Me:  Look at that boat Prodigal, it has been stripped down to nothing.

 

Prodigal:  Yeah the owner must be upset about their boat.

 

Me:  Having everything removed but the foundation is not such a bad thing.

 

Prodigal:  Are you sure?

 

Me:  Yeah, let me share in a story.

 

This is a story about Thomas Edison

 

In December 1914, the great Edison laboratories in West Orange, New Jersey, were almost entirely destroyed by fire.  In one night, Edison lost two million dollars’ worth of equipment and the record of much of his life’s work, Edison’s son, Charles, ran frantically about trying to find his father.  Finally he came upon him, standing near the fire, his face ruddy in the glow, his white hair blown by the winter winds.  “My heart ached for him.”  Charles Edison said.  “He was no longer young, and everything was being destroyed.  He spotted me.  “Where’s your mother?”  he shouted.  “Find her.  Bring her here.  She’ll never see anything like this again as long as she lives.”

The next morning, walking about the charred embers of so many of his hopes and dreams, the sixty-seven year old Edison said, “There is great value in disaster.  All our mistakes are burned up.  Thank God we can start anew.”

 

Sometimes God brings what seems like a disaster in our lives but what he really doing is bringing in something new!

 

1 Timothy 6:17-19

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

 

Jennifer Van Allen,

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org