The farmer's son was returning from the market with a crate of chickens his father had entrusted to him, when all of a sudden the box fell and broke open. Chickens scurried off in different directions, but the determined boy walked all over the neighborhood scooping up the wayward birds and returning them to the repaired crate. Hoping he had found them all, the boy reluctantly returned home, expecting the worst.
"Pa, the chickens got loose," the boy confessed sadly, "but I managed to find all twelve of them."
"Well, you done a good job, son," the farmer beamed, "because you only left with seven."
"Ambition to do great things for God isn't our problem - it's bending our ambitions toward what Jesus says a great thing is."
"They say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. At this point I should be able to bench-press a Buick."