There once was a poor man who had grown weary of all the corruption and hatred he saw around him.  He was tired to death of the repeated injustices he and his people experienced.  And he dreamed incessantly.  He dreamed of a perfect city where heaven touched the earth—a place free of discord where justice would be honored, peace experienced, and life would be both full and rewarding.  One day he could stand it no longer.  He left his family and friends and set off in search of the heavenly city of his dreams where all things would be new and different.

He walked all day, and just before sunset he found a place to sleep just off the road, in a forest.  He ate a meager meal from his backpack and said his prayers.  Then, just before he went to sleep, he took his shoes and placed them carefully in the center of the path, pointing them in the direction toward which he was going.

 

That night, as he slept, a sly fellow walked that very path and saw the traveler’s shoes.  Unable to resist a practical joke, he turned the shoes around to point back in the direction the man had come from.  Early the next morning, the traveler rose, ate the last of his food, and carefully stepped into his shoes to continue his journey.  He walked all day long, and just before sunset, he saw the heavenly city off in the distance.  It wasn’t quite as large as he imagined it would be.  In fact, it looked strangely familiar.  He found and entered a street that looked much like his own, knocked on a familiar door, and greeted the familiar family he found there.  And he lived happily ever after in the heavenly city of his dreams. ¹

Some years ago, a group of computer salesmen from Milwaukee went to a regional sales convention in Chicago.  They assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for dinner.  But with one thing and another, the meeting ran overtime, so the men had to race to the train station, tickets in hand.  As they barraged through the terminal, one man (the one telling this story) inadvertently kicked over a table supporting a basket of apples.  Without stopping, they all reached their train and boarded it with a sigh of relief.  All but one.  He paused, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compunction for the boy whose applestand he had overturned.  So he waved goodbye to his companions and returned to the terminal.  He was glad he did, for the ten-year-old boy was blind.

The salesman gathered up the apples and noticed that several of them were bruised.  He reached into his wallet and said to the boy, “Here, please take this ten dollars for the damage we did.  I hope it didn’t spoil your day.”

As he started to walk away, the bewildered boy called out, “Are you Jesus?”

The man stopped in his tracks.  And he wondered. ²