The story of Francis' life...
Illustration
The story of Francis' life, it seemed to him, was just a long series of wrong choices and missed opportunities. If he invested in the stock market, his stock went down. If he came upon a traffic jam, the lane he chose became a parking lot. If there were two express lanes at the supermarket checkout, the one he chose ran out of receipt tape. Francis could count on rain the day he had his car washed. Given a choice, Francis chose wrong.
Came the day he was told that because of his choices his company had to close a branch office in a distant city, and he would have to fly there right away to supervise the closing. To his relief, there was only one airline that flew from his city to his destination, and only one flight each day. He was relieved to find that he didn't have to risk making a choice that involved risking his life on an airplane.
So Francis was more puzzled than terrified when he looked out the window of his 747 and saw an engine was on fire. Then he felt the plane tilt down, and it was obvious that no one could escape a crash from this altitude.
So Francis prayed. Just to be safe, he prayed to his patron saint. "Saint Francis, help me. This is the story of my life, wrong choice after wrong choice. But here today I didn't even have to make a choice. How could I go wrong? Unless I should have chosen a train or a bus? Why me this time?"
In sudden amazement he found himself watching the plane dive toward the ground while he was suspended in the sky looking down. He was saved! He said, "Thank you, Saint Francis, I'll never doubt the power of miracles again!"
And he could hear above the rush of air around him, a deep booming voice in his ear that said, "Saint Francis Xavier or Saint Francis of Assisi?"
-- Mosley
Came the day he was told that because of his choices his company had to close a branch office in a distant city, and he would have to fly there right away to supervise the closing. To his relief, there was only one airline that flew from his city to his destination, and only one flight each day. He was relieved to find that he didn't have to risk making a choice that involved risking his life on an airplane.
So Francis was more puzzled than terrified when he looked out the window of his 747 and saw an engine was on fire. Then he felt the plane tilt down, and it was obvious that no one could escape a crash from this altitude.
So Francis prayed. Just to be safe, he prayed to his patron saint. "Saint Francis, help me. This is the story of my life, wrong choice after wrong choice. But here today I didn't even have to make a choice. How could I go wrong? Unless I should have chosen a train or a bus? Why me this time?"
In sudden amazement he found himself watching the plane dive toward the ground while he was suspended in the sky looking down. He was saved! He said, "Thank you, Saint Francis, I'll never doubt the power of miracles again!"
And he could hear above the rush of air around him, a deep booming voice in his ear that said, "Saint Francis Xavier or Saint Francis of Assisi?"
-- Mosley
