SUFFERING
The child of God is often called to suffer because there is nothing that will convince onlookers of the reality and power of true religion as suffering will do, when it is borne with Christian fortitude.
—F. B. Meyer
Don’t be like the boy during World War II who said, “I wouldn’t mind going to war and being a hero if I knew I wouldn’t get hurt.”
—Mack R. Douglas
It is doubtful God can use any man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.
—A. W. Tozer
Some knees bend only under the load of a heavy heart; some eyes are opened only after the head is bowed.
—William Arthur Ward
It is possible to escape a multitude of trouble by living an insignificant life.
—John Henry Jewett
Margaret Sangster Phippen wrote that in the mid-1950’s her father, British minister W. E. Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found he had an incurable disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, his throat would soon become unable to swallow.
Sangster threw himself into his work in British home missions, figuring he could still write and he would have even more time for prayer. “Let me stay in the struggle, Lord,” he pleaded. “I don’t mind if I can no longer be a general, but give me just a regiment to lead.” He wrote articles and books, and helped organize prayer cells throughout England. “I’m only in the kindergarten of suffering,” he told people who pitied him.
Gradually Sangster’s legs became useless. His voice went completely. But he could still hold a pen, shakily. On Easter morning, just a few weeks before he died, he wrote a letter to his daughter. In it, he said, “It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice with which to shout, ‘He is risen!’—but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout.”
—Vernon Grounds
William Sangster, well-known British pastor, was told he had progressive muscular atrophy and could not get well. He made the following resolutions and stuck by them to the day he died.
1. I will never complain.
2. I will keep the home bright.
3. I will count my blessings.
4. I will try to turn it to good.
A family in India were the first in their village to turn to Christ. Shortly after their conversion, everybody said, “The gods will go against you. You’re going to be cursed.”
They were a little concerned about this. And then their child got sick. When the child got sick, everyone said, “See, the gods have punished you! See what has happened!”
The family went to church and said, “Please pray for us. Our child is sick; the people are saying this is a punishment for becoming Christians.”
The church prayed earnestly, but the child got worse and finally died.
When they had the funeral, the first Christian funeral in the village, the people of the village heard the hope of the resurrection and their eyes were opened and many people came to Christ.
SUICIDES
Ernest Hemingway was an infantryman and ambulance driver in World War I, a war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In peacetime he was an avid sportsman, hunting big game in Africa and fishing off the coasts of Key West and Cuba. He traveled extensively. His novels hit the bestseller lists time after time. In winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, he established a place for himself as one of the greatest American authors of all time. By most standards, he had it all, but it must not have been enough. Discouraged and despondent, he shot himself in a cabin in Idaho in 1961.
The number of people who commit suicide after experiencing the fame or fortune of worldly success is astonishing. Multimillionaire George Vanderbilt killed himself by jumping from a hotel window. Lester Hunt, twice governor of Wyoming before being elected to the U.S. Senate, ended his own life. Actress Marilyn Monroe, writer Ernest Hemingway, and athlete Tony Lazzeri represent a host of highly influential and popular people who became so disenchanted with earthly success that they took their own lives.
What’s the use of worrying?
It never was worthwhile,
So, pack up your troubles
In your old kit-bag
And smile, smile, smile.
Those words, written by British vaudeville actor George Powell, were set to a cheerful melody by his piano-playing brother Felix. It earned them $60,000.
Yet one day years later, Felix sat down at a piano and played his well-known melody “Smile, Smile, Smile.” Then he went into a room where he was all alone and shot and killed himself.
—Our Daily Bread
SUNDAY SCHOOL
“Our teacher is like the deep sea diver,” a teenager exclaimed.
“How’s that?”
“He dives deep into the truth, stays under a while, and comes up dry.”
A small boy: “Why don’t you come to my Sunday school?”
Another small boy: “Cause I belong to another abomination.”
“I shall now illustrate what I have in mind,” said the teacher as she erased the board.
The prayer meeting is the indicator of the present vitality of a church, but the Sunday school is the outline of what church will be tomorrow.
—J. B. Chapman
SURGERY
I got the bill for my surgery. Now I know why those doctors were wearing masks.
—James H. Boren
SURPRISES
While she was enjoying a transatlantic ocean trip, Billie Burke, the famous actress, noticed that a gentleman at the next table was suffering from a bad cold.
“Are you uncomfortable?” she asked sympathetically. The man nodded.
“I’ll tell you what to do for it,” she offered. “Go back to your stateroom and drink lots of orange juice. Take two aspirins. Cover yourself with all the blankets you can find. Sweat the cold out. I know just what I’m talking about. I’m Billie Burke from Hollywood.”
The man smiled warmly and introduced himself in return. “Thanks,” he said, “I’m Dr. Mayo of the Mayo Clinic.”
—Bits & Pieces
SWEARING
A Quaker, backing up his car, bumped into the vehicle behind him. The driver jumped out and called him several very insulting names. When he ran out of names the Quaker said, “If you offer a man something and he refuses it, to whom does it belong?”
Taken by surprise at the unexpected question, the other driver replied, “To the one who originally offered it, I suppose.”
“We agree,” smiled the Quaker. “The abuse and ugly names you offer me I refuse to accept.”