Saving Grace

There once was a man, who decided to build a house for himself. He found a place that was gorgeous, it was an open field surrounded by trees, with a small brook babbling through it and a mountain top could be seen in the distance beyond the trees on one side, while the other directions it seemed like he could see to the ends of the earth. He dug down until he hit solid rock and began building the foundation of his house, he wanted it to be on a solid foundation for the winter was harsh there and he didn't want his house to get blown down by the winds. One the foundation was built, he began building the framework for the house and little by little he completed it and moved on to the next step of building the walls floors and roof of the house. Each day passed and he completed more and more of his new home. Then after pounding in the last nail, he beamed with excitement as he thought about how wonderful it would be to have a home of his own and maybe even raise a family in someday. He got his belongs moved into his new home and was quite happy there until one day when he ventured into the basement for some potatoes from the root cellar he had built down there. What he discovered was not only gross and disgusting looking, but he also thought it was rather odd. It seems that cracks had formed in his basement walls, and some sort of green ooze was coming through the cracks. He decided to go finish fixing his dinner while he thought about what to do about the green ooze. By the time he finished eating he decided he would call someone to come take a look at it and see what they thought would be the best approach, so he got out his phonebook and called a mold removal specialist since he thought maybe it was some form of mold he had never seen before. It was too late for the mold specialist to come that evening, so he said he would be there early the next morning. The man went to bed hoping that the mold specialist would have the answer to eliminating this green ooze from his basement.

The next morning, the man got up and shortly after he finished eating breakfast, there was a knock on his door and when he went to see who it was, he found that it was the mold specialist he had called the night before. Together they went to the basement and the mold specialist said he had never seen anything like this, but said he would see what he could do to get rid of it. The man went back upstairs and waited as the mold specialist went to work on the green ooze. Several hours had passed and the man noticed that all was quiet in his basement, so he thought he should go check on the mold specialist and see how his work was coming along. The specialist was putting away the last of his tools as the man looked around in amazement not seeing even a hint of ooze left on his basement walls, and even the cracks were repaired. The man paid the mold specialist for his work as he walked him out to his truck, he thanked the mold specialist and then returned to the house happy that his house was no longer infested with green ooze in the basement. That night the man slept peacefully knowing his basement was ok again.

The next morning after breakfast, the man went to his basement to get his axe so he could go cut some wood in preparation for winter. What he saw was horrendous. Not only had the green ooze returned, but there was more then ther was before the mold expert had removed it and repaired the basement walls. The man was alarmed at the sight, and hurried back upstairs and called the mold specialist to tell him what he found. The mold specialist reminded the man that he wasn't sure from the start if he could get rid of the ooze and that he had said he would do what he could. The man asked the mold specialist for his money back, which the mold specialist said he couldn't do, because as stated on the receipt all sales were final. So the man looked at the receipt from the mold specialist and realized that what the mold specialist said was true. So he asked the mold specialist if he knew of someone else who might know more about the ooze then he did. The mold specialist said he thought that the E.O.P.A. might be of help. The man asked what E.O.P.A. stood for, and the mold specialist said it stood for Environmental Ooze Prevention Agency and gave the man the number to call and the name of someone to ask for. The man thanked the mold specialist for his help and then hung up. He was a little hesitant to call the number for the E.O.P.A. since the mold specialist had already failed him once, but he decided that it sounded like the best option he had in getting rid of the green ooze that was coming in through the new cracks in his basement walls. So he called the E.O.P.A. and asked for Bill who's name he had been given by the mold specialist. When Bill answered, he explained to him what had been happening in his basement and how the mold specialist had gotten rid of the green ooze but that it returned over night in large quantities then had been there before. Bill told the man that he would be right over with a team from the E.O.P.A. to assess the ooze and figure out the best way to remove it. Within an hour several vehicles pulled up in front of the man's house and 8 men jumped out all wearing white jumpsuits. Each man carried various pieces of equipment that the man had never seen the likes of before, but guessed that it was what they used to figure out how eliminate the green ooze. Bill walked up to the man and introduced himself and asked him to lead him and his men to where the green ooze was. Once in the basement, the men from the E.O.P.A. quickly got to work. Once again, the man went upstairs to wait while they worked. After awhile it got quiet, so he figured they must be done and went down to his basement to see how the men were doing. He found them putting their equipment in bags and saw that the green ooze and the cracks it came in through were gone. The man was thankful and paid Bill for the work they had done and decided it was too late to go out and cut down firewood, so he went to bed instead. He slept well, though as he fell asleep, he wondered if the green ooze was truly gone or not, but decided not to worry about it and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning before even getting dressed, the man scurried down to his basement to see if the E.O.P.A. had truly done the job right. What he saw made him furious, not only did the cracks and green ooze reappear, but also there was so much ooze that he could see it slowly oozing across the floor. The man hurried back upstairs and couldn't find the paper he had written the number on for the E.O.P.A. He grabbed his phonebook, not knowing who to call when he found a small ad for a place called "Father and Son Cleanup and Restoration" in small print he also saw something very odd, it read, "All services guaranteed for eternity". The man though for a moment and figured either it was a scam, or they really knew their stuff, so knowing that the green ooze was slowly filling his basement and not seeing anything else that might be of help to him, he called them. The receptionist answered, and asked the man what he could do for him. Once again the man frantically explained what was happening in his basement and that two other places had already failed to permanently eliminate the ooze. The receptionist told the man that the Father was out, but that the Son was available and would be over right away to solve his problem and restore everything to better then new condition. The man not knowing what else to say thanked the receptionist and hungup. He hurried upstairs to the second floor of his house to get dressed and no sooner had he gotten his shoes on then a quiet knock was heard at his door. The man rushed downstairs hoping it was the Son that the receptionist said would be coming over. He opened the door and looked and there was a Girl Scout selling cookies. Afyter recovering from the shock of seeing a Girl Scout instead of the Son, the man being kind hearted asked the Girl Scout how much the cookies were and if she had Thin Mints? The Girl Scout looked through her waon and said she had a single box of them left so he said he would buy them from her. The Girl Scout left happily. The man started getting nervous as he saw that it had been an hour already since he had called the Father and Son Cleaning and Restoration company. He began to think maybe it was a scam, but waited a bit longer until he heard yet another knock at his door. Thinking surely this must be the Son he had been told would be coming he ran to the door. When he opened it, he saw a young man maybe a year or two younger then him standing there wearing a clean white painter's outfit and holding a gallon can of what looged like red paint. The man was taken back by this and started to say that didn't need anything painted, but before he could say a word, the young man smiled a gentle peaceful smile as he gazed at the man through his dark brown eyes and gently said I'm the Son and I'm here to help if you will allow me to. The man's anger and frustration seemed to melt away and then he calmly welcomed the young man into his home and as he lead him to the basement, explained all the problems he had with trying to get rid of the ooze. The young man told the man that he would have everything cleaned up and restored in no time. The man decided to watch and see what the young man was going to do, so he sat quietly and waited hoping that the young man really knew what he was doing. As he watched, the young man pulled out a paint brush and dipped into the can of what looked like red paint. The man couldn't stay silent any longer, and asked the young man why he was going to paint his basement when it was the ooze he was suppose to be getting rid of? The young man turned and asked the man simply to trust him. The man said well, considering I don't have anyone else to call, and you're my last hope of getting rid of this green ooze, I suppose I don't have a choice and told the man hat he would trust him to get rid of the green ooze even though he didn't understand how painting it red would help. The young man then said that sometimes it's the simple things in life that trip us up the most, but that in order to correct the wrong, we must sometimes trust the simple things we don't understand. The man thought for a moment and told the young man to go ahead and do what he thought was best. Without a word, the young man began painting the green ooze with the red paint as the mand watched in amazement. With each stroke of the young man's brush, the oze dissolved and the cracks seemed to just disappear. After watching this amazing thing, he began to feel a sense of humbleness come over him for he saw that simply trusting someone to use a simple technique instead of fancy gadgets and gizmos seemed to be working far better then what he had seen result from the mold specialist or the E.O.P.A.. After about 3 hours, the young man spoke and told the man that he will never have a problem with the green ooze again, so long as he remembers to trust him and believe that the red paint had worked and would continue working. He also said that if the man had any further problems that needed solved or fixed, to simply call and he would come to help him again. The man asked how much he owed the young man for his work, and nearly fainted when the young man said he didn't owe him anything, but that if he would simply tell others about his work that it would be payment enough. The man spoke slowly and asked if he could at least offer the young man some dinner. The young man said that dinner sounded good, and that he would tell the man more about himself as they ate.

