on the carpet right
up front. (Although such behavior would have been perfectly
acceptable at the college fellowship, this was a scenario this
particular congregation had never witnessed before!) By now,
the people seemed uptight, and the tension in the air was
thickening.
Right about
the time Bill took his “seat,” a deacon began slowly making
his way down the aisle from the back of the sanctuary. The
deacon was in his eighties, had silver gray hair, a
three-piece suit and a pocket watch. He was a godly man --
very elegant, dignified and courtly. He walked with a cane
and, as he neared the boy, church members thought, “You
can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect
a man of his age and background to understand some college kid
on the floor?”
It took a long
time for the man to reach the boy. The church was utterly
silent except for the clicking of his cane. You couldn’t even
hear anyone breathing. All eyes were on the
deacon.
But then they saw
the elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great
difficulty, he sat down on the floor next to Bill and
worshipped with him. Everyone in the congregation choked up
with emotion. When the minister gained control, he told the
people, “What I am about to preach, you will never remember.
What you’ve just seen, you will never
forget.”
©By Rebecca
Manley Pippert
from Chicken Soup for the Christian Family
Soul
