Weekly Devotions - Sowing Seeds of Faith

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“The Beverly Hillbillies Go To Church" Part 2

“Jethro, why don’t you read something from the ‘Good Book,’ said Jed Clampett.

Jethro carefully opened the Bible: “Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.” (Mat. 7:7-8)

“That’s wonderful, Jethro. But do you know what it means?” asked Jed.

“You bet I do,” shouted Jethro but then he paused and admitted: “No, Uncle Jed… no, I don’t know. What does it mean when it says, ask for anything and you’ll get it?”

“Well, I don’t rightly know myself, Jethro. What do you think, Granny?”

Granny replied: “Jed, all I know is that folks pray for food and still go hungry and these old bones of mine still ache when I get up in the morning. Every day, I’ve still got to get out of that bed and cook enough fatback and hog jowls to feed all of you. Like you say, Jethro, you don’t get things just by asking for them. There’s a heap more to it than that.”

“Granny, I think you’re right,” Jed added. We can’t get everything just because we ask for it. When Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive…” it don’t mean for us to give him a list. You see Jethro: Faith in the Good Lord ain’t some kind of magic wand. Faith is more a way of living during the good times and the bad times too. It means you respect life like it is not like what you want it to be.”

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“You boys come in the kitchen so I can show you something,” said Granny. She walked into the kitchen and filled three pots with water and put them each on a burner. In one pot, Granny put a carrot. In another she put an egg and in the third pot she placed a handful of coffee beans. “Jethro, when you put a carrot in this pot and boil it… it gets real soft. But what happens to the egg?”

“That’s easy, Granny. It gets hard and I love hard-boiled eggs. Can I eat it now?”

“Settle down Jethro,” said Jed. “But Granny, what about the pot with the coffee beans.”

“That’s the best part Jed,” answered Granny. “Look what happens after you boil the beans.”

Jethro jumped in again, “You get coffee, Granny and I love a good cup of coffee.”

“Jethro, you love anything that will fit in that big mouth of yours,” shouted Granny. “What I’m trying to say to you fellers is that when times get tough, some people get soft like the carrot and give up. Some folks, like the egg, look fine on the outside but inside they’re hard-boiled. But coffee beans somehow turn the boiling water of trouble into a delicious fresh pot of coffee. Now Jed, that’s what I call faith!”

“Well, doggy… I believe you’re right. When I look at life as a hardship it’s too much. But when you look at life as a challenge it gets exciting, waiting to see how it all turns out.” Jed thought a moment and said, “It’s like the words to my favorite hymn: ‘Life is like a mountain railway, with an engineer that’s brave. We must make the run successful, from the cradle to the grave. Watch the curves, the fills, the tunnels; never falter, never quail. Keep your hands upon the throttle and your eyes upon the rail.’”

The “Beverly Hillbillies” worship service ended with the Clampett family and everyone in the church singing the chorus together: “Precious Savior, thou wilt guide us. Till we reach that blissful shore: When the angels wait to join us in Thy praise forevermore… in Thy praise forevermore. Amen.”

“Well now it's time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin. An' they would like to thank you folks for kindly dropping in. You're all invited back again to this locality, to have a heapin' helpin' of their hospitality. Hillbilly, that is! Set a spell, Take your shoes off! Y'all come back, here!”

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Last modified June 18, 2002.

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