The Boy, The Politician, The Help and The Miracle.

In the late 1800s a distinguished member of the British Parliament was traveling to Scotland to give a speech. On his way the carriage that was carrying him became bogged down and stuck on the thick muddy road. A young Scottish farm boy came along with a team of horses and pulled the Parliament member out of the mud. The man insisted on paying the young boy, but he refused to accept payment. He said ‘he was just being a good neighbor, and neighbors help each other.

The English lawmaker was impressed with the young man’s attitude and kindness. ‘Are you sure I can’t pay you?’ said the lawmaker. ‘No sir, it’s a privilege just to help someone as important as yourself.’ the boy replied.
‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ asked the man. ‘I’d like to be a doctor, but I don’t think that will happen because my family doesn’t have the finances for such an education.’ ‘Then I will help you become a doctor,’ said the politician.

As the years went by, the Member of Parliament kept his promise. About fifteen years later, another famous English statesman was lying close to death with pneumonia. It was Winston Churchill.  He had become deathly ill while attending a wartime conference and England desperately needed his leadership, because Hitler was threatening to destroy England. Churchill miraculously recovered, because his doctor gave him an injection of a new wonder drug called penicillin.  Penicillin had just been discovered by a brilliant doctor named Alexander Fleming.  Alexander Fleming was the young boy who pulled the stuck carriage from the mud. And the man who made him the promise to help send him to medical school was Winston Churchill’s father, Sir Randolph Churchill. This politician saw something in the face of that young boy that others may have never seen. He saw desire, purpose, and potential. And his commitment to helping the young boy fulfill his desire ended up saving the life of his own son nearly a half century later. And in saving the life of Winston Churchill, it looks like for sure, that he may have saved all of England.

Let’s all do our best to listen, watch, and befriend. There just may be an opportunity to invest in the life of some young boy or girl that may end up saving our own family.

It’s a privilege to serve you
Pastor Lloyd