Perspective

In 2004, a painting by Anna Mary Robertson, better known as Grandma Moses, was brought to the Antiques Roadshow for appraisal. Born before the Civil War, Robertson did not take up painting until late in her life. Her primitive style eventually became extremely popular, and her work commanded a high price. The man who brought the painting to be evaluated had lived nearby and his mother was a friend of Grandma Moses. He said, “She was just a wonderful friend of the family. And she would let my mother buy these paintings, which she thought had relatively little value.

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, “There she goes!”

Gone where?

Gone from my sight ... that is all.

On August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley brought fierce destruction to areas of Florida. During the storm, 25-year-old Danny Williams went outside to seek protection under the branches of a 55-year old banyan tree. Friends and family said that the protective branches of the spreading tree had been a favorite peaceful place for the Fort Meyers man. But on that day, his place of safety became a death trap. The tree fell on Williams and killed him.

Sometimes, the places and situations we look to for protection can ultimately be the most harmful.

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large, raging, violent river. Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed, “God, please give me the strength to cross the river.” Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs. He was able to swim across in about two hours, having almost drowned twice.

After witnessing that, the second man prayed, “God, please give me strength and the tools to cross the river.” Poof! God gave him a rowboat, strong arms, and strong legs. He was able to row across in about an hour after almost capsizing once.

In her column, Ask Marilyn, Marilyn vos Savant gave an interesting perspective on contentment. One reader wrote in about a unique experiment she had conducted after being dissatisfied that her neighbor’s yard looked better than her own. She did what few have done and walked next door to look back at her own grass. When she stood in her neighbor’s yard, the grass in her own yard now looked greener than theirs so she asked, “Why does this occur?”

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and explorer who spent thirty-three years in the heart of Africa. He endured much suffering as he labored to spread the Gospel and open the continent to missionaries. This godly missionary once remarked:

A story is told about a man who found out it was his time to go to Heaven.

He asked the Lord if he could bring just one thing. The Lord said, “No”. Finally after many requests the Lord said, “You can bring one thing.”

Happily, the man packed his suitcase full of gold.

When he arrived in Heaven the angels said, “Sorry you can’t bring that in here.”

He said, “The Lord said I could.”

“Okay,” they said. “By the way, what’s in there anyway?”

The man opened the bag, and they looked in. Then an angel said, “Oh. It’s pavement.”

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”—William Arthur Ward

“What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity.”—J. Sidlow Baxter

The story is told of two liberal sociologists who were walking down the street. They saw a man lying unconscious and covered with cuts and bruises from a terrible mugging. One of the sociologists turned to his colleague and said, “Whoever did this terrible deed really needs our help.”

Source: Unknown

Samuel Brengle was a worker with the Salvation Army in Boston many years ago. As he passed by a saloon, some men threw a brick at his head. Their aim was good, and Brengle nearly died. As it was, he spent eighteen months in recovery. During that time he wrote a little book entitled Helps to Holiness. Thousands of copies were published.

Gold is one of the most valuable materials on earth. It has been used for centuries as money, but it also has many uses in industry, manufacturing, and even space flight. One of the traits that makes gold so useful is that it can be shaped and formed so easily. In fact, a single ounce of gold can be flattened out to cover three hundred square feet.

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.”

Source: The Mission-Minded Family, Ann Dunagan

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

4 years of age: My mommy can do anything!

8 years of age: My mom knows a whole lot!

12 years of age: My mother doesn’t really know quite everything.

14 years of age: Naturally, Mother doesn’t know that either.

16 years of age: Mother? She’s hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 years of age: That old woman? She’s way out of date!

25 years of age: Well, she might know a little bit about it.

35 years of age: Before we decide, let’s get Mom’s opinion.

45 years of age: I wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

Some folks are like Easter eggs—ornamented on the outside and hard-boiled on the inside!

Source: Unknown

In October, 1864, just before General Sherman commenced his famous march to the sea, while his army lay camped in the neighborhood of Atlanta, the army of Hood, in a carefully prepared movement, passed the right flank of Sherman’s army, and gaining his rear, commenced the destruction of the railroad leading north, burning block-houses and capturing the small garrisons along the line.

A man who walked from New York City to San Francisco was asked what his biggest hurdle was. He said that the toughest part of the trip wasn’t traversing the steep slopes of the mountains or crossing hot, barren stretches of desert. He said, “The thing that came the closest to defeating me was the sand in my shoes.”

It is not usually what we think of as big sins that defeat us. Most Christians fall to sins that they do not think are very big.

Source: Our Daily Bread

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Fifty people who were over ninety-five years old were asked one question: “If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?” Many different answers were given, but three answers were seen repeatedly. They were: If I had to do it over again, I would . . .

1. Reflect more.
2. Risk more.
3. Do more things that would live on after I am dead.

Source: Who Switched the Price Tags?, Tony Campolo

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

A self-righteous man once boasted to a Christian friend of his, “You know, John, I’m not such a bad fellow. There are many worse than I!” His friend replied, “Ivor, you are measuring yourself by the wrong standard. You measure yourself by the harlots and drunkards you see on Skid Row and you feel quite satisfied by comparison. But go and measure yourself alongside Jesus Christ and see how you make out.” No person’s life cuts much of a figure when placed alongside the perfect life of Christ. The life of the Lord Jesus shows us how crooked and defiled our own lives really are.

A Philadelphia congregation watched as three 9-year-old boys were baptized and joined the church. Not long after, unable to continue with its dwindling membership, the church sold the building and disbanded.