OBEDIENCE
A missionary translator was struggling to find a word for obedience, but couldn’t. One day he called his dog to him, and the dog came running. A national said, “Your dog was all ear.” That gave the translator the word he needed for obedience—“to be all ear.”
Only those who obey can believe and only those who believe can obey.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God uses broken things: broken soil and broken clouds to produce grain; broken grain to produce bread; broken bread to feed our bodies. He wants our stubbornness broken into humble obedience.
—The Vance Havner Quote Book
A little girl asked her girlfriend if she could go on a picnic with her. “Just a minute. I’ll go ask my mother.” When she came back she told her that her mother told her she couldn’t go. The other little girl then said, “Aw, you probably didn’t talk hard enough. Don’t let your mother go at that. Go beg her some and then she’ll probably let you go.”
“Oh, no,” she answered. “When my mother says ‘no’ she doesn’t change her mind. She knows what’s best for me, so I’ll do what she says.”
How much Christians should be like that—willing to take what God says, realizing that He knows what’s best for us.
The Lord had a job for me,
But I had so much to do.
I said, “You’ll get somebody else,
Or wait’ll I get through.”
I don’t know how the Lord made out,
No doubt He got along,
But I felt kind of sneaking like,
I knew I’d done God wrong.
One day I needed the Lord,
Needed Him right away;
But He never answered me at all,
And I could hear Him say,
Down in my accusing heart:
“Child of Mine, I’ve got too much to do
You get somebody else
Or wait’ll I get through!”
Now when the Lord has a job for me
I never try to shirk.
I drop what I have on my hands
And do the Lord’s good work.
And my affairs can run along
Or wait’ll I get through,
For nobody else can do the work
That God’s marked out for you!
An aviation cadet on a practice flight was suddenly stricken with blindness. Frantically, he contacted the control tower and told of his desperate plight. His commanding officer radioed back, “Don’t be afraid, just do what I tell you!” After being advised to keep circling the field until all was clear for a landing, the sightless pilot was instructed to begin losing altitude. As the aircraft approached the runway, the officer’s voice called out encouragingly, “You’re coming in right on target!” The cadet, giving unquestioning obedience to his commander, brought the plane down safely.
—Our Daily Bread
Abraham Lincoln once told of a farmer who was trying to teach his son how to plow a straight furrow. After the horse had been hitched up and everything was ready, he told the boy to keep his eye on some object at the other end of the field and plow straight toward it. “Do you see that cow lying down over there?” he asked. “Keep your eye on her and plow straight ahead.” The boy started plowing and the father went about his chores. When he returned a little later to see what progress had been made he was shocked to find, instead of the straight line, something that looked more like a question mark. The boy had obeyed his instructions. The trouble was—the cow had moved.
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
—Samuel Johnson
OBSERVATION
A farmer couldn’t tell his two horses apart, so he tried cutting the tail off of one horse. This didn’t work because it grew right back. Then he cut the mane off the other horse. This didn’t work either because it grew right back. Finally he measured them and found that the white horse was two inches taller than the black horse.
—Elberton Star
You can do a lot of observing by just watching.
—Yogi Berra
OBSTACLES
Advice columnist Abigail Van Buren illustrated man’s ability to overcome obstacles when she wrote:
—Cripple him, and you have a Sir Walter Scott.
—Lock him in a prison cell, and you have a John Bunyan.
—Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have a George Washington.
—Afflict him with asthma as a child, and you have a Theodore Roosevelt.
—Make him play second fiddle in an obscure South American orchestra, and you have a Toscanini.
—Deny her the ability to see, hear, and speak, and you have a Helen Keller.
There is an old legend of a benevolent king who had his men place a great heavy stone on a certain roadway over which all his subjects would have to travel. He then hid himself to see who would try to remove the stone. No one stopped to try to remove the stone, but all worked their way around it, loudly blaming the king for not keeping the roadway clear. Finally, a poor peasant farmer on his way to town with a load of vegetables which he hoped to sell in the marketplace came to the blocked roadway. He laid down his load and with considerable effort and loss of time managed to move the great stone to the side of the roadway. Then, turning to leave, he spied a purse which had been under the stone. He opened the purse and found it to be filled with pieces of gold, with a note from the king indicating that it was all to be the property of the one who would remove the stone.
—C. Reuben Anderson
Clarence Jones had plowed around a large rock in one of his fields for years. He had broken several plowshares and a cultivator on it and had grown rather morbid about the rock.
After breaking another plowshare one fall, and remembering all the trouble the rock had caused him through the years, he finally determined to do something about it.
When he put his crowbar under the rock, he was surprised to discover that it was only six inches thick and that he could break it up easily. As he was carting it away he had to smile, remembering all the trouble the rock had caused him and how easily it would have been to have fixed it sooner.
Obstacles are those frightening things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
OFFERINGS
A family was driving home from church. They were complaining, “The sermon was dry.” “The people were unfriendly.” “The music was bad,”
The boy said, “I didn’t think it was so bad. After all, we got in for only one dollar.”
A pastor took an offering for a building fund drive. He connected electric wires to each pew with buttons in the pulpit.
“How many will give $1,000?”
Then he pushed the first button and all in the first row jumped up.
Then he asked, “How many will give $500?”
He pushed the second button and all in the second row jumped up. And he continued this on until the last row. “How many will give $5?”
No one jumped. The pastor wondered what was wrong. He pushed and pushed the button. Then he went back to the pew and there were several electrocuted Scotsmen lying on the pew.
The minister asked, “Is there anyone in the congregation who wants a prayer said for their failings?” “Yes,” came an answer from a man in the front row. “I’m a spendthrift. I throw money around recklesslike.” “Very well,” said the minister. “We will join in prayer for the brother here—just after the collection plate has been passed around.”
One Sunday morning the preacher took the offering in church and when the ushers began to pass the plates, he himself put in a quarter. The offering was not very large that day and the preacher’s son who was very observant said, “Daddy, maybe you would have gotten more out if you had put more in!”
A man, looking for a place to stay, had a hard time finding a hotel with a vacancy. Finally he came to a hotel that had only one room. “But,” the clerk informed him, “this room has not been used for a very long time. It seems to have a bit of mystery attached to it. People will even leave the hotel from that room in the wee hours of the night. They claim it has ghosts in it, and they hear strange noises and rattling of chains, etc.”
“Oh, well,” the man said in an unconcerned manner, “that’s okay. I need a place to stay so I’ll take it.” Then he went up to the room, got ready for bed, and sure enough, he began to hear the strange noises and chains rattling. Then he saw ghosts come into the room. However, the unfrightened man, hesitating for a moment, then said, “Will the ushers please come forward.” At that moment, the ghosts immediately departed, and he was never troubled with ghosts again!
A minister was speaking just before the offering was to be taken. He encouraged the congregation to give, speaking with forcefulness and to some length until one arose and said, “See here, preacher, I thought you said the water of life was free.” The minister replied, “It sure is, brother, but it sure does cost a lot to get it piped up to all of you.”
A preacher announced from the pulpit that a brother had neglected to lock the door of his chicken house the night before with the result that most of his fowls were missing.
“I have my suspicions who stole those chickens,” the preacher said, “and I also believe that such a low-down person isn’t likely to put money in the collection plate that will now be passed.” The result was a record-breaking collection.
An old preacher used to say, “Bring three books with you to church: the Bible, a hymn book, and your pocketbook.”