Parable of a Helper

One day, an 8-year old boy was playing on a beach somewhere in Florida. He was digging a hole and collecting the sand to make a sand castle. After a while, a man came by and talked to the boy. He said: “Little boy what are you doing?” But the boy just kept digging and storing up sand for his sand castle. “Let me help,” the man continued. “I can take a picture of you and document your progress. Meanwhile, I can play some music for you on my smartphone and encourage you while you work.”

After a while, a woman came by and talked to the boy. She said: “Little boy what are you doing?” But the boy just kept digging and storing up sand for his sand castle. “Let me help,” the woman continued. “I will give you some bottled water to quench your thirst. And if this is not enough, you can give me some money and I will go and buy you some more bottled drinks and encourage you while you work.”

After a while, a young person came by and talked to the boy. She said: “Ni hao? Ni zai zuo shenme?” But the boy just kept digging and storing up sand for his sand castle. “Help you?” The young person went down on her knees and started digging sand together with the 8-year old boy. The two of them kept working and after a few hours, a sand castle began to form from out of the sandy beach somewhere in Florida.

Who do you think helped the little boy? “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43).