The Good Samaritan

            This was from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, September 19, 1994:

           

A middle-aged man, diseased with Parkinson’s Syndrome, was driving along a two-line highway one afternoon in southern Michigan. He passed by a group of college students, who stood sadly and silently by their car.

The hood of the car was up and it was in trouble. The older man stopped his car, did a U-turn, and went back to help. He pulled out some jumper cables and, in spite of his best efforts, he couldn’t fix the car—so he gave two of the students a ride back to campus.

I don’t know how long all of this took—maybe an hour or two. I know many of us wouldn’t have stopped; even if we knew that it was 100% safe. We would not have stopped because of the inconvenience. We don’t have time today for inconvenience. We don’t have time to serve.

This man didn’t either. At one time he was the most famous man in the world. But that day, Muhammad Ali, driving in his Rolls Royce, took time out of his globe-hopping schedule to help some college students.

He did not drive on by and call on his cell phone to send someone else. He came himself.

Our God didn’t phone for help either. He came to this world himself—and He served.