Enthusiam without commitment
I heard a cute story that puts more light on this theme.
A plea went out for folks to help with a breakfast that was to be given to honor an expected guest. The hen said, "?I will give the eggs? and the pig said,? I will provide the ham.? The hen made a contribution to the meal whereas the pig made a commitment.
The spring of 1967 found Ruth and I living in Nome, Alaska. I was teaching math in the high school and Ruth was busy nurturing two young boys. In addition to my day job I had a night job teaching adult education. I had some Eskimo adults who were preparing to take their GED later that spring and it was my job to bring them up to speed in their math skills. The classes were from 7 to 10 PM with a half hour break somewhere in there. I must confess that some of those breaks dragged on a little especially when they started telling me stories.
I had a man in my class who was a janitor in the high school. He was in his middle 40's and had lived most of his life in an Eskimo village. He grew up without the benefit of the modern conveniences that they know today, like electricity, motor powered vehicles, alcohol, and welfare.
I can still remember him telling me a story about whale hunting. Back in those days the Eskimos hunted the whale in boats that were constructed with Walrus skins stretched over driftwood frames. They called them Umiaks or skin boats. They were about 25 feet long and could hold around a dozen men. I saw several of them when Ruth and I visited the Diomede Islands. Incidentally from that location, one can see two continents, two oceans, and two days. The continents are North America and Asia, the Pacific and Artic Oceans, and looking across the International Date Line you can see tomorrow.
The whale that the men were hunting sleep on the surface and when they are spotted the men paddle out to them in their Umiaks. They run about a ton to the foot and adults run up to 60 to 70 feet long. There could be 5 foot of whale sticking out of the water and the technique is to paddle right up to them and the Eskimo in the bow must stand up with a harpoon in his hand and stick in near the backbone of the whale. They had an explosive charge in the harpoon tip, which would go off when the harpoon was embedded near the spine. The whale was then paralyzed and subsequently killed. The boats would then tie a rope around the tail and slooooowly tow them to shore for a winter's supply of meat for the whole village.
My Eskimo student said that the men would take a few of the younger boys with them for training purposes. The boys would get caught up in the excitement as the whale was spotted and would paddle like crazy. As they approached the snoozing whale their enthusiasm waned somewhat and as they got right up to the whale they were actually paddling backwards. Their excitement had deflated as they realized that with one flip of his tail all of the crew would be swimming, or trying to learn to swim. I never met one who knew how to swim since they don't live close to water that ever gets much more than 40 degrees.
As I have thought about that story over the years I go back to the book of Luke. In chapter 9, starting with verse 57 we read this account. They were walking along the road and someone said to Jesus, "?Jesus. I will follow you wherever you go.?
Jesus then said, "?Follow me.? Then, we start hearing the excuses, "?please let me wait until my sick father passes on so I can bury him.? Another said, "?Please let me go back and say Good-by to my family.?
Jesus then tells them that real commitment means not looking back or reconsidering the commitment that you made, but following no matter where He leads or what He asks of you.
Jesus said, "Iwill never leave you or forsake you!" That's commitment. Does he expect less from us?
I heard a cute story that puts more light on this theme.
A plea went out for folks to help with a breakfast that was to be given to honor an expected guest. The hen said, "?I will give the eggs? and the pig said,? I will provide the ham.? The hen made a contribution to the meal whereas the pig made a commitment.
The spring of 1967 found Ruth and I living in Nome, Alaska. I was teaching math in the high school and Ruth was busy nurturing two young boys. In addition to my day job I had a night job teaching adult education. I had some Eskimo adults who were preparing to take their GED later that spring and it was my job to bring them up to speed in their math skills. The classes were from 7 to 10 PM with a half hour break somewhere in there. I must confess that some of those breaks dragged on a little especially when they started telling me stories.
I had a man in my class who was a janitor in the high school. He was in his middle 40's and had lived most of his life in an Eskimo village. He grew up without the benefit of the modern conveniences that they know today, like electricity, motor powered vehicles, alcohol, and welfare.
I can still remember him telling me a story about whale hunting. Back in those days the Eskimos hunted the whale in boats that were constructed with Walrus skins stretched over driftwood frames. They called them Umiaks or skin boats. They were about 25 feet long and could hold around a dozen men. I saw several of them when Ruth and I visited the Diomede Islands. Incidentally from that location, one can see two continents, two oceans, and two days. The continents are North America and Asia, the Pacific and Artic Oceans, and looking across the International Date Line you can see tomorrow.
The whale that the men were hunting sleep on the surface and when they are spotted the men paddle out to them in their Umiaks. They run about a ton to the foot and adults run up to 60 to 70 feet long. There could be 5 foot of whale sticking out of the water and the technique is to paddle right up to them and the Eskimo in the bow must stand up with a harpoon in his hand and stick in near the backbone of the whale. They had an explosive charge in the harpoon tip, which would go off when the harpoon was embedded near the spine. The whale was then paralyzed and subsequently killed. The boats would then tie a rope around the tail and slooooowly tow them to shore for a winter's supply of meat for the whole village.
My Eskimo student said that the men would take a few of the younger boys with them for training purposes. The boys would get caught up in the excitement as the whale was spotted and would paddle like crazy. As they approached the snoozing whale their enthusiasm waned somewhat and as they got right up to the whale they were actually paddling backwards. Their excitement had deflated as they realized that with one flip of his tail all of the crew would be swimming, or trying to learn to swim. I never met one who knew how to swim since they don't live close to water that ever gets much more than 40 degrees.
As I have thought about that story over the years I go back to the book of Luke. In chapter 9, starting with verse 57 we read this account. They were walking along the road and someone said to Jesus, "?Jesus. I will follow you wherever you go.?
Jesus then said, "?Follow me.? Then, we start hearing the excuses, "?please let me wait until my sick father passes on so I can bury him.? Another said, "?Please let me go back and say Good-by to my family.?
Jesus then tells them that real commitment means not looking back or reconsidering the commitment that you made, but following no matter where He leads or what He asks of you.
Jesus said, "Iwill never leave you or forsake you!" That's commitment. Does he expect less from us?
posted by Jim Burton at 7:46 AM
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