The Brick


                                 Author Unknown



               A  young and  successful  executive  was  traveling  down  a
          neighborhood street, going a  bit too fast in his new  Jaguar. He
          was watching  for kids darting  out from between parked  cars and
          slowed down when he thought he saw something.  As his car passed,
          no children  appeared. Instead, a  brick smashed  into the  Jag's
          side door! He  slammed on the brakes  and backed the Jag  back to
          the spot where  the brick had been thrown. The  angry driver then
          jumped out of  the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up
          against a  parked car shouting, "What was  that all about and who
          are you? Just what  the heck are you doing? That's  a new car and
          that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you
          do it?"

               The young boy was apologetic.  "Please, mister...please, I'm
          sorry but  I didn't know what else to  do," He pleaded.  "I threw
          the brick because no one else would stop..."  With tears dripping
          down his  face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just
          around a parked  car. "It's my brother," he said.  "He rolled off
          the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."
          Now sobbing,  the boy  asked the  stunned  executive, "Would  you
          please  help me get him  back into his  wheelchair? He's hurt and
          he's too heavy for me."

               Moved  beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly
          swelling lump in  his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped
          boy back into the wheelchair,  then took out a linen handkerchief
          and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts.  A quick look told  him
          everything was going  to be  okay. "Thank you  and may God  bless
          you," the  grateful child told  the stranger.   Too shook  up for
          words, the man  simply watched the boy  push his wheelchair-bound
          brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

               It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The  damage was
          very  noticeable, but  the driver  never bothered  to  repair the
          dented side door.  He kept the dent  there 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 in our souls
          and speaks to our hearts.   Sometimes when we don't have time  to
          listen, He has to throw a brick at  us. It's our choice to listen
          or not.


                               End Of Document