WHO'S DRIVING THE OLD RED PICKUP?

Bob was a hard-corps banker. Having been in the banking business for many years and having stashed away a veracious fortune, he had unknowingly grown callous and cold when dealing with people whom he considered his inferiors. Of course to Bob, just about anyone who did not have a large savings account deposited in his bank was decidedly inferior.

On his way to work one extremely cold day, the ice and sleet beating heavily against his windshield, Bob had an experience that changed his morose life forever. Nothing life threatening mind you, his car simply had a flat tire.

Dressed in his very expensive three-piece suit, Bob was not about to get out in the nasty weather and change a flat tire. Besides, that kind of work was for lesser people like those inferiors he seldom noticed scuttling about.

After nearly an hour of waiting for one of the passing cars to stop, Bob was becoming very agitated. His entire life was ruled by the clock and anything that upset that delicate balance was completely unacceptable.

Finally, he noticed an old red beat-up pickup truck pull in behind him and turn on the caution lights. A young, slim, dirty looking young man with a short beard and overly long hair got out and fought his way through the cold sleet and snow and walked up to Bob's window. He politely asked him to open the trunk so he could get to the spare.

Over the next twenty, bitterly cold minutes, the young man struggled and finally changed the flat tire. When he finished he knocked on the window again. Bob instinctively pulled a twenty dollar bill from his bulging wallet and stuck it through the small crack at the top of his window, giving the young man an irritated smile as he did so.

"No thank you sir," the young man stated. "I just wanted to tell you that the spare tire I put on your car is in bad shape and you should have it changed as soon as possible. It could be dangerous."

"I should pay you something," Bob replied, certain the young man wanted more money. Reaching into his wallet and pulling out yet another twenty he asked, "By the way, what is your name?"

"When someone needs a helping hand from you, you can repay me by helping them," the young man replied as he left with a smile. "That way we all benefit. People in these parts call me Jay."

For some reason Bob could not forget the smiling face of the young man. There was something about him that was different, something warm and gentle and...well, just hard to explain.

The previous afternoon Bob had told his secretary to disapprove a mortgage loan for a young couple. There was nothing wrong with their credit, they both had good jobs, both appeared reliable, but they were simply a borderline risk and Bob never took a risk for anyone.

Remembering the words and deeds of the young man, Bob had guilty second thoughts on the loan and told his secretary to call the young couple and tell them their mortgage was approved. He immediately felt better. In fact, he felt wonderful.

Over the next ten months or so, Bob became a changed man. Instead of going out of his way to find fault with people, he went that extra mile and looked for the good things in everyone. He used his great wealth to help the town and those less fortunate. He became so well liked in his small community people would go out of their way to say hello to him.

In the back of his mind the gentle words of the young man urged him on to even greater acts of giving and caring, and because of his incredible new attitude Bob was unanimously voted man of the year.

You would think my story ends here but it doesn't. For you see, the young couple Bob helped to buy a home was planning on leaving the community if their loan was disapproved. However, since Bob had a change of heart and approved the loan they stayed.

The wife became a wonderful teacher who brought out the absolute best in her students. The husband became the new minister that the community grew to love. The couple's young son David, a lifeguard at the town swimming pool, saved the life of Bob's young daughter, his only child.

Bob's instinct to repay the young man in the only way left to him exploded in a massive wave of caring and sharing that continues to build and grow.

However, for some reason; and despite his constant inquiries, Bob never again saw the young man who called himself Jay. No one in the small community knew Jay or anything about him, nor had they ever seen a beat-up old red pickup truck around town.

But, the young minister knew exactly who it was.

He knew that the town's banker, the man who could do the most good or harm to the community, had been spiritually guided.

Not by J as in Jay, but by J as in Jesus.