An Example Ignored<\/b><\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s 100-meter sprinter Ben Johnson, arguably the fastest man in history, flew down the track in a world-record 9.79 seconds, only .13 of a second in front of 1984 quadruple gold medalist Carl Lewis of the U.S.<\/p>\n
But photographs freezing that astounding moment of the 1988 Seoul Olympics reveal a dark side of Johnson. At the finish line, in angry celebration and to taunt Lewis, Johnson thrust an index finger to the sky. Johnson later told reporters, \u201cI don\u2019t care about the perfect race. I don\u2019t care what the world record is. I just wanted to beat Carl.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s pursuit of shaming a rival brought shame upon himself. The Olympics\u2019 crackdown on illegal drugs, requiring post-race urine tests of all winners, revealed Johnson had taken stanozolol, a forbidden anabolic steroid. Within three days he was stripped of his medal and record and banned from competitive athletics for two years. He left Seoul like a criminal, hiding his face behind a briefcase as he was mobbed by photographers. This is the man who once said, \u201cRunning is my life,\u201d The man who sold out to the luxuries and fame it brought.<\/p>\n
Born in Jamaica, Johnson came to Canada when his parents wanted a better education for their six children. His mother found work as a kitchen server in a Toronto hotel and sent for the children in 1976. The father also came to Toronto for a while but returned to Jamaica to a better job than Canada could offer.<\/p>\n
A puny 14-year-old, Johnson entered the eighth grade and proved an average student. After high school he dropped out of an auto mechanics course. Nudged into athletics when his brother joined a track club, by 1980 Ben was 50 pounds heavier, six inches taller, and beginning to win medals in international competitions.<\/p>\n
His mother took a second job at another hotel to help pay for Johnson\u2019s training, which included weight lifting six days a week. How did Johnson show his appreciation for that kind of sacrifice? According to a reporter for Chatelaine magazine, Johnson spent his free time \u201clistening to reggae [music], chasing girls, or tinkering with his car.\u201d He never worked except for one job that lasted four days.<\/p>\n
But wealth came with professional athletics. The year before the Seoul Olympics his income was estimated at about a million dollars. His appearance fee rose to a reported $30,000, and he signed multimillion-dollar contracts with sporting goods manufacturers.<\/p>\n
His high living, however, was marred by allegations that his superbly muscled body got that way through the use of illegal steroids. Just days before the Olympic track events, an American trainer noticed Johnson\u2019s eyes \u201cso yellow with his liver working overtime processing steroids that I said he\u2019s either crazy or he\u2019s protected with an insurance policy.\u201d After Johnson\u2019s disgrace at the \u201888 Olympics, his coach admitted Johnson had used steroids for nearly seven years.\u2026<\/p>\n
In October 1988, just months after the Olympics, Johnson was charged with pointing a starter\u2019s pistol from his car at another motorist on a busy highway. In 1989, in a scuffle with five men outside a Toronto night club, he suffered a broken tooth and swollen lip.<\/p>\n
In 1990 his agent sued him for $425,000 for breach of contract. In 1991 he pleaded guilty to assault charges involving a former teammate. She told police that at a Toronto track and field center Johnson had pushed her and grabbed her throat. Reports said he was angry about comments she made to reporters about his Olympics drug test.<\/p>\n
A seemingly small decision to enhance athletic performance with an illegal drug set Johnson up for a life out of control.<\/p>\n
Jeanne Zornes, \u201cTaking the High Road,\u201d Pursuit, Vol. V, No. 1, 1996, pp. 13-15<\/p>\n
Tooth For a Tooth<\/b><\/p>\n
Russian Czar Peter the Great was fascinated with the study and practice of medicine. So when one of the Czar\u2019s valets asked the monarch to pull his wife\u2019s tooth, Peter grabbed his dental instruments and followed the valet to his apartment. There Peter pulled the woman\u2019s tooth, ignoring her cries of protest.<\/p>\n
Only several days later did Peter learn that the woman had never had a toothache at all. The painful extraction was her husband\u2019s revenge for a domestic quarrel. Talk about \u201ctooth for tooth\u201d!<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, January 13, 1997, p. 20<\/p>\n
