A Brother Like That
A friend of mine named Paul received
an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas
Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking
around the shiny new car, admiring it. "Is this your car,
Mister?" he asked.
Paul nodded. "My brother gave
it to me for Christmas."
The boy was astounded. "Boy, I wish ..." He hesitated.
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going
to wish he had a brother like that. But what the
lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.
"I wish," the boy went on, "that
I could be a brother like that."
Paul was astonished. He asked
the boy, "Would you like a ride?"
After a short ride, the boy turned
and his eyes aglow, said, "Will you stop where those two steps are?"
He ran up the steps. Then in a
little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast.
He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom
step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to
the car.
"There she is, Buddy, just like
I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and
it didn't cost him a cent. And someday I'm gonna give you one just like
it
... then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the
Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about."
Paul got out and lifted the lad
to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed
in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.
That Christmas Eve, Paul learned
what Jesus meant when He had said:
"It is more blessed to give..."
By Dan Clark
from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul
Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Patty
Hansen