His name is "John". He has wild
hair,
wears a
T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no
shoes. This
was literally his wardrobe for his
entire, four
years of college. He is brilliant.
Kinda esoteric
and very, very bright. He became a
Christian while
attending college.
Across the street from the campus
is a well-dressed, very conservative
church. They
want to develop, a ministry to the
students, but
are not sure, how to go about it. One
day John
decides, to go there. He walks in, with
no shoes,
jeans, his T-shirt, and wild
hair.
The service has already started and
so John
starts
down the aisle, looking for a seat. The
church is
completely packed and he can't find a
seat. By now
people are looking a bit uncomfortable,
but no one
says anything.
John gets closer and closer and
closer to the
pulpit and when he realizes, there are
no seats, he
just squats down, right on the
carpet.(Although
perfectly acceptable behavior, at a
college
fellowship, trust me, this had never
happened, in
this church before!)
By now the people are really
uptight, and the tension in the air is
thick.
About
this time, the minister realizes that
from way at
the back, of the church, a deacon is
slowly, making
his way, toward John.
Now the deacon is in his
eighties, has silver-gray hair, a
three-piece suit,
and a pocket watch. A godly man, very
elegant, very
dignified, very courtly. He walks with
a cane and
as he starts walking toward this boy,
everyone is
saying to themselves, "You can't blame
him, for
what he's going to do. How can you
expect a man of
his age and of his background, to
understand some
college kid, on the floor?"
It takes a long time, for the man to
reach the
boy.
The church is utterly silent,
except for the
clicking, of the man's cane.
All eyes are focused on him.
You can't even hear anyone
breathing. The
people are thinking, "The minister can't
even preach
the sermon, until the deacon does, what
he has to
do."
And now, they see this elderly man
drop his cane,
on
the floor. With great difficulty, he
lowers
himself and sits down next to John, so
he won't be
alone.
Everyone chokes up with
emotion.
When the
minister gains control, he says, "What
I'm about to
preach, you will never remember.
What you have
just seen, you will never
forget."