Forgiveness is Better<\/b><\/p>\n
When we are wronged in some way, our natural inclination is to fight back, to get even. Needless to say, this reaction, though thoroughly human, is almost always in error. \u201cForgiveness,\u201d said Epictetus, \u201cis better than revenge, for forgiveness is the sign of a gentle nature, but revenge is the sign of a savage nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
A dramatic example is the experience of a Hungarian refugee\u2014to protect his privacy we\u2019ll call him Joseph Kudar. Kudar was a successful young lawyer in Hungary before the uprisings in that country in 1956. A strong believer in freedom for his country, he fought Soviet tanks in the streets of Budapest with his friends. When the uprising failed, he was forced to flee the country.<\/p>\n
When Kudar arrived in the U.S. he had no money, no job, no friends. He was, however, well educated; he spoke and wrote several languages, including English. For several months he tried to get a job in a law office, but because of his lack of familiarity with American law, he received only polite refusals.<\/p>\n
Finally, it occurred to him that with his knowledge of language he might be able to get a job with an import-export company. He selected one such company and wrote a letter to the owner.<\/p>\n
Two weeks later he received an answer, but was hardly prepared for the vindictiveness of the man\u2019s reply. Among other things, it said that even if they did need someone, they wouldn\u2019t hire him because he couldn\u2019t even write good English.<\/p>\n
Crushed, Kudar\u2019s hurt quickly turned to anger. What right did this rude, arrogant man have to tell him he couldn\u2019t write the language! The man was obviously crude and uneducated\u2014his letter was chock-full of grammatical errors!<\/p>\n
Kudar sat down and, in the white heat of anger, wrote a scathing reply, calculated to rip the man to shreds. When he\u2019d finished, however, as he was reading it over, his anger began to drain away. Then he remembered the biblical admonition, \u201cA soft answer turneth away wrath.\u201d<\/p>\n
No, he wouldn\u2019t mail the letter. Maybe the man was right. English was not his native tongue. Maybe he did need further study in it. Possibly this man had done him a favor by making him realize he did need to work harder on perfecting his English.<\/p>\n
Kudar tore up the letter and wrote another. This time he apologized for the previous letter, explained his situation, and thanked the man for pointing out his need for further study.<\/p>\n
Two days later he received a phone call inviting him to New York for an interview. A week later he went to work for them as a correspondent. Later, Joseph Kudar became vice president and executive officer of the company, destined to succeed the man he had hated and sought revenge against for a fleeting moment\u2014and then resisted.<\/p>\n
Bits & Pieces, March 31, 1994, pp. 12-15<\/p>\n
Holding Your Anger<\/b><\/p>\n
Many years ago during a Knicks-Bullets playoff game, one of the Bullets came up from behind the great Walt Frazier and punched him in the face. Strangely, the referee called a foul on Frazier. Frazier didn\u2019t complain. His expression never changed. He simply called for the ball and put in seven straight shots to win the game, an amazing display of productive anger. If you want to get huffy about it, it was a great moral lesson as well.<\/p>\n
U.S. News & World Report, June 14, 1993, p. 37<\/p>\n
Quotes<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson paid a $1000 fine for disputing a strike called by umpire Joe West. On the memo line of his check Dawson wrote: \u201cDonation for the blind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 You cannot get ahead while you are getting even. – Rep. Dick Armey<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Resource<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Swindoll, Three Steps Forward, p. 76<\/p>\n
Turn Around is Fair<\/b><\/p>\n
In Brazil, several Indians who had been refused an audience with then President Ernesto Geisel because they were not wearing ties told the press they would \u201cinsist that any government official visiting an Indian Village must wear a feathered headdress and body paint.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reuters<\/p>\n
The Worst Of Criminals<\/b><\/p>\n
