A story is told of two wealthy church members, a lawyer and a merchant, who joined a party going around the world. Before they started, a preacher asked them to observe any unusual thing they might see in the countries where the church had sent evangelists to preach. They promised to do so.
In Korea, they saw a young man pulling a plow while a very old man tried to guide it. The lawyer was amused and took a snapshot of the scene.
“I suppose they are very poor,” the lawyer said to the evangelist who lived and worked among the Koreans.
“Yes,” the evangelist said. “They are poor. That is the family of Chi Nun. When we wanted to build a meeting house, they were eager to give something so they sold their only ox and gave the money for the building. This spring they are plowing without an ox.”
Both the lawyer and the merchant were quiet for several minutes.
Finally, the merchant spoke up. “That must have been a real sacrifice.”
The evangelist replied, “They did not call it a sacrifice. They felt it was fortunate that they had an ox to sell.”