The Greatest Love

A teacher asked her class, “If there are 20 sheep in the pasture and two of them leave, how many are left?” One boy’s answer intrigued her. “None,” he replied. “How can that be? You don’t know your Math,” The teacher said. “You don’t know sheep,” the boy replied.

The story is told of a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt.: “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That’s ridiculous!”

One snowy Eve, while his wife and children were at church, the winds grew strong and the snow turned into a blinding blizzard. As he sat before the fire, he heard a loud thump. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. They were lost and stranded in his field.

He opened his barn door, but the geese just fluttered around in the field. He tried to get them to follow him to the barn, but to no avail. “If only I were a goose, then I could save them,” he said out loud.

Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese and carried it around behind the flock of wild geese. Then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn, and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety.

Now his earlier words came back to him: “Why would God want to be like us? That’s ridiculous!” Suddenly it all made sense. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us.

He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: “Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!” (Author Unknown)

We seem to get the message of the story, but look closely at our lives. The FAITH of our grandparents was passed to our parents who now have gone to their reward. Their example is here for us to follow. Where are we Sunday morning?

The BEST we have to pass on to our children will be passed on to their children even after we are gone. We love our children. But there is only one LOVE I know of that is up to the task of saving us all.

“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Ken Rolheiser
Guest Columnist