“There goes a man of God.”

I remember well when two people said that about me a few weeks apart.

I remember well when I stepped into serious sin soon after.

Jesus said, “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.”

I have learned to share the following story from my dad when someone wants to praise me for something:

Two ducks and a frog were friends at a pond.  When the pond dried up, the ducks did not want to leave their frog friend behind.  The three finally implemented a plan that worked, and they left for their new home.  The two ducks held the ends of a stick in their beaks, and the frog held on with his mouth between them.

As they flew over a farmyard, the farmer looked up in amazement and said, “Whose idea was that?”

The frog answered, “Mine.”

“PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL, . . .”

There is another story of a woodpecker working hard at making holes in a tree to get his food.  Suddenly lightning struck the tree and split it in half, giving free access for the woodpecker.  But he left immediately and was gone for several hours.  He returned with a half dozen friends, and proudly announced, “See, there it is, just as I told you what I did.”

The next lightning strike was not so favorable.

“. . . AND A HAUGHTY SPIRIT BEFORE DESTRUCTION.”