THE RAGMAN!
DO 1833
4/7/84
1. WHEN ARE YOU GUYS EVER GOING TO LEARN HOW TO PINCH EVERY PENNY? That's what I'm after & doing right now, pinching pennies! You guys get high-falutin' ideas, "Oh, it doesn't matter how much money we spend. We can spend several dollars on postage, so what? Sprint can print us personal extra copies & it doesn't matter how much it costs!" To me, it does!--And it's that much more trouble--labelling, packaging, etc.
2. WHO IS GOING TO RUN THIS OUTFIT ONE OF THESE DAYS WHEN I'M GONE? WHO IS GOING TO TAKE CARE OF THESE THINGS & NOTICE THESE LITTLE THINGS? You might say, "Well, why bother over every pinched penny? We're only talking about a few packages & a few copies & a few pennies." Well, the Lord tested me for 49 years on pennies before He started trusting me with dollars. When He found He could trust me with pennies, then He started pouring on the dollars, because He knew if I was really careful to pinch the pennies I would certainly pinch the dollars!
3. I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW UNCONCERNED YOU ARE ABOUT EXPENSES!--How unconcerned you are about Sprint's trouble & the work they're doing. I'm trying to lighten their load all we can so I can give them some more!--That's what it amounts to. The more we save, the more we can spend!
4. I DIDN'T GET HERE JUST BY FIDDLING AROUND DOING NOTHING! I've been working saving money & making money since I was a little kid & learning the value of a dollar & the value of labour, by hard work & saving pennies & pinching pennies. My Grandfather's favourite motto was: "A penny saved is a penny earned!" My Mother used to say about him, that though he was a millionaire, he could squeeze a dollar till the eagle screamed!--And those were silver dollars at that, & they were worth something!
5. BUT IF YOU NEVER LEARN THE VALUE OF PENNIES, YOU'LL NEVER LEARN THE VALUE OF DOLLARS! When you lose your sense of values & people find out you don't even care how much things cost, then you must not be very interested. If you don't even ask the price of things & you're not even curious about the price, that means to any seller that you've got lots of money & he can stick you with any kind of price, because you don't care what you have to pay for it!
6. YOU NEED TO START ASKING FIRST WHAT THE PRICE IS TO SHOW THAT THE PRICE IS IMPORTANT TO YOU & IT MEANS SOMETHING & YOU'RE CONCERNED ABOUT THE PRICE! Then he won't hike the price on you if right away when you see it your first question is, "How much?" Then what are you telling him?--That the price is important! If it's your first question, you're virtually telling him that the price is the most important thing about it.--Even though it may not be to you, but you want to give him that impression.
7. I WANT TO TEACH YOU GUYS SOMETHING ABOUT BUYING THINGS! I was poor & I'll tell you, every penny counted! The price is important & you should let any seller or somebody you are buying things from know first thing that the price may affect his sale.
8. YOU SAY, "MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, DAD! IT'S JUST A FEW PENNIES. And after all, we pay Sprint, why shouldn't they work? They've got their own budget, why not?" That's the way some employers figure: "So what? What if it is more labour? I'm already paying for it. I don't care how hard I work my employees, I don't care if they have to work their fingers to the bone, I'm paying them anyhow so let them work themselves to death!"
9. WELL, I DON'T BELIEVE IN THAT BECAUSE GOD DOESN'T BELIEVE IN THAT! I BELIEVE IN SAVING OUR LABOURERS! I believe God's man is precious to the Lord & more valuable than his money. And if you're going to say, "Well, we save a few pennies, so what? They've got the machine & they can print a few more & it won't be that much trouble, why not?" As far as I'm concerned, every copy, every page, any sheet of anything that we have them print that they don't have to print is too many!
10. I BELIEVE IN SAVING OUR LABOURERS MORE THAN THE MONEY, BELIEVE IT OR NOT!--Strange employer! But as far as I'm concerned, our manpower & our personnel are far more valuable than money. Money is easy to get, God can drop it out of the sky, if necessary. Money has no will of its own, it's not a creature with a will & determination & choice. It's people that are hard to get! It's people that have a stubborn will & are difficult to persuade to make a decision to serve the Lord.
