Can I Help You?
July 19, 2022 by Rich Gammill
Filed under Faith, Faith Articles
By Richard Gammill –
It’s the afternoon of Good Friday and Noah and I are stuck in heavy traffic on I-35. I want to finish my errands so I can get to the early evening services. It’s looking more and more like I won’t make it.
I love these times in my pickup with six-year-old Noah. We talk about many things. I try not to waste these teaching opportunities. I ask, “Noah, do you know what is special about this weekend?”
“It’s going to be Easter, Grandpa,” he answers.
“Why do we celebrate Easter, Noah? What is it about?”
“Well, it’s about when a bad man got money for showing where Jesus was.”
“What was that man’s name?”
“I don’t know, but he did a very bad thing.”
“What happened then, Noah?”
“Well, they took Jesus and they put him on a cross and they pounded big nails in his hands and his feet.”
“What happened then?”
“He died, Grandpa. But then he came back!”
“Why did he suffer and die like that, Noah?”
“It’s because he loves us so much.”
“Now what does he want us to do?”
“He loves us very much. Now he wants us to love him.”
“And how do we show that we love Jesus?”
“We show it by loving people and helping people. Like when someone falls down, we don’t say, ‘What happened to you?’ We ask ‘Can I help you?’”
Our conversation moved to other things, and, as I feared, the slow-moving traffic prevented me from making it to the Good Friday service. But Noah took advantage of a teachable moment to remind me the meaning of Good Friday anyway.
Richard Gammill (Rich) is a retired minister with nearly 40 years of experience as a pastor and missions administrator. He lives in Little Elm, Texas with his wife, Jan; they recently celebrated 51 years of marriage. They have four children and one dozen grandchildren. Since his retirement he has written three published books. His second son is a businessman/missionary in India and Rich has made several trips to India where he ministers to groups of pastors in several parts of the country.