The story starts out where she, Beth, is
sitting at an airport terminal, waiting to board a plane. She was sitting
there with several other people who were also waiting, whom she did not
know. She turned around to see what everyone was looking at, and when she did, she saw a stewardess pushing a wheelchair, with the ugliest old man sitting in it, that she had ever seen before. She said he had this long white hair that was all tangled and such a mess. His face was really, really wrinkled, and he didn't look friendly at all. She said she didn't know why, but she felt drawn to the man, and thought at first that God wanted her to witness to him. In her mind she said she was thinking, "Oh, God, please, not now, not here." No matter what she did, she couldn't get the man off of her mind, and all of a sudden she knew what God wanted her to do. She was supposed to brush this old man's hair. She went and knelt down in front of the
old man, and said "Sir may I have the honor of brushing your hair for
you?" Everyone was watching to see what his response would be. The old man just looked at her confused,
and said "Well, I guess if you really want to." So she got the brush out and started brushing his hair. (She has a little girl with long hair, so she has had lots of practice getting tangles out, and knew how to be gentle with him.) She worked for a long time, until every
last tangle was out. Just as she was finishing up, she heard the old man
crying, and she went and put her hands on his knees, kneeling in front of
him again looking directly into his eyes, and said Tears were rolling down his cheeks, as
he thanked Beth for brushing his hair. He thanked her over and over again.
She was crying, people all around witnessing this were crying, and as they
were all boarding the plane, the stewardess, who was also crying, stopped
her, and asked, We don't always understand God's ways,
but be ready, He may use us to meet the need of someone else, like he met
the need of this old man, and in that moment, also calling out to a lost
soul who needed to know about His love. |
|||