The story is told of the Lee Steamboat Company carrying a cargo of salt pork from New Orleans to Memphis. As they passed Natchez another boat attempted to pass her and the race was on. The Lee steamboat captain ordered full steam but it was insufficient to pass her smaller counterpart.

Then the captain got an idea. He ordered that some of the salt pork they were carrying be thrown into the furnace. Instantly thick black smoke came billowing out and the boat increased its power. This worked so well that they tried it again and again. At last, with whistles blowing and flags waving, the Lee steamboat arrived in the port of Memphis far ahead of its rival. But, alas, when the merchants came for their cargo of pork, they found that it had all been destroyed in the furnace to win the race. Is this not a parable of our human predicament. We are in a race to see who comes in first, and in the process we are forgetting what the voyage is all about. Our mission is to deliver the payload, our mission is to be in service to the Master and everything in life should come in second to that. We need to be on our guard less the ox, the field, our work, competition become our excuses for missing the central experience of life.