Stories with Morals

I love out priest at our church. I really appreciate the stories and life lessons he ties into the readings. I even try to teach my kids some of the topics he discusses because I think it helps build a strong character. Tonight I was scanning the internet and I found these two great stories I just had to share. I love these 2 stories in particular because they mean a lot to me right now and I can use them in many aspects of my life. I hope you can take something away from them as well.

Faith in God:

Smitty was a hard-headed farmer. When a flood hit the area, he climbed onto the roof of his house. A rescue boat came along but Smitty told them, "No, thanks. I have faith in the Lord. He will save me. The waves got even higher and Smitty had to go to the very top of the roof. Another boat came by to save him, but he still insisted that the Lord would save him. Then the water began to get his feet wet and a helicopter swooped down to take him away. But Smitty still depended on the Lord to save him. Well, you can easily imagine what happened. Yes. Smitty was drowned. When he stood before the Lord in the next world, he complained, "Lord, I had such faith in you. Why didn't you save me?" To which the Lord replied, "What more do you want me to do? I sent you two boats and a helicopter."
Saint James puts it this way in the Scripture: "It is by his actions that a man is put right with God, and not by his faith alone" (James 2: 24)

Hope:

Many years ago there lived a very old man. Before his house stood two tall mountains that kept out the sunlight. He was not happy about this and so he sat down with his sons and all made a solemn promise that they would hack back away those two mountains A neighbor saw them go out with their hoes and shook his head. "How stupid can you get?" he screamed. "It's absolutely impossible for you to carry away those mighty mountains." The old man only smiled and said: "Well, when I die, my sons will carry on the work. And when they die, my grandsons will continue it. Yes, the mountains are high but they won't get any higher. But our strength can still grow. With every shovel full of earth that we carry away, we come closer to our goal." "It is better to do something than just sit around and complain that those mountains keep out the sunlight." With complete conviction the old man kept right on digging. God saw it and was moved to send two angles to earth. They lifted the two mountains onto their shoulders, and carried them off.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul talks about having faith great enough to move mountains. [1 Cor. 13:2].