A young man was getting ready to graduate from
college. For many months he
had admired a beautiful
sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his
father could well afford
it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited
signs that his father
had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of
his graduation, his
father called him into his private study. His
father told him how proud he
was to have such a fine son, and told him how much
he loved him. He handed
his
son a beautiful wrapped gift box.
Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man
opened the box and found
a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's
name embossed in gold.
Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and
said, "With all your money
you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house,
leaving the Bible.
Many years passed and the young man was very
successful in business. He had
a beautiful home and
wonderful family, but realized his father was very
old, and thought perhaps
he should go to him. He had not seen him since that
graduation day. Before
he could make arrangements, he received a telegram
telling him his father
had passed away, and willed all of his possessions
to his son. He needed to
come home immediately and take care of things.
When he arrived at his father's house, sudden
sadness and regret filled his
heart. He began to search through his father's
important papers and saw the
still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.
With tears! , he opened
the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father
had carefully underlined
a verse, Matt 7:11:
"And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how
much more shall your Heavenly father which is in
heaven, give to those who
ask Him?"
As he read those words, a car key dropped from the
back of the Bible. It
had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer
who had the sports car he
had desired. On the tag was the date of his
graduation, and the
words...PAID IN FULL.
How many times do we miss God's blessings
because they are not
packaged as we expected?