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Life
Brief
Life
Average
life spans are shorter than most of us realize. Unlike the great redwood trees that can
last for a thousand or more years
most other things come and go quicker than
we would imagine. After a little
digging
I found several examples that illustrate how temporary things really
are:
Copper Plumbing 20-25 years
Cat
15 years
Face-Lift
6-10 years
Vitamin
3 years
Dollar Bill 18 months
Painted line
on the road 3-4 months
Pro-basketball
player's shoes 2
weeks
Tornado
10 minutes
I
purposely omitted human beings.
There are differences of opinion
but most would agree it's somewhere
between 75 and 80 years. That may
sound encouraging to the young and pretty disturbing to those in their
eighties. The simple fact is
nobody knows for sure how long he or she may live. When we read and believe the warnings in
Scripture
there is little doubt that life is short. James pulls no punches when he writes
"You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes
away" (4:14). Life? A puff of smoke...a cloud of dust... -- Charles
Swindoll
Happiness in Life
Charlie Brown
pondering
his plight in life
thought
“Yesterday
for one brief moment I was happy. But
just when I thought I was sinning in the game of life
there was a flag thrown
on the play and life dealt me a blow. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Perspective of Life
In a “Peanuts” comic strip
there was a conversation between Lucy and Charlie Brown. Lucy said that life is
like a deck chair. Some place it so they can see where they are going; some
place it so they can see where they have been; and some place it so they can
see where they are at present. Charlie Brown’s reply: “I can’t even get mine
unfolded.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Life’s Purpose
Someone has aptly said
“Living without God’s plan for our life is like sewing with a needle without
thread
or writing one’s biography with a pen empty of ink.” ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Life’s Purpose
Some tine ago
psychologist
William Moulton Marston asked three thousand persons
“What have you to live
for?”
He was shocked to find that
94 percent were simply enduring the present while waiting for the future. They
would describe this as waiting for “something” to happen-waiting for children
to grow up and leave home
waiting for next year
waiting for another time to
take a long-dreamed-about trip
waiting for tomorrow. They were all waiting
without realizing that all anyone ever has is today because yesterday is gone
and tomorrow never comes. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Life’s Uncertainty
A young couple desiring to
go into missionary work had invited a missionary couple to their home. The host
couple kept mentioning that life was so “uncertain” for them because the
husband had multiple sclerosis. He could either be eventually immobilized in a
hospital bed
or live normally until death
or die unexpectedly.
After hearing the term
uncertain so many times
the missionary turned to the couple and said
“All of
our lives are uncertain. You just happen to know it
and most of us don’t.” ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Living in Past
Our past
mistakes as well
as worthwhile accomplishments
is like a car’s rear-view mirror. While driving
we use the broad view through the windshield as we move ahead
but we also use
the mirror for reference
making quick
periodic glances into it for
information to aid in making driving decisions. Although we cannot effectively
or safely move ahead by staring only into the mirror and ignoring the view from
the windshield
“proper” use of the mirror does ensure a safer
smoother trip
to our destination.
In the same way
we are not
to dwell in our past
but live by using the lessons of the past as a reference
to aid our journey into the future. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Suicide
Some time ago an article in
the paper recorded two deaths. A middle-aged couple died in each other’s
arms-the result of a suicidal overdose of drugs-because they couldn’t face
separation by death.
A psychiatry professor at a
large university and his wife left a suicide note explaining that the wife was
suffering from emphysema and kidney
liver
and heart ailments. Doctors had
told her she might live up to five years or die at any time. Their oldest son
said
“My father and mother were very much in love with each other. We wondered
what my father would do if anything ever happened to Mom.” Lewis said his
parents often discussed suicide. “This solution was not a bad one
” he added.
This couple could not face
reality
because they had no hope beyond the present. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Day-to-Day Life
Yard by yard
life is hard.
Inch by inch
it’s a
cinch.
──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Life’s Purpose
All have been
given a bag of tools
A formless rock and a book
of rules.
And each must make ere
life has flown
A stumbling block or a
stepping stone.
──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Life’s Purpose
He who has a “why” to live
for can bear with almost any “how”.— Friedrich Nietzsche
a German nihilist
Life’s Purpose
Lord
make me
an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred
let
me sow love;
Where there is doubt
faith;
Where there is despair
hope;
Where there is darkness
light; and
Where there is sadness
joy.
O Divine Master
grant
that I may not so much
Seek to be consoled
as to
console;
To be understood as to
understand;
To be loved
as to love;
For it is in giving that
we receive;
It is in pardoning that we
are pardoned; and
It is in dying that we are
born to eternal life.— Francis of Assisi
Someone has calculated how
a typical lifespan of 70 years is spent. Here is the estimate:
Sleep................23
years...........32.9%
Work.................16
years...........22.8%
TV....................8
years...........11.4%
Eating................6
years............8.6%
Travel................6
years............8.6%
Leisure.............4.5
years............6.5%
Illness...............4
years............5.7%
Dressing..............2
years............2.8%
Religion............0.5
years............0.7%
Total................70
years............100%
Our Daily Bread
November 25
1992.
The tragedy of life is not
that it ends so soon
but that we wait so long to begin it.
Richard L. Evans
Bits
& Pieces
March 4
1993
p. 2.
Someone has calculated how
a typical lifespan of 70 years is spent. Here is the estimate:
Sleep................23
years...........32.9%
Work.................16 years...........22.8%
TV....................8 years...........11.4%
Eating................6 years............8.6%
Travel................6 years............8.6%
Leisure.............4.5 years............6.5%
Illness...............4 years............5.7%
Dressing..............2 years............2.8%
Religion............0.5 years............0.7%
Total................70
years............100%
Our Daily Bread
November 25
1992.
In an average lifetime
the average American spends 3 years in business meetings
13 years watching TV
Spends $89
281 on food
consumes 109
354 pounds of food
Makes 1811 trips to
McDonalds
Spends $6881 in vending machines
Eats 35
138 cookies and 1483
pounds of candy
Catches 304 colds
Is involved in 6 motor vehicle accidents
is hospitalized 8 times (men) or 12 times (women)
Spends 24 years sleeping.
Tom Heymann
In an
Average Lifetime.
The seven ages of man:
spills
drills
thrills
bills
ills
pills
wills.
Richard J. Needham
The
Wit and Wisdom of Richard Needham.
A story making the rounds
concerns a Biology I examination in which the students were asked:
"Suppose you could take to Mars any of the laboratory equipment used in
this course. How would you determine if there was life on Mars?" One
student responded: "Ask the inhabitants. Even a negative answer would be
significant." The student got an A.
Carl Sagan
Other
Worlds.
If I had my whole life to
live over again
I don't think I'd have the strength.
Flip Wilson.
Seize the moment. Remember
all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.
Erma Bombeck.