Different? or the same?
What are our ambitions, our goals in life? What are our
attitudes toward work and leisure and money? Are they different than the world,
or are they all too similar? What sets us apart from the masses around us who
have no true hope? Is it enough that we believe differently without living
differently?
I have a recurring "nightmare" that goes like this: in the
counsels of heaven a new angel is assigned to my case, but in route he somehow
loses my address. He checks the telephone directory only to find five fellows
with the same name. So he thinks to himself, "I won't bother going back to
headquarters, because it'll be no trouble finding the right George Booker. I'll
just watch all five of these fellows for a day or so, and I'll be able to spot
the 'Christadelphian' right away."
But it is not that easy That day, and the next, the "real"
George Booker does nothing to distinguish himself from the others. He kicks the
dog, yells at the wife, and skips the mid-week Bible class, and even neglects
his Bible readings and his prayers.
The poor bewildered angel has to wait ALL WEEK, until Sunday
morning, when two George Bookers sleep in, one mows the lawn, another goes to
early mass with his golf clubs in the back seat, and -- finally! -- the fifth
one heads for the ecclesial hall. "Aha! There's the right one!"
But just suppose I hadn't even bothered to go to meeting that
week. Would my guardian angel have EVER found me?
