Wise Men Still Follow Signs.

Wise Men still follow signs.

In the time before the birth of Christ, Magi from afar, saw the signs in the skies and followed a start. These Magi were men whose job it was to be learned men, men of wisdom knowledge; wise men to advise kings and leaders. These men were the Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffet’s of their time. They were very smart fellows.

My father had been an educator for most of my life. First as a teacher, then as an administrator and Superintendent of schools. When he retired from the school business, he entered the ministry. As a local minister, he’s part of a group of them who meet regularly to share and support one another.

He tells the story of one of his colleagues, that was getting a tank of gas at the local station. One of those stations that you have to swipe your credit card. If you don’t have a credit card, you have to go in and pre-pay with cash. The man looked across the pumps while he was waiting on his tank to fill and there he saw a mini-van. You know, that soccer-mom type of mini-van. Inside, he could see that there were four kids. All stair stepped in ages, probably from a young teen down to one just getting into school.

He watched as a woman came out from the station and started to pump gasoline. But, it wasn’t long before the pump clicked off, as she’d reached the end of the cash she’d taken inside. Slowly, the woman started to sink down against the pole next to the pump until she was squatted down on the ground, one hand on her head, the other clenched, a look of anguish on her brow.

Crossing between the pumps, the man approached the woman and knelt down, “Is there something wrong?” he asked her. The woman told him that her husband wasn’t in the picture anymore, she didn’t know where he was. She had lost her job when the economy had gone bad and she hadn’t been able to get another one to support her children. She was on her way to Wichita, Kansas, where her parents were. There, at least her children would have a warm place to sleep, food to eat, and there would be love to surround them with.

She had put her last five dollars in the tank, and all she had left was a few coins in her hand. If you know anything about the map, five dollars worth of gas won’t get you from Kansas City, Missouri to Wichita, Kansas.

Without hesitation, the man reached over and swiped his credit card and filled her gas tank with gasoline. He reached into his pocket and took a twenty dollar bill from his money clip and pushed it into her hand with the coins. “Take your children down to the McDonalds and make sure they get some food,” he told her as he smiled.

Looking up at him, she asked, “Did God send you?”

For those who aren’t followers of Christ, the moral to the story is: When you’re in the Right Place, at the Right Time, do the Right Thing.

For those who do follow Christ, the thing to remember is that Wise Men still follow signs. Sometimes, those signs are as everyday, as normal as our gas gauge dipping down towards Empty.