She Waited Too Long!

THE MYTH

A very intelligent young woman is called of God to be a missionary to Africa. The woman wants to go, but her parents beg her to reconsider. "You are so smart!" they say. "At least go to college before you go off to Africa!" The young woman is persuaded and enrolls in college. After four years, she earns her degree. "Now I will go and be a missionary!" she says. Her parents again beg her to reconsider. "God has gifted you with such talent and such an exceptional mind!" they say. "At least get your masters degree before you go off to Africa." Again, the girl is persuaded. She enrolls in graduate school. After two years, she graduates and happily proclaims once more that she is now ready to be a missionary. The parents intervene once more, persuading her to go to medical school. "Just think how much you could do for the Africans if you are a doctor!" they tell her. On the very day on which the young woman was supposed to graduate from medical school, she suffers a mental breakdown and goes insane.

VARIATIONS: Some versions of the story give more details of her present condition, including that she now can remember none of her education, not even how to write her own name.

COMMENTS:

This story survives mostly because it makes a convenient sermon illustration for a number of different Pentecostal concepts:

(a) "Thou shalt not ignore us when we tell you that you are called to the ministry"

(b) "Secular education is useless and/or dangerous"

(c) "Too much book-learnin' is hard on women's feeble minds"

(d) "Don't listen to your friends and family if they tell you something different than we tell you"

(e) "God has very little patience and sometimes He will strike you down rather than wait one more day"

and, of course, the most important lesson that all Pentecostals are taught:

(f) "If you do not listen to us, horrible things will happen to you!"