Nuggets from Many Mines

By Eulie R Brannan

For more than eighty years, author Eulie R. Brannan has been an avid reader. At a young age, he learned he could vicariously experience adventures and travel to many faraway places he physically couldn’t reach. Now, at age ninety, he continues to read.

Years ago, Brannan began collecting quotations from his readings. He calls them golden nuggets, and they have originated from many mines. In Nuggets from Many Mines, he shares a compilation of his favorites. These range from Tod Beamer’s “Are you guys ready? OK let’s roll,” to a leper’s cry, “Will I never be free?” And Alexander the Great’s, “I have my hopes.”

Culled from a variety of sources, most especially the Bible, Nuggets from Many Mines, seeks to inspire, provide comfort, and help those who are experiencing problems and challenges in their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664215801

Eulie R Brannan

The writer has lived for 94 years and experienced many heartaches. He has had his father, mother two brothers and a sister precede him in death. He has had to bury three wives- one of whom he lived with for thirty four years, a second for thirty one years and the last for eight years. Yet he has weathered these storms and can still see the sublight of life. His faith has sustained him, and he believes the Lord has spared him to do his work that he plans to do until the lord calls him home. The author exposes himself and his inner feelings in such a way that a fellow struggler can relate to them and hopefully gain courage to struggle on, wounded but not defeated. He with Paul affirms, “I know whom I have believed” 2 Timothy 1:12.

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Copyright © 2021 Eulie R. Brannan.

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Unless otherwise noted, scripture taken from the New King James Version®.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked J.B. Phillips taken from the J.B. Phillips Modern New Testament.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New

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Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible,

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-1579-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1581-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1580-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020924654

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/18/2020

To my wife, Louise, who gave me hundreds of hours of uninterrupted time for research and writing, with only occasional breaks for delicious snacks. Without her patience and encouragement, this book would not be possible.

I am indebted to John Walton, whose computer expertise helped arrange the manuscript in the correct format for publication.

An honorable mention is given to the many writers and speakers whose words have inspired my thoughts through the years.

PREFACE

After completing my first book, Approaching Nebo’s Peak, at age ninety, I wondered if I would be foolish to start another book at that age. I then remembered a conversation I had with an aged board member when I was president of Alabama Christian College. Anytime we began a capital campaign, we first asked the board to make their pledges. I called Gus Nichols, a highly respected minister in the South, and asked him if he would consider making a pledge of a thousand dollars a year for three years. There was silence, and then he said, Brother Brannan, you know I’m eighty years old. I said nothing, and after another silence, he said, I’m going to make that pledge, and maybe the Lord will let me live to fulfill the pledge! His son Flavil told me the last check he wrote with his own hand was for a thousand dollars to complete his pledge. C. S. Lewis said, You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

I am not under the delusion that drove Sarah Winchester. She was married to William, an heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Sarah never recovered from the grief she felt when their daughter Annie died in infancy. A second blow, the death of William, sent her to a medium seeking spiritual guidance. The medium told her the Winchester family was under a curse by the ghosts of thousands killed by the company’s repeating rifle. She said the only way she could escape the curse was to build a house for the ghosts, and they requested she never stop building. The medium warned, Never stop building or you will die. She moved to San Jose, California, bought a six-room house, and started adding rooms. For thirty-eight years, she had workers working twenty-four hours a day, until 154 rooms had been added, but she still died at the age of ninety-three.

In my boyhood, I developed a keen interest in reading. I learned I could vicariously experience adventures I could not have and travel to many faraway places I could not go to. When I decided to become a minister and teacher, my reading increased and became more focused. I have never lost that interest; there are seven new books on my desk now, just waiting to be read.

Some time ago, I began collecting favorite quotations. I call them golden nuggets, and they have come from many mines. I have tried to identify these mines when possible. Of course, the mine with the mother lode is the Holy Bible. You will find nuggets from this mine permeating the book.

Solomon said, Of making many books there is no end (Ecclesiastes 12:12). I hope this book will not be just another piece to be cast into waste bin of unread books but will be a blessing to the reader. Will there be a third book? Only the Lord knows.

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1     Are You Guys Ready? Okay. Let’s Roll.

Chapter 2     First Penguins and Dew Breakers

Chapter 3     Where Are the Nine?

Chapter 4     Taking the Second Place Graciously

Chapter 5     Take Care of Your Vineyard

Chapter 6     How Can I Ever Be Free?

Chapter 7     Losing What You Cannot Keep to Gain What You Cannot Lose

Chapter 8     I Have My Hopes

Chapter 9     The Greatest of These Is Love

Chapter 10   Never Send to Know for Whom the Bell Tolls

Epilogue

Bibliography

1

ARE YOU GUYS READY?

OKAY. LET’S ROLL.

On September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 left Newark, New Jersey, at 8:42 a.m., heading for San Francisco, California. Four hijackers stormed the aircraft’s cockpit forty-six minutes after takeoff and turned the plane toward Washington, DC. All the passengers were herded to the rear of the plane. Some called their homes to tell what was happening. They learned the two World Trade Center buildings had been struck by hijacked planes. It became apparent that this was a suicide mission to fly the plane into the Capitol Building or the White House.

