this one has some good points.

Text of forwarded message follows:


>>Subject: True Story worth reading
>>
>>Rev. John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago 
>>writes about Tommy, a student in his Theology of Faith class.
>>
>>Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file 
>>into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith.
>>
>>That was the day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both 
>>blinked. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches 
>>below his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy 
>>with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then.
>>
>>I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in 
>>it that counts; but on that day, I was unprepared and my emotions 
>>flipped I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange... Very strange.
>>
>>Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology of 
>>Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined 
>>about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God.
>>
>>We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, 
>>although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.
>>
>>When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, 
>>he asked in a cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find God?"
>>
>>I decided instantly on a little shock therapy.
>>
>>"No!" I said very emphatically
>>
>>"Why not?," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were 
>>pushing." I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then 
>>called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am 
>>absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and 
>>left my class and my life.
>>
>>I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my 
>>clever line: "He will find you!" At least I thought it was clever.
>>
>>Later, I heard that Tommy had graduated and I was duly grateful. 
>>Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. 
>>Before I could search him out, he came to see me.
>>
>>When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and 
>>the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But 
>>his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.
>>
>>"Tommy, I've thought about you so often--I hear you are sick", I 
>>blurted out.
>>
>>"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks"
>>
>>"Can you talk about it, Tom?", I asked.
>>
>>"Sure, what would you like to know?", he replied.
>>
>>"What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?", I asked.
>>
>>"Well, it could be worse", he replied.
>>
>>"Like what?", I asked.
>>
>>"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals; like being 
>>fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real
>>Biggies''s in life.", he replied.
>>
>>I began to look through my mental file cabinet under 'S' where I 
>>had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to 
>>reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)
>>
>>"But what I really came to see you about", Tom said, "is something 
>>you said to me on the last day of class."
>>
>>(He remembered!)
>>
>>He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and 
>>you said, 'No!' which surprised me.
>>
>>Then you said, 'But He will find you.'
>>
>>I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was 
>>hardly intense at that time."
>>(My clever line. He thought about that a lot!)
>>"But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that 
>>it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God.
>>And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began 
>>banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.
>>
>>But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever 
>>try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success? 
>>You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit."
>>
>>"Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile 
>>appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be 
>>there, I just quit.. I decided that I didn't really care about God,
>>About an after life, or anything like that. I decided to spend what 
>>time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about 
>>you and your class and I remembered something else you had said:" 
>>"The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it 
>>would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world 
>>without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.'"
>>
>>"So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad.
>>
>>He was reading the newspaper when I approached him.
>>
>>"Dad."
>>
>>"Yes, what?", he asked without lowering the newspaper
>>
>>"Dad, I would like to talk with you."
>>
>>"Well, talk."
>>
>>"I mean... It's really important".
>>
>>The newspaper came down three slow inches.
>>
>>"What is it?"
>>
>>"Dad, I love you--I just wanted you to know that."
>>
>>Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though 
>>he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him.
>>
>>"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two 
>>things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me.
>>We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next 
>>morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his 
>>tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me."
>>
>>"It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with 
>>me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice 
>>things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping 
>>secret for so many years. I was only sorry about one thing --- that 
>>I had waited so long.
>>Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had 
>>actually been close to."
>>
>>"Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn't come to 
>>me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer 
>>holding out a hoop:" 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give You 
>>three days, three weeks.'
>>
>>"Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour. But 
>>the important thing is that He was there . He found me! You were 
>>right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."
>>
>>"Tommy", I practically gasped: "I think you are saying something 
>>very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at 
>>least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to 
>>make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant 
>>consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You 
>>know, the Apostle John said that. He said: 'God is love, and anyone 
>>who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.'"
>>
>>"Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class 
>>you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me 
>>now. would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and 
>>tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing 
>>it wouldn't be half as effective as if you were to tell it."
>>
>>"Ooh I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class."
>>"Tom, think about it If and when you are ready, give me a call."
>>
>>In a few days, Tom called, said he was ready for the class that he 
>>wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date. 
>>However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more 
>>important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his life 
>>was not really ended by his death, only changed. He made the great 
>>step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful 
>>than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard 
>>or the mind of man has ever imagined.
>>
>>Before he died, we talked one last time. "I'm not going to make it 
>>to your class", he said. "I know, Tom."
>>
>>"Will you tell them for me? Will you tell the whole world for me?"
>>
>>"I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."
>>
>>So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple 
>>story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, 
>>somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them, 
>>Tommy as best I could.
>>
>>If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend or two.
>>
>>It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.
>
>
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.18/733 - Release Date: 
>3/25/2007 11:07 AM
End of forwarded message text:

John


-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.18/733 - Release Date: 3/25/2007 11:07 AM