Kurios Mining Company
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The advertisement announced the discovery of a rich gold vein in the Northwest Territories and the need for miners. Ralph and Mark signed contracts with the Kurios Mining Company to mine for gold for a year. They would receive compensation based on their weekly quotas. If quotas were not met, miners would be terminated. Over time, Mark consistently exceeded his quotas while Ralph often barely met or fell below his. When Ralph failed to meet his quota twice, he was terminated and expelled from the bunkhouse with just a bag and payment note. Unable to survive in the harsh winter weather, Ralph froze to death within a few miles of the mine.
Kurios Mining Company
- 1. The advertisement read, \" Richest Gold vein discovered! Miners needed in Northwest Territories. Millions in ore to be brought to the surface. See Kurios Mining Company for details.\" <br />\" Well, Ralph, reckon I need ta be seein bout this,\" Mark said with his finger still on the billboard. \" How bout you?\" <br />\" Spect I's might as well,\" Ralph replied.<br />The year was 1896, and word had spread that gold had been discovered in the Northwest Territories. The two went to the place the ad said to go to. They stepped into the office of the Kurios Mining Company. A man talked with them & filled them in on the situation.<br />\" Fellas, the Kurios Mining Company is willing to send any able bodied man to the Northwest Territories to mine for gold. Kurios is in control of the largest vein to be found anywhere. There is no shortage of gold to be worked. Here are the guidelines that will be strictly followed; <br />1. Kurios provides your travel to the Northwest Territory and return in 1 year. <br />2. Kurios will provide room and board. <br />3. The miner will receive one ounce for every twenty five mined.<br />4. Men are expected to work 6 days a week.<br />5. Men are given weekly quotas. <br />6. When quota is exceeded, the miner is given one fifth of the ore surpassing the<br />quota.<br />7. If a man falls below the quota for ore mined, he is no longer profitable for<br />Kurios and he is warned his quota must be met.<br />8. Two weekly quotas not met are grounds for termination. The terminated man will<br />be expelled from bunk house and mess hall never to be let back in under any <br />circumstances!<br />9. Miners are strictly forbidden to prospect on their own. Miners can no longer<br />be profitable to Kurios when prospecting for their own gain. If caught prospecting the miner will be terminated on the same terms as above.<br />Men if this sounds like something you want to be involved in, now's the time to start. Kurios Mining Company has one year contracts ready if you are ready to commit your time and effort to them.\" <br />By the next day Ralph and Mark had signed contracts and were on their way to the Northwest Territories. In a week they were bringing ore out of a mine in a place we know today as the Yukon. By the end of the first working week they were both over their quota. You should have seen their faces when they were told what their compensation was for the first week.<br />\" Why Mark, I could go home now and live for a year on what I've brought in this week.\" <br />\" Ralph, just think what you'll have after a year. I'm a bettin I can bring in twice as much over my quota next week, now that I know what I'm doin.\" <br />Another week went by and sure enough Mark did exceed his quota by twice as much as the week before, but Ralph exceeded his just barely. Mark encouraged Ralph to not think about the compensation he had already acquired, but to work harder knowing in a year he could return home and never have to work again.<br />Weeks went by. Mark was always greatly exceeding his quota, but Ralph usually exceeded his very little, or barely made his quota. Because of Mark's productivity he was taken out of the part of the mine where most worked and put in a vein of the mine which had the richest ore where he worked alone. In doing this, both the Kurios Mining Company, and Mark profited because Mark still produced over his quota and more gold was able to be taken from this rich ore.<br />During the time Mark & Ralph had been there, two men were caught trying to prospect for gold on their own. Both men were terminated and sent away and had not been heard from since.<br />It was now December. The temperature remained the same in the mine, but above ground it was terribly cold. It was the second week of December that Ralph did not make his quota. He though to him self, \" I've paid my dues, I've exceeded my quota many times since I've been here. It will be alright if I just kinda coast along for a while.\" <br />The foreman came to Ralph at the end of the week after quotas had been counted. \" Ralph, you didn't produce sufficiently this week. Consider this your warning.\" <br />Again Ralph thought to himself, \" Kurios Mining Company knows I've labored well for them, this foreman is just wants to strut around and look important. He doesn't go into the mine anyway, what does he know.\" <br />With this attitude Ralph went into the mine another week and did not make his quota. After the quotas had been counted the foreman approached Ralph. \" Your belongings have been put into this bag. Here is a payment note for your compensation up till today. You did not make your quota for the second week. You were warned after the first, but you did not produce the next week and thus became unprofitable. According to the Kurios Mining Company contract you must now leave the bunk house and mess hall never again to reenter.\" <br />Ralph was put out of the building with only a bag of clothes and a payment note. The extra clothes would help in the terrible cold but the payment note was useless up in the Northwest Territory. It could only be cashed in when he returned to the Kurios Mining Company office in the United States.<br />Ralph started walking in the direction that seemed to be South. At night he had no tent to sleep in, no bedding, and he couldn't even get a fire started. He couldn't feel his hands or feet because of the cold. After a couple days the only thing he had eaten was a bird he had found dead in the snow, and unable to start a fire he had to eat it frozen & raw.<br />\" Why didn't you listen? I tried to help you look forward to what you would have after a years hard work. You could have been productive if you would have put your mind to it. Why didn't you listen?\" Mark was talking to the frozen body as he pulled it from the thawing snow. It was May and the winter snow was beginning to melt. Ralph had only made it five miles from the mine.<br />The application today can be summed up I believe, by reading the first 8 verses of the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John. Before we read those verses I'm sure some of you have questioned the meaning of the name Kurios Mining Company. Like last week I took a Greek word for the name of the company. The Greek word Kurios is translated \" Lord\" in your Bible. So we could say this was the \" Lord's Mining Company.\" Now John 15:1-8;<br />John 15:1 \" I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.<br />4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 \" I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.<br />6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.<br />Do you see the parallels between these verses in John and the story of Mark & Ralph? What was expected of Mark & Ralph? Was it not productivity? If they were productive they were rewarded. By being productive they were allowed to remain in the company. <br />It is expected that we bear fruit, be productive. If we are in Christ, remember the church is the Body of Christ, we will bear fruit, be productive.<br />Remember Mark was productive, he always exceeded his quota. What was done to him? He was taken away from other workers, why? So he could work a richer vein and produce more. Doesn't this sound like he was pruned. So is it that the Father prunes those who are bearing fruit so they can bear even more.<br />What happened to the men who tried to go out own their own, prospect for them selves? They were expelled, cast out. If we do not remain in Christ we are like the branches that die and are cast into the fire. There are other times when the ones not bearing fruit are told they will be cast into the fire. In Matthew 3 John the Baptist is warning the Pharisees and Sadducees. In Matthew 6 he seems to be talking about false prophets. The point is the ones not bearing fruit will get very hot!<br />Each of us needs to examine ourselves and truthfully determine with guidance from above through God's Word & prayer whether or not we are being fruitful. Are you bearing fruit? Are you being productive?<br />Unlike the people in our story who could never reenter the bunk house or mess hall when they were sent away, we can realize our failures and ask the Father to forgive us. Do you need to ask forgiveness for failure to bear fruit or do you need to ask the Father to help you bear fruit?<br />Are you a branch that has never been connected to the true vine? Are you unable to bear fruit because you have never accepted Christ. You haven't confessed your belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You've not turned to God in repentance. You've never put on Christ in the watery grave of baptism for the washing away of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.<br />