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A Priceless Priority

Dr. Bill Hinson, the chaplain at Baylor University, told of a salesman friend of his who was driving through the back roads of Missouri some time ago when he came upon a little country gas station/grocery store. It had a gravel driveway and just one gas pump in the front. While the attendant filled his car, he turned and walked into the little grocery store. The store had a screen door with one of those metal braces that advertises bread placed at a 45-degree angle on it. When the door slammed it hit a ball that rang a bell to alert the clerk that a customer had entered.

Sitting behind the counter was a little old man wearing a green sun visor working on his books. He hardly looked up when the salesman walked in. Behind him on a shelf was an old handgun. The salesman said to the proprietor, “Mister, I’m a collector of guns. May I see that gun?” The old man hardly looked up. He just put his thumb over his shoulder pointing to the gun, as if to say, “Help yourself.” The man looked the gun over and couldn’t find a trademark on it, but decided he wanted it anyhow. He had only $150 in his pocket, so he offered the proprietor $50 for the gun. The man said no. The salesman raised his offer to $75, and once again the proprietor said no. The third time he offered the man $100, and his answer was the same: “No.”

Finally the salesman said, “Mister, I’m a collector of guns. I know their value and this gun is not worth what I’m offering you for it. But I want it for my collection. So what would you take for it?”

The old man took his pencil, pushed his sun visor up as if to push his head up, and said, “Mister, my father made that gun and I wouldn’t take nothing for it.”

The salesman walked out the door. As the door slammed, it hit the ball and rang the bell and he was gone. 

As he drove away he said to himself, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll come back after that old man dies and buy the gun from the boy. He won’t value it as much as his father, and I can probably get it for $25.” But the nearer he got to Kansas City, the more he thought, “You know, I need something in my life I wouldn’t take nothing for.”

My question to you today is this: “What have you got that you wouldn’t take nothing for?”

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Paul W. Powell - www.PaulPowellLibrary.com

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