At one point early in Julius Caesar\u2019s political career, feelings ran so high against him that he thought it best to leave Rome. He sailed for the Aegean island of Rhodes, but en route the ship was attacked by pirates and Caesar was captured. The pirates demanded a ransom of 12,000 gold pieces, and Caesar\u2019s staff was sent away to arrange the payment. Caesar spent almost 40 days with his captors, jokingly telling the pirates on several occasions that he would someday capture and crucify them to a man. The kidnappers were greatly amused, but when the ransom was paid and Caesar was freed, the first thing he did was gather a fleet and pursue the pirates. They were captured and crucified\u2026to a man!<\/p>\n
Such was the Romans\u2019 attitude toward crucifixion. It was to be reserved for the worst of criminals, a means of showing extreme contempt for the condemned. The suffering and humiliation of a Roman crucifixion were unequaled.<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, November 23, 1992<\/p>\n
Moby Dick<\/b><\/p>\n
For hardy whalers, no ocean was too wide to cross in pursuit of their mighty prizes. In 1819, more than a dozen ships where launched from Nantucket, all headed for distant Pacific hunting grounds. One, the three-masted Essex, was to suffer a calamity so dramatic that its fate inspired a classic American novel\u2014Herman Melville\u2019s Moby Dick.<\/p>\n
For months the ship survived the hazards of rounding Cape Horn and taking its prey. But one day a mammoth sperm whale rammed the Essex head-on. Then the leviathan passed under the vessel, turned, and attacked again. The whale hit, as first mate Owen Chase recalled, \u201cwith ten-fold fury and vengeance.\u201d The crew abandoned ship, and from their whaleboats watched as the Essex slid into the sea.<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, September 20, 1992<\/p>\n
On Self Control<\/b><\/p>\n
An artist had a dog that meant more to him than anything in the world. One day he broke his leg and the artist was panic-stricken. He ran to the telephone and called an acquaintance, a famous surgeon. \u201cIt\u2019s an emergency,\u201d he yelled, \u201ca matter of life and death. Come quick!\u201d<\/p>\n
The startled surgeon dropped everything and rushed to the home of the artist, expecting the worst. When confronted with the dog, the surgeon, with masterful self-control, said not a word but proceeded to treat the dog with the same skill he would have used on a human being. Then he picked up his instruments and left.<\/p>\n
Weeks passed, the dog got well, yet the artist never received a bill from the surgeon. The longer he waited the more guilty he felt. Surely he had lost the surgeon\u2019s friendship forever. A few days later, therefore, he made his way to the surgeon\u2019s office, intending to pay all that was asked. The surgeon would not accept his check. \u201cYou\u2019re a painter, aren\u2019t you?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVery well, if you will just put a coat of white paint on that cabinet over there, we will call the debt settled.\u201d<\/p>\n
The artist, a good-natured man, was amused by the doctor\u2019s clever idea of revenge. He smiled and started to work at once. But when the job was completed, instead of a coat of white paint, the panels of the surgeon\u2019s cabinet bore two of the artist\u2019s greatest masterpieces, worth thousands of dollars apiece.<\/p>\n
Bits & Pieces, August 22, 1991<\/p>\n
Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Solution<\/b><\/p>\n
When he was an attorney, Abraham Lincoln was once approached by a man who passionately insisted on bringing a suit for $2.50against an impoverished debtor. Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on revenge. When he saw that the man would not be put off, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the plaintiff paid. Lincoln then gave half the money to the defendant, who willingly confessed to the debt and paid the $2.50! But even more amazing than Lincoln\u2019 settlement was the fact that the irate plaintiff was satisfied with it.<\/p>\n
Daily Walk, May 22, 1992<\/p>\n
Do What Ever it Takes<\/b><\/p>\n