The young man explained to the man that the red paint was the most powerful agent in the world for eliminating things that were wrong not only with buildings, but with people. He said that I give it freely to those who ask that they may learn to share it with others. The man asked why the young man would give such a thing away and said that the young man could be richer then any man on earth if he sold his services instead of giving them ay. The young man replied my Father owns everything the man could see, touch hear, smell, taste, and even the air the man breathed. He went on to say his Father loved to give good things to people and had given the earth to everyone, but sadly, some became greedy and felt that in order to be rich they must have mounds of silver and gold, big houses and nothing ever seemed to please these people. The young man went on and said I was chosen by my Father to teach people about true riches and show them that some of the greatest things they can have are actually the simplest things, like my red paint. It will cleanse and restore life to everything it is applied to. The man said that he wanted to have life but had always thought he had it and went on to ask the young man if the red paint would help him learn to take time o enjoy life and not be greedy with what he has so that he might help others. The young man smiled and told the man all he needed to do is ask for what ever he needed and it would be provided for him. The yong man said he may not give give the man everything he wanted, but everything he needed along with lessons to teach him how to be happy with what he has and to rejoice when something extra is given to him to share with others and not horde. The man quietly asked if he could be given all these wonderful things so that he too may live and learn to teach others to live as well. The young man smiled as he dipped his finger in the red paint the dabbed some on the man's hands and forehead. The young man pointed at the table and said here is a can of red paint, but it will only work to help others, and it will never run dry. The man slowly reach out and accepted the gift that had been offered to him. He then thanked the young man for all he had done for him. The young man said that he needed to go, but that all the man had to do was call if he needed anything and he would be there for him. The young man left without another word.

The man was very tired by this time, and decided he need to rest so he went to bed early that night and had the most peaceful sleep he had ever had. The next morning he awoke wondering if it had all been a dream or not. He felt peaceful inside as he went to the basement. When he got there, he rejoiced as he saw that there was no green ooze or cracks and that the red paint was doing what the young man said it would do. From that day on, the man always helped others and taught him from the lessons he himself had learned through the young man. To many the man appeared poor, but inside the man's heart, he knew that he had greater riches then what those who looked down on him had. He always had plenty to share with whoever came to his door asking for help. Also, as promised by the young man the man learned to live in a way he never dreamed possible. He continued to always trust the red paint to do the work it was suppose to do and called on the young man whenever he had questions or concerns, he lived a long happy life and his small can of red paint never ran dry.