Good morning, My Dear Friends,
On a rainy evening in 1891, an 18-year-old student at Stanford University scheduled a concert for the university community. The boy had enrolled at the university with little money. Orphaned at the age of eight, he was forced to do odd jobs to pay his tuition. On that rainy evening, the young man had scheduled the famous pianist, Ignace Paderewski, for a performance. The audience was so small that night the boy was unable to meet expenses. When the great pianist discovered the boy’s predicament, the musician gave back his fee.
Years later, according to historian Norman Beasley, Paderewski was serving as the premier of Poland. He came to his office in one of the most difficult hours of European history. In the aftermath of the First World War, Europe was at the point of starvation. Three thousand miles away in the United States, a man was raising funds for food distribution across the world. The day came when this man arrived in Poland and went straight to the home of the premier. “Mr. Premier,” said the man, “I have come to assist the starving people of Poland. Consider this as partial payment for the fee you canceled for me more than thirty years ago at Stanford University.” This remarkable true story is from the life of Herbert Hoover.
Within this parable there is a truth that runs all the way to the center of creation. There is a principle here we all need to keep in focus. Life really does have a layaway plan. Somewhere, sometime, the seeds we sow come to harvest. Real living is usually not reached by the easy road. You can climb the stormy heights only if stamina is built during days when the sun is shining. The musician is at work long before the day of the great concert. The business leader achieves success not so much through fate or luck but by sound planning and thorough preparation. People with great faith hammer out their creeds long before that faith is needed.
Wise, indeed, is the man or woman who has learned that the contents of the storehouses of mind, heart, and muscle can be held in reserve for future use. Life truly does have a layaway plan. Have you considered lately what your storehouses really contain?
When opportunity comes, may we always be found ready,
Bruce Jones, Pastor
Imagine Church
