I Remember One Day When I Was About 10 Or 11 ...

I remember one day when I was about 10 or 11 years old and I had decided to go all the way across town to my grandmother’s house one summer afternoon. It was a scorching hot day in Northern California and I had about 6 miles to walk to my grandmother’s house because my bicycle had a flat tire.

I started to walk and by the time I had gotten about half way to her house I began to get exhausted from the heat. I had not brought anything with me to drink and I as I was unemployed at the time, I didn’t have any money!

I was finally so thirsty and exhausted that I stopped in somebody’s yard and tried to very nonchalantly take a drink from their water hose! I remember that the water tasted terrible, probably from whatever the hose was made from.

As I began to drink, a man came out of the house and asked me what I was doing. He really startled me and I almost ran. I thought that perhaps he was angry because I was using his water hose. Instead of becoming angry though, he told me to have a seat on his front steps while he went inside to get me something to drink.

He returned with a large glass of iced tea and it was wonderful! The man had taken pity on a young boy had rather rudely walked through his bushes and flowers to pilfer a drink of water from his garden hose.

Today, I encourage you to look for ways to show hospitality to those around you. Don’t miss out on the music waiting around you like the cathedral sexton nearly did because he was skeptical of a stranger.