TANGLED HAIR 

Beth was sitting at an airport terminal, 
waiting to board a plane. She was sitting 
there with several other people who were 
also waiting, whom she did not know. 
As she waited, she pulled out her Bible 
and started to read. All of a sudden 
she felt as if the people sitting there 
around her, were looking at her. She 
looked up, but realized that they were 
looking just over her head, in the 
direction right behind her. 

She turned to see what everyone was 
looking at, and when she did, she saw 
a stewardess pushing a wheelchair, with 
the ugliest old man sitting in it. It was 
the ugliest man she ever saw. She said 
he had this long white hair that was all 
tangled and such a mess. His face was 
really wrinkled, and he didn't look 
friendly at all. 

She didn't know why, but she felt drawn 
to the man, and thought at first that 
God wanted her to witness to him. In her 
mind she said she was thinking "Oh, 
God, please not now, not here." 

No matter what she did, she couldn't get 
the man off her mind, and all of a sudden 
she knew what God wanted her to do. 
She was supposed to brush this man's hair. 
She went and knelt down in front of the 
old man, and said "Sir may I have the honor 
of brushing your hair for you?" He said 
"What?" She thought , "Oh great, he's 
hard of hearing." Again, a little louder 
she said "Sir, may I have the honor of 
brushing your hair for you?" He answered, 
"If you are going to talk to me, you are 
going to have to speak up, I am 
practically deaf." 

So this time, she was almost yelling, "Sir, 
May I please have the honor of brushing 
your hair for you?" Everyone was watching 
to see what his response would be. The 
old man just looked at her confused, and 
said "Well, I guess if you really want too." 
She said, "I don't even have a brush, but I 
thought I would ask anyway." He said, 
"Look in the bag hanging on the back of 
my chair, there is a brush in there." 

So she got the brush out and started 
brushing his hair. (She has a little girl with 
long hair, so she has lots of practice getting 
tangles out, and knew how to be gentle 
with him.) She worked for a long time, 
until every last tangle was out. 

Just as she was finishing up, she heard 
the old man crying, and she went and put 
her hands on his knees, kneeling in front of 
him again looking directly into his eyes and 
said "Sir, do you know Jesus?" He answered, 
"Yes, of course I know Jesus. You see, 
my bride told me she couldn't marry me 
unless I knew Jesus, so I learned all 
about Jesus, and asked Him to come 
into my heart many years ago, before 
I married my bride." 

He continued, "You know, I am on my way 
home to go and see my wife. I have 
been in the hospital for a long time, and 
had to have a special surgery in this town 
far from my home. My wife couldn't 
come with me, because she is so frail 
herself. "He said, "I was so worried about 
how terrible my hair looked, and I didn't 
want her to see me looking so awful, but 
I couldn't brush my hair, all by myself." 

Tears were rolling down his cheeks, as he 
thanked Beth for brushing his hair. He 
thanked her over and over again. She 
was crying, people all around witnessing 
this were crying, and as they were all 
boarding the plane, the stewardess, 
who was also crying, stopped her, and 
asked, "Why did you do that?" And right 
there was the opportunity, the door that had been opened to share with 
someone else, the 
love of God. 

"We don't always understand God's ways, 
but be ready. He may use us to meet the 
need of someone else, like He met the need 
of this old man, and in a moment, also 
calling out to a lost soul who needed to 
know His love."