Leonard Briney

My dad had an old farmer friend who lived in Churchville, Maryland about fifteen miles from our house.  Leonard Briney has long since passed on to his heavenly reward, but he was a powerful example of a Christian man to me as a ten-year-old boy.  Dad knew Mr. Briney from a common ministry: Youth for Christ in Bel Air, Maryland.  Mr. Briney had a hundred-acre farm that was heaven for us boys.  My brothers and I would explore the barns, silos, and out-buildings while the men talked.  One winter we had a foot of snow and dad took us up to Mr. Briney’s to go sledding.  Mr. Briney took us out to his snow-covered hills on his old Farmall H model tractor.  We tobogganed down the hill and Mr. Briney pulled us back up with the tractor.  It was a country ski-lift.  When we were too frozen to continue, mom and Mrs. Briney had hot cocoa waiting at the house.  In the toasty kitchen, Mr. Briney reached up to a shelf behind the wood stove and took down an old, pale green wooden box and opened it for us boys to look inside.  It was the size of a small shoebox and had money inside.  Mr. Briney explained that when he sold anything on the farm, his tithe to the good Lord went right into that box.  Then on Sunday, he took the contents of the box to church for the offering.  He told us about the box to remind us young boys to give to the Lord.  Thank you, Mr. Briney, for teaching me Biblical truth and for being a great example of a Christian man.  Paul told his protégé Timothy II Timothy 2:2, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”  Mr. Briney taught me, I just taught you, now you go and teach others.  That’s the way it should work.  Right?!