Emphasis Preaching Journal

Dave is awakened by a rat-a-tat-tat on the door. He rolls over and looks at his clock, and it's half past three in the morning. "I'm not getting out of bed at this time," he thinks, and rolls over. Then, a louder knock follows. "Aren't you going to answer that?" says his wife. So Dave drags himself out of bed. He opens the door and there is a man standing on the porch. It didn't take the homeowner long to realize the man was drunk.

"Hi, there," slurs the stranger. "Can you give me a push?" "No, get lost. It's half past three. I was in bed," Dave shouts and slams the door.

He goes back to bed and tells his wife what happened, and she says, "Dave, that wasn't very nice of you. Remember that night we broke down in the pouring rain on the way to pick the kids up from the baby-sitter and you had to knock at someone's house to get us started again? What would have happened if he'd told us to get lost?" "But the guy was drunk," says Dave. "It doesn't matter," says the wife. "He needs our help and it would be the Christian thing to help him."

So Dave gets out of bed again, gets dressed, and goes downstairs. He opens the door, and not being able to see the stranger anywhere he shouts, "Hey, do you still want a push?" And he hears a voice cry out, "Yes, please." So, still being unable to see the stranger, he shouts, "Where are you?"

And the stranger replies, "I'm over here, on your swing."