Story Time

Everybody likes a story. I hear it soo often from my children ... "Mom, please tell me a story!" I remember asking my mom or dad for a story very frequently, and the best ones were always the real-life ones from years ago.


Tonight I have a story to tell. It's kind of a long one, but I never get tired of it. So, go get your cup of tea or your soft, fuzzy blanket and settle in for a good story. Yes, I'll wait to start til you get back. And yes, you can sit right here beside me. No, you can't lay across the back of the couch ... oh, sorry, you're not my kiddoes. =)


Once upon a time about 17 or some odd years ago, there lived a very wealthy man in central Texas. He was a highly skilled veterinarian surgeon, and there was nothing he wished for that he did not have. Gorgeous mansion, private pool, 3rd floor weight room, late model cars, his own boat. Perfect family; lovely wife, 2 boys, 2 girls. But something was missing. Life lacked real meaning. He became more and more desperate for reality. Until, one day, he found Jesus. That in itself is a story for another day.


When William found Jesus, it was not a sweet little nursery-rhyme prayer that he mumbled while raising his hand at a meeting. It was a life-shattering event that changed everything. He would read God's Word and it was real. When he read about the rich young ruler, his heart was convicted. And when he understood about living simply and giving to the poor, he knew what he had to do. Often he pleaded with his family to just sell everything and live in a simple cottage, giving the extra to those in need. Mrs. William was horrified, and thought he had lost his marbles. There was no way she was going to give up her dream home and her high-faluting life-style. So William tried to think of a way to be more humble & simple. He began to sell the expensive cars, and to give up the costly weight-room equipment. Mrs. William had had enough. She filed a restraining order against her husband, and later, a divorce.


Poor William was so distraught. Daily he sought the Lord as to what to do. Finally he took a drastic step and decided to walk away. To walk the highways and the byways, sharing the love of Jesus. To become homeless and to identify with the least of these. He lost his life of ease, and became known as "Pilgrim Bill". And that is what he had been doing for years when I met him. Ragged-looking, trampy, & just a little scary. Not the kind of guy you'd want to get too close to. But his testimony of love for Jesus outshone everything else, and my dad brought William home from the side of the road to stay with us for a night. That night turned into 3 months, and later, 6 months, and our lives have been intertwined for years ever since. Again, that is a whole 'nother story, for another time.


As anyone can imagine, William had more stories to tell than we had ever heard before. He could keep an audience of any age-range completely and totally captivated for hours on end. Not only was his life before leaving Texas extremely incredible, his experiences while walking the roads could have filled literal books. And it's one of those stories I  wanted to share tonight. Yes, finally, we got all the preliminaries done, we've set the stage, and we can proceed. =)


One winter Pilgrim Bill was walking through Colorado. It was bitterly cold, and there was snow in the forecast. Bill spotted a hunter's cabin a little ways into the woods, and was delighted to discover that it was empty and would offer him some shelter during the storm. For the next several days he holed up in the cabin, spending amazing amounts of hours curled up in his 40-below-zero-rated sleeping bag reading his Bible and communing with his Savior in ways that leave me ashamed. Stopping every once in a while to fix himself a fresher mug of coffee, and peer out at the storm. Finally after 3 days the sun came out, and although it was cold, Bill felt prompted to head on out and start walking.


He had only gone about a hundred yards when he heard what sounded like a threshing machine clanking and banging up behind him. An enormous boat of a car pulled up to a stop, and the man in the drivers seat was the hugest human Bill had ever laid eyes on. He was covered in hair .... hair everywhere. Bill glanced to the heavens and said, "Lord? .... really??" "Yes, Bill," God replied.
So Bill leaned over to the window where he saw the trashiest dumpster-car he had ever seen.  A booming low voice growled, "Hello, there. My name's Grizzly, and I'm willin' ta give ya a ride if ya want." So Bill shoved and heaved his backpack into the back seat on top of a week's worth of McDonald's wrappers and baked bean cans and soda bottles and they were off. Bill soon learned that Grizzly had just been released from serving time at the Wyoming State Penitentiary for killing two police officers  and was on his way home to Corpus Christi, Texas.


