~Ask~

Ask
Milton was flying on a plane from Atlanta to Dallas.
He happened to have the middle of the three seats on
one side of the aisle. To his right, sitting next to
the window, was a young girl who obviously had Down's
syndrome. She began to ask him some simple but almost
offensive questions.

"Mister," she said, "did you brush your teeth this
morning?"

Milton, very shocked at the question, squirmed around
a bit and then said, "Well, yes, I brushed my teeth
this morning."

The young girl said, "Good, 'cause that's what you're
supposed to do." Then she asked, "Mister, do you
smoke?"

Again, Milton was a little uncomfortable, but he told
her with a little chuckle that he didn't.

She said, "Good, 'cause smoking will make you die."
Then she said, "Mister, do you love Jesus?"

Milton was really caught by the simplicity and the
forthrightness of the little girl's questions. He
smiled and said, "Well, yes, I do love Jesus."

The little girl with Down's Syndrome smiled and said,
"Good, 'cause we're all supposed to love Jesus."

About that time, just before the plane was ready to
leave, another man came and sat down on the aisle seat
next to Milton and began to read a magazine. The little
girl ?? Milton again and said, "Mister, ask him if he
brushed his teeth this morning."

Milton was really uneasy with that one, and said that
he didn't want to do it. But she kept nudging him and
saying, "Ask him! Ask him!" So Milton turned to the
man seated next to him and said, "Mister, I don't mean
to bother you, but my friend here wants me to ask you
if you brushed your teeth this morning."

The man looked startled, of course. But when he looked
past Milton and saw the young girl sitting there, he
could tell her good intentions, so he took her
question in stride and said with a smile, "Well, yes,
I brushed my teeth this morning."

As the plane taxied onto the runway and began to take
off, the young girl nudged Milton once more and said,
"Ask him if he smokes." And so, good-naturedly, Milton
did, and the man said that he didn't smoke.

As the plane was lifting into the air, the little girl
nudged Milton once again and said, "Ask him if he loves
Jesus."

Milton said, "I can't do that. That's too personal. I
don't feel comfortable saying that to him."

But the girl smiled and insisted, "Ask him! Ask him!"

Milton turned to the fellow one more time and said,
"Now she wants to know if you love Jesus."

The man could have responded like he had to the two
previous questions -- with a smile on his face and
little chuckle in his voice. And he almost did.

But then the smile on his face disappeared, and his
expression became serious. Finally he said to Milton,
"You know, in all honesty, I can't say that I do. It's
not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't know
Him. I don't know how to know Him. I've wanted to be a
person of faith all my life, but I haven't known how to
do it. And now I've come to a time in my life when I
really need that very much."

As the plane soared through the skies between Atlanta
and Dallas, Milton listened to the fellow talk about
the brokenness in his life. Then he began a Bible
study and explained how to become a person of faith.

And he did all of that because a little girl with
Down's Syndrome had asked him to ask the fundamental
question that all Christians should be finding a way
to communicate, "Do you love Jesus?"

Stan Toler, "God Has Never Failed Me, But He's Sure
Scared Me To Death A Few Times."

KneEmail: "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature.'" Mark 16.15

Source: KneEmail at: www.forthright.net/kneemail/.