How We PLay the Game

Gladys A. Gale, Ed. D.

gegzie@comcast.net

A PARABLE

David Yates, Terrace First United Methodist Church

Every day the young man would leave the shipyard after work, get on the bus for home and get off at the stop that was four blocks away from his home. As he walked towards his house he would pass the travel agency on the corner of Main and Elm. Inside the window was a large poster of a Cunard Ocean liner and he would imagine himself and his wife on the ship. One day after a long day of work, he stopped and went inside the travel agency. He asked about the trans-continental liner and the agent gladly talked to him about the ship and gave him a colorful travel brochure. Excitedly he slipped the brochure into his lunch pail and went home.

After dinner his wife picked up the lunch pail and was going to clean it out. When she saw the brochure, she closed the lid and put the pail back where she had picked it up. She went into the living room and sat down. After a few minutes she asked her husband where he put the lunch pail so she could clean it out. The husband quickly sprang up and exclaimed he would get it for her. He opened the pail and put the brochure in his pocket, and then he brought the pail to her. You see this was going to be a great surprise for her one day.

The following day after work, the man stopped at the travel agency again and inquired as to the cost for a cruise. The agent spoke of the extravagance and amenities then came the bottom line, the price. Shaken and a bit dazed the man walked out of the agency with his head held a bit lower than when he had first walked in. When he arrived home he didn’t say a word, he just pondered what had happened. It was the weekend and the husband and wife enjoyed all the amenities that a fall weekend could offer.

Several days had passed and as the leaves started to fall, the man still pondered about the cruise that slipped from his grasp. He decided that he would put money aside each month and save for the dream trip of a lifetime for him and his wife. As you can imagine, days turned into weeks and weeks into months, and months into years. First came a child, then another and a third after. A bigger house was needed, bills piled up, college and the dream vacation was long forgotten.

Many years later after the man had retired, one of the children was visiting his parents and needed a wrench to fix the grandson’s bike. While in the garage the son found an old lunch pail and inside was the Cunard travel brochure form forty years ago. The son asked mom if she and dad had taken a cruise. Embarrassed she told the son to put the brochure back, and then she explained how his dad had always wanted to surprise her with a dream cruise.

Later that year, on their anniversary a card arrived in the mail from the children. Inside the card was a pair of tickets for a ten day cruise. The old man’s eyes filled up with tears as he had forgotten all about the vacation of a lifetime that had slipped through his hands.

The cruise was still ten months away but not a day passed that the husband and wife didn’t talk about the up-coming adventure. Then with only four months left in the countdown, tragedy struck as hard as it could, the wife had passed away. Devastated the man was lost, without the woman that had sustained the reason of his existence. The children tried in vain to bring their father out of his depression. They pleaded with him to attend socials, and do things with other seniors. Finally they convinced him to take the cruise that was planned.

The day of the cruise was a hectic day of rushing from one place to the next. First ticketing, then customs, finally boarding the ship. After wandering through the ship for quite a while, the old man found his stateroom. A bottle of Champaign sat on the table next to a big basket of fruit. The old man started to unpack his suitcase, inside was several changes of clothes, extra shoes and a couple dozen cheese sandwiches.

As the other passengers devoured plate after plate of extravagant food the old man sat quietly in his room with his pre-made meals. You see he never experienced such a life style and was not prepared for the over indulgence the ship had to offer. The very thing that others aboard the ship, expected and demanded was nothing the old man could relate to. The old man then realized that God had bestowed the greatest gifts on him and his family and always provided everything he ever needed his entire life.

Every day God gives us so many blessings, the bed we slept in, the shoes on our feet, the clothes on our back, clean running water, food we complain about. Yet so many of God’s children don’t have a bed, shoes, clean water and the food they have is barely enough to sustain life.

Our Tuesday bible study just concluded a book study of Mike Slaughter’s book entitled “Change the World.” in the book the author challenges us to focus less on ourselves and more on the mission of Jesus’ teaching. In the last chapter of the book the author proclaims “Christmas is not your birthday.” This bold proclamation has compelled me to reflect on why I spend money for the things I really don’t need and how to use my resources for the mission of Jesus Christ.

Amen.