About ten years ago, a young and very successful executive named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his sleek, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down, just a little, when he thought he saw something.

As his car passed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed out and WHUMP!– it smashed into the Jag’s black side door! SCREECH…!!! Brakes slammed! Gears ground into reverse, and tires madly spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a parked car.

He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?” Building up a head of steam, he went on. “That’s my new Jag. That brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it?” “Please, mister, please… I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else to do!” Pleaded the youngster, ” I threw the brick because no one else would stop!” Tears were dripping down the boy’s chin as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother, mister,” he said. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the young Executive tried desperately to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long walk back to the sleek, black, shining, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE – a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his
Jaguar. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention.

Some bricks are softer than others. Be prepared for the bricks life may throw at you.

P – Predictors – they help mould our future
R - Reminders – we are not self sufficient
O – Opportunities – they pull us out of our rut and cause us to think creatively
B – Blessings- they open doors we don’t usually go through
L - Lessons – each new challenge will be our teacher
E – everywhere – no place or person is excluded from them
M – Messages – they warn us about potential disaster
S – Solvable – no problem is without a solution

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room was filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might.

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s mind. “You have been pushing this rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to movie it.” Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. Over time, these thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man – “why kill myself over this?” he thought. ‘I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough.”

And that he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. “Lord,” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged this rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?!”

The Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to
push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewed and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”

At times when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him…. . By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but remember it is still God who moves the mountains.