In my prayers this morning, I was moved to give thanks for John. He's one of my fellow drivers; let me tell you something about him. He's just a little younger than me, born and bred in the northern suburbs of London. He started work as an apprentice motor car engineer, and is often called upon by the rest of us to explain what's going on under our bonnets! He's been working as a courier for many years now, and takes a great interest in the people around him, sometimes to the point of annoyance, as he interrogates departing drivers to know where they're going. Often it's somewhere he's been to himself, and he's anxious to offer helpful advice on such aspects as where to park, which door to use, etc.
John is married to Dorothy, a health service worker, and is devoted to her, to their two sons, and their wider family. There's nothing he wouldn't do for them, wouldn't provide for them if it's within his power - even though the sons are both well-established in their own right, and earning far more than he is! In idle moments he often regales us with stories of what they've been doing, or reminiscences of family holidays, etc.
Yesterday John did a job for one of our customers who is a major bread distributor. The assignment was to correct a delivery error to a retailer in Oxford, replacing seven trays of unrequired loaves with seven trays of the right type. Owing to a quirk of economics, our customer determined that the value of the misdelivered bread was less than the additional charge for returning it to the depot. Consequently, John was told that they didn't want the bread brought back to them, "You can either have it yourself, or leave it where it is!" With innate co-operation, John took the unwanted bread away from the retailer, who obviously didn't want it, now that he had what he'd ordered in the first place. Having set off homeward with seventy loaves of bread, he began to wonder what he should do with them.
After calling in to his home, where he left just a few loaves for his and Dorothy's use, John decided to bring the rest to the office where they could be shared among his friends and colleagues. As the trays were brought past me, John invited me personally to help myself. I explained that I had need of only one small loaf at a time, since a larger one would go mouldy before I could use it all. I only have a small freezer and that is virtually full with a variety of other things. Once the trays were on the office floor, and the situation outlined, willing and greedy hands descended upon the loaves to bring relief to John's problem. Out of nowhere, it seemed, supermarket carriers had appeared and large piles of bread were being accumulated on desks, behind chairs, anywhere where their new ownership could be established and maintained.
Now John is not a practising Christian, but when he saw with dismay and anger the greed that some of the staff exhibited, he was distressed and turned to me, "Can't you do something?" he stammered, "Doesn't the Church know of some poor people who might need bread? Anyone but these greedy so-and-sos. I wish I'd never brought it in if they're going to grab it all like that!" I confess that, when the situation had first begun to unfold, a similar thought had flitted into my mind, but I'd let it flit out again with equal rapidity. Only now, in the face of John's angst, did my conscience gain the upper hand, and after a quick phone call to the vicar, I was able to load the remaining two trays into my van and take them directly round to the vicarage. By now they will be in the hands (or freezers) of needy parishioners.
As I reflected on yesterday's events in the cold light of this morning, I am shameful that, without John's prompting, Greed and Selfish Desire could have been allowed to triumph once more. Why didn't I pay immediate attention to that worthy thought that I'd so quickly rejected as 'not my business', or 'too much trouble'? What is it they say, "For evil to triumph it only needs good people to do nothing?" As I give thanks today, on behalf of whoever has received one or more of those twenty loaves, for John and his generous anger, I put to you the important question, "Is there a John in your life, who may not share your beliefs, but who might be the trigger for the active expression of yours?"
No comments:
Post a Comment