“Who needs Danny? He’s such a loser.” Roger replied to Steven when the topic of Danny was raised.
“That’s a pretty harsh thing to say about your brother.” Steven responded.
Roger knew it was harsh. He thought back to when he and Danny were kids.
Danny, older by a year and a half, was always the guy who could “fix anything”. Oh, how mom and dad bragged about Danny when he fixed the washing machine or the lawnmower or unclogged a drain in the kitchen.Roger tried to learn what Danny did at first, but it failed.
Roger Finds His Spiritual Gift
Finally, Roger found his gift in high school, and like his own dad, it was the gift of gab. He won competition after competition in speech, debate, and other forms of speech giving. He seemed to have a natural ability to talk with people, give speeches, or just get people to see things his way or rally around his cause. He continued on to build a very successful auto mechanic business around his skills using it as a sales career.
In spite of their success, the brothers grew apart due to their dislike of each other. Danny never understood the value of talking, and Roger thought tinkering with machines, pipes, and wires was geeky. Although they fought about it endlessly until Danny moved out, they were always tense during the holidays until they visited Grandma.
At Grandma’s house, everything slowed down because she saw them as her sweet babies. It was as if they were still children when they visited her, always eager to play and sweet as a child.
As Steven left Roger in his office thinking about his brother, he wondered whether there would ever be a way to make things work between them. He didn’t realize that Danny was thinking the same thing in his garage while working on a car.
The ringing of the phone interrupted Roger’s thoughts. He answered it. The sound of urgency in his voice made him shiver.
‘Roger, the floods have hit Pilger.’ Steven told him, noting that Pilger was not far from the city where his father grew up. “There is rising water and people are stranded on their second floors. The Red Cross is rushing in to help.
At the beginning, Roger wasn’t alarmed, but after recalling that Grandma lived in Pilger, he picked up the phone and rang her, but she didn’t answer. He knew she lived alone in that big house and probably couldn’t get to the phone. It was too much for him to bear to think of her facing that terror alone.
As a result, Roger moved almost instinctively toward the town of Pilger. Using his vast network of contacts at church, work, clubs, and business, he organized a rescue mission for the town. Roger gathered an army of men and machinery in the church parking lot within hours, ready to invade Pilger and save its people.
As he spoke through the bullhorn, he addressed the crowd. “Folks,” he said, “let’s pray that God helps them until we get there. My grandma is there and you all have relatives there.
There is another area in which we should pray, Steve shouted. The boats are broken in a lot of places. We need mechanical help, or we won’t get down there. We need someone who can fix everything.” It was as if God was telling Roger, “Get Danny.” He didn’t have time to wallow in self-pity or resentment towards Danny. His brother’s number was on his cell phone, so he picked it up.
The only thing he had to do was tell Danny, “Danny, it’s Roger. Grandma is in danger. Get down here.” And he knew Danny would fly there right away. The machines were working fine in no time at all when Danny came over with his tools and workers.
Together, the brothers loaded the boats and together they reached Pilger, rescuing every citizen. Both of them suddenly realized why they were so different as they sat on the boat headed to Grandma’s house. It couldn’t have been easy for Danny to get such a huge response and organize the rescue so beautifully. Roger knew that Danny’s ability to fix things made all the difference.
Grandma hugged and kissed both of them when they got aboard the boat, and she then said what both of them thought. “God has given each of you boys a wonderful spiritual gift. As a team, you are a powerful tool for him.” They knew this was correct because God blesses the church that way. God can use each of us to do what God has for us to do by giving us unique and wonderful gifts. We are incomplete individually, but together we can work as powerful tools for His glory.
Conclusion
We all have spiritual gifts but sometimes it takes someone other than ourselves to recognize them. Ask someone you know what gift you have.
I hope you enjoyed this Christian story for kids from Making Christ Known and will come again to read others. It sure opened my eyes about kindness. Thank you so much for visiting and God Bless! – Bob