A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street in his new car. Out of nowhere, a brick smashed into the car’s side door. He slammed on the brakes, spun around, and jumped out of his car. He saw that a kid was likely responsible and felt his anger starting to boil up. He confronted the kid, “Was that you?!? What in the world are you doing? This is a brand new car! Where are your parents?” “Please mister,” the boy replied, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know what else to do.” Tears were now rolling down the child’s cheeks. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop.” The boy began sobbing now. “It’s my brother. He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair, but I’m not big enough to lift him. Would you please help us?” The young businessman took a moment to let this all sink in. Then he saw the crying, scraped up boy who fell out of his wheelchair. The young man was moved beyond words. He tried to swallow down the emotional lump forming in this throat. He quickly walked over and carefully lifted the brother back into his wheelchair. Using his own tie, he wiped away the tears and softly dabbed the cuts and scrapes to help soothe the child. The boys thanked the man with overwhelming gratitude and left. As this young executive walked back to his car, he no longer cared about the dent. In fact, he never did repair the door. Instead, he decided to leave the dent as a reminder not to go through life so quickly that someone has to throw a brick to get his attention.
Chances are pretty good that you’re a busy person. You’ve probably even mentioned in conversation with people this week about your busy schedule. Thinking back, my own “busyness” has come up in several of my conversations. Which makes one wonder, are we too busy to see those who are in need around us?
Philippians 2:3-4 instructs us, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
Work. School. Sports. Kids. Band. Choir. Homework. After work projects. Overtime. Cooking. Grocery shopping. Doctors visits. Worship and Bible class.
These events hardly scratch the surface of the enormous load we put on our plates. It’s so easy to be focused on everything we have going that we forget we’re supposed to be looking out “for the interests of others.”
Let’s not get so bogged down with our busy lives that it’s going to take a brick to get us to notice those who are in need. Chances are, there’s someone needing help right now. Let’s have the humility and selflessness to look outside ourselves to assist someone else.
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