life

-taken from my walk in Balloch country park-

For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. (Job 5:6-7)
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Uncle Bernie grew up on a farm in Canada. When he was four years old his dad woke him up at 3:00 in the morning. "Cup" his dad said, "get up. We have to go down to the barn."

Cup was his father's nickname for Uncle Bernie. In German it means "the head" and in his family it was his father's way of calling Bernie "The Smart One".
When they got to the barn a mare was giving birth to a foal. "Cup, what do you see?" his father asked.

"I see a momma horse having a baby," Bernie replied. The mare was in trouble and his father had to reach in and turn the foal. "Cup, what do you see?" his father asked. "I see a baby horse coming out."

"Cup what do you see?" he asked again. "I see a baby horse shivering on the straw."

"Cup, what do you see now?" his father asked. "I see the baby horse trying to stand up and the momma horse licking it."

"Cup, what do you see?" his father continued to prod. "I see the baby horse struggling to stay on its feet."

"Cup, what do you see now?" he asked. "I see the baby horse standing on weak legs and the mother nuzzling it."

"Cup, what does it mean?" he asked. "Daddy, I don't know."

"Cup, it means that where there is struggle there is life," he answered.
Where There is Struggle There is Life. Those words sunk into me as Uncle Bernie finished the story.

Source: Embrace the Struggle by Tom Ziglar
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I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalms 50:9-10)

Not long after Dallas Seminary was founded in 1942, bankruptcy knocked at its doors. By noon on one particular day, every creditor threatened foreclosure. That morning, the founders of the Seminary met to pray in president Lewis Sperry Chafer's office. They asked God to provide the needed funds.

Harry Ironside was part of that prayer meeting. When it was his turn to pray, he prayed in his characteristically pointed manner: "Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money."

Meanwhile, as these men were praying, into the seminary's business office came a tall Texan. Addressing a secretary, he said, "I just sold two carloads of cattle in Fort Worth. I've been trying to make a business deal go through and it won't work, and I feel that God is compelling me to give this money to the seminary. I don't know if You need it or not, but here's the check."

Well aware of the seriousness of the seminary's financial situation, and knowing that it was for that purpose the founders were gathered in prayer, the secretary took the check to the door of the president's office and timidly knocked. When she finally got a response, Chafer took the check out of her hand and stared at it with amazement. The amount matched the exact size of the seminary's debt. Looking at the signature on the check, he recognized the name of the cattle rancher.

Turning to Harry Ironside, he said, "Harry, God sold the cattle!"

Source: Howard Hendricks in Stories for the Heart compiled by Alice Gray