One
stormy evening, as the rain pours from the sky, a man notices a river of water
flowing down the street from his kitchen window.
He
rushes into his basement, only to realize it’s already filled with two feet of
water.
“Oh
no god, why me?” he mumbles to himself. “Ah,
it’ll be alright. I’ve always been a faithful believer. He’ll save me.”
As
the water continues to rise and reaches the ground floor, his neighbor stops by
in his pick-up truck.
“This
flood is going to get really bad — I highly recommend you get out of your house
now. Want to come with me? I’ll give you a ride!”
“Naaah,
god will save me from this.”
With
a shrug, the neighbor gets into his truck and leaves. But the water continues
to rise and eventually, the man has no choice but to climb on his roof and sit
there.
As
he continues to pray, a boat comes by with three men in it. They have one space
left and so they call out:
“Hey!
We’ve got a spare! Get off your roof, come with us, it’s time to get outta
here!”
“No,
thank you guys. I’m holding out. God will save me!”
With
a puzzled look on their head, they continue to row and their boat floats away.
But the water still rises until at last, the man has nowhere to go but to the
top of his chimney.
With
his arms clenched tightly around his knees, he sits there and prays. Suddenly,
a bright spotlight is turned on him. As he looks around, he sees a rope ladder
being lowered next to him from a helicopter, floating above. From up there, a
voice rings through a megaphone:
“Hold
on to the ladder and we’ll pull you up, we’re a rescue team!”
“No
guys, I know god will save me. I will be okay.”
Reluctantly,
the guy with the megaphone signals the pilot to fly off and soon, the
helicopter is gone. The waves finally swallow the house whole — and the man with it.
He’s
swept away by the flood and drowns. When he realizes he’s arrived in heaven, he
gets angry and yells:
“God!
Why did you let this happen? Why did you let me drown? I believed in you all my
life, with all my heart. Why didn’t you save me when I needed you the most?”
God,
with a stern look on his face, replies:
“I
sent you a pick-up truck, a boat and a helicopter, there’s only so much I can
do. What more did you expect?”
We’re
always holding out for help when in reality, there’s still so much left we can
do ourselves.
We’re
always waiting for the boss to give us a raise, the publisher to give us a book
deal, the fund to give us venture capital.
But
there’s always one more step we can take. One good deed left
undone. One call left unmade. One email left unsent.
In Bruce Almighty,
when Bruce finally admits to God he doesn’t know what to do, God says:
“Parting
a soup is not a miracle, Bruce. It’s a magic trick. A single mom, who’s working
two jobs and still finds time to take her kid to soccer practice, that’s a
miracle. A teenager, who says ‘No’ to drugs and ‘Yes’ to an education, that’s a
miracle.”
“People want me
to do everything for them, when what they don’t realize is — they have the power.”
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