The Homeless Man and the Tycoon

Shanghai in the 1930s

One day, a Chinese tycoon, in his majestic-looking sedan car, passed by a narrow street in a certain part of Shanghai. As he looked out of his curtained window, he saw a young man begging by the side of that street. He told his driver to stop the vehicle so that he could talk to this young homeless man. 

The tycoon found out that this young man was a graduate who migrated from Guangzhou, the southern part of China. He also learned that the young man had fallen on hard time because he was cheated by some hooligans and added to that tragedy, he could not find a job.

The homeless man lamented, "After I arrived in Shanghai, I started to look for a job. Some would not employ me because they said that I was too skinny to do the hard work. Others said that I was too educated for their organizations. Yet others refused to hire me because I could not speak Shanghainese. 

At that time I was living with my schoolmate's uncle but he turned out to be a gambler. Apart from my monthly room rental, he asked me to advance him the rents for the next eleven months. I did and then this man suddenly disappeared. He did not pay his house rent to the landlord and so I and other tenants were kicked out of the premises. I have been living off the kindness and charity of the passersby for the last seven months."

The elderly tycoon listened attentively and his heart was drawn to this young man and wanted so badly to help him. Before he could say anything further, the homeless man said, "Sir, on the other hand, I no longer have a home in Guangzhou. My parents had passed on and now I am really an orphan."

With tears in his eyes, the young man pleaded, "I see that you are a very rich man. Do you have a job for me? Even as a cleaner in your office, I will be glad to serve you."

"Young man, I am not going to offer you a job." The tycoon said. 

"Instead I am going to offer you a partnership."

The young man was speechless. When he came to his senses, he asked, "What type of business would we be doing?"

The elderly man said, "Silk! We will sell silk cloths. My name is Moh and I am the largest silk producer in this part of China."

"What kind of partnership? You know I have no money and actually, I have nothing to my name now. How can I be your partner, Uncle Moh?" The homeless man questioned.

"Well, this type of partnership is special. It is such that I supply everything - from giving you a shop to helping you pay your employees and supplying you with the products until this business becomes self-sustaining and earning profits. I would even send a consultant to advise you on how you can best run the business."

The young man sank to his knees. He was weeping and exclaimed, "How can this be true? Are you sent by Heaven to help me? You are my savior!"

With tears rolling down his cheeks, the young man added, "I will be glad to be your partner, Uncle Moh. I will take only ten percent of the profit while you take ninety percent because you are supplying everything."

The elderly man laughed and said, "Young man, please stand up. Let me say that this will not be how you and I would split the profit. You will take ninety percent and I will take ten percent."

The young man was flabbergasted. He protested, "Uncle Moh, this will not be fair to you. At least, you have to take half of the profit."

The tycoon smiled and pointed to his car, his driver, his bodyguard, his expensive clothes and his diamond stubbed watch. 

"See all these, I have enough money to last me ten lifetimes. I don't need your profit. I ask for ten percent is to help you to become a responsible person who is filled with gratitude. It is also to keep you humble so that when you achieve success, you will always remember your humble beginning."

And so the partnership was launched. The young man worked very hard and every month, he faithfully delivered ten percent of his profit to the tycoon. 

After five years, the profit that this new partner was making by selling silk had tripled. Every month, he began to feel unhappy having to give such a large amount of money to the tycoon. So, instead of the usual ten percent, he reduced the amount to five percent of the profit.

The tycoon did not say a word even though he knew that this young partner was cheating him. That continued for a few years and the young man had then become one of the leading businessmen in the Shanghai marketplace. He had gotten married to a beautiful lady of noble birth, he had his own expensive car with driver, and a few other cars in his garage and also his own villa with many servants. 

As this young man achieved financial succes, something happened to his spiritual heart. He had become very uneasy and unhappy whenever someone mentioned that he had become a success because he was initially helped by this elderly tycoon.

One night, this young man was fuming to his wife. He said, "Who is this old chap? He just gave me a small break in life. Everything I have now, I earned it by myself. If it wasn't for my brillance, this business would have been given the dogs. Anyway, this old fellow did not even bother to show up during the opening of some of our new branches. From this day on, I am not going to be his partner. I will withdraw and not give him even five percent of the profit."

And so the young man did exactly as he had planned. And when he wrote his biography, there was not a word being mentioned about Uncle Moh.

