Rev. Clovis Jones was having another argument with his daughter Amy. She had stopped coming to his Wednesday night bible lessons and had started working at a soup kitchen instead. Needing to calm down he went to see his friend Texas Buddha, who met him at the door with a Lone Star Beer. After a time of chatting, Rev. Jones got to the point, “I am happy that Amy wants to help people, but she used to be so good at memorizing bible verses. I’m afraid she is thinking she can be saved by good works.”

TB sipped his beer and then said, “Amy is a good person. She is doing exactly what you taught her. You can be proud of her.”

“But what if she leaves her Bible study altogether?” the Reverend said looking at his feet.

TB let some time go by before he answered. Then he said very tenderly, “When you feed your cattle, you do not want them to prove they have eaten by throwing up the grass. You want them to turn the grass into milk and into their own growth. Amy hasn’t left your teachings, she has fulfilled them. An acorn looks nothing like the oak. The teaching can look very different than the practice. You have taught her bible verses, which were the acorn. She has given you a life of love, which is the mature oak.”