The Story Of Trusting In The Rock

This short story illustrates that there is one who is steadfast, trustworthy, and will not be shaken.

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The coast off of Cornwall England has seen many shipwrecks over the centuries. One night, many years ago a ship was beaten by the fierce Atlantic waves until it broke up. All were lost except a young Irish boy, Emmet. He floundered on the waves until in the dark he was slammed against a jagged rock. He clutched the rock and held on throughout the long night as the storm waves pounded against him over and over,

The sun came up as the storm spent itself out leaving a clear blue sky. Coastal townsfolk searched the beaches and shore for any survivors but found none until someone looked across the waters with a captain's telescope. Through the lens, they saw Emmit's limp form on the distant waters still clutching to the rugged rock.

Quickly a rescue boat was launched, and the men leaned their backs against the oars to reach him. Emmet was almost dead from the storm and the icy seas. The rescuers carefully brought him onto the boat and took him to the shore.

After a few hours, Emmet had been warmed up and given hot food. His recovery from the ordeal was quick and complete.

Someone asked him, "Son, didn't you tremble out there on that rock in all that storm?"

Emmet replied in classic Irish manner, "Tremble? Aye, I did tremble, but do you know the rock never trembled once all night long?"

Christ is like that rock If you have trust in him you will find that he is firm and secure, no matter what storms may enter your life.

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(c)Adron Dozat 4/9/17

The Tale of The Child on The Stormy Sea.

The Child Who Slept On The Stormy Sea illustrates faith in the Father's care and ability. It is based on a true story.

THE TALE OF THE CHILD ON THE STORMY SEA 

A great storm billowed across the north Atlantic one black night. The gale pounded ships on the open sea like a fist. The ocean waves rose like mountains and then vanished beneath the ship's hulls, letting them careen down to splash in the foot of the next wave.

The Dutch May was sailing from England to New York. The waves swept across the side of the ship, obscuring its bow in the foam. Everything that was not secured went crashing from side to side as the ship pitched to and fro.

The roar of the storm and the crashing of cargo awoke the passengers. Fearful faces looked through the porthole glass to see only confusion and darkness. Many passengers donned life jackets and stumbled about in the corridor, expecting an order to the lifeboats.

Only one person slept despite the tossing of the ship. Bonny, the eight-year-old daughter of the captain, was sleeping soundly in her cabin. One of the passengers shook her.

"Bonny, wake up." The worried woman said.

"What's the matter?" Bonny responded, hardly awake.

The woman was unsure what to say to the girl. "There is an awful storm, and it seems the ship is in great danger."

Bonny half rose on one elbow. "Is papa on deck?"

"Yes, child, but the storm is so great."

"But, Papa is on deck, so I am going back to sleep." She dropped her head back on the pillow and, confident in her father, was asleep a moment later.


May we learn the same childlike faith in our Heavenly Father.

"In peace, I will lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

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Faith In The Father.

This short story is a colorful illustration of having faith that conflicts with sight and logic.

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FAITH IN THE FATHER

Many years ago some scientist from the royal society in England embarked on a world tour to find rare flowers that were at risk to be extinct. They traveled the world and found examples of endangered flowers. Near the end of their travels, they were in the mountains of Switzerland. In the mountains, they had hoped to find the rarest flower. They proceeded deeper and deeper into the mountains, staying in remote villages and small mountain communities. One morning they hiked for several hours into the mountains until they were confronted with a precipice of dizzying heights.

"Oh, My!" One scientist exclaimed as he looked over the ledge.

"What is it Sir, Rodney?"

"Wickham, bring my field glass and look there."

After looking through the field glass he gave it to another scientist. "What do you see there?"

"My word! As rare and precious a specimen as we've seen yet."

Far below on the sheer side of the cliff was a rare alpine rose. The men were beside themselves with frustration since it would be the crowning jewel of their collection but it was many yards beyond reach.

A village boy came by on his way to the sheep pasture higher up. Sir Rodney called him over. "Young man, let us tie a rope around your waist so we can lower you over the side of the precipice. If you will carefully dig up that plant for us without doing it any harm, we will pay you well."

The boy thought for a moment took a look over his shoulder and ran away.

"Well that is that." said Sir Rodney.

"Such a loss." Another said, "Perhaps we will find another further up the pass that we may reach."

"Will no one dare the climb?" Pleaded Wickham.

As the men discussed what they should do the boy came trotting back. Some distance behind him was an old gray-haired man. The feeble man walked on bowed legs with the help of a cane which he held in a bony hand.

"Sir," The boy said. "This is my Papa. If you let Papa hold the rope I will go over the edge and get the plant for you."

The men looked at each other and at the old man. "Are you sure you don't want one of us to hold the rope. We are much younger and more strong."

"But he is my Father! He will hold me right good."


Jesus said: My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." John 10:29

(c) Adron Dozat 2015

The Human Fly. The Sad But True Story of Putting Your Faith in The Wrong Thing.

