|
When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
By C. E. McCartney
Between an aeroplane and every other form of transportation there is one great contrast. The horse and wagon, the automobile, the bicycle, the locomotive, the speedboat, and the great battleship-all can come to a standstill without danger, and they can all reverse their engines, or their power, and go back.
But there is no reverse about the engine of an airplane. It cannot back up. It dare not stand still. If it loses its momentum and forward-drives, then it crashes. The only safety for the aeroplane is in its forward and upward motion. The only safe direction for the Christian to take is forward and upward. If he stops, or if he begins to slip and go backward, that moment he is in danger.
An American, traveling in Syria, saw three native shepherds bring their flocks to the same brook, and the flocks drank there together. At length one shepherd arose and called out, "Men-ah! men-ah!," the Arabic for "follow me." His sheep came out of the common herd and followed him up the hillside. The next shepherd did the same, and his sheep went away with him, and the man did not even stop to count them. The traveler said to the remaining shepherd, "Give me your turban and crook, and see if they will not follow me as well as you." So he put on the shepherd's dress and called out, "Men-ah! men-ah!" Not a sheep moved. "Will your flock never follow anybody but you?" inquired the gentleman. The Syrian shepherd replied, "Oh, yes; sometimes a sheep gets sick, and then he will follow any one."
|
|
