When you're seven years old, you think you are as big as any man in the hayfield.
So it was one summer when Little John was helping his dad in the hayfield. Little John's dad had no hay bailer so the hay was pitched up onto the wagon, then hauled to the barn to be put in the barn loft.
"Okay, Son, I'll pitch this hay up there and you stack it toward the middle and tromp it down."
So, while Dad pitched hay up with the pitchfork, Little John wrapped his arms around it, moved it to the middle of the wagon and tromped it down. As the hay stack grew, Little John stacked higher and higher stomping and stomping until the stack was at least six foot high. He sized up the situation and thought he had done a fine job.
"Okay, Son, let's get this load to the barn."
So, Little John sat down in the middle of the hayload for the ride to the barn.
What neither had realized was that while the hay was being loaded, the wagon itself was not setting on level ground. As the team of horses pulled the wagon and headed for the road, the wagon tilted the opposite way and, down came Little John tumbling to the ground, hay spilling on top of him!
"Well, Son, look what we've done," his dad said, laughing, "Get yourself up and let's get this team and wagon to a level place so we can start stackin' that hay again."
Little John was fortunate that day. He was fortunate that if he was going to fall, he fell on soft ground and not a road. Little John had stacked the hay right but his dad had failed to take into consideration the pitfalls that were there from the beginning; that wagon on unlevel ground.
How many of us look at something we want to do and don't consider the consequences? How many never consider the consequences of that first drink? How many never consider the consequences of that flirtatous move in the office? How many never consider that driving well beyond the speed limit or texting while driving could lead to death? There are many things we as Believers need to consider in our daily walk with the Lord. Unlike restacking the hay, too many times we are never given that second chance.
"There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death." Proverbs 14:12 NKJV
So it was one summer when Little John was helping his dad in the hayfield. Little John's dad had no hay bailer so the hay was pitched up onto the wagon, then hauled to the barn to be put in the barn loft.
"Okay, Son, I'll pitch this hay up there and you stack it toward the middle and tromp it down."
So, while Dad pitched hay up with the pitchfork, Little John wrapped his arms around it, moved it to the middle of the wagon and tromped it down. As the hay stack grew, Little John stacked higher and higher stomping and stomping until the stack was at least six foot high. He sized up the situation and thought he had done a fine job.
"Okay, Son, let's get this load to the barn."
So, Little John sat down in the middle of the hayload for the ride to the barn.
What neither had realized was that while the hay was being loaded, the wagon itself was not setting on level ground. As the team of horses pulled the wagon and headed for the road, the wagon tilted the opposite way and, down came Little John tumbling to the ground, hay spilling on top of him!
"Well, Son, look what we've done," his dad said, laughing, "Get yourself up and let's get this team and wagon to a level place so we can start stackin' that hay again."
Little John was fortunate that day. He was fortunate that if he was going to fall, he fell on soft ground and not a road. Little John had stacked the hay right but his dad had failed to take into consideration the pitfalls that were there from the beginning; that wagon on unlevel ground.
How many of us look at something we want to do and don't consider the consequences? How many never consider the consequences of that first drink? How many never consider the consequences of that flirtatous move in the office? How many never consider that driving well beyond the speed limit or texting while driving could lead to death? There are many things we as Believers need to consider in our daily walk with the Lord. Unlike restacking the hay, too many times we are never given that second chance.
"There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death." Proverbs 14:12 NKJV
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