In the early decades of the twentieth century many dare-devils amazed crowds with stunts that seemed impossible and to demand superhuman courage. One such was the Amazing Human Fly.

The Amazing Human Fly would climb buildings in major cities while crowds below gasped in disbelief. He had incredibly strong fingers and a super refined sense of balance. He would climb the tallest buildings using his fingers to search for the smallest ledge or crevice in the stonework and masonry. Starting early in the day he would climb higher and higher to the top of the dizzying heights. The crowds would strain to see his shrinking figure far above as he felt his way over ledges and sought cracks in the walls to grasp.

One day The Amazing Human Fly began his most daring climb. It was the newest and tallest building in the city. He climbed through the morning going higher and higher gaining height. He got smaller and smaller to the unaided eyes of the crowd below. Without stopping, he continued going over ledges and feeling for cracks. At noon he had almost reached the top.

Near the top, he looked over his head and saw an obstruction above him. The building was crowned with an overhanging ledge. He reached up and felt it, it was too wide to reach over. He began to creep along the face of the wall seeking a break in the overhang or something he could grasp that would bring him past it, but to no avail.

The afternoon wore on as he searched. Going down was not an option since he could not feel below him with fingers to find the cracks and edges. He peered searching for a way over the ledge. In the sun's glare he saw something; it was dangling and fluttering down from above the ledge. In the sun's glare he could not clearly make it out. He thought it must be a rope. He was exhausted, dehydrated and his muscles strained to the point of cramps, he could not hold out much longer. "Someone has lowered a rope." He thought. He reached for it but it was beyond reach past the ledge. There was only one thing he could do- he had to leap and grasp the rope. With a spring he bounded away from the wall and his hand grasped it and holding on to it he fell to the concrete far far below.

The crowd gathered around his body in morbid curiosity and saw he held in his hand a dust covered spider's web.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man. Psalm 118:8

(c) Adron Dozat

The Prison Warden Who Trusted the Prisoner

The Prison Warden
Who Trusted The Prisoner

I used this story to illustrate the confidence we can have in taking God at his word.  It was used to illustrate a Sunday School lesson. I hope you are inspired by it.
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Faith can be like the story of a man who in the 1930s was arrested for murder. It was kind of an accident. This man, I think, his name was Earl James, was robbing a grocery store. But he was not taking money- he was taking bread. His mother, younger brother, and sister were starving; it was the depression and a lot of people were out of work and hungry. He was so desperate he was trying to steal food to give to them. It was at night and the owner of the store came in and caught him. The owner of the store grabbed a pipe or wrench and attacked Earl. Now Earl was used to hard farm work and he was a big man and strong, so he had no trouble defending himself. But he lost his temper in the fight and went too far in defending himself and took the wrench or pipe and struck the store owner in the head and the man died. Earl full of remorse turned himself in. He couldn’t afford a lawyer and the state-appointed the cheapest lawyer to defend him. Earl had not finished the 3rd grade so the jury saw him as an ignorant, stupid, hillbilly; and figured the world was better off without him and found guilty of murder. In those days there were not the same laws as today- today he would have been charged with accidental homicide and the fact that it was not premeditated would have been taken into account and he would have been given a few years in prison. But in those days, there was just murder so he was given life in prison and this was considered very compassionate and progressive since the only other choice was hanging.

            Earl was put in a maximum security prison, it was a place for murders, gangsters, and hardened criminals.  Earl was not as stupid as everyone thought and finished learning to read with the few books that were passed among the prisoners. He got an idea to ask churches and community clubs to send books to the prison and help set up a library for the prisoners to use. He wrote letters to churches in the cities around the prison. The warden read all the letters he sent out and had Earl in his office to explain his ideas. They worked together and after two years had a little library in the prison.  Later Earl got an idea to have arts and crafts brought into the prison so the men can make things to better themselves and sell through a little gift shop where people visiting the prison could buy things. Again the warden read the letters and worked with Earl and it came about that a craft shop was set up and men learned to make pottery and paint and sketch. This improved morale in the prison. Earl had another idea and began to write letters to churches and clubs to ask if they would volunteer to run a class in the prison to teach prisoners to read and get a high school diploma. The warden continued to work with Earl and help his ideas come about. And a little class was started to help the prisoners get a basic education. There were other things that Earl accomplished but these were the most notable. He also studied the rats and mice in the prison and made some scientific discoveries that were groundbreaking about diseases in small mammals.

            Around 1962, there was a riot in the prison. Two of the guards were killed and their guns were taken. The men tried to escape the building but they were trapped inside. Other guards disappeared and it was thought they were hostages or killed too. The warden and some of the guards escaped the prison and surrounded it like a city under siege. The riot went on for days. The people in the city across the river could hear the sirens and gunshots inside. The governor called the National Guard to come and put down the riot. There were about 2,000 men inside the prison. The National Guard surrounded the prison with tanks and about 5000 soldiers. The orders the commanding general had was to use the tanks and blow a hole in the wall of the prison and force every prisoner into their cells- his orders said he could use whatever means and to kill any prisoners who resisted.  The general gave an ultimatum saying to surrender the weapons and return to the cells within one hour or else he would attack.