Bill's heart trembled and he breathed a prayer for God to receive his spirit. He felt sure he'd be next on Grizzly's hit list when he began to speak of the things of God. But as he had done with hundreds and thousands before, Bill began to share with Grizzly the ways of Jesus and the true meaning of life in Christ. It turned out that Grizzly was very well versed .... he had availed himself of many an educational program during his years on the inside, and he knew every argument inside and out. He had no use for religion, nor for the feeble men who use it as a crutch. He made sure Bill knew exactly how disgusted he was with God and how much he did not believe in the reality that Bill was trying to share. Finally after 30 minutes or more of airing his disapproval and disgust, there was a pause and Bill turned to Grizzly and said, "You don't really believe all of that though, do you Grizzly?" Grizzly drooped a little and admitted that no, he didn't really know what he believed. Bill silently asked the Lord how to reach his heart; how to make a difference right here and now. "Ask him if he ever came close to dying", whispered God into Bill's heart. So Bill did. Grizzly nodded his massive head and agreed that there had been many-a-time when he thought it would be his last day. But, he said, one case in particular stood out to him. Bill invited him to share the story, and Grizzly did.


In his earlier days, Grizzly had been a trucker. One day he was trucking along with a D9 Cat on his trailer ... an enormous, over-weight load. He was coming down the mountains out in the Rockies; switchback after switchback, with a high cliff on one side and a sheer drop-off down the other. All of a sudden he rounded a hairpin curve to see a school bus, turned over on it's side, completely across both lanes. Little school children were spilling out of every door, and climbing out of broken windows. Grizzly had a split-second decision to make. Should he hit that bus, surely killing many little ones, or take the rig over the cliff, plunging 100 feet to his own death? He took the cliff. He fell for a long, long time. When he hit the bottom he found himself trapped under a semi truck, the trailer, and that D9. But he was alive! The little pet raccoon he kept with him in the cab for company was not trapped, and was running around the cab frantically searching for a way out. Some hours later Grizzly was rescued and he spent many weeks recovering in the hospital. He told Bill of the many parents who would bring their children by the hospital, words failing them to express their profound gratefulness for how he spared their children. And how the teacher brought her class into his hospital room to say their thank-yous and show him how much they appreciated his sacrifice. And of the humongous, enormous card that he received, with signatures of each child, and how much it meant to them what he had done. "Yeah", Grizzly commented with a tear on his face and a quiver in his voice, "I reckon that was the most special thing I've ever received."


There was silence in the old beater car for a few moments, and then Bill spoke up, "What do you think you would have felt, Grizzly, if none of those kids or their parents had ever came and thanked you for what you did that day? What if they didn't even care?"


"Well", said Grizzly, "I suppose I woulda been real sad. Yeah, terrible sad. Probably even woulda been mad!"


"Think about it then, Grizzly," Bill continued, " Jesus took the cliff for you! He saw that you were dying, and he took the death. He took it for you and you haven't even thanked him. You don't even acknowledge what He did for you, and you don't even care."


Grizzly's eyes stare hard at Bill. "I guess I never thought about  it like that, Bill. No, I never did. Boy, that's just terrible. You reckon He'd still have me? Ya think He can forgive me?" And Bill sat beside old Grizzly while tears fell down his face and for the first time he thanked Jesus for taking the cliff for him.


What a whooping and a hollering commenced to pour forth out of the old car as they continued on down the road. But suddenly Grizzly noticed that the little red needle was really pert-near droppin out of sight. So they rolled in to the nearest police station. Grizzly asked Bill to keep his foot on the gas pedal of Ol' Betsy lest she should quit running, and heaved himself into the police station. Soon he returned to the car with a handful of voutures for gas and food. They rolled into the gas station & fueled up. Bill could not believe his eyes, and finally asked Grizzly how in the world he managed to get free gas & food like that. Grizzly replied, "Well, I just go in there and tell the officers that my name is Grizzly, and I just got released from doing time in  the Wyoming State Penitentiary for killing two police officers. I am on my way home to Corpus Christi, Texas, and unless you'd like for me to settle here in your town, would you consider givin me some food and gas voutures? And they give em to me every time".


It was many miles later that Bill climbed out of Grizzly's car, and hugged his new brother good-bye. I don't think they ever saw each other again on this earth,  but I know, that when I get to heaven, I want to sit down and hear the story again, first from Jesus' perspective, and then from Bill's, and then from  Grizzly's.


After all, we all love a good story.


Disclaimer: I am telling this story completely from memory, and it has been many years since I heard it from Bill. Forgive me if some of my details are wrong.