Knowing All Things
John 14:26
Illustration
by John R. Steward

Henry Ford had a very important relationship with a man by the name of Charlie Steinmetz. Steinmetz was a very different man. To begin with, he was a dwarf and he was deformed. But there was something else about Charlie Steinmetz that was very important to Henry Ford. Steinmetz was truly a genius in the area of electrical engineering. It was Charlie Steinmetz who had built the first generators in the Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan.

One afternoon those generators stopped running. The regular mechanics worked at solving the problem but simply failed. Every hour that the plant was not operating meant a financial loss for the Ford Motor Company. They decided that the only one who could solve their problem was Charlie Steinmetz. He was brought in to fix the generators.

This brilliant man worked for a short time and the generators were working again. Several days later Henry Ford got a bill for the work that was done. The bill was for $10,000, a lot of money in those days and especially for less than a day of work. Even though Ford was a very wealthy man he wrote Steinmetz a letter. He wrote, "Charlie, isn't this bill just a little high for a few hours of tinkering around on those motors?"

The bill came back with some modification which seemed to explain everything. Now it read, "For tinkering around on the motors: $10.00. For knowing where to tinker: $9,990.00. Total: $10,000.00." Henry Ford got the point and paid the bill.

Jesus promised his disciples that one was coming who would lead them into all truth. You could call him an expert and he is sent as a gift.

CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, Lectionary Tales For The, by John R. Steward