            Earl came to a window a half hour later, yelling for the warden. He told the warden that the riot was over the men were in their cells and that the men who started the riot got in a fight amongst themselves and they shot themselves.

            The warden said for Earl to throw out all the guns through the window.

            The window had broken glass so Earl tossed out one rifle and one pistol through the bars.

            The warden started to walk up to the prison and his guards follow behind them. The general started to shout for them to stop. 

           “You are crazy. That can’t be all the guns!  You still have missing guards inside who had guns. And there was an armory with guns and thousands of bullets if you go in you will be mown down.”

            The warden kept walking toward the prison across an open lot where there was no place to hide if there were shots. The General runs up to him and grabs him and shouts, "I’m ordering you to go back. If you go in there you will be killed then my men will assault this prison and this could be the biggest battle on US soil since the civil war."

            The warden stops and looks at him and says quietly. “That man is Earl James I have known him for 20 years and he has never lied to me. If he says those are all the guns then I believe him.” The warden walked across the lot in full view of hundreds of windows that could have had hundreds of guns pointing at him for all anybody knew, but he knew something they didn’t know he knew Earl.

            When the warden entered the prison it was as Earl had said. The prisoners had all returned to their cells. Those missing guards had managed to lock themselves in a deep part of the prison and had hidden the keys to the armory and no other guns were in the hands of the prisoners. No one else died that day.

            The warden knew Earl and knowing him he knew to trust him. Like the warden, we can walk across deadly thresholds and we have one we can trust to never lie to us- our Lord God.

(C)Adron Dozat

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The Three Little Piglet Generals and the Armaments Crisis (Ephesians 6:16)

(I introduced a lesson on the Shield of Faith from Ephesians 6:16 with this humorous "Parable" I hope you enjoy it and consider what makes up your own shield of faith).

There were these three little pigs who were the generals of the piglet armies. One night they were challenged by Canines Kahn, the wolf leader and his barbarian wolf hoard. During the night, Canines Kahn climbed the hill and by the light of the moon challenged the pigs saying, "Come out, come out and fight. We will stab you with our spears and slash you  with our swords and cut you all down."

That night the first pig general, General Ham-hocks, ordered the piglet army to make shields, all through the night hammers and saws could be heard as the carpenters and helpers made shields out of wood.  At dawn, the piglet army stood behind their wooden shields and faced the enemy. The bugle sounded and they rushed to battle and fought bravely but In the battle, the shields splintered and broke. Many piglets were wounded and fell so the piglet army fled to fight another day.

The next night the moon rose and the general Canines Kahn challenged the piglets. From his hill, he called, “Come out, come out, and fight. We will stab you with our spears and slash you with our swords and cut you all down."

The second general, General Bacon, ordered shields to be made. All night the workers labored and stretched lacquer hardened leather over frames, and at dawn, the piglet army faced their enemy. The bugle sounded the charge and the piglet army ran to battle the wolf hoard. They fought bravely again, and this time, the shields did not splinter they absorbed the impact of the blow but they were too flexible like springs and bent with a springiness caused the piglets to stumble and fall. Many were wounded and slain, so, the piglets fled to fight another day.

The next night the general. Canines Kahn climbed the hill and challenged the piglets again, he said, “Come out, come out, and fight. We will stab you with our spears and slash you with our swords and cut you all down."

The third piglet general, General Sausage, ordered shields to be made. All through the night smithies labored at the red hot iron forges with bellows pumping and hammers hammering on steel and they forged strong iron shields. At dawn, the piglet army carrying steel shields went out to face the enemy.  The bugle sounded and the piglets ran to battle.

The steel shields did not shatter or break and they did not flex and bend but they were too heavy to hold up for long and they slowed down the piglet warrior’s movement. Again many were wounded or slain so the piglets fled the field to fight another day.

The fourth night general Canines Kahn climbed the hill and by the light of the moon howled and challenged the piglets, he said, “Come out, come out and fight. We will stab you with our spears and slash you with our swords and cut you all down.”

This time, the piglet General Ham-hocks gathered all the shields and ordered new shields to be made out of the strongest elements of the others, and all during the night the army worked. The wood was cut very thin then cross laminated like plywood. Over the wood, they stretched leather that dried hard on the wood, and on the outer side they hammered a thin layer of metal. At dawn, the piglet army lined the valley floor and faced the enemy.

The piglet generals led their piglet army into battle. The shields were light enough to hold, were flexible to absorb the blow, they could not be pierced and did not split. The wolves saw that they were against a technologically superior force and sued for peace.

EPILOGUE

General Ham-hocks patented the shields and sold the shield composite technology to an emerging third world rabbet nation and bought himself an island off of the coast of Madrid where he wrote his memoirs.

Illustration for the shield of faith is made of many truths, Ephesians 6:16.

(C)Adron Dozat