The Young Man: When God calls on us

Pastor John Ulrich

Van Orsdel United Methodist Church

This story came across my desk some time ago, unfortunately, without an author’s name on the story to give credit.

We need to live with good intention and to listen hard in order to be fully aware of opportunities.

God calls us when we least expect to hear from Him. 

The Young Man

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. 

“Your son is here,” she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened. 

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young man in the Marine Corps uniform standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand.  The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man’s limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement. The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit alongside the bed. Nights are long in hospitals but all through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength.  Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest a while. 

He refused. 

Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital — the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.  Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. 

The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son’s hand all through the night. 

About dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse.  While she did what she had to do, he waited. Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her. 

“That’s not necessary” he said. Then he asked, “Who was that man?” 

The nurse was startled, “He was your father” she answered. 

“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.” 

She replied startled, “Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?” 

He quietly answered, “I knew right away that there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. Then I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, and I knew how much he needed me.  So I stayed.”

Moral of the story:  the next time God gives you an opportunity, grab it — make a difference. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these. Jesus calls us to show compassion.

When God knocks on a door, answer! This may be your one chance to take a step toward improving the world in which we live.

  “Ask and it will be given you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you” Matthew 7:7.