The story of the helicopter

Not long ago, there was a little village in a river valley. The people were farmers; the fertile flood plain provided more than they needed and profit to spare, and they were happy. One day, it began to rain, the river rose, and the valley flooded. The police came by to evacuate the town, but they couldn't force the few most stubborn townsfolk to leave their belongings and take the bus out of town.

Among those who stayed was a Jewish man, who insisted that he didn't need the evacuation bus because he relied on help from God. He began to chant, "I lift up my eyes unto the hills / From whence cometh my help?" as the water reached his doorstep. He moved his most valuable things upstairs with him as the flood enveloped his ground floor, but despite his prayer, the water showed no sign of abating.

When the water had almost reached his second floor, a couple neighbors in the same situation paddled over in an old canoe. "Come on!" they cried, "it's not far to the hill, and you can fit in here!" "No," replied the man, "I have faith that God will save me." "We took a risk to come and get you, now get in the boat!" But the man wouldn't get in the boat. Finally, his neighbors left, and the man went up to his roof to watch his neighbors paddle over to safety at the nearby hill.

The water still rose. The man climbed up his roof, wondering where God was. When the water had reached a few feet up the roof with no sign of stopping, a police helicopter flew by and dropped a rope ladder. "Get in!" said the policeman. "We told you to evacuate, and we've come back to make sure you're safe!" But the man wouldn't take the ladder. The helicopter stayed there for the better part of a half-hour -- they couldn't hear what he was saying -- and finally it slowly backed away with the man making no effort whatsoever to take the ladder. The water reached the top of the roof and continued to rise; at last the man could no longer stand and couldn't swim as far as the hill, and he drowned.

His soul went to Heaven and he met God. Before God he said, "O God, I had faith that You were going to save me! Why didn't You come? What did I do wrong, that You didn't care about me?" And God, who is invisible and doesn't really have a head, sadly shook His head anyway. God said to the man, "Your kind of believer is the first to honor Me when you're satisfied, but you're also always the first to blame Me when things go wrong for you. What are you talking about? I sent you a bus, a boat, and a helicopter!" And the man finally understood that his faith had fallen short.