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The Pinecone
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October 2013
f r om Don J oh n s on , K i r b y P i n e s Chap l a i n
Chaplain’s COrner
Oc t obe r
Ve s pe r
Se r v i ce s
The Brick
October 3rd
Dr. Sam Brassell
Covenant Baptist Church
October 10th
Rev. Warren Grant
Retired from First Assembly of God
Special Music by: Kaye Blackwood
&
Nathan Bradberry
October 17th
Rev. Les Helton
Collierville Baptist Church
October 24th
Rev. Dr. David Comperry
Emmanuel United Methodist
October 31st
Everett Hufford
Dean of Harding School of Theology
A successful young 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 backed the Jag to the spot where the brick
had been thrown. Angrily the young executive 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 but 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 the 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 a linen 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 executive 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!”
We can all learn from a story like this! Fast isn’t always best. Sometimes “the
hurrier we go the behinder we get!” Too often we are caught up in ourselves and
care little or nothing about what may be happening around us. People are struggling
with problems they can’t solve themselves. They have neither the strength nor
ability. Life’s just too heavy. A brick thrown at us isn’t always personal. It just
might be intended to get our attention so we might touch someone in a special
way. And any dent in what we think is valuable and precious may best be kept
as a reminder of what is really needful. Sometimes we need to understand what’s
really important…a jag that can be dented or a relationship that can be deepened.
Remember the words of Christ, “Inasmuch as you’ve done it to the least of these…
you’ve done it unto Me.” Matthew 25:40
Till Next Time, Don Johnson, Kirby Pines Chaplain
