Emphasis Preaching Journal

Some parables come from real life. A pastor tells of one such parable that came from a surprising source: a man of about thirty who lives in a boarding home for the mentally ill.

One Monday morning this young man rang the doorbell of the manse, looking to return something he'd borrowed. Because the pastor was busily engaged at the time with drinking coffee and reading the previous day's paper (it was his day off, after all), his wife answered the door. She invited the man in and left him standing in the front hall while she went back to the kitchen to get her husband.