A couple of years ago, a member of my church\u2019s vocal team, and I were invited by a Christian leader named Yesu to go to southern India. There we would join a team of people from various parts of the U.S. We were told that God would use us to reach Muslims and Hindus and non-religious people for Christ. We all felt called by God to go, but none of us knew what to expect. When we arrived, Yesu met us and invited us to his home. Over the course of the next few days, he told us about his ministry. Yesu\u2019s father, a dynamic leader and speaker, had started the mission in a Hindu-dominated area. One day a Hindu leader came to Yesu\u2019s father and asked for prayer. Eager to pray with him, hoping he would lead him to Christ, he took him into a private room, knelt down with him, closed his eyes and began to pray. While he was praying, the Hindu man reached into his robe, pulled out a knife and stabbed him repeatedly. Yesu, hearing his father\u2019s screams, ran to help him. He held him in his arms as blood poured out onto the floor of the hut. Three days later, his father died. On his deathbed he said to his son, \u201cPlease tell that man that he is forgiven. Care for your mother and carry on this ministry. Do whatever it takes to win people to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
Too Busy Not To Pray, Bill Hybels, IVP, p. 62<\/p>\n
Asked for Leniency<\/b><\/p>\n
Georges Clemenceau was twice the prime minister of France, and played a major role in the treaties that concluded WWI. At the Versailles conference, Clemenceau was on his way to a meeting with President Woodrow Wilson\u2019s adviser when he was shot at by a young anarchist named Emile Cottin. As Clemenceaus\u2019s car sped away Cottin fired at least six more shots, one of which struck Clemenceau near his heart.<\/p>\n
Cottin was captured and the death penalty demanded, but Clemenceau asked for leniency, recommending eight years in prison \u201cwith intensive training in a shooting gallery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, February, 1991, p. 11<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m Six I\u2019ll Fix Anthony<\/b><\/p>\n
In Judith Viorst\u2019s children\u2019s book, I\u2019ll Fix Anthony, the younger brother complains about the way his older brother Anthony treats him:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother Anthony can read books now, but he won\u2019t read any books to me. He plays checkers with Bruce from his school. But when I want to play he says, \u201cGo away or I\u2019ll clobber you.\u201d I let him wear my Snoopy sweatshirt, but he never lets me borrow his sword. Mother says deep down in his heart Anthony loves me. Anthony says deep down in his heart he thinks stink. Mother says deep, deep down in his heart, where he doesn\u2019t even know it, Anthony loves me. Anthony says deep, deep down in his heart he still thinks I stink. When I\u2019m six I\u2019ll fix Anthony\u2026When I\u2019m six I\u2019ll float, but Anthony will sink to the bottom. I\u2019ll dive off the board, but Anthony will change his mind. I\u2019ll breathe in and out when I should, but Anthony will only go glug, glug\u2026<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m six my teeth will fall out, and I\u2019ll put them under the bed, and the tooth fairy will take them away and leave dimes. Anthony\u2019s teeth won\u2019t fall out. He\u2019ll wiggle and wiggle them, but they won\u2019t fall out. I might sell him one of my teeth, but I might not\u2026Anthony is chasing me out of the playroom. He says I stink. He says he is going to clobber me. I have to run now, but I won\u2019t have to run when I\u2019m six.<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m six, I\u2019ll fix Anthony.<\/p>\n
Judith Viorst, I\u2019ll Fix Anthony<\/p>\n
50,000 Phone Calls<\/b><\/p>\n
Tokyo police recently arrested a man who was upset over being denied entrance to graduate school 14 years ago. Since that day he has averaged about 10 phone calls a night\u2014between the hours of 8 p.m. and 2 a.m.\u2014to the former professor whom he blames for his lost opportunity. Those 14 years of annoying phone calls totaled up to over 50,000 calls.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
You Must Have a Good Camera<\/b><\/p>\n
On occasion I do free-lance photography for local newspapers and magazines, and I take great pride in my work. At a party one evening, I was introduced to an extremely pompous gentleman who writes a weekly piece for a publication that had just used one of my pictures. After telling me how he liked the \u201crather interesting\u201d composition and tones I had used in my latest work, he said, \u201cYou must have a good camera.\u201d I then mentioned that I had enjoyed his most recent article, and added, \u201cYou must have a good typewriter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander F. Buiel II<\/p>\n
Three Wishes<\/b><\/p>\n
