Prime the Pump

The following letter was found in a baking-power can wired to the handle of an old pump that offered the only hope of drinking water on a very long and seldom-used trail across Nevada's Amargosa Desert: 

This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. 

There's enough water in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. Pour about one-fourth and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You'll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. 

(signed) Desert Pete. 

P.S. Don't go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with it and you'll git all you can hold.

Keith Miller and Bruce Larson, The Edge of Adventure.

Faith in the Father

During the terrible days of the Blitz, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father's voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, "I can't see you!"

The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, "But I can see you. Jump!" The boy jumped, because he trusted his father. The Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known.

Donner Atwood

As Bright As The Promises of God

Faith in God makes great optimists. Over in Burma, Adoniram Judson was lying in a foul jail with 32 lbs. of chains on his ankles, his feet bound to a bamboo pole. 

A fellow prisoner said, "Dr. Judson, what about the prospect of the conversion of the heathen?", with a sneer on his face. His instant reply was, "The prospects are just as bright as the promises of God." 

The Presbyterian Advance

Before Asking For Forgiveness

A Sunday School teacher had just concluded her lesson and wanted to make sure she had made her point. 

She said, "Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?" 

There was a short pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up. "Sin," he said.

Our Weakness And His Strength

The folklore surrounding Poland's famous concert pianist and prime minister, Ignace Paderewski, includes this story:

A mother, wishing to encourage her young son's progress at the piano, bought tickets for a Paderewski performance. When the night arrived, they found their seats near the front of the hall and eyed the majestic Steinway waiting on the stage.

Soon the mother found a friend to talk to, and the boy slipped away. When 8pm arrived, the spotlights came on, the audience quieted, and only then did they notice the boy up on stage sitting at the bench, innocently picking out, "Twinkle, twinkle little star."

His mother gasped, but before she could retrieve her son, the master appeared on the stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. 

"Don't quit - keep playing," he whispered to the boy. 

Leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.

In our lives, unpolished though they may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again,"Don't quit, keep playing." And as we do,he augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created.

Cookies Versus Willpower

Toad baked some cookies. "These cookies smell very good," said Toad. He ate one. "And they taste even better," he said.  Toad ran to Frog's house. "Frog, Frog," cried Toad, "taste these cookies that I have made." 

Frog ate one of the cookies, "These are the best cookies I have ever eaten!" said Frog. 

Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another. "You know, Toad," said Frog, with his mouth full, "I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick." 

"You are right," said Toad. "Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one last cookie.  There were many cookies left in the bowl. 

"Frog," said Toad, "let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie. 

"We must stop eating!" cried Toad as he ate another.

"Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie, "we need willpower." 

"What is willpower?" asked Toad.

"Willpower is trying hard not to do something you really want to do," said Frog. 

"You mean like trying hard not to eat all these cookies?" asked Toad. 

"Right," said Frog.

Frog put the cookies in a box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies." 

"But we can open the box," said Toad.

"That is true," said Grog.

Frog tied some string around the box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies." 

"But we can cut the string and open the box." said Toad.

"That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He put the box up on a high shelf.

"There," said Frog. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

"But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf and cut the string and open the box," said Toad. 

"That is true," said Frog.

Frog climbed the ladder and took the box down from the shelf. He cut the string and opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He shouted in a loud voice. "Hey, birds, here are cookies!" Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away. 

"Now we have no more cookies to eat," said Toad sadly. 

"Not even one."

"Yes," said Frog, "but we have lots and lots of willpower." 

"You may keep it all, Frog," said Toad. "I am going home now to bake a cake."  

Ray & Anne Ortlund, Renewal, Navpress, 1989,  p. 73-74.

Questions Christians Should Ask Themselves

We can supplement our accountability to others by reading slowly through literature designed to challenge our Christian maturity. Consider, as an example, these questions related to sexual purity that I had to read carefully as I read Kent Hughes' Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome:

1. Are we being desensitized by the present evil world? Do things that once shocked us now pass us by with little notice? Have our sexual ethics slackened?

2. Where do our minds wander when we have no duties to perform?

3. What are we reading? Are there books or magazines or files in our libraries that we want no one else to see? 

4. What are we renting at the local video stores? How many hours do we spend watching TV? How many adulteries did we watch last week? How many murders? How many did we watch with our children?

5. How many chapters of the Bible did we read last week?

Paul Borthwick, Leading the Way, Navpress, 1989, p. 120-121.