The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Genesis 26:1-4, “Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous
famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to
Abimelech king of the Philistines.

2 The LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the
land of which I shall tell you.

3 “Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and
to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the
oath which I swore to your father Abraham.

4 “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give
your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed.”

Sixty years ago, I heard this story. Whether it is apocryphal or true, I do
not know. What I do know is – well, you read and then you tell me.

The seminary was winding up its year, and it was customary for one of the
students to be selected to give an address to the entire school. The faculty
poured over the records and selected a fine, young man as the annual
speaker. The student was scared-to-death. His forte was as a scholar in the
classroom. He had never given more than a short talk in one or two of his
classes. Speak to the whole school?

“Oh, no!” he pleaded. But there was no backing out. He had been
faculty-selected, and he was going to face the school with a formal address.

The day came, and he was literally shaking as he stood before the entire
school. “Duh.duh.do you know wha.what I.I’m about to say?”

Of course, his subject had never been announced, so the entire school body
said loudly and politely, “NO!”

“Wuh.well.neither do I, so let’s all go home.”

The exhausted speaker was devastated. “I’ve.I’ve ruined everything,” he
said. “No, you haven’t,” said the dean. “You’re just not used to speaking in
public. Go back and study a bit more. We’ll let you speak again next week.”

Self-dejected, he dutifully returned to the books. He was not happy, but
there was no other way out. He had to address the school -the entire
school!

When the day finally came, he was on the platform, but not in good form for
speaking. Yet, he stood, walked to the lectern, coughed nervously, looked
frightenedly at the school body, and said, “Duh.duh.do you know wha.what
I.I’m about to say?”

Having been present at the speaker’s last attempt, and knowing his
concluding remark, the students were not about to be fooled again. In
chorus, they loudly proclaimed, “Yes!”

The speaker then remarked, “If you already know, then there’s no reason for
me to repeat it. So, let’s all go home.” Again, he dismissed the audience
and everyone left the auditorium.

Once again, after a laborious hour with the young seminarian, the dean and
members of the faculty were able to persuade him to try one more time to
deliver the annual student address. It was the third occasion, and the
fright that attended the young man on two previous occasions, had not
dissipated one iota.

He staggered to the lectern, gripping it as if life itself was hanging in
the balance. Sweat poured from every avenue of his face and virtually soaked
the paper he had prepared to share. Whatever changed from his previous two
attempts, his opening words were the same:

“”Duh.duh.do you know wha.what I.I’m about to say?”

His fellow-students were now thoroughly confused. Some said, “Yes,” and
snickered beneath their breath. But some said, “No,” because they still had
no hint as to what he might say.

Hearing the division within the student body, the young speaker then said,
“Well, those who know, tell those who don’t know, and let’s all go home.”

Literally mortified that he had failed three times, the dejected young
speaker-to-be left the auditorium in devastating defeat!

“I am a total failure,” he said, “a total, total failure!”

“Oh, no!” said the dean. “You’re not a failure. In fact, we want you to stay
with the school and teach! For what you said is a fundamental, biblical
truth. It’s for those who know to tell those who don’t -before we all go
Home.”

There’s a serious message for all of us in that story. Are you ready to tell
those who don’t know Him? There’s no better time than at CHRISTMAS!

Heartily in Christ,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom