Now that I had one good friend, I wanted to see if I could find another. Still in Oklahoma City, I met an interesting character that evening in the lobby of my hotel. The aloof, quiet man acted as though he could use a new friend, too.

Within moments, however, something about this guy bothered me. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I wanted to get a closer look. For one thing, the man was dressed in a full suit of armor, almost identical to mine. The man’s visor was pulled down over his helmet. I couldn’t really tell what the fellow looked like. I thought that this guy might be trying to play a prank on me or something.

A medical lab was located across the street from the hotel. I coaxed the man into the lab. The unidentified fellow climbed up on a long examination table. As he was lying down, face up, I checked the man’s pulse with a stethoscope. But I couldn’t detect a heart beat. Then I conducted X-rays on the guy’s chest to see if the stranger had a big heart. The X-rays showed no trace of any heart at all!

As I became more and more curious, I looked the suspicious stranger over from head to foot with a giant black-handled magnifying glass. All I found was the word “LUCIFER” printed in microscopic-size red letters on the man’s left steel sleeve.

I gave up and said, “I just can’t seem to find any redeeming qualities about this guy. What demons possess my thoughts? Lord, can you show me the error in my ways? How can I look for and find the good in others?”

When God appeared, She had a perplexed expression on Her face. “Wantsalittle, I just can’t believe the position that you’re in. Of all of the people in the world, did you have to settle on this guy to try to strike up another friendship?”

“What do You mean by that, Lord?”

“Wantsalittle, if there is one exception to the rule of ‘looking for the good in others,’ this would be the person. You are trying to look for the good in the Devil! . . . Oh well, because you asked me to help you out, let me say this: Far too often, people are preoccupied with looking for what is wrong with others instead of what is right. Try to break free from the prevalent magnetic forces of negativity and limitation. Shift your attention to love—loving yourself and loving others. Shri Ramakrishna said, ‘If you keep your heart immersed always in the ocean of divine love, your heart is sure to remain ever full to overflowing with the water of divine love.’”

“Lord, if I have love in my heart, will I be more apt to find ‘good’ in others?”

“Yes! Jesus said, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and First Commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’ When you acknowledge infinite love, it will be easy for you to perceive the divine essence of goodness in others. As you think and act by looking for the good in people, you will find it. . . . Wantsalittle, in this case, good luck to you!”

After God high-tailed it out of the medical lab and disappeared, Lucifer and I climbed into the Corvette. I asked the Devil, “How come you were dressed in a knight’s outfit?”

Lucifer replied, “I saw you, recently, when you were riding down the street with Willie Nelson, on the back of his Harley. I knew you wanted another friend. I really needed a friend, too. So I dressed up in knight’s garb, hoping that you would notice me and identify with me. And if it wasn’t for your close relationship with the Lord, I would’ve taken possession of your mental faculties and captured your friendship!”

The Devil continued talking to me. He was still trying his best to win my friendship, I guess. I didn’t pay much attention to what the Devil had to say. And I didn’t say anything else to Lucifer, not so much as one more word! Bravely, I simply escorted the Devil several miles out of town. A few miles down the road, I pulled over. We both got out of the Corvette. Lucifer, standing in a dark shadow, right beside the car, just turned and walked away, thankfully! As he did, the outline of his body faded into black. I turned around and looked up in the other direction. I saw a bright-white star on the horizon in the darkening sky.

I said to myself, “Well, Lucifer did tell me, at one point, that if I wanted to associate goodness in his presence, I should look the other way!”

(The moral of this episode: If you look for the good in others, you will likely find it!)

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