Down in Brazil there lived a poor man named Rui. He was a humble water carrier, and he was so poor that he even had to borrow the can in which he carried water. Then he heard about the Seventh-day Sabbath and decided to keep it. Although he was earning hardly enough money to buy food for his family, Rui decided to pay tithe. His faithfulness to God made him faithful and honest and happy in his work. Soon he had so many customers that he bought his own water can and began to save a little each week in a small bank on the kitchen shelf. Soon it was full, and he bought a little donkey. Soon the bank was full again, and he bought another donkey. He taught his older son to help him in the water business. Soon the bank was full again, and Rui bought a store, and turned the water business over to his son.
After the sun sets on the evening after Sabbath, he puts up a sign that says, “First day of the market.” Sunday evening he puts up another sign: “Second day of the market”; and so on till Friday evening when he puts up the sign “Sabbath.” Then he closes his store, and as the sun sets he gathers his family and they all sing as the Sabbath begins. Since there are mother and father and thirteen children in the family, the whole village knows when Sabbath begins. Pastor Baerg was spending the weekend with Mr. Rui’s family not long ago, and since they were all ready, Pastor Baerg suggested they begin to sing. “No, no, Pastor,” said Mr. Rui, “if we sing now, it will throw the village folks out of time, for we always sing at a certain time, and the village folks set their clocks and watches by our Sabbath songs.” No wonder God blessed Mr. Rui and his family! No wonder Isaiah says, “Blessed is the man that doeth this, … that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil” (Isaiah 56:2).
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
Make God First, Mrs. John Baerg/Eric B. Hare, 267.