Thur. Feb. 10

Today’s Proverb:

“Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches.” -Proverbs 10:4

Today’s Quote:  “Enough is as good as a feast.” -John Heywood

Unused Power

Manuel “Curt” Green was one of those country men who had never been anywhere, nor desired to, until World War I broke out. He traveled across, as he called it, “The Big Pond” to France in the “Great War” to end all wars.

After the war ended, he returned to Dry Creek and probably never traveled over a hundred miles from home for the rest of his life.

Growing up, every time I would see Curt Green he was invariably driving his old Ford tractor, pulling a homemade trailer full of dogs. I would see him along the highway or at Ryan Harper’s store. The dogs, usually five or six of them, would be yapping, barking, and having the time of their lives.

On this ancient tractor he never traveled much over ten miles per hour. It was fine sport for David Cole and me to hide our bicycles under a bridge and wait for him to pass. Then we’d pedal furiously and pass him up. He’d chew us out, but it was too much fun not to do again.

Later in life, Curt Green bought a new vehicle: a light green 1969 Datsun truck. This was the first of the small pickup trucks. These trucks were made fun of by country men, both young and old as “made out of Japanese tin cans.” Little did we know that these foreign vehicles would one day be the best made and most expensive available on the market. (Datsun is the company that later became Nissan.)

Curt Green’s truck had a five speed manual transmission, but I never saw him get out of second gear. He was comfortable with going the same speed he’d always gone on his tractor.

He still hauled his dogs, only now they rode in the truck bed. We still passed him up on our bicycles, except that we felt like it was more of a feat due to his mode of travel being a truck rather than a tractor.

So in the remaining years of his driving life, Curt Green puttered along in his truck… never getting out of second gear when he had five… and never topping over twenty miles per hour in a truck that could go ninety.

 

As I think about Curt Green and his truck, I believe there’s a life application – As followers of Jesus we have been given a promise of power. Power to live victoriously, power to overcome as He overcomes through us. This is so clearly presented in John 15 where Jesus tells His followers:

“Without me, you can do nothing.”

Now we can do things, even plenty of good things, in our own power. But to do things that change lives and affect our eternity, it must be God’s power working in us, and through us.

As Christians, our job is simply to be a conduit for the “Living Water.” Our job as a pipeline for carrying God’s gospel is clear.

Quote for the day