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As I mentioned a few weeks back, I’ve been rereading some of Mike Yaconelli books. This weekend, I was reading through Dangerous Wonder, and in one of the chapters Mike writes about Jesus’ parable of the banquet. You know, the one where the rich man sends out invitations to all of his rich friends, but no one comes. So he orders his servants to go into the streets and bring all who will come.

Mike tells the story of helping a young man who was having difficulty in school. His father was an alcoholic and abused his family both emotionally and physically.  Mike and his wife became friends with the young man and dedicated a six month period of time to helping him.

A few years passed and then, in one of those unusual circumstances, they encounter the father of the teen. The Yaconellis were remodeling their home and needed someone to redo the tile in their kitchen. The tile company informed them that the only tile layer available was this young man’s father. Mike wrote, “‘Absolutely not!’ I yelled into the phone. ‘That man is an alcoholic, knocks his family around, and I don’t trust him.’”

But, he was the only one available, so Mike finally agreed to allow him to do the work. All went well until the final day of work, when the father cornered Mike and mentioned that he needed to talk to him about the bill once he completed the work.

“I stormed out to my office and angrily reported to my wife, ‘I knew it. I knew he was going to try and cheat us out of some money…’ I ranted and raved for another few minutes and then bragged to my wife, ‘Leave the door between our offices open so you can see how I handle this guy…”

Five o’clock rolled around and tile layer entered Mike’s office, sat down and wrote out a bill…

“I was ready for him and glanced at my wife with the look of testosterone on my face. He started to hand me the bill, but then paused for a moment and a said, ‘A couple of years ago I was drinking too much. I am an alcoholic and was at a very low point in my life. I almost lost my family because of my drinking. I mistreated my wife and my children, especially my oldest son. But you and your wife spent a lot of time with him at a critical moment in his life when he could have gone either way. Shortly after that time I went to AA, and I’ve been sober every since. Because of you and your wife, I still have a relationship with my son. I’ve never been able to thank you, but I’m thanking you now.’ He handed me his bill for $350.00. ‘Paid in full’ was written across the page.”

Mike goes on to write, “I was the one who had been too busy to show up at the banquet, and he was one of the people who came.”

The next time I get an RSVP from God, I hope I don’t decide to stay home and watch a football game.