An affirmative vote was taken to attempt to take control of the plane and land it safely. After reciting the Lord’s Prayer and the twenty-third psalm, Todd Beamer said, Are you guys ready? Okay. Let’s roll. They were unable to gain control of the plane. Five minutes later, the plane crashed into an empty field in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, about twenty minutes’ flying time from Washington, DC. Vice President Dick Cheney, in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center deep under the White House, authorized Flight 93 to be shot down. But upon learning of the crash, he is reported to have said, I think an act of heroism just took place on that plane (United Airlines Flight 93—Wikipedia).

Courage is the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulties. Courage is revealed in a critical situation and requires one to act when others may not be willing. There is always the risk of failure. President Theodore Roosevelt said, It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat (Internet, Goodreads, Theodore Roosevelts Quotes). Courage is often revealed when there is physical danger, but we will see it is also revealed in quieter situations.

DAVID AND GOLIATH

Perhaps the monumental example of physical courage in the Bible is recorded in 1 Samuel 17. Jesse had eight sons, and the three oldest, Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah, were with King Saul’s army fighting the Philistines. Jesse wanted to send supplies to his sons and a gift for their captain. He showed great confidence in his youngest son, David, by selecting him to take the supplies about thirty-five miles to the battlefield. We do not know exactly how old David was, but he was probably in his teens since Saul called him a youth. He was under twenty, which was the age when one could be counted for the army (Numbers 1:45). David must have been thrilled to have this exciting opportunity to see the battle. The battlefield was the Valley of Elah, with Saul’s army on the north and the Philistines marshaled on the south.

David arrived just as the army was going out to fight and shouting for the battle. But there was no engagement with the enemy. David was soon to learn the reason. Over the past forty days, in the morning and night, a giant Philistine by the name of Goliath had issued this challenge, Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together (1 Samuel 17:8–10).

Further inquiry revealed to David that Saul promised to the one who killed Goliath great riches, his daughter in marriage, and lifetime tax exemption for the family. This was not David’s motivation to accept Goliath’s invitation; this uncircumcised Philistine had defied the army of the living God! When David’s older brother Eliab heard his inquiry, he accused him of pride and insolence, but David was not deterred. Saul heard of his offer to fight Goliath and sent for him. David told his king, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine (1 Samuel 17:32). Even Saul tried to dissuade him. Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth (1 Samuel 17:33). The future of his army depended on this battle.

David’s reply seemed to remind Saul of the God that once helped him. Saul’s failure to do as God commanded caused him to be alienated from God. Even Samuel, his close adviser in early days, no longer spoke to him. David told about fierce encounters he had while caring for his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear took one of his sheep, he chased it and took it by its beard, killed it, and saved the sheep. He added, Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God! Moreover, David said, The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine (1 Samuel 17:36, 37).

David’s experience is a lesson for us. We confront many difficult challenges in life. Success in lesser challenges emboldens us to face even greater ones. The Christian has the Lord’s promise he will not allow us to face a challenge we don’t have the power to overcome (1 Corinthians 10:13). Perhaps our greatest challenge will come at the end of life when we face death. If we have experienced the Lord’s help in the difficulties of life, we can say with Paul, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

David was the only choice Saul had, so he said, Go and the Lord be with you (1 Samuel 17:37). Saul was determined David have the best equipment, so he dressed him in his own body armor and gave him his sword. Remember Saul from his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people (1 Samuel 9:2). The boy, David, could not wear his armor or use the sword he had never proved. His weapon was a sling used by shepherds to bring back straying sheep as well as kill predators. It consisted of plaited thongs as long as five feet, or of one strip of leather, made broad at the middle to form a hollow or pocket for the stone. The ends were held firmly in the hand as it was whirled loaded round the head, and one of them being at length was let go, so that the stone could take its flight. From a human standpoint, David had every reason not to engage this giant. He was a youth facing a seasoned warrior who had trained from his youth to be a fighter. He was twice David’s height, with armor that protected all but his face. He had a shield bearer going first to try to block objects from hitting the Philistine champion. David’s only experience was warding off dangerous animals trying to harm his sheep. He had no armor for protection, and his weapon was a sling. None in the army dared to face Goliath. Both Eliab and Saul tried to discourage him.

On his way across the valley to meet Goliath, David stopped at a brook and selected five smooth stones. He placed them in his pouch and went forward with his sling in his hand. His mind may well have been remembering God’s promises, like the one Moses gave Israel as they were about to go into the Promised Land. No man shall be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you (Deuteronomy 11:25).

God made the same promise to Joshua when he became commander in chief after Moses’s death. Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). Joshua experienced the fulfillment of this promise as his life drew to a close. For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day (Joshua 23:9).

Anticipated challenges often are not as fearsome as facing the actual challenge. Not so in this case. David had crossed the Valley of Elah and for the first time got a good look at his challenger. The huge bulk of the man and his bellowing threat, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field! (1 Samuel 17:44) were enough to destroy the courage of a lesser fighter. David was not deterred but answered, You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you (1 Samuel 17:45–46). He then ran toward the giant, put a stone in his sling, and at the right time, flung it.