Title: Cloud Lane

   In one of the German art galleries a painting called "Cloud Lane" hangs at the end of a long dark hall. At first glance it appears to be a huge, ugly mass of confused color that is unattractive and foreboding. But when you look closer, you see portrayed on the canvas an innumerable company of angels.
   How tempted we are to run in despair when clouds of trials and temptations come our way. If we would look closely at our situation through the eyes of faith, we would also see God's angels of mercy coming to our aid.

See:  2 Ki 6:16-17; Matt 26:53

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Trouble/1952

Title:  Murphy's Laws:

 * Nothing is as easy as it looks; everything takes longer than you think; if anything can go wrong it will.
 * Murphy was an optimist.
 * A day without a crisis is a total loss.
 * The other line always moves faster.
 * The chance of the bread falling with the peanut butter and jelly side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
 * Inside every large problem is a series of small problems struggling to get out.
 * 90% of everything is crud.
 * Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
 * No matter how long or hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.
 * Any tool dropped while repairing a car will roll underneath to the exact center.
 * The repairman will never have seen a model quite like yours before.
 * You will remember that you forgot to take out the trash when the garbage truck is two doors away.
 * Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.
 * The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train.
 * Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone.

Title:  A Bad Year

   You know it's going to be a bad year when:

 * The Government notifies you that your Social Security number has been revoked.
 * Your personal computer threatens to tell all.
 * As the moving van starts to unload next door, the first four items down the ramp are dirt bikes.
 * Your 14-year-old daughter insists Jesus never preached against pierced noses.
 * Your ailing station wagon fails to qualify for the demolition derby.
 * Upon arriving home from a week in the Bahamas, you can't find your Bible with six months of Sunday school plans tucked inside.
 * Your new boss asks if they've filled your old position yet.
 * Your pacemaker is recalled by the manufacturer.
 * Your church treasurer says, "The IRS called me the other day about some of your donation totals."

   -- From The Christian Herald January 1988.

Title:  Begin With Faith

   Vance Havner, a Baptist evangelist, related the story of an elderly lady who was greatly disturbed by her many troubles both real and imaginary. Finally she was told in a kindly way by her family, "Grandma, we've done all we can do for you. You'll just have to trust God for the rest." A look of utter despair spread over her face as she replied, "Oh, dear, has it come to that?" Havner commented, "It always comes to that, so we might as well begin with that!"

See:  Heb 11:6; 1 Pet 2:6

Title:  How Bad Was It?

   Some days nothing goes right. One woman began talking about her nerve-racking ordeal. Her friend asked: "How bad was it?"
   She replied: "It was like being trapped for four hours in a stuck elevator with a team of Jehovah's Witnesses."

See:  Psa 2:1-3