Illustrations

One of the best-loved hymns of the faith, “It Is Well with My Soul,” was written by Horatio Spafford. Mr. Spafford, a wealthy businessman in Chicago, lost much of his real estate holdings in the Great Chicago Fire. After the fire, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to Europe, intending to join them later, for a time of rest as well as to assist Moody and Sankey with a revival in Great Britain. But the voyage was struck by disaster, and Spafford received a cable from his wife with the painful message, “Saved alone.”

Adolph Menzel created a painting titled Frederick the Great’s Address to His Generals Before the Battle of Leuthen. This historical piece depicts Frederick’s speech to his generals in December 1757 during the Seven Years’ War before their famous battle in Silesia against the Austrians.

In 1999 John F. Kennedy Jr. flew his small airplane from New York City to his family home in Massachusetts for a wedding. On board were his wife Carolyn and her sister. Though Kennedy was a licensed pilot, he had not yet been approved for instrument flight (using only instruments to navigate). When their takeoff was delayed until after dark, Kennedy should have waited for daylight or sought a more experienced pilot to help. Yet, Kennedy took off into the darkness. The plane never reached its destination, and all three passengers were killed in the crash.

James Marshall left his family’s home in New Jersey as a young man and, like so many others, began a migration west. After contracting malaria while living in Missouri he was advised to go further west, and in 1845 he arrived in California. He worked a number of different jobs and served in the army during the Mexican-American War in 1846. When he got out, a man he had earlier befriended, John Sutter, entered a partnership agreement with Marshall to build a sawmill.

William Booth was greatly stirred by the needs of the poor of London, and realized that most churches were doing nothing to reach the “undesirables”—drunkards, morphine addicts, prostitutes, and the poor. He set out to reach them with what he called the 3 S’s: soup, soap and salvation. Thousands were saved among those that most churches had no interest in reaching. Booth gave his life for the cause of reaching others.

When 67-year-old carpenter Russell Herman died in 1994, his will included a staggering set of bequests. Included in his plan for distribution was more than two billion dollars for the City of East St. Louis, another billion and a half for the State of Illinois, two and a half billion for the national forest system, and to top off the list, Herman left six trillion dollars to the government to help pay off the national debt. That sounds amazingly generous, but there was a small problem—Herman’s only asset when he died was a 1983 Oldsmobile.

Gertrude was about to make her first parachute jump. The instructor said, “First, you pull the big cord. If it doesn’t work, you pull the little cord. There will be a red pickup truck waiting for you when you land.”

Gertrude jumped. When she pulled the big cord, nothing happened, so she pulled the little cord. Still nothing happened. “That’s great,” she muttered. “Now I suppose the red pickup truck won’t be there either.”

Source: Unknown

Charles Spurgeon told this story of his grandfather James and his faith in God. “He had a large family and a very small income, but he loved his Lord, and he would not have given up his preaching of the gospel for anything.” One day the cow on which the family relied for milk for the children suddenly died. James Spurgeon’s wife was greatly concerned, but he said, “God said He would provide, and I believe He could send us fifty cows if He pleased.”

So many people think if they just had money, everything would be different. What many who do get money suddenly find is that things are different—it gets worse. When Jack Whittaker won the Powerball lottery prize jackpot of over $314 million on Christmas day 2002, it was at the time the largest prize won by a single winner in US history. Whittaker was already a successful businessman, but the sudden windfall proved to be anything but a blessing for his family.

He that is down needs fear no fall,
He that is low, no pride;
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.—John Bunyan

Source: Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan