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Planning
of Works
British sculptor Sir Jacob
Epstein was once visited in his studio by the eminent author and fellow Briton
George Bernard Shaw. The visitor noticed a huge block of stone standing in one
corner and asked what it was for.
"I don't know yet.
I'm still making plans."
Shaw was astounded.
"You mean you plan your work. Why
I change my mind several times a
day!"
"That's all very well
with a four-ounce manuscript
" replied the sculptor
"but not with a
four-ton block."
Today in the Word
April 5
1993.
During WWII General
McArthur asked an engineer how long it would take to build a bridge across a
certain river. "About three days." The engineer was told to go ahead
and draw up the plans. Three days later McArthur asked for the plans. The
engineer seemed surprised. "Oh
the bridge is ready. You can cross it now.
If you wants plans
you'll have to wait a little longer
we haven't finished
those yet."
Source Unknown.
Plan ahead
it was not
raining when Noah built the ark.
Source Unknown.
The class of noisy boys in
a German primary school was being punished by their teacher. They were assigned
the problem of adding together all the numbers from 1 to 100. The boys settled
down
scribbling busily on their slates -- all but one. This boy looked off
into space for a few moments
then wrote something on his slate and turned it
in. His was the only right answer.
When the amazed teacher
asked how he did it
the boy replied
"I thought there might be some short
cut
and I found one: 100 plus 1 is 101; 99 plus 2 is 101; 98 plus 3 is 101
and
if I continued the series all the way to 51 plus 50
I have 101 50 times
which is 5
050."
After this episode
the
young scholar received special tutoring from his teacher. The boy was Karl
Friedrich Gauss
the great mathematician of the 19th century.
Bits & Pieces
April 30
1992.
Hudson Taylor had definite
convictions about how God's work should be done. We can make our best plans and
try to carry them out in our own strength. Or we can make careful plans and ask
God to bless them. "Yet another way of working is to begin with God; to
ask His plans
and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His
purposes."
W. Wiersbe
Wycliffe
Handbook of Preaching and Preachers
p. 243.
Some years ago a young man
approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. "That
depends
" replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree."
The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed
the foreman exclaimed
"Start Monday!" Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday rolled by
and Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man
and said
"You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today."
Startled
he replied
"I thought you paid on Friday."
"Normally we
do
" answered the foreman
"but we're letting you go today because
you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from
first place on Monday to last on Wednesday."
"But I'm a hard
worker
" the young man objected. "I arrive first
leave last
and
even have worked through my coffee breaks!"
The foreman
sensing the
boy's integrity
thought for a minute and then asked
"Have you been
sharpening your ax?" The young man replied
"I've been working too
hard to take the time."
K. Hughes
Liberating
Ministry From The Success Syndrome
Tyndale.