I  would like to share with you a story of trust and  faith.  
        It  is  a  simple  story,  but an  important  part  of  my  early 
        experience  in  believing God.  It has since  taught  me  several 
        lessons.  The Lord helping, it continues to do so.
        
             While  we  still lived in Windsor, when I was four  or  five 
        years  old,  my friend across the street received   a  beautiful, 
        little Shetland pony from his uncle.  From the front yard of  our 
        home  I watched as the little crate, in which it  was  delivered, 
        was  opened.  Having never journeyed far from our village, I  had 
        never seen a pony before.  I didn't know what to think!
        
             That  animal was beautiful!  It was brown and white, with  a 
        perfectly shaped face which told me that it was good natured  and 
        well-behaved.   I was anxious to get a closer look, but for  some 
        time  my mother would not permit me to go over to the  neighbor's 
        home, fearing that I might be an imposition on them.
        
             Since  I couldn't see the pony very well from the ground,  I 
        would climb  up on our fence as high as possible  and  look  down 
        across  the road at it.  Hanging there as long as I was  able,  I 
        would  watch it graze or move about.  When it disappeared  behind 
        the  shed or beyond the hill, I would have to get down  and  wait 
        until  I could catch a glimpse of it again.  As soon as  I  would 
        spot  it,  I would climb the fence, crane my neck, and  look  and 
        look.   I thought, "Oh, won't it be wonderful if  Mother  someday 
        lets me go over to see that pony!"
        
             On that memorable day when my mother said, "You may
                               
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        go  over  to see Keith's pony now, Loran," I ran as  fast  as  my 
        little  legs would carry me.  Across the street I went, down  the 
        lane,  into  the  neighbor's  barn, and  scrambled  up  over  the 
        manager.  That beautiful pony was only about seven feet from  me!  
        I  was thrilled.  "This is great!"  I said to myself.  I  thought 
        that  pony was one of the most wonderful things I had ever  seen, 
        and  began to hope in my heart that someday I might have  a  pony 
        like Keith Patty's.
        
             (Over the years, as I have reviewed this experience of  deep 
        excitement  which I had as a boy, I have sometimes  wondered  how 
        God  finds us.  Does He see us jubilant and impassioned over  the 
        marvelous truths of His Word?  Is the Faith burning in our  souls 
        so that we care more for our relatives and friends finding  Jesus 
        than we do about the latest fashions or the newest baby in town?
        
             (I have seen many people so excited at ball games that  they 
        would yell and jump up and down; at prayer meeting, however, most 
        individuals  are listless and greatly lacking in enthusiasm.   It 
        tells  me that there is great need in most of our  congregations, 
        or we would be more inspired by the Kingdom of God than by  these 
        passing  activities  of  earth.   It  appears,  in  many  of  our 
        churches, that those professing to be Christians actually need to 
        be  truly  converted and transformed, or they  would  possess  an 
        innate excitement over the things of God`s Kingdom.)
        
             A few years later, when we had moved to Parker and I was  in 
        the  third grade.  I remember returning home from school one  day 
        for lunch.  Rounding the corner at the porch I looked east toward 
        the little red barn, and what do you think I saw?--There stood  a 
        black  Shetland pony!  It was a beautiful, beautiful  pony,  with 
        one white spot on the forehead and two above the shoulder!
        
             As  fast  as  I  could, I ran down to  where  the  pony  was 
        grazing.  The owners, an elderly couple by the name of  Henhizer,  
        were sitting in the buggy nearby having their lunch.  He saw
        
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        that I was delighted over the pony and asked, "Would you like  to 
        ride Queen?"
        
             "Oh,  yes!" I told him.  I had been waiting a long  time  to 
        get  this  close to a pony, ever since I prayed in my  heart,  "I 
        would like to have a pony like Keith Patty's."
        
             Mr. Henhizer said, "Just a moment and I will get her ready."  
        I learned that they had come that morning approximately  eighteen 
        miles in their little rig from the town of Ridgeville.  They were 
        enroute  to Muncie, but instead of taking the more  direct  route 
        west  through Albany to State Road 67 they had come all  the  way 
        south to Farmland, then west on Road 32 to Parker.  "We needed to 
        have  a  sandwich," the Henhizers informed me; "so  we  unhitched 
        Queen here to let her rest awhile."  They could have stopped many 
        places  up  and down the highway, but they came to our  house,  a 
        block off the main road.  Of all the seven hundred people in  the 
        village, here they were at our place!
        
             I'll  tell you, if you walk with God and trust Him, He  will 
        have the very thing for which you are waiting come to your  place 
        sometime.   One of these days, when you are not planning  it  and 
        least  expect  it,  He will send it by.  You  will  probably  not 
        receive what you plan, but if you are really looking to Jesus and 
        wanting Him more than anything else, He will give you the desires 
        of your heart when you are not anticipating it.  
        
