Tag Archives: anecdotes

Help Yourself

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There are those who ask for help and when it comes they turn it down. It really hurts to see this happen and makes the people offering help frustrated in their attempts. It reminds me of the story of the drowning man:

A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help.

Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I can save you.”

The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me.”

So the rowboat went on.

Then a motorboat came by. “The fellow in the motorboat shouted, “Jump in, I can save you.”

To this the stranded man said, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”

So the motorboat went on.

Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, “Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety.”

To this the stranded man again replied, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”

So the helicopter reluctantly flew away.

Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, “I had faith in you but you didn’t save me, you let me drown. I don’t understand why!”

To this God replied, “I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”

I might add here: “God helps those who help themselves“, or at least help the people who are trying to help them.

Flood. Man on the roof of his house

“Run For Your Lives!”

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Here is an awakening anecdote as given to us by Matthew Ruttan in his March 30th devotional. He goes on to write:

  • The story in today’s “Up!” is told by Tony Campolo in Let Me Tell You A Story.

There’s a marine training facility called Parris Island. A young man signed up who was a bit out of step with the others. He was nice enough—but he just didn’t fit in. As a result he got picked on. A lot. 

In his barracks there were guys who were particularly mean. One of them came up with an idea to drop a disarmed hand grenade on the floor pretending like it was about to go off. Everyone would be in on the joke and know it was disarmed—everyone except the new guy. They figure he’d freak out and totally embarrass himself. 

So the next time they were all together someone out of view tossed in the disarmed grenade. “It’s a live grenade, it’s about to explode!”

But the young recruit, instead of running away, jumped on top of the grenade, hugged it to his stomach, and yelled, “Run for your lives! If you don’t you’ll be killed!” 

They all stood there, frozen in their own shame, marveling at what he was prepared to do for them without any regard for himself.  What they thought would be that young man’s moment of great embarrassment and humiliation turned out to be a moment of great self-sacrifice and glory.

Does this remind us of anyone? Hint: It was posted on Good Friday.

I enjoy Matthew’s daily devotionals and you can too at:

http://westminsterpc.us5.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d3d11829ab8f6afec1f211224&id=f17fa8cf60

Subtle Sarcasm

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Not only is Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) one of life’s more interesting characters, he is one of my favorite characters. My sister sent me this as an internet forward, and as soon as I read it I knew I had to share it. Such profundity!