A despondent woman was walking along the beach when she saw a bottle on the sand. She picked it up and pulled out the cork. Whoosh! A big puff of smoke appeared. \u201cYou have released me from my prison,\u201d the genie told her. \u201cTo show my thanks, I grant you three wishes. But take care, for with each wish, your mate will receive double of whatever you request.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d the woman asked. \u201cThat bum left me for another woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is how it is written,\u201d replied the genie.<\/p>\n
The woman shrugged and then asked for a million dollars. There was a flash of light, and a million dollars appeared at her feet. At the same instant, in a far-off place, her wayward husband looked down to see twice that amount at his feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd your second wish?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGenie, I want the world\u2019s most expensive diamond necklace.\u201d Another flash of light, and the woman was holding the precious treasure. And, in that distant place, her husband was looking for a gem broker to buy his latest bonanza.<\/p>\n
\u201cGenie, is it really true that my husband has two million dollars and more jewels than I do, and that he gets double of whatever I wish for?\u201d<\/p>\n
The genie said it was indeed true. \u201cOkay, genie, I\u2019m ready for my last wish,\u201d the woman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cScare me half to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Nedwek, quoted by Alex Thien in Milwaukee Sentinel<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Not Just the Thought that Counts<\/b><\/p>\n
When John Matar stepped outside his Chicago home on his birthday recently, he found two tons of manure piled eight feet high on his front lawn. The present, compliments of his brother in California, was the latest in an outlandish gift-giving war that erupted between the two when John sent his sibling one of those \u201cinsulting\u201d birthday cards. He got 50 back.<\/p>\n
Last year John received a pet rock that tipped the scale at 4,000 pounds. He responded with 10 tons of pebbles and a note telling his brother that the pet rock had babies.<\/p>\n
Over the years, gifts between the two have also included a full-grown elephant and two busloads of choirboys. Which goes to show, it\u2019s not just the thought that counts.<\/p>\n
Campus Life, Jan., 1980, p. 22<\/p>\n
Doctor and Artist<\/b><\/p>\n
James Whistler, the Victorian artist, showed scant respect for the hierarchy of any profession. When his poodle fell ill with a throat infection, he sent immediately for the country\u2019s leading ear, nose, and throat specialist, Sir Morell Mackenzie. The great man was not amused when he was shown his patient, but he conducted a thorough examination, wrote out a prescription, and left with his fee. The next day Whistler received a message asking him to call on Mackenzie without delay. Fearing some development in the poodle\u2019s condition, Whistler hurried to the doctor\u2019s house. \u201cSo good of you to come, Mr. Whistler,\u201d said Mackenzie as his visitor was shown in. \u201cI wanted to see you about having my front door painted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
The Winner<\/b><\/p>\n
As a hundred thousand fans watched, Richard Petty ended his 45-race losing streak and picked up stockcar racing\u2019s biggest purse\u2014$73,500. It all happened at the Daytona 500.<\/p>\n
Petty\u2019s win, however, was a complete surprise. Going into the last lap, he was running 30 seconds behind the two leaders. All at once the car in second place tried to pass the number one man on the final stretch. This caused the first car to drift inside and force the challenger onto the infield grass, and slightly out of control. What happened next was incredible. The offended driver pulled his car back onto the track, caught up with the leader, and forced him into the outside wall. Both vehicles came to a screeching halt. The two drivers jumped out and quickly got into an old-fashioned slugging match. In the meantime, third-place Petty cruised by for the win.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Example Ignored Canada\u2019s 100-meter sprinter Ben Johnson, arguably the fastest man in history, flew down the track in a world-record 9.79 seconds, only .13 of a second in front of 1984 quadruple gold medalist Carl Lewis of the U.S. But photographs freezing that astounding moment of the 1988 Seoul Olympics reveal a dark side … Continue reading “Revenge”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}