Public elementary school teacher Miss Tina Fancher was asked by the principal if there was something bothering her, not seeing her normal radiant smile on her face. Miss Fancher, a devout Christian, not hesitant about sharing her faith, replied, “In Proverbs it says a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” My normally cheerful heart is praying for wisdom on how to deal with a little boy’s crushed spirit.”
Miss Fancher began to speak. “As you know, a family from California moved into the area this week. As always, I was excited about having a new student join the class. Whenever a new student enrolls in my class, I have them state their name, then the entire class joins me in unison, saying “welcome” to the student, repeating their name. When I asked the little boy to say his name, he said he was afraid the other students would laugh and make fun of him, since he was named after his grandfather and hated his name. I told him you should feel honored to be named after your grandfather, so please go ahead and tell us your name. “My name is Pa Pa!” It took five minutes to get the class to stop laughing and quiet down.
“Please excuse me for laughing,” the principal replied. “Just when I feel I have seen or heard it all, this is about as nutty as it gets! At least you can be thankful they didn’t name him Nanna or Meema after his grandmother, instead of Pa Pa after his grandfather,” he said while still laughing. Tina Fancher, with a slight smile on her face and in a slightly sarcastic tone, said, “Aren’t you funny today? Thanks for the encouragement. As this world gets crazier and crazier, teachers like me stand in need of prayer!”
On her way home, she stopped by Bobby Lee’s Rockton Street Market to buy some groceries. She knew he always had a moment to listen to people needing an encouraging word. After listening to what she said about the little boy in her class, he talked about the importance of having a healthy sense of pride or self-esteem, giving credit to God for everything we do and accomplish in life. Life’s difficulties, and even a harsh word of criticism at a young age, or any age, can cause a person to have low self-esteem and an unhealthy sense of pride, needing a word of encouragement. This lets them know through it all, as hard as it might be to believe, God loves them and wants the best for them. It’s when a person gets prideful and haughty, becoming narcissistic, like we see so much of in society today, when they need to watch out for the orange peels. David was blessed with victory over Goliath, acknowledging God was the source of his protection and abilities, which proved his brothers’ unkind words, saying David was full of pride and haughtiness, were based on a false assumption, like happens so often in life to all of us. “Tina, just like David, you should feel confident the Lord will see you through this when you keep your eyes on Him,” Bobby Lee concluded.
It took all of two seconds to say yes when Lisa Amden called Tina Fancher and invited her to join her in a game of volleyball at the Barnwell’s Farm Saturday Get-Together. It was during share time, Louis Santana said every time he sees Christians and/or conservatives taking a stand against transgender people in women’s sports, abortion, corrupt politicians, judges, and parental rights in the schools, and he sees the opposition disrupting them with their “Love not hate” signs, he questions himself, wondering if he was not showing the type of love he should, wondering if their love was greater than ours in many ways!
Lisa jumped to her feet. She said, “Perhaps their love IS greater than ours,” which raised a lot of eyebrows until she asked. “The first commandment tells us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts. Do we? The people you described love what God hates, and they hate what God loves. Yet, how many Christians consider that fact when they vote or in any area of life they participate in? It’s through this affliction you feel, Louis; God will unfurl sails filled with His grace, propelling you safely through life’s roughest waves if you truly love Him.” Lisa continued, “When confronted by those who come against us and what we stand for because of their anti-Christian and anti-conservative bias, it’s important we are gentle and don’t come across as prideful and haughty, because God’s truth is on our side. All we can do is pray they will come to their senses and escape the devil’s snare, like it says in 2nd Timothy 2:24-26.” When Lisa finished, Louis prayed, asking the Lord to forgive him for letting those people crush his spirit with their counterfeit love!
Tina looked at her friend Lisa with moisture in her eyes and thanked her for such inspirational words. Louis’ broken spirit was mended by Lisa’s words, godly, heartfelt wisdom, and encouragement. When Farmer Barnwell stood up to tell a story that everyone looks forward to, he first told Lisa how proud he was of her having the courage and conviction to say what she just did, which should motivate all of us to do the same.
He then said, before he began his story, he wanted to tell us about his great-grandson Barret, who had just turned four and was staying with him and his wife, Jessie, this week. Barret’s parents have been teaching him how to spell. When Jessie asked him what words he had learned to spell, he said he had learned to spell “farm” and some farm animals. Jessie said, “Freddie, did you hear that?” “I sure did.” I said, “We told him we’d love to hear him spell them. He said – ‘“Farm – E-I-E-I-O – Cow – E-I-E-I-O.’” Farmer Barnwell said he and Jessie laughed just like you all are now. Barret thought we were making fun of him, which hurt his feelings. Obviously he knew the Old McDonald Had A Farm nursery rhyme song. It made me think how when we all make honest mistakes and correction is made laced with love, God heals our broken hearts and binds up our wounds by His unconditional love, like it says in Psalm 147. Telling Barret how much we loved him and God loved him restored his rightful sense of pride and smile. Of course, the pony ride and his great-grandmother’s pumpkin spice cookies also helped.
When Tina Fancher left the farm, she was anxious to get back to school and lift the crushed spirit and restore the smile of that little boy in her class named Pa Pa. First, she was going to stop by and ask Bobby Lee what he meant when he said prideful people need to watch out for the orange peels. Bobby Lee smiled, saying, “I wondered how long it might take you to ask me what I meant. I read about a man who in 1926 went over Niagara Falls in a death-defying feat and survived. He did spend six months in the hospital recovering from his injuries, however. His name was Bobby Leach, a popular circus-performing daredevil basking in the limelight of large audiences. It was while on one of his publicity trips, with the barrel he went over the falls in, that he stepped on an orange peel, slipped, and fell, breaking his leg. Gangrene quickly set in, causing his death a few days later.”
Bobby Lee continued, “Here was a man that had performed a death-defying act and enjoyed life to its fullest with lots of attention, seemingly riding high, only to have a discarded orange peel cause his death. It makes me think of the Bible verse in Luke that says those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Tina, when I see politicians, entertainers, and people in all walks of life in their arrogance with pride overflowing, seeking the limelight, focused on themselves, ignoring God and His instructions for living, heading for eternity in hell, I say, “Watch out for the orange peels!” Quite often people ask me what I meant by that statement, giving me the opportunity to tell them about Jesus Christ and how they can have eternal salvation and a glorious life in Heaven the Lord has prepared for those that love Him. Like the Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 – That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Only then will people find a sanctuary filled with true love, peace, and security in the City of God, they will never find in their city of man.”
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