The Parable of the Good Samaritan by Jan Wijnants (1670) shows the Good Samaritan tending the injured man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I heard a story years ago that you might enjoy today; it is really quite instructive. It seems that there was a man who was late for work.  He lived in a big city and had missed his bus, so he was walking (running really) to the office and taking every shortcut he knew to get there as quickly as possible.  At one point, he ducked down a back alley and as he rushed along he came upon a man who was lying there obviously injured.

Glancing at the man as he went by, our tardy friend noticed that he had been badly beaten sometime during the night…

Arriving at work, our friend managed to get into his office before the boss had noticed that he was late.  Relieved, he remembered the man in the alley and whispered a quick prayer for him, asking God to send him some help.  In his mind was the small but unmistakable realization that God had already sent help for he heard a little voice saying, “I sent you!”

“Go and do likewise” was the command that Jesus had given in Luke 10:37 at the conclusion of the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and our tardy friend had been so caught up in his little disaster of being late that he had entirely overlooked the fact that he was there, for it is so easy for us to be caught up in the cares and hassles of our everyday lives that we don’t even consider what God is trying to do in our lives.