Max Lucado’s Story about a Scottish Fisherman’s Stain on Wall that is Transformed by Famous Wildlife Painter into a Masterpiece
Max Lucado tells this story: “Over a hundred years ago, a group of fishermen were relaxing in a Scottish seaside inn. One of the men gestured widely and his arm struck the serving maid’s tea tray, sending the teapot flying into the whitewashed wall. The innkeeper surveyed the damage and sighed, “The whole wall will have to be repainted.” “Perhaps not,” offered a stranger. “Let me work with it.” Having nothing to lose, the proprietor consented. The man pulled pencils, brushes, and pigment out of an art box... In time, an image began to emerge: a stag with a great rack of antlers. The man inscribed his signature at the bottom, paid for his meal, and left. His name: Sir Edwin Landseer, the famous painter of wildlife.” Lucado concludes: “In his hands, a mistake became a masterpiece. God’s hands do the same, over and over. He draws together the disjointed blotches in our life and renders them an expression of his love.”
From a sermon by Rodney Buchanan, The Message of Jesus, 11/16/2009