An Old Farmer's Advice:

*Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.

*Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.

*Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor..

* Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.

* Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.

* Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.

* Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

* It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

*You cannot unsay a cruel word.

* Every path has a few puddles.

*When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

*The best sermons are lived, not preached.

*Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen
anyway.

*Don't judge folks by their relatives.

*Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

*Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back,
you'll enjoy it a second time.

*Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't bothering you none.

*Timing has a lot to do with the success of a rain dance.

* If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop
diggin'.

* Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

* The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with,
watches you from the mirror every morning.

*Always drink upstream from the herd.

*Good judgment comes from experience... and a
lot of that comes from bad judgment.

* Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it
back in.

* If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try
orderin' somebody else's dog around.

* Live simply, love generously, care deeply, and speak kindly. Leave
the rest to God.
--
Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.

Title: I Heard a Still Voice

"There was silence, and I heard a still voice" (Job 4:16, margin).

A score of years ago, a friend placed in my hand a book called True Peace.
It was an old mediaeval message, and it had but one thought--that God was
waiting in the depths of my being to talk to me if I would only get still
enough to hear His voice.

I thought this would be a very easy matter, and so began to get still. But
I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my
ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could
hear nothing but their noise and din.

Some were my own voices, my own questions, some my very prayers. Others
were suggestions of the tempter and the voices from the world's turmoil.

In every direction I was pulled and pushed and greeted with noisy
acclamations and unspeakable unrest. It seemed necessary for me to listen
to some of them and to answer some of them; but God said,

"Be still, and know that I am God." Then came the conflict of thoughts for
tomorrow, and its duties and cares; but God said, "Be still."

And as I listened, and slowly learned to obey, and shut my ears to every
sound, I found after a while that when the other voices ceased, or I
ceased to hear them, there was a still small voice in the depths of my
being that began to speak with an inexpressible tenderness, power and
comfort.

As I listened, it became to me the voice of prayer, the voice of wisdom,
the voice of duty, and I did not need to think so hard, or pray so hard,
or trust so hard; but that "still small voice" of the Holy Spirit in my
heart was God's prayer in my secret soul, was God's answer to all my
questions, was God's life and strength for soul and body, and became the
substance of all knowledge, and all prayer and all blessing: for it was
the living GOD Himself as my life, my all.

It is thus that our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord, and we go
forth to life's conflicts and duties like a flower that has drunk in,
through the shades of night, the cool and crystal drops of dew. But as dew
never falls on a stormy night, go the dews of His grace never come to the
restless soul. --A. B. Simpson


This classic devotional is the unabridged edition of
Streams in the Desert. This first edition was published
in 1925 and the wording is preserved as originally
written. Connotations of words may have changed over the
years and are not meant to be offensive.

T H E W H I P P I N G



There was a school with a class of students that no teacher had been able to handle. Two or three teachers had been run off from this school in one year by the unruly students.

A young man, just out of college, heard about the class and applied to the school.

The principal asked the young man, 'Do you know what you are asking for? No one else has been able to handle these students. You are just asking for a terrible beating'. After a few moments of silent prayer, the young man looked at the principal and said, 'Sir, with your consent I accept the challenge. Just give me a trial basis.'

The next morning the young man stood before the class. He said to the class, 'Young people, I came here today to conduct school. But I realize I can't do it by myself. I must have your help.'

One big boy they called Big Tom, in the back of the room whispered to his Buddies, 'I won't need any help. I can lick that little bird all by myself.'

The young teacher told the class that if they were to have school, there would have to be some rules to go by. But he also added that he would allow the students to make up the rules and that he would list them on the

blackboard. This was certainly different, the students thought!

One young man suggested 'NO STEALING.' Another one shouted 'BE ON TIME FOR CLASS. ' Pretty soon they had 10 rules listed on the board.

The Teacher then asked the class what the punishment should be for breaking these rules. 'Rules are no good unless they are enforced', he said. Someone in the class suggested that if the rules were broken, they should receive 10 licks with a rod across their back with their coat off. The teacher thought that this was pretty harsh, so he asked the class if they would stand by this punishment. The class agreed.

Everything went along pretty good for two or three days... Then Big Tom came in one day very upset. He declared that someone had stolen his lunch. After talking with the students, they came to the conclusion that little Timmy had stolen Big Tom's lunch.. Someone had seen little Timmy with Big Tom's lunch! The teacher called little Timmy up to the front of the room. Little Timmy admitted he had taken Big Tom's lunch.

So the teacher asked him, 'Do you know the punishment?

Little Timmy nodded that he did. 'You must remove your coat,' the teacher instructed....

The little fellow had come with a great big coat on. Little Timmy said to the teacher, 'I am guilty and I am willing to take my punishment, but please don't make me take off my coat.'

The teacher reminded little Timmy of the rules and punishments and again told him he must remove his coat and take his punishment like a man. The little fellow started to unbutton that old coat. As he did so, the teacher saw he did not have a shirt on under the coat. And even worse, he saw a frail and bony frame hidden beneath that coat. The teacher asked little Timmy why

he had come to school without a shirt on. Little Timmy replied, 'My daddy's dead and my mother is very poor. I don't have but one shirt, and my mother is washing it today. I wore my big brother's coat so that I could keep warm.'

The young teacher stood and looked at the frail back with the spine protruding against the skin, and his ribs sticking out. He wondered how he could lay a rod on that little back and without even a shirt on... Still, he knew he must enforce the punishment or the children would not obey the rules. So he drew back to strike little Timmy . Just then Big Tom stood up and came down the aisle. He asked, 'Is there anything that says that I can't take little Timmy 's whipping for him?'

The teacher thought about it and agreed. With that Big Tom ripped his coat off and stooped and stood over little Timmy at the desk. Hesitatingly the teacher began to lay the rod on that big back. But for some strange reason after only five licks that old rod just broke in half.. The young teacher buried his face in his hands and began to sob.

He heard a commotion and looked up to find not even one dry eye in the room. Little Timmy had turned and grabbed Big Tom around the neck apologizing to him for stealing his lunch. Little Timmy begged Big Tom to forgive him. He told Big Tom that he would love him till the day he died for taking his whipping for him.

Aren't you glad that Jesus took our whipping for us? That He shed His precious blood on Calvary so that you and I can have eternal life in Glory with Him? We are unworthy of the price He paid for us, but aren't you glad He loves us that much?

This is a story everyone needs to read. So if you know anyone else who may be blessed by this story, please pass it on.

May God bless you, and keep you safe... Don't tell the Lord how big the problem is, tell the problem how Great the Lord is!