Putting Feet to Faith
We sometimes find humor when we
hear stories of weak or limited faith. Many times we find ourselves in great sympathy
with the man who cried, “I believe Lord, help thou my unbelief!” Sometimes we
read the accounts of faithful men and wonder if we could ever have that kind of
faith. I found this account from the life of Hudson Taylor both amusing and
convicting.
When Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary,
first went to China, it was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of
cannibal islands the ship was becalmed, and it was slowly drifting shoreward
unable to go about and the savages were eagerly anticipating a feast. The
captain came to Mr. Taylor and besought him to pray for the help of God.
"I will," said Taylor, "provided you set your sails to catch the
breeze." The captain declined to make himself a laughing stock by
unfurling in a dead calm. Taylor said, "I will not undertake to pray for
the vessel unless you will prepare the sails." And it was done. While
engaged in prayer, there was a knock at the door of his stateroom. "Who is
there?" The captain's voice responded, "Are you still praying for
wind?" "Yes." "Well," said the captain, "you'd
better stop praying, for we have more wind than we can manage."
Great post Gregg,
ReplyDeleteYvonne.