NONE OF US GET OUT WITHOUT PAIN
There is a calendar entitled "The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said." Each day, it features a stupid statement from someone. A page in the calendar had this amazing quote, "Listen closely: If you bought our course, ’How To Fly In Six Easy Lessons,’ we apologize for any inconvenience caused by our failure to include the last chapter, ’How To Land Your Plane Safely.’ Send us your name and address and we will send you the last chapter posthaste. Requests by estates will be honored." If you are a pilot, I hope that you did not purchase that course!
Crazy things happen in this world, don’t they? - life happens!
Then, there is the story of Candace Prestwich which tells about a day that she would rather forget! On a cold wintry night, her furnace died, so she went to the home of her parents. The following morning, a neighbor called to tell her that her water pipes had burst and flooded both her town house and her neighbor’s town house. Candace raced home and on the way, she got a speeding ticket. Then, the furnace repairman arrived and told her that he did not think he had the proper fuse; but, that he would check in his truck. Meanwhile, the plumber cut holes in her bathroom wall to locate the leak. When the furnace repairman returned, he held aloft a fuse. "I had the right fuse," he said triumphantly. "This must be your lucky day." Candace may not have felt all that lucky on that particular day - life happens!
The story is told of a pastor who was taking a morning walk. He came across a woman pushing a baby carriage up a hill. She was struggling with it a bit, so he offered to push it up for her. It was a rather unwieldy baby carriage, so it was no easy job to get it to the top. Once they had reached her house, the woman thanked the pastor for his help. The pastor replied, "Do you mind if I take a little peek at the precious baby that I have been pushing all this time?" The woman laughed and said, "Pastor this isn’t a baby that we have been struggling with, it’s my husband’s weekly beer supply." Life happens - I guess it is better to laugh than to cry!
American actress, Mary Tyler Moore (Born: 1936), sums things up well! You remember her, don’t you? She was, at one time, America’s sweetheart! It would be easy to believe that her life was always charmed; but, the truth of the matter is that it wasn’t! She was married as a teenager and then divorced. Her sister, in college, overdosed and died. Then, Mary got married a second time and divorced. But, she remarried the same man and got divorced again - three marriages with two men! Then, her son accidentally shot and killed himself. In her despair, she turned to "booze" and became an alcoholic - got off it - but, contracted diabetes as a result of her drinking. Now, the diabetes has affected her eyes; and, there is a good chance that she will be blind by the end of her life. America’s sweetheart, but, not without deep, deep heartaches! She summed up her life experiences like this, "None of us gets out of here without pain."
Source: "Thorns of Grace," sermon by King Duncan, found at eSermons.com, used by permission, accessed 03 July 2009. "www.wikipedia.com." (Mary Tyler Moore), (Leonard Bernstein), accessed 04 July 2009. From a sermon by George Dillahunty, "Thorns Of Grace!" 7/5/2009.