Grace
Illustrations
When Billy Graham was driving through a small southern
town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding.
Graham admitted his guilt, but was told by the officer that he
would have to appear in court.
The
judge asked, "Guilty, or not guilty?" When Graham
pleaded guilty, the judge replied, "That'll be ten dollars --
a dollar for every mile you went over the limit."
Suddenly
the judge recognized the famous minister. "You have violated
the law," he said. "The fine must be paid--but I am
going to pay it for you." He took a ten dollar bill from his
own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out
and bought him a steak dinner! "That," said Billy
Graham, "is how God treats repentant sinners!"
A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who, when he was
mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great
Depression and all of WWII, was called by adoring New Yorkers 'the
Little Flower' because he was only five foot four and always wore
a carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to
ride the New York City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the
police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and
whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on
the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids. One bitterly
cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night
court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia
dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench
himself.
Within
a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him,
charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her
daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and
her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom
the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. "It's a
real bad neighborhood, your Honor." the man told the mayor.
"She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a
lesson." LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said
"I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions--ten
dollars or ten days in jail." But even as he pronounced
sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He
extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying:
"Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and
furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty
cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so
that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and
give them to the defendant." So the following day the New
York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a
bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her
starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being
contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some
seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New
York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for
the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.
Years ago, my father coached a team of eight-year-olds. He
had a few excellent players, and some who just couldn't get the
hang of the game. Dad's team didn't win once all season. But in
the last inning of the last game, his team was only down by a run.
There was one boy who had never been able to hit the ball--or
catch it. With two outs, it was his turn to bat. He surprised the
world and got a single!
The
next batter was the team slugger. Finally, Dad's players might win
a game. The slugger connected, and as the boy who hit the single
ran to second, he saw the ball coming toward him. Not so certain
of baseball's rules, he caught it. Final out! Dad's team lost!
Quickly, my father told his team to cheer. The boy beamed. It
never occurred to him that he lost the game. All he knew was he
had hit the ball and caught it--both for the first time. His
parents later thanked my dad. Their child had never even gotten in
a game before that season.
We
never told the boy exactly what happened. We didn't want to ruin
it for him. And till this day, I'm proud of what my father did
that afternoon.
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