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A YES Face - - by Rev. Weldon Bares

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I like an old story that I came across about Thomas Jefferson. One day Jefferson and a group of companions were traveling by horseback out in the countryside. They came to a flooded river. The bridge had been washed away. Each rider had to cross the river on horseback, struggling for his life against the rapid currents.

The possibility of death threatened each rider, which caused a traveler who was not part of their group to step aside and carefully watch. After several had plunged in and made it to the other side, the stranger asked Jefferson if he would carry him across the river. He agreed. The man got on the back of his horse. They made it safely to the other side.

As the stranger slid off the back of the saddle onto dry ground, somebody in the group asked him, "Tell me, why did you select Jefferson to carry you?"

The man was surprised. He said that he had no idea that it was the president who had helped him. "All I know," he said, "Is that on some of your faces was written the answer 'no,' and on some of them was the answer 'yes.' His was a 'Yes' face.”

I like that story. May God help us to have a “yes face.” May God help us, in the midst of uncertainty and insecurity, to be optimistic and forward-thinking. May God help us in the midst of sometimes raging waters around us to hold on to hope and faith. May it be said about us because of our trust in God, “His face or her face was a yes face.”

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