When A Man's World Is Right

One Saturday morning a minister was busily trying to prepare his sermon under the most difficult conditions. It was a rainy day, and his young son was restless and bored, with little to do. Finally, in desperation, the minister picked up an old magazine and thumbed through it until he came to a large brightly colored picture. It showed a map of the world.

He tore the page from the magazine, ripped it into little pieces and scattered the scraps all over the living room floor with the words, “Son, if you can put this page together I’ll give you a dollar.”

The minister hoped that this might take his son most of the morning, but 10 minutes later there was a knock on his study door His son had completed the puzzle. The minister was amazed to see that his son had finished the project so soon, with the pieces of paper neatly arranged and the map of the world back in order.

“Son, how did you get that done so fast?” “Oh, said the boy, it was easy. On the other side there was a picture of a man. I just put a piece of paper on the bottom, put the picture of the man together, put a piece of paper of top and then turned it over. I figured that if I got the man right, the world would be right.”

His father smiled and handed his son a dollar.

“Not only have you earned that dollar, but you’ve given me my sermon for tomorrow: ‘If a man is right, his world will be right.’”