A few years ago I felt saddened as I read that a religious organization who profess to work among the poor, the destitute and the needy and who run a tourist hotel in Delhi had cancelled the booking of a delegation traveling for the Leprosy Forum on the grounds that it included ‘lepers’!
Several years ago a preacher moved to Houston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.
As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, you better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it. Then he thought, ‘Oh, forget it, it’s only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount Anyway the bus company already gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a gift from God and keep quiet.’
When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, ‘Here, you gave me too much change.’
The driver with a smile, replied, ‘Aren’t you the new preacher in town I have been thinking lately about going to worship somewhere. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change!’
When the preacher stepped off the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, and held on, and said, O God, I almost sold you for a quarter!
A song I love goes like this:
Take a look at yourself, the life you are leading
Don’t you know somebody’s watching you
It may be your friend, It might be your neighbour
So be careful of the things you say and do.
Your life’s the only Bible some people read
That’s why you must be careful of the things that you do
So take a look at yourself, the life you are living
You are the only Bible some people read!
You can take the Bible from the above words and put in any religious book precious to you; it may be the Gita, the Koran or any of the scriptures whose pages are holy with religious thought, but there’s really no use telling your friends about those pages, or thinking your religion is better than someone else’s if your life doesn’t show such.
It’s very often a quarter in the form of a leprosy patient or HIV afflicted that makes others realize you are different..!
———————————–
Would love to hear from you in the COMMENTS section below…and IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE BOB’S BANTER EVERYDAY, PLEASE SEND YOUR NAME AND WHATSAPP PHONE NO TO [email protected]
————————————————–
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Awesome.
Do our behavioural patterns change when we are being watched? Yes, of course they do. The Hawthorne effect, when practised will make our world a safer and a better place to live in.
The Bible says,’Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’ If we’re stumbling blocks, it says that it’d be better for grinding stones to be tied to the neck and we be drowned.