[00:06.12]There were once two brothers
[00:08.21]who lived on adjoining farms and fell into conflict.
[00:11.80]It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side-by-side,
[00:17.28]sharing machinery and trading labor and goods as needed.
[00:21.65]It began with a small misunderstanding
[00:25.02]and it grew into a major difference and finally,
[00:28.33]it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.
[00:33.03]One morning there was a knock on John’s door.
[00:36.42]He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox.
[00:40.25]“I’m looking for a few days’work,”he said.
[00:43.97]“Perhaps you would have some small jobs here and there I could help with?”
[00:48.56]“Yes, I do.”said the older brother.“Look across the creek at that farm.
[00:54.37]That’s my younger brother’s place. Last week there was a meadow between us.
[00:59.61]He recently took his bulldozer to the river levee
[01:03.31]and now there is a creek between us.
[01:05.31]Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I’ll do him one better.
[01:10.23]I want you to build me an 8-foot fence
[01:13.38]so I won’t have to see his place or his face anymore.”
[01:16.58]The carpenter said,“I think I understand the situation.
[01:21.28]Show me the nails and the post-hole digger
[01:24.81]and I’ll be able to do a job that pleases you.”
[01:27.29]The older brother had to go to town,
[01:30.39]so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day.
[01:34.74]About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job.
[01:39.99]The farmer's eyes opened wide.
[01:42.94]There was no fence there at all. Instead there was a bridge.
[01:47.10]A bridge that stretched from one side of the creek to the other!
[01:50.93]And his younger brother was coming toward them, his hand outstretched.
[01:56.29]“You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done.”
[02:01.33]For a moment, the two brothers stood at each end of the bridge,
[02:06.20]and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand.
[02:10.18]They turned to see the carpenter put his toolbox onto his shoulder.
[02:14.67]“No, wait! Stay a few days.
[02:18.12]I have a lot of other projects for you,”said the older brother.
[02:21.34]“I’d love to stay on,”the carpenter said,
[02:25.33]“but I have many more bridges to build.”
[02:27.47]The story is intended to tell us: Don’t pay back evil with evil.
[02:33.05]Don’t pay back unkind words with unkind words.
[02:37.32]Instead, pay them back with forgiveness.