11. SO OUR MANPOWER IS THE MOST VALUABLE THING WE HAVE! Our precious souls are the most valuable thing there is in this whole World to the Lord! There is nothing more precious to the Lord than a priceless, immortal soul!--Every single one, both the saved & the unsaved. He's glad for the saved but He's also working hard & having us work hard to get the unsaved.
12. SO THE LABOURER IS WORTH SOMETHING, & TO SAY, "OH WELL, IT'S JUST A FEW MORE COPIES, SO WHAT?"--WELL, YOU START ADDING THAT UP! A few more copies every week, months go by & years & I wonder how much we have had Sprint do that maybe they didn't even have to do. And the point is, I wonder how much more they could have done for somebody that needed it which they had to do for us. Now thank God we haven't had many printed copies & I grant you it is a very small amount both of copies & of money, but if you don't learn the value of those small amounts, how is God ever going to trust you with the big ones?
13. IF YOU THINK I'M STRAINING AT A GNAT & SWALLOWING CAMELS, WELL, I'LL SWALLOW A CAMEL IF IT'S WORTH IT, BUT I'LL STRAIN AT A GNAT IF IT'S WORTH IT, & I WANT YOU FELLOWS TO LEARN THAT! I would say that a certain part of your training has been sadly neglected & you have really missed the boat if I haven't taught you how to value pennies! Peter is learning, thank God! We learned how even a fraction-of-a-cent counts up on a mailing when we have to send out thousands of copies to hundreds & hundreds of Homes, thousands of people. When you multiply it all up, even if it starts out as a fraction of cent, it mounts up!
14. YOU SAY, "WELL THEN WHY ARE YOU GOING INTO THIS MORE EXPENSIVE FORMAT & USING HEAVIER PAPER THAT COSTS MORE POSTAGE, COSTS MORE EVERYTHING, IN THIS CASE EVEN MORE WORK FOR THE POOR SPRINT TEAM? I thought you were so saving, Dad, you're so careful with the pennies & here you're going in for this big deal of a different big format, that is going to cost us more money. Why?"--Security! I'm more interested in saving people, & if those mailings are going to endanger their lives or their security or their safety or their freedom, then the new format is worth more than any amount of money in the World! Whatever it takes for us to make those mailings more secure & safer & less dangerous & hazardous for them to pick up at the post office or receive in the mail, then I think we ought to do it! (The new Letter-size GN.)
15. FOR AWHILE WE WERE POURING OUT THE PUBS & WE WERE DOING EVERYTHING WE COULD TO SAVE MONEY, BUT NOW AS THE SITUATION IS GETTING TIGHTER IN A LOT OF PLACES I'M THINKING MORE ABOUT SAVING ON SECURITY EVEN IF IT COSTS MORE MONEY!--And not only because it is already getting tighter, but because it is going to get tighter still, & I always believe in getting the jump on the other guy. I believe in jumping the gun if I can get away with it & start now so that we won't be caught unprepared & flat-footed & have to do all this after the boom is already lowered! Our system will be operating perfectly & everything running smoothly because we have already done it & already learned it & it is already in operation & we're already on tight security & already packaging things more securely, not only sealed but less noticeable. It will look more like a letter than a publication & will not have printed right on the outside that it is printed matter. (Dad drops his tissue.)
16. YES, I'M GOING TO TAKE THIS TISSUE OFF THE FLOOR & SHAKE IT OUT & HOPE TO SHAKE ALL THE DUST & GERMS OFF & KEEP ON USING IT, BECAUSE I JUST DON'T BELIEVE IN WASTING THINGS!--And until you get as bad as me, I don't think you really deserve to run this outfit!--At least I don't think you'll run it as well as I have because you won't be as careful with every tiny thing. I used to be almost as bad as the old lady we knew who used to keep every paper bag, every string, everything in her house, the cupboards were just packed with them, but she also sent us $5 every month for about 10 years, faithful as she could be, without missing a month! We could always count on a $5 cheque from dear Sister Keene. And she was as saving as you could possibly imagine.
17. WELL, I'M NOT QUITE THAT BAD, I DON'T SAVE BITS OF STRING, ALTHOUGH I DO SAVE BITS OF WIRE & A SCREW & A NAIL HERE & THERE! God knows that if you are saving & you hate to see anything wasted that He can trust you with things that are really valuable, but not if you're careless & just throw things away. I've caught my boys several times just throwing things away & said, "Save that piece of wood! You might need a little block or piece of wood that shape or that size. Don't throw that piece of scrap metal away, you might need it for something! Don't throw that away! Have a scrap pile where you keep it so you'll have it next time when you're looking for something!"
