Give`em Only What They Need

A young Minister and his family were transferred to a small rural community.  On the eve of his first Sunday, a major snow storm hit the area.  When he and his family awoke on Sunday morning, there was nearly three feet of snow outside. "Do you think we’ll be able to have a service today?" his wife asked.

 

"Quite honestly, no," he replied.  "I just don't see how anyone will be able to make it to church through all this snow."

Well, two minutes before the start of the scheduled service, a loud engine roar was heard in the distance.  When the family ran to the windows, they saw a farmer driving his big John Deere tractor and he was heading straight for the church. When the farmer arrived in front of the church, he jumped down off the seat.

The Minister ran out to greet him and the farmer said, "Reverend, I hope you don’t mind me driving my tractor this morning, but I just couldn’t make it through all this snow with my car."  Then the farmer realized the parking lot was empty and he was the only person at the church.

"Maybe you weren’t planning on holding services today?" he inquired.

 

"Not at all.  We are glad you are here, please come in.  We would be delighted to hold a service for you," replied the Minister.  As they walked into the church, his wife began to play the organ and his children, who were sitting in the choir loft, began to sing.

About an hour and a half later when the Minister finished his sermon, he walked to the back of the church, stood by the door and personally thanked the farmer for attending his first service in his new community.  Curious as to how he did, the Minister asked the farmer, "Did you enjoy the service this morning?" 

 

"I sure did," said Farmer Brown, "but to tell you the truth Preacher, it may have been just a bit too much."

"Too much?" replied the Minister.  "What do you mean, too much?"

 

"Well you see Preacher, I am just a simple farmer. The only responsibility I have is to feed my cows when they come home from the fields each night.  Once in a while after a big storm like this, only a few cows will make it back to the barn. Whenever that happens, I never ever give them the entire load of hay. I only give 'em what they need."

Buddies

There were two childhood buddies who went through kindergarten and all the way to college together.  When war broke, they joined the army together and asked to be assigned to the same unit.  One night while out on patrol, they were ambushed.   Bullets were flying everywhere.

Out of the darkness came a voice, "Harry, help me. Please Harry, help me."   Harry immediately recognized the voice of his childhood buddy, Bill. Harry asked the Captain for permission to go out and help his buddy.  

The Captain said, "No, I can't let you go.  I am already short-handed and I cannot afford to lose one more person. Besides, the way Bill sounds he is not going to make it."

Harry kept quiet, but again Bill's voice was heard in the darkness, "Harry, please come.  Please Harry come help me."  Harry sat quietly because the Captain had ordered him to.  Again and again Bill's voice was heard on the battlefield.

Harry couldn't contain himself any longer and ran over to the Captain, "Captain, that's my childhood buddy. I have to go and help."  The Captain reluctantly agreed and let Harry go.  Harry crawled through the darkness, reached Bill and dragged Bill back into their camp.  

When they arrived back at the camp Bill was dead.  Now the Captain was furious and shouted, "Didn't I tell you he was not going to make it?  He is dead.  You could have been killed and I could have lost a hand.  It was a mistake for you to go out there."

Harry replied, "No Captain, I did the right thing.  When I reached Bill he was still alive and his last words to me were 'Harry, I knew you would come.'"

A Reason To Play

Bobby was a football player; however, he wasn't a very good football player.  Though he had some talent, his heart just was not in the game.  He would often fumble the ball and avoid tackles whenever possible.  Worse yet, he would arrive late for practice wearing a dirty uniform and was always the last one to finish laps around the field.  On game days, Bobby was happy to just ride the bench. The other players, as well as all the coaches, wished Bobby would quit the team, but he never would.

It was a Wednesday afternoon, the day before the big homecoming game, and Bobby was once again waddling around the track in his dirty uniform doing his laps when a messenger ran out of the school office to hand the coach a piece of paper.  After reading the note, the coach blew his whistle and motioned for Bobby to come over.  "Bobby", the coach said.  "I have some bad news. Your father has had a heart attack and has been taken to the hospital.  You better go see him."

Bobby darted off the field, changed his clothes, then ran to the hospital.  Later that night, word was received that Bobby's father had passed away.  The next morning Bobby did not come to school; however, that evening about halfway through the first quarter of the big homecoming game, Bobby waddled out onto the field.

"Coach," Bobby asked,  "Can I play tonight?"  

 

Looking at Bobby in his dirty uniform the coach said, "No Bobby, you should be home with your family."

 

"Please  Coach.  I'd really like to play," Bobby repeated.  

 

The coach knew Bobby was a senior and this would probably be the last game he would ever play, but because this was the homecoming game with a rival school and the bleachers were packed with alumni, the coach said, "Maybe later, Bobby."

