Sometimes a joke is just funny, but sometimes it is a carrier of a profound truth. One of my favorites in that latter category isn’t new, but perhaps not everyone reading this will have heard it. It has to do with a man in an area about to be hit by a hurricane. As his neighbors leave for higher ground he stays put. They implore him to leave. He says no, he has faith that God will save him. As the waters rise around his house, he moves to the second floor. Two men in a row boat appear and motion to him to get in. He declines, saying that he has faith that God will save him. Later, now on the roof, a helicopter hovers over him and drops a ladder. He yells to them that God will save him. He is swept away and drowns. In heaven he rails at God for not saving him; he had such great faith. God replies, “I created a weather service to warn you; I had your neighbors urge you to leave with them; I sent a boat; and then I sent a helicopter. There wasn’t anything more I could do.”
Watch for God acting in these ways in your life, and more important, watch for the ways you are being God’s hands at work in the world.
Ron Hicks, Parish Verger, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Washington DC, 17-September-2013.
The Daily Cup 