Qrc: Disappointments Series

QRC Disappointments

That time of the year is coming again, you know when we can sit around our television sets and watch people’s hopes, dreams and aspirations crushed and ground into the dust. It was advertising guru Roy Williams who wrote “Every dream of the future is a seed. But until your dream falls into the ground and dies, it cannot burst from the ground and deliver the harvest you seek.”

If that is the case then there will be a lot of seeds falling into the ground when American Idol airs again in January. And some of those dreams will recover and others will remain shattered and dormant. Many of you know that I am a huge Harry Chapin fan and one of my favorite songs is the story of Mr. Tanner. And the song opens with these lines

Mister Tanner was a cleaner from a town in the Midwest.

And of all the cleaning shops around he'd made his the best.

But he also was a baritone who sang while hanging clothes.

He practiced scales while pressing tails and sang at local shows.

His friends and neighbors praised the voice that poured out from his throat.

They said that he should use his gift instead of cleaning coats.

And so one day Mr. Tanner took the plunge, this was long before the days of American Idol so he found an agent in New York booked a hall and poured all of his resources into his opening performance.

We’ll let Harry Pick up the story. Video Clip from Harry Chapin singing Mr. Tanner.

(He did not know how well he sang, he only heard the flaws.

But the critics were concise, it only took four lines.

But no one could accuse them of being over kind.

(spoken) Mr. Martin Tanner, Baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his

Town Hall debut last night. He came well prepared, but unfortunately

his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards.

His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it

consistently interesting.

(sung) Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.)

He came home to Dayton and was questioned by his friends.

Then he smiled and just said nothing and he never sang again,

excepting very late at night when the shop was dark and closed.

He sang softly to himself as he sorted through the clothes.

Wow, that’s gotta hurt.

Have you ever been disappointed? Have you ever had your dreams snatched away? Maybe a love scorned? A child who has chosen a path that is diametrically opposed to the way you brought them up? A career that you love, that ends in a crash or a whimper?

This is week five of our series “QR-Codes for your Life” QR-Codes or QRCs are those ever present bar codes that seem to pop up everywhere. And their purpose is to make the retrieval of information easier for those who are interested. So if you go to a Tim Horton’s and you want to comment on their service you simply scan this QR-Code with your smart phone and it takes you to this site where you can make comments on their service.

The QR-C on the back of your bulletin will take you to our Web-site where you can find all kinds of information about Cornerstone Wesleyan Church.

And when I introduced this topic back in October I commented about how great it would be to have QR-codes that would give us information from God’s word when we were facing certain issues and situations in our lives.

So three weeks ago we looked at what to do when we are tempted to do wrong, where we should look for that answer and our QRC directed us to 1 Corinthians 10:13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

The week after that we talked about failure, when we feel like we just can’t go on, that our feet have been kicked out from under us and we feel that we just can’t give anymore and we want to quit. And as a response to that we looked at Galatians 6:9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

And last week I spoke about the need for forgiveness in our lives, what happens after you’ve been betrayed or hurt. When someone you love turns against you, or someone you hardly knows says or does something that hurts you? And our QR-code last week took us to Colossians 3:13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.