Around the World in 88 Years -E Book - Arthur Burt

“Do you know how to milk cows?” one farmer asked me.“No, I don’t,” I said.“I can’t use you then,” he said. “I don’t have time to train anyone.”He signed my card, and I left.This happened often. It was wartime and people didn’t feel theycould take the time to train me. Sometimes I was met with hostility.One farmer asked me, “You’ve been in prison?”“Yes, I have.”“I don’t want any jailbirds ‘round here!”“Okay, will you sign the card?” I asked him.He did, and I took it back to the National Service Officer. I’d getanother one and off I’d go to another farm.One farmer said, “Are you one of those bloody conscientiousobjectors? A yellow-livered skunk living on the back of our soldierswho are fighting for liberty and king and country? Do youknow what I’d like to do with you? Put you up against that walland shoot you! Get out!”“Okay,” I said. “Will you sign the card?”This routine continued time after time, card after card, and I neverwent back to prison for the remainder of the war. This experiencetaught me more than ever the importance of living by theproceeding Word of God. And I saw how quickly a proceedingWord can become a proceeded Word, requiring me to receive afresh Word from God for the present situation. “…man shall notlive by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds(present tense) from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut 8:3)Snap! And all of my grace flew out the window!While we lived in the little house in Stanton Hill, I was a superspiritualman. I wanted to show God, the church, the world, andanyone else who would take notice of me, what a good ChristianI was, what a good neighbor I was.Eighty-year-old Mrs. Moon, a widow who owned our house,lived in the front room, while we had the rest of the house. She86