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The story
is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of
eastern
Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning,
Grandpa was up early sitting at
the kitchen table reading
from his old worn-out Bible. His grandson, who wanted
to
be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he
could.
One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read
the Bible just like you but I
don't understand it, and
what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the
book. What good does reading the Bible do?"
The Grandfather quietly turned
from putting coal in the
stove and said, "Take this coal basket down to the
river
and bring back a basket of water." The boy did as he was
told, even
though all the water leaked out before he could
get back to the house. The
grandfather laughed and
said, "You will have to move a little faster next time,"
and sent him back to the river with the basket to try
again.
This time the boy ran faster, but again the
basket was empty before he returned
home. Out of
breath, he told his grandfather that it was "impossible to
carry
water in a basket," and he went to get a bucket
instead. The old man said, "I
don't want a bucket of
water; I want a basket of water. You can do this.
You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the
door to watch the boy
try again.
At this point, the
boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his
grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the
water would leak out
before he got far at all. The
boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he
reached
his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of
breath, he said,
"See Papa, it's useless!"
"So you
think it is useless?" the old man said. "Look at the
basket." The boy
looked at the basket and for the
first time he realized that the basket looked
different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it
was clean. "Son, that's what
happens when you read
the Bible. "You might not understand or remember
everything, but when you read it, it will change you from
the inside out."
Back To Haven On
Earth
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