As the game progressed, it turned into a disaster for Bobby's team.  Though the other team had scored 21 points in the first half, Bobby's team was still at zero.  Following half-time, Bobby ran up to the coach and begged him to play.  

 

Again the coach replied, "Maybe later."  When the 4th quarter arrived, the opposing team made another touchdown making the score now 28 to 0.  There were only minutes to play.

Bobby, watching the clock, got up and ran over to the coach and asked, "Coach, can I please play?"  Realizing that nothing was going to change the outcome of the game at this point, the coach agreed and let Bobby go in.  Within minutes of being on the field, Bobby intercepted two passes and then tackled several opposing team players.  With only seconds to go, Bobby blocked and tackled so effectively his team was able to score its one and only touchdown.

Even though Bobby's team lost 28-7, it was obvious to all that Bobby was the most valuable player and, as a token of  appreciation, the team gave Bobby the game ball.  After most of the players had left the field, the coach walked over to Bobby and said, "Bobby you really surprised us tonight.  Why didn't you ever play like this before?" the coach asked.

With his head down, Bobby replied, "Coach, to tell you the truth, I never wanted to play football.  It was my Mom and Dad who wanted me to play." 

 

Puzzled, the coach said, "Bobby, I don't ever remember seeing your parents at any of our games."  

 

Bobby said "I know, Coach.  My Mom couldn't.  She died when I was 8."

"Well, what about your father?" the coach asked.  "If he wanted you to play, why didn't he ever come to any of the games to watch you play?"

Who Is Your Daddy?

A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, when they stopped at a small country diner for breakfast.   While waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with each diner.  The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope that guy doesn't come over here."  But sure enough, the white-haired man did come over to their table.

"Where are you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice.

 

"Oklahoma," they answered. 

 

"Great to have you here in Tennessee," the stranger said ... "What do you do for a living?" 

 

"I teach at a seminary," he replied. 

 

"Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you?  Well, in that case, I've got a really great story for you."  And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple from Oklahoma. 

 

The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great!  Just what I need - another preacher story!"
The man started, "See that mountain over there? (pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother.   He had a hard time growing up in these parts, because every place he went, people always asked him the same question, 'Hey boy, who's your daddy?'  Whether at school, the grocery store or the drug store, people would ask 'Who's your daddy?'"

"The boy often avoided going places just to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?'   A new preacher arrived in town and one Sunday as the young boy was going out of church with the crowd, the new preacher, not knowing anything about the young boy, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?'"

"The whole church got deathly quiet and the preacher could feel that every eye in the church was watching as if now they  would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy?'  Sensing this awkward situation around him and how uncomfortable the little boy looked, the preacher said 'Wait a minute!  I know who you are!  I can clearly see the family resemblance now.  You are a child of God.'   With that the preacher patted the little boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance.  Go out in the world and claim it.'"

"The little boy, for the first time in a long time, smiled big and walked out of church that Sunday a changed person.  He was never the same again.  From that day forward whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a Child of God.''' 

The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, "Isn't that a great story?"  The professor and his wife were obviously moved and both responded that it really was a great story!   As the southern gentleman walked toward the door to leave, he turned to look back at the couple from Oklahoma and said, "You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!"  And with that he walked out of the diner.

The seminary professor and his wife were stunned by those final words.  When the waitress came to their table with their bill, the professor asked, "Do you know who that man was -- the one who just left our table?" 

 

The waitress grinned and said, "Of course.  Everybody down here knows him.  That's Ben Hooper.  He's the former Governor of the State of Tennessee!"

Ben Hooper (1870-1957) - Governor of Tennessee from 1911-1915

This great story is attributed to Dr. Fred Craddock, Pastor of Cherry Log Christian Church, Cherry Log, Georgia.

What's Her Name?

During John Johnson's second month of college, his professor gave the class a pop quiz.  John was a conscientious student who had breezed through all the questions until he read the last question.  The question was:

"What is the first name of the woman who cleans our school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. John had seen the cleaning woman several times.  She was tall, dark-haired and in her late 50's, but how in the heck would he know her name?   John walked up to the professor, handed in his paper leaving the last question blank, then returned to his seat.

A few minutes later another student raised his hand and asked the professor if the last question was actually going to count toward the grade? 

 "Absolutely," replied the professor.   "In your careers, you will meet many people. All in their own way are significant. They deserve your attention even if all you do is smile and say hello."

John never forgot that college pop quiz nor the lesson it hammered home.  The next day John made a point to walk up to the cleaning lady and introduce himself.  He learned her name was Dorothy and every day, from that day forward, he would say good morning to Dorothy as he entered his classroom.