             Never try to get anything, only walk with Jesus and He  will 
        trust  you  with the best:  what you need when you need  it.   He 
        might  send it soon, maybe later, perhaps after a long time;  but 
        God  will  provide.   He`s known to give  surprises  to  all  His 
        faithful pilgrims.
        
             And  I was certainly surprised that day.  I rode a pony  for 
        the  first time in my life.  Oh, the delight, the  interest,  the 
        enthusiasm  that  was  in my heart!  If I could  paint  it  in  a 
        picture, you would each chuckle, I am sure.  In fact, it would do 
        your  heart  good, because I was so  wonderfully  overjoyed.   My 
        child heart was thrilled to the limit.
        
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             When  mother  called  me to come in for lunch  that  day,  I 
        wasn't  much  interested  in food.  Of  course,  when  she  said, 
        "Come,"   I had to go; there wasn't any question about  that.   I 
        tied the pony to the fence and went to the house.  We had  prayer 
        and  ate our soup beans, but I wanted to finish as quickly  as  I 
        could  to get back outside and ride Queen every  possible  minute 
        before school took up.  And that is what I did.
        
             When  I  ran  back to school that  afternoon  the  bell  was 
        already  ringing and I had to hurry.  I said to myself, "For  two 
        to  three  years I have been waiting for a pony, and this is  the 
        one!"  All afternoon the pony was running through my mind.  "When 
        school  is  over," I thought to myself, "I will  get  Howard,  my 
        friend.  Both of us can hitch up the goat to the little wagon and 
        haul  the debris out of the barn to the garden.  We will get  the 
        barn  ready  for  my pony, because that is the one  I  have  been 
        waiting for."  Somehow I knew in my heart that Queen belonged  to 
        me.
        
             Howard  and  I worked diligently that night, and  again  the 
        next  evening, cleaning all the accumulation of rubbish from  the 
        barn.  By the third night we had completed the task.  Now  wasn't 
        that  unusual for a nine-year-old boy to decide to clean  up  the 
        barn  so that his pony could come?  I wanted to  have  everything 
        ready.   I simply had a child-like faith that this was  the  pony 
        God had promised me.
        
             I have since discovered that we cannot have faith unless  we 
        have love, for faith works and lives by love, as the Bible  tells 
        us in the  fifth chapter of Galatians.   If 
        you  wish  for more faith, remember that your faith  will  be  in 
        proportion to your love.  If you love, you will hear the Word  of 
        God:  and  faith comes by hearing, and hearing  by  the 
        Word of God.   
        
             Faith will flourish in the heart filled with God's love, the  
        precious  love of Jesus Christ.  Sensual, worldly love will  fail 
        you, but the love which Jesus gives never fails.  A heart of love 
        provides  the  right soil for faith to grow.  If  there  are  any 
        rocks of doubt, darkness, sin, or lust in your heart, then  faith 
        is choked, twisted, and blotted out.
        
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             In  order  to  maintain a holy faith,  you  will  be  making 
        everything  ready  in your heart by clearing out  the  debris  of 
        pride  and  self-reliance.  You will be confessing  all  of  your 
        bitterness  and  resentment, for faith recoils from  such  inward 
        disorder.   Nor  can  faith  dwell  in  a  heart  cluttered  with 
        criticism  and  contention.   You  must clear  out  as  well  all 
        questioning and analyzation (trying to find out all the  answers, 
        seeking to know "Why?" and "How?")--because faith only makes  its 
        abode in a heart free from the litter of carnal characteristics.
        
             After three days I was saying, "Let's get the manager  fixed 
        up for my pony!"
        
             Many years later my mother shared with me that, during those 
        days, my father was somewhat alarmed.  He would ask her, "Did you 
        give  that  boy reason to believe that he was going to  get  that 
        pony?"
        
             And she would insist, "Eldon, I haven't told him a thing."
        
             "Well, I can't understand it," Dad would say.  "He has  been 
        cleaning  that barn for three days and telling everyone that  his 
        pony is coming."
        
             About  ten days later, my father took my  brothers,  Richard 
        and Warren, and myself into the Standard Oil bulk plant in Muncie 
        to  get  some petroleum products.  We were in one  of  those  old 
        Fords  which had a middle door.  The windows, you  may  remember, 
        didn't crank up: there was a strap with which you pulled them  up 
        or  down.   In the front, a rather tiny seat  folded  forward  to 
        permit one to get into the back seat more easily.
        
             The  gravel  on old Route 32 was worn into  ridges,  like  a 
        washboard, and it just bumped, bumped us much of the way.  During 
        the  ride home I had become drowsy.  I was somewhat  peevish  and 
        wanting  to lie down to really rest.  Pulling up to the front  of 
        that little red barn, my father said, "Loran, how would you  like 
        to open the barn door?"
        
             Now, if you ask a child if he would "like" to do  something, 
        he will probably respond as I did.  You see, I was a peevish  and 
        sleepy nine-year-old boy.  You know how they can be
        
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        sometimes.  Many older people occasionally get that way as well--
        cross and contrary, not wanting to be disturbed; wanting to  keep 
        comfortable in their own little corner.  I said, "No."
        
