Measure for Measure

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day,
while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry
for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran
to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a
terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer
Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and
terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparce
surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and
introduced himself as the father of the little boy Farmer Fleming
had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved
my boys life."

"No, I cannot accept payment for what I did," the farmer replied,
waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came
to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman
asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal.
Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is
anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud
of."

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St.
Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become
known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming,
the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia.
What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord
Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.

Someone once said what goes around comes around. Jesus said it
much better. "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure,
pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured
into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured
to you." Luke 6:38