Something I think about

I used to be a church youth director and I have been a leader at church camps every summer for the past five years or so.  There is one story that I think about all the time and enjoy telling.  It is a proverb from some where in the orient....I think maybe Ancient China?

     I man dies.  He goes up to heaven and once he arrives he is placed with a tour guide.  He is shown a city that is beyond any he had ever imagined.  There are colors that he didn't recognize, buildings that one could look at and marvel over for days and not be bored, the streets were incredible, the sky was that perfect mix of blue sky, yellow sun. and white cloud, and the temperature could not have been better. The tour went on for what felt like hours and each thing he saw was more amazing than what he had already seen.
     Then, he noticed something that looked very out of place.  It was a building that was no more exciting than a common storage shed.  The man was a little confused.  Everything he had seen so far had nearly been more than he could handle for all of its beauty. Honestly, he had spent most of his time during the tour with watery eyes that couldn't believe what they were seeing.  But now there was this shed.  He tried to move on, he WANTED to move on, but he was compelled to know more.  So after a brief internal battle, he gave in to this thirst for understanding.  He stopped the tour guide and politely asked "Excuse me sir, this has been absolutely amazing, but...I can't help but wonder what the deal is with that building over there....I mean, its just...so...plain..."  The tour guide looked at him for a moment before straighten up a bit and then said "Well, I don't know if words can really explain what's in that room...Come on, I'll show you." 
     They made their down the gravel path that lead up to the building.  The man found that whole thing to be completely out of place.  There were no shrubs, the grass was faded somewhere between green and yellow.  The building looked similar to an airplane hanger.  Once they had walking inside, the man saw that the room was full to the top with shelves and everything was a deep shade of red.  Upon closer inspection, the man was shocked to see what appeared to be mushrooms with tags on the shelves and as he stood there more would appear on the shelves.  The man looked back at the tour guide who motioned for the man to move forward.  He did so and saw that those were not mushrooms, but rather they were human ears! He was shocked!  He stood there for a while just trying to understand when the tour guide came up beside him.  "In life" the tour guide began, "people will go to there respective houses of worship and sit and listen to the story and listen to what the people around them are say; but when they leave, they never act on anything they have heard. So, when they die, their ears come to heaven while their bodies go somewhere else..."

Powered by ScribeFire.