             Then my dad spoke again.  This time it was not a request, it 
        was  a command.  "Son, you get out now.  Open the door."  When  I 
        received  the order, I moved right away.  He only had to tell  me 
        once, for I was taught not to delay.  If an earthly parent  needs 
        to  tell a child more than one time, then there is  something  in 
        that  child which must be broken.  God cannot do much with a  man 
        or a woman who has not obeyed when he or she was a child.   There 
        is  so  much  to break up in persons who  have  not  been  taught 
        obedience as children.  They are unwilling most times to pay  the 
        price which God asks.
        
             This is why we are hesitant to obey God.  This why we are so 
        reluctant  to obey God and do what He tells us.  The lack
        of obedience in the church goes all the way back to the 
        heart of a child when he was very little, whether or not
        he was tender and willing to be obedient to his mother 
        and father. Much of our disobedience to God now goes back to
        our inner life when we were very young (and I can feel God operating
        within my heart as I tell you this).
        
             When  my father gave me the order, I was quickly out of  the 
        car and on my way to the barn door.  Taking hold of it, I started 
        to  push it open.  It was easy to move; I didn't have to push  it 
        much at all.
        
             Just  as  soon as that door opened a little bit,  I  saw  my 
        pony!  Queen was right there before me!  I jumped up and down!  I 
        hollered!   I ran and got my arms around her neck and cried  over 
        and  over, "Oh, my pony has come!  My pony has come!"  I  was  so 
        happy.  You talk about a child being happy--I cried with laughter 
        and with joy.  I was so thrilled.  I said, "Daddy, let's hitch up 
        Queen,  go to the elevator, and get a bale of hay and  some  corn 
        right  away!"   My  pony  had come, and  I  wanted  her  to  have 
        something to eat.
        
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             I  was elated!  I'm even getting blessed now as I  share  it 
        with  you.  Isn't it amazing that I am being blessed today  about 
        something  which  God did forty-eight years ago?   When  you  are 
        trusting  Jesus, you still get blessed about the things God  gave 
        you twenty years ago, forty years ago, fifty years ago.  You  are 
        delighted  about  it, because the more you appreciate it  at  the 
        time, the longer it will last; that is, if you are broken enough,
        keep praying enough, and obey sufficiently to maintain it.
        
             Of course, if you don't obey all the time, you will lose the 
        appreciation,  you will lose the praise and the joy out  of  your 
        soul.  The joy and the praise will stay in your heart as long  as 
        you  obey  God,  and  it will leave you  when  you  disobey  Him.  
        Disobedience  prevents joy from coming into your  heart,  leaving 
        you  desolate  and  lost.  Obedience brings a true  holy  joy  to 
        blossom and bloom, and its fragrance grows sweeter as times  goes 
        on.
        
             Over the years I have often thought about that evening I was 
        riding,  peevish  and sleepy, and my father asked me if  I  would 
        "like"  to  get out and open the door.  I was  hesitant  and  not 
        really  wanting  to respond, but back of that door was  the  very 
        thing  I desired.  My father's kindly request for  obedience  was 
        lovingly  taking  me toward that which I had long  expected,  for 
        which  I  had  prayed  and trusted.  Yet,  because  of  my  human 
        weakness, I did not want to open it when the opportunity came.
        
             In a similar way, many people miss the very thing for  which 
        they have prayed and trusted, because they hesitate to obey God's 
        gentle  command (for He only requests us, He does not coerce us).  
        Instead of responding with joy when the Holy Spirit prompts them, 
        they either ignore the leading or begrudge the effort to open the 
        door.
        
             If there is something you want very much, keep trusting  for 
        it.   Be  prepared  when you come to  the  door  of  opportunity.  
        Listen  to  your Father's voice when He speaks.  Hop  right  down 
        from your comfortable corner and push back the obstacles.
        
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        Don't let the bumps of misunderstanding and struggle in this life 
        lull you to sleep.  In this spiritual slumber you won't move  for 
        God  and do what He says.  But as you persevere upon the  way  of 
        trust  and praise, you'll be alert and able to know when you  are 
        near the goal.
        
             Do  you know that when the pony arrived that day, my  father 
        gave a check for the complete price of it?  The very day my Queen 
        came,  she  had  been  purchased in full for  me  by  my  father.  
        Sometime there will come a day when that very thing for which you 
        have  been trusting so long is right here, and it is  yours:  all 
        you  have to do is continue trusting and believing.  Your  Father 
        has  provided  all that you need.  You will receive  it  after  a 
        while.   Don't press to get it: it will come in time, as you  let 
        Him  bring it to pass.  A number of persons serve Jesus in  order 
        to  receive certain things which they secretly desire.   But  the 
        Lord  will bring to the trusting heart everything that he  needs, 
        as he serves God only for Himself.
        
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