Chicago. A week before Christmas, some years ago. It is cold! Snow on the streets and sidewalks.
Then, I heard the voice of God say to me: “Help him!” I looked, there was no one there. Then I heard the Voice again, saying “Help him!”, and I looked again and that is when I saw, lying in the middle of Clark St., an elderly man, unable to rise. Cars were driving around him. So I acted, I helped, and the act became a focus point of my thoughts the remainder of that night and the next day.
Had I done enough? What else should I have done? Should I have given him my gloves? My coat? What happened to the man after a police officer had arrived?
The next day was Sunday. We arrived early at the Fourth Presbyterian Church for special music by Paul Winter. He was playing his alto sax, from high above the choir loft. The lovely music flooded over us and once again, it was as if God was speaking to me through the music and I felt the genuine warmth of His forgiveness.
God spoke to me that day, sounding a lot like my wife, and a lesson was learned. My reach needed to exceed my grasp. Or, said a different way, my actions needed to exceed my understanding of what I was called upon to do at a specific moment. No deep analyzing was needed, just responding. Can I go beyond my comfort zone, my warmth, my safety in the interest and need of others? Will I go beyond my fears to be a brother to an unknown other? Time will tell, but God had given me a lesson, a parable, about a man in need.
Do I really believe that “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength”? I think so…but the test will be, when that Voice speaks again and I, alone, must act, must reach, must “exceed”, will I? I pray that I will.
Robert Browning will remind me: “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for? (From Andrea del Sarto)
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