Hitchiking

"I am standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me

I am stronger for their courage, I am wiser for their words

I am lifted by their longing for a fair and brighter future

I am grateful for their vision, for their toiling on this Earth

We are standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before us"

by Joyce Johnson Rouse

            In 1939, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, in an effort to build up the American Navy and the war effort, started building ships.  He built 747 ships used in WWII.  Later, Kaiser turned his efforts toward the building of cars known for the safety of their design.  His automobiles never caught on like those from Detroit.  Today, the Kaiser name is mostly associated with the Kaiser-Permanente Health Care system.  American automobile know-how has been handed down through several generations of the same families, predominated by the Ford family.  Engineering industrialists are usually more successful if they stick with their own areas of expertise.  In the many turns and twists, bumps and grinds, of life's journey, it is good to know who God created you to be, then be yourself.  You, as well as onlookers, know if you are in the area leading to your success.  You should enjoy your work.  Should control your thinking.  God first, family second, your enthusiasm for your work, next.  Too many allow addictions, hobbies, even the enjoyment of entertainment, to determine lifestyle.  Many of the ambitious politicians, get-rich-quick professionals, neglecting the most important areas of living.

            I am a dealer in antiquarian books and memorabilia, and I can tell you that jigsaw puzzles have become very much in demand.  A flaw with one manufacturer of puzzles showed a Hawaiian beach scene, but when the pieces were put together, the resulting photograph showed snow-capped mountains. glaciers of ice, and animals found in Alaska and the Arctic.  Someone had made a mistake with the photographs.  Some of the most bitter, disappointing, depressed people in the world are those who made a mistake in their vocations.

            One old preacher told this writer, "I have more engagements than I can fill, slowly killing myself in travel because I love what I do. IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR ANY CHURCH TO PAY ME TO PREACH. I WILL PAY THEM TO LISTEN."

            The bed is too short, the blanket is too narrow.  You can always tell if anyone is in a wrong profession; answered to the wrong calling.  What makes such preachers as Dwight L. Moody and Billy Graham stand out from the crowd?  You can tell that they believe in what they are selling.  They know their, ours, responsibility to do the work of Christ. "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called... There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;"  Ephesians 4:1-5)

            My great-grandfather, Elder P. T. Lucas, one of eastern North Carolina's great preachers wrote, 'I am tormented hearing the loss, those who never knew Christ wailing in the pits of hell."  This is why this man, wealthy land-owner, father of twelve children, traveling in horse and buggy, covered thousands of miles, establishing churches at a time when there was not one paved road, one telephone line, one power line in eastern North Carolina.  Most of the homes where he stayed, had never heard of inside plumbing

            The Christians responsibility to do the work of Christ is all God has on this earth.  Often, we cannot understand the people he has used to do his work.  It is almost impossible for us to imagine some women of the bible.  Think of Eve, first woman, wife of hen-pecked Adam; think of Sarah, Abraham's wife, who insisted on him having a child by her slave.  Think of Rebecca, wife of Isaac and her (mama's boy son), Jacob.  Think of Rachel - Leah (sisters), their maids; Jacob, through all of them, producing the 12 tribes of Israel.  Think of evil Jezebel, whose weak, sniveling husband, Ahab; a woman so mean that the dogs would not eat her hands; think of Potipather's wife, who attempted to seduce Joseph.  We could go on and on thinking of a long-suffering God and what he has done to accomplish his purpose.  If Bathsheba had not taken a bath on the roof at night, there probably would not have been a King Solomon.  If the Queen of Sheba had not traveled many miles to visit Solomon, there probably would not have been a Jewish settlement in Africa.

            Many of us learned that God knows what He is doing.  He knows how to use "bruised reeds" (Isaiah 42:3).  He knows how to knock a persecutor of the church off of a horse. (Acts 9:4) He knew how to mellow tempestuous Peter, the only disciple to walk on water. (Matthew 14:29)

            The glory of God's sovereign word, He never lets us forget that we stand on the shoulders of others. ("Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us"  Hebrews12:1)