What do you think about this formerly homeless man? 

Was he being honest and fair to the elderly tycoon? 

What do you think about you giving the ten percent of your income to God?

Are you being honest and fair to God?

Have you been faithful to His instruction? 

Are you cheating upon God's share of the profit?

A helpful guideline is this - what is sacred, belongs to God. Anything sacred should not be found in your bank account or in your wallet. The one-tenth belongs to the Lord.

Jesus said, "Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back." (Luke 6:38)

Special Bank

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day, every evening it deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day.

What would you do?

Draw out every cent, of course!
Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.

Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.

Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow".

You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and
success!

The clock is running. Make the most of today.

Learning from Pigeons

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."1

You may have read about an experiment where "pigeons were put in cages with one green and one red button. In one cage, if the birds pecked the green button they got food every time. In the other, the green button yielded food erratically and the pigeons had to persist to get enough food. 

In both cases, pecking the red button did nothing. Both sets of birds thrived, learning what they had to do to survive and ignoring the red button that yielded no food. But when the birds that were used to getting a reward every time were put in the cage that fed them only occasionally, they failed to adapt; they hit their heads against the cage and pecked wildly at everything in sight."2

Birds and animals can be very smart and quickly learn to pursue activities that produce positive results while avoiding activities that don't. Pity we humans aren't always as smart. Too many of us invest our lives in empty, meaningless or even harmful activities and relationships, and have a way of continually hitting red buttons that always result in getting negative responses.

Others, who, like the pigeons that were used to getting rewarded all the time when put in the cage where they were rewarded only occasionally, couldn't cope, so people who, when growing up, were overprotected, spoiled, or had parents that did far too much for them, have a difficult time adjusting to adult life and accepting personal responsibility. Also as adults, when we, other organizations, and/or the government do for others what they CAN and NEED to do for themselves, we keep them over-dependent and irresponsible.

As adults we need to eliminate (overcome) our own red buttons that trigger our unresolved issues from the past, and not purposely hit others' red buttons that never result in obtaining what we need or want.

Furthermore, we need to learn through experience and hard work to accept personal responsibility for every area of our life. True, we were not responsible for our upbringing and early training, but as adults we are totally responsible for our recovery, our actions, our well-being, for who and what we become, and for every area of our life. To expect otherwise is self-defeating and ultimately self-destructive.

Most important of all is that we need to remind ourselves that we are not only responsible for ourselves and what we do, but we are also responsible before God and one day will be required to give an account of our life to him.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for the gift of life and for all the blessings you have given so freely to me. Help me to see issues in my life that I need to resolve and overcome, to avoid unnecessarily hitting others' red buttons, and help me to accept personal responsibility for every area of my life so that when I stand before you, I will hear your welcoming words, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name. Amen."

1. Hebrews 4:13 (NIV).
2. Michael Josephson in Character Counts. www.charactercounts.org

By Dick Innes <:))))><

Ruling By Being Obedient

In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Pryor Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. 

"Your Majesty," said Prior Richard, "do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king." 

"I understand," said Henry. "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you." 

"Then I will tell you what to do," said Prior Richard. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you." 

When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient." 

When we tire of our roles and responsibilities, it helps to remember God has planted us in a certain place and told us to be a good accountant or teacher or mother or father. Christ expects us to be faithful where he puts us, and when he returns, we'll rule together with him. 

Steve Brown, Key Biscayne, Florida.

What Ship Are You On?

During World War 2, all sailors serving on American cruisers or other battleships in the Pacific were on high alert. This meant that everybody was to be ready for battle... especially in areas where the Japanese submarines were active. 

One day, the Captain inspected the ship and something caught his eyes. He had spotted three of his sailors sunbathing in an apparent hidden part of the ship. He was really mad as he hollered, "This is a battleship! Not a cruise ship!"

The Captain promptly gave these three irresponsible men extra cleaning duties. They had to clean the deck from morning to night for two weeks. Then they had to clean all the toilets with tiny toothbrushes. After that they had to polish the shoes of all senior officers. From then on, these sailors dared not slacken their guard whenever the ship was on high alert.

Is your Church a battleship or a cruise ship? The faithful Church is a battleship and already on high alert because this is the End Time. As the disciples of Christ, are we dressed for battle on a battleship or are we lazing around as though we are on a cruise ship?

By Albert Kang