A young and successful executive is driving a bit too fast down a neighbourhood street. He watches for kids darting out from between parked cars and slows down when he thinks he sees something. As his car passes no children appear. Instead a brick smashes into his side door! He slams on the brakes and drives back to the spot where the brick was thrown.
The angry driver jumps out of the car, grabs the nearest kid and pushes him up against a parked car shouting, “What was that all about? Just what do you think you are doing? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost me a lot of money. Why did you do it?”
The young boy is apologetic. “Please, Mister. Please, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. I threw the brick because no one else would stop.”
With tears dripping down his face, the youth points to a spot just around a parked car. “It’s my brother. He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Now sobbing, the boy asks the stunned executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair. He’s hurt and too heavy for me.”
Moved beyond words, the driver tries to swallow the lump in his throat. He lifts the boy back into the wheelchair. He takes his handkerchief and wipes the fresh scrapes and cuts. Too shook up for words the man simply watches the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother toward home.
It is a long walk back to his new car. The damage is noticeable – but he never repairs it – he keeps the dent to remind him of this message:
Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention. God whispers to our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen he has to throw a brick at us. Listen to the whisper…or wait for the brick.
