Noted preacher John Claypool tells about a thunderstorm that swept through southern Kentucky at the farm where his forebears had lived for six generations. In the orchard, the wind blew over an old pear tree that had been there as long as anybody could remember. Claypool's grandfather was saddened to lose the tree on which he had climbed as a boy and whose fruit he had eaten all his life.

A neighbor came by and said, "Doc, I'm really sorry to see your pear tree blown down."

"I'm sorry too," said his grandfather. "It was a real part of my past."

"What are you going to do?" the neighbor asked.

His grandfather paused for a moment and then said, "I'm going to pick the fruit and burn what's left."

"That is the wise way to deal with many things in our past," says John Claypool. "We need to learn their lessons, enjoy their pleasures, and then go on with the present and the future."

"No one who puts a hand to the plow while looking back is fit for the kingdom of God."