18. I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD RAGMAN! When I was a kid a guy used to go down the street every day, & yelled, "Any rags! Clothes! Ragman!"--Yelling at the top of his voice. He had an old wagon pulled by an old flea-bitten donkey that would rattle down the street in Oakland, California when I was about five years old.
19. HE WAS A NICE FRIENDLY OLD MAN, some old foreigner, Italian or something, poor, but he found out he could make money off of old rags & bottles & bits of furniture & other junk people would give him. So I can remember as a little boy that I was always scolding my Mama, making sure she didn't throw anything away & that we saved a little box full of junk for the Ragman. I always wanted to save it for the Ragman.
20. WELL, I'M STILL IN THE RAG BUSINESS! I'M STILL TRYING TO SAVE THE RAGS FOR THE BIG RAGMAN WHO IS GOING TO HOLD US ACCOUNTABLE FOR EVERY SINGLE WORD ONE OF THESE DAYS! (Mat.12:36,37) Now if He is going to hold you accountable for every word & every deed, He is also going to hold you accountable for every penny & every scrap of whatever you could have saved that might have come in handy or been useful!
21. (TONGUES:) PYL! HALLELUJAH! TYJ! "LISTEN THOU, HEED THOU TO EVERY WORD OF THY FATHER & KEEP THEM AS VALUABLES & PRECIOUS, PRICELESS MORE THAN GOLD, that thou may know the ways of thy Father David, for they are the ways of thy Lord!" TYJ! PTL! Hallelujah! TYL!
22. WE CAN CALL THIS "THE RAGMAN!" I started off saving scraps, rags, old bottles, anything I thought was valuable. You know how little kids are, they save anything if they think it's something valuable, almost trash! Well, I saved all that stuff & I made sure my Mother saved it, then whenever we had a boxful, I proudly carried it out to the Ragman & he really liked me! I think he even bought me a tamale one day when the tamale man came by because he figured he had a good customer. I wonder if all our kids are being taught to be that saving & not throw anything away?
23. WELL ANYHOW, GOD'S THE RAGMAN & HE'S GOING TO BE VERY PARTICULAR ABOUT WHAT YOU SAVE & WHAT YOU GIVE TO HIM AS A RESULT, & YOUR CONCERN ABOUT SAVING THINGS SO THAT YOU HAVE ALL THE MORE TO GIVE TO HIM. Maybe one reason I had compassion on the Ragman was that we were so poor & we had been so poor most of the time. Every little rag or thread or piece of paper was worth something! Let me tell you, you've got to value things, & most of all people!--Otherwise you're not fit to rule the Kingdom of God & God is going to hold you responsible for anything wasted!
24. GOD SAVES TIME! HE'S CONCERNED ABOUT SAVING TIME AS WELL. We should be trying to make every minute count, because some day the Guy Upstairs Who is concerned even about saving rags is going to hold you accountable for any waste of money, people or time, & time is probably the most valuable thing we have besides people, that's for sure! It doesn't matter how many people you've got, if you haven't got time to do it, it can't be done. So time is important & I want to see you folks concerned about every penny, every minute & every person, every child, even babies! Are you investing everything you can in them & getting the most you can out of them for the Lord & for the Future?
25. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR THE RAGMAN TODAY? HAVE YOU SAVED HIM ANY MONEY? HAVE YOU SAVED HIM ANY TIME? HAVE YOU SAVED HIM ANY PEOPLE & THEIR STRENGTH & THEIR LABOUR? You need to start out as a little child saving & teach these little children to save things & to be careful with things & not waste things. Now when you get that saving with the little things, maybe God can trust you with a bigger job!--And you'd better get that saving because He's got a bigger job for you! You need to learn how to save time & money & people if you're going to get this job done, even if it's only talking about how we're going to do the FN. And that's what started this talk, discussing no more stapling, to save money.
26. WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT WE NEED TO TRY TO DO THINGS AS EASILY & WITH AS LITTLE TIME & LABOUR & AS CHEAPLY AS POSSIBLE! Now the time & the labour I put first because both time & labour have to do with the labourer & the person who's doing the work, & I believe in saving men more than money! The last consideration is the expense, but that comes into it too because the more money we have to spend, the less money we have left to use for men & labourers, women too, of course. Every stroke we save Sprint, every penny, every moment, every piece of paper, we're saving to be able to use for somebody else that needs it more, if we can save them from doing things they don't have to do.
27. YOU MAY BE DISGUSTED WITH SPENDING SO MUCH TIME ON SUCH INFINITESIMAL INSIGNIFICANT LITTLE THINGS LIKE THIS, BUT THAT'S WHY GOD COULD TRUST ME WITH THE FAMILY to get it started & organise it & run it & still be runnin' it, & why I'm still tryin' to teach you how to run it so you'll run it the way God has taught me how to run it, so it'll last as long as possible & accomplish as much as possible & the people will last as long as possible & the material will last as long as possible & the money will go as far as possible & the time will be stretched out as long as possible, 'cause we'll get more done in the same amount of time!
28. THOSE WORDS I JUST GOT THROUGH SAYING ARE THE SAVING ELEMENTS: SAVING TIME, SAVING MONEY & SAVING PEOPLE, IF YOU MAKE IT EASIER, FASTER, & CHEAPER! What does easier represent? (Peter: Man-wise.) Faster? (Fam: Time.) Cheaper? (Peter: Money.) Right! OK, there you go. How to save time, people & money. I think time is almost more important. You've got to have people in order to save time, & people are no good without time to do it. To save time, people & money--TPM--you've gotta make it faster, easier & cheaper!
29. SO NEXT TIME YOU THINK ABOUT THROWING SOMETHING AWAY OR CARELESSLY GOING AHEAD & GIVING SOMEBODY A JOB THAT IS MORE THAN THEY REALLY NEED TO DO or have to do or we need, or you pay more than you should've paid for something, think about the little four-year-old boy that ran out with his box full of junk to the Ragman, OK? You remember the Ragman, & the Big Ragman is going to appreciate it, because if there's any Ragman that's in the business of saving time, people & money, it's God! That's His major business, saving time & people, & in order to do that, sometimes you also have to save money. PTL?
30. LIKE SOPHIE THE SCRUBWOMAN SAID, "MY MONEY IS ME! I put my blood & sweat into that laundry & earned that money, so when I send it to the mission field, that's me! I'm going to those mission fields! It's part of me!" So even money is people, in a way, time & people. It's the money they earned with their time & their labour & it represents a part of their flesh & blood, their strength, their time. So the money is important, to save it, every penny, every stamp, & make that your responsibility. You have to worry about saving everything, including me!
31. (MARIA PRAYS: THANK YOU LORD FOR THOSE BEAUTIFUL WORDS OF INSTRUCTION YOU CONTINUE TO REMIND US OF, & we want You to forgive us for not having done these things better, many of which we've known to do. But help us, Lord, & make us more faithful. We thank You for Your beautiful confirmations. The Words we heard today are Your Words, Lord, & what Thy servant David is like, what You are like, Lord, & we want to be like both him & You. So help us, Lord, & help the Family, all of us, to take these lessons to heart & make them part of us so we'll be found faithful in Thy Kingdom, in Jesus' name, amen. TYL!) Amen. PTL! Hallelujah!
32. DO HELP THESE PRECIOUS ONES WHO'VE BEEN SO FAITHFUL, LORD, & SO DILIGENT, WORKING SO HARD, LORD, & DOING THEIR BEST TO SAVE TIME, PEOPLE & MONEY IN EVERY WAY THEY POSSIBLY CAN. We just want'm to do even better, Lord, & save even more, because there's so little left of our time & even our people & we don't even know how much money, Lord, is really going to be left. So we're trying to use it all as best we can, as fast as we can & the easiest way possible so we can get the most out of it, Lord, for Thy kingdom. Help us, Lord! Help each one of us to be diligent & prayerful & careful about saving everything that needs to be saved so we can have more time, more people, more money, more strength & energy for things that are really needed & really have to be done, in Jesus' name we ask for Thy glory. Amen, Lord, so we can save souls most of all & save the World, or as much as we can & as many as we can. TYJ! PTL!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family