My Parable About The Woman From Tibet

I have recently realized that I developed a parable 17 years ago on October 23, 1990, which was 4 1/2 months after my being asked the life-changing question, "If you are this person, what are you worried about".

Although this parable, like all parables, has a good message from God, I wrote it with a point against the religious woman who I came to closely know, Denise, as it turned out that she would consider a committed relationship with me only if I converted to her church, a very tiny one called The Church of God -- Seventh Day.

As is my way, I couldn't resist incorporating a little humor in this parable.


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The Woman From Tibet

There once was a beautiful young woman who lived in Tibet. In some ways, she reminded me of Denise. She had hundreds of friends and she loved thousands of children. She was so happy!

But in some ways, she reminded me of me. She noticed the many religions of the world and the mystery that children often followed their parents' religious beliefs. She worried, "What if I'm in the wrong church?"

So for three years this lady prayed to her God to show her the right church. Then one day, her prayers were answered. Her God spoke to her. He said, "I have heard your prayer and I have decided to answer it."

She cried out, "Where is the right church?!"

He replied, "You must cross the Himalayan Mountains and the country of China. Then fly or sail 9,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to a land called California. Then take I-70 1,500 miles to St. Louis. Hit I-270 south to I-55 for 21 miles to Highway 67. Highway 67 will take you to a town called Fredericktown. There you will find a small group of happy and giddy people called Church of God - Seventh Day. They actually believe that they belong to the most correct church."

Well, the young lady was ecstatic, but a bit confused. She knew that she could not go to this land called Fredericktown by herself but she just knew that her God would take her there. So she humbly asked, "Will you take me?"

Her God said, "No, my child, I cannot. Because if I took you, I must take all five billion people in the world. And Fredericktown is not big enough for five billion people. Be content that I gave you directions on how to get there."

And with that, the conversation was over.

Now, most people would be excited to talk with God. But, for some reason, this lady was not. Because she knew that no matter how many people she befriended or how many children she loved, she would always be second-class in God's eyes. Her God actually shrank in her eyes. She did not realize that He was prejudiced.

The question that I pose is: Why is it so hard for some people to share God?

The moral of this story (parable) is: God is not prejudiced. Some people are -- especially against divorced Catholics.

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When I showed this parable to my supervisor at work--at a time when I was patiently waiting to be approved for disability retirement from my engineering career--my supervisor commented, "It looks like they're going to have to make the city limits of Fredericktown larger."

Also, many years after I wrote this parable, I discovered that my knowledge of the Interstate Highway system was rather flawed as I-70 does not run from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean but, rather, it ends in the Rocky Mountains.