When You Can Walk on Water, Take the Boat - Webs

“Years passed and under the gentle guidance of the
Guru, most of the disciples accomplished what they had set
out to do. Finally, the shy disciple approached the Guru. ‘Master,’
said he, ‘I have toiled and practiced without ceasing, lo,
these many years. See that city across the river? I can now
walk on the water and go over to the city. Master, I have
overcome. I can walk on water.’
“Looking at the young disciple the old master sadly
asked, ‘Why did you not take the boat? <strong>You</strong> would have saved
so much time.’ ”
“John, when you know you can walk on water, you
generally can take the boat.”
Somewhat unclear about the main point of the story, I
mumbled an inaudible “Oh,” but didn’t ask for an explanation.
I don’t always like to listen to riddles or parables and Gideon
certainly had a lot of them. I prefer plain talk. I asked about
the people we’d be meeting today.
“I made all the necessary arrangements,” he said.
“<strong>You</strong>’re expected.”
“Are they business associates of yours?”
“Business associates and friends, also.”
“Do you think I’ll be able to get some help for my
company?”
“A definite possibility,” he replied.
“<strong>You</strong> know we need a loan to continue our operations.
Maybe they'd be willing to help us out in this situation?”
“Perhaps.”
He seemed to be in a quiet, pensive mood this morning,
but his clipped answers were beginning to annoy me. Not
wanting to appear rude, I gave up any further attempts to
make conversation. I was thinking only of myself and my
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