Battle of the Somme<\/b><\/p>\n
Though the world has largely forgotten it, July 1 is the anniversary of one of the worst military catastrophes in human history. It is called the Battle of the Somme, and it took place in France during the First World War.<\/p>\n
On that day the Allied commander, General Douglas Haig, foolishly ordered more than 100,000 men to charge across \u201cno man\u2019s land\u201d just after dawn. The German army knew that an attack was coming, and they crisscrossed the battlefield with machine-gun fire, systematically mowing down the heavily laden troops. It was the bloodiest day in British history, with nearly twenty thousand men killed and thirty-five thousand wounded. The French and German troops suffered comparable casualties.<\/p>\n
The tragedy of the Somme was its utter waste of human lives. The battle continued for 140 days and soon involved some 3 million men. More than a third of them became casualties before it was over. And for what? The Allies never drove the Germans back more than seven miles at any point, and even that ground was lost in 1918.<\/p>\n
Oh, I know this all happened long ago and far away. What does it matter today? But somehow it seems fitting for us to pause for a moment to remember the sacrifice of the men who died and the 4 million family members whose beloved husbands, sons, and fathers never returned. It all began at dawn on July 1, 1916.<\/p>\n
Dr. James Dobson, Coming Home, Timeless Wisdom for Families, (Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton; 1998), pp. 110-111<\/p>\n
Fell Into a Garbage Truck<\/b><\/p>\n
I read a humorous story about a woman who fell out of a second-floor window and landed in a slow-moving garbage truck. Half-buried in the litter, she tried without success to get the truck-driver\u2019s attention. A foreign diplomat standing on the sidewalk saw her and quipped, \u201canother example of how wasteful Americans are. That woman looks like she\u2019s good for at least another 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Die How?<\/b><\/p>\n
Some people die in ashes. Some people die in flames. Some people die inch by inch, playing silly, little games.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
A Day Wasted<\/b><\/p>\n
Charles Francis Adams, the 19th century political figure and diplomat, kept a diary. One day he entered: \u201cWent fishing with my son today\u2014a day wasted.\u201d His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still inexistence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: \u201cWent fishing with my father\u2014the most wonderful day of my life!\u201d The father thought he was wasting his time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time. The only way to tell the difference between wasting and investing is to know one\u2019s ultimate purpose in life and to judge accordingly.<\/p>\n
Silas Shotwell, in Homemade, September, 1987<\/p>\n
The Bird Was Delicious<\/b><\/p>\n
A rich man was determined to give his mother a birthday present that would outshine all others. He read of a bird that had a vocabulary of 4000 words, could speak in numerous languages and sing 3 operatic arias. He immediately bought the bird for $50,000 and had it delivered to his mother. The next day he phoned to see if she had received the bird. \u201cWhat did you think of the bird?\u201d he asked. She replied, \u201cIt was delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Wasted Time<\/b><\/p>\n
How would you like to spend 2 years making phone calls to people who aren\u2019t home? Sound absurd? According to one time management study, that\u2019s how much time the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, we spend 6 months waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and another 8 months reading junk mail.<\/p>\n
These unusual statistics should cause us to do time-use evaluation. Once we recognize that simple \u201clife maintenance\u201d can chip away at our time in such huge blocks, we will see how vital it is that we don\u2019t busy ourselves \u201cin vain\u201d (Ps 39:6).<\/p>\n
Psalm 39 gives us some perspective. In David\u2019s complaint to God, he said, \u201cYou have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You\u201d (v. 5). He meant that to an eternal God our time on earth is brief. And He doesn\u2019t want us to waste it. When we do, we throw away one of the most precious commodities He gives us. Each minute is an irretrievable gift\u2014and of eternity.<\/p>\n
Sure, we have to make the phone calls, and we must wait at the light. But what about the rest of our time? Are we using it to advance the cause of Christ and to enhance our relationship with Him? Is our time well spent?<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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