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Hope and hilarity By Chuck Terrill Last Updated: March 30, 2017 A long time for worship Some ideas get stuck in your mind. You can't remember when you first heard them, or whom you heard them from. Such is the silly story that I share with you this week. Two brothers, lifelong New Yorkers, grew tired of city life. They bought acreage in Texas, sight unseen. They decided to farm their remote property. "Live off the land," they said, "just like our ancestors did." They felt that purchasing a mule was the first order of business, so they visited a neighboring farm to ask about procuring a mule. Their neighbor didn't have a mule and didn't know where they might purchase one. In the conversation with the formerly urban brothers, the Texan determined they knew nothing about farm life. As the brothers were about to leave, they spotted a pile of watermelons stacked up next to the barn. "What are those?" one of the brothers asked. "Those are mule eggs," said the Texan with a wry grin. "You take one of those home, wait for it hatch, and you'll have yourself a mule." The New Yorkers were overjoyed at their good fortune and negotiated a fair price for their mule egg. They put it in the bed of their rickety pickup and set out for home on a very bumpy, rural county road. They hit an unexpected deep hole, and the mule egg bounced out of the bed and landed kersplat on the gravel. The driver saw the mule egg, lying on the road, in his rearview mirror. He slammed on the brakes, turned the old truck around and headed back to the scene of the accident. Meanwhile, a large jackrabbit could not believe his good fortune. He hopped into the center of the mess and began to eat. The city slickers pulled up and exclaimed, "Our mule egg has hatched!" The long-eared jack hopped away, with the men in hot pursuit. The rabbit would run fast for a few minutes, then stop, and eye his pursuers. When they got too close, the rabbit would take off again, then stop and wait for the men to catch up. There was no way the brothers were going to catch that rabbit. Finally, they fell, together, in the road, totally exhausted. The rabbit hopped off into the distance. "Well," said one of the men, "I guess we lost our mule." His brother nodded grimly. "You are right," he said. "But to tell you the truth, I'm not sure I wanted to plow that fast, anyway." Christian maturity can seem just as elusive. The closer a believer gets to the goal of the upward call in Christ Jesus, the greater the realization that there is still a long way to go. It is tempting to say, "I'm not sure I want to plow that fast, anyway," and give up. Keep the faith. Keep pushing forward. Your miracle is just around the corner. "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6) Chuck Terrill is pastor of Valley Center Christian Church. Reach him at chuck@valleycenterchristianchurch.org or 755-1233. |
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