Jesus asking his disciples, "Are you so dull?" reminds me of the man who was hired to paint the lines on the highway that divide the lanes. Now the company didn't have a lot of resources so he had to do his painting on foot. After the first day at work his supervisor was very impressed when he learned that this new employee had painted three miles' worth of lines.

Unfortunately, the next day his results were not quite as impressive. He was only able to extend the lines for two miles. The third day he only painted less than one mile of lines.

The supervisor went from being impressed to being concerned. The new employee's performance was now not acceptable. He called him into him into his office and said, "I'm going to have to let you go." The employee dropped his head and got up to leave. As he was going out the door he turned and said, "It's not my fault. I've never worked so hard in all my life. It is just that the paint bucket keeps getting further and further away."