My recent trip to Kansas this past weekend helped cement the point of Ecclesiastes 3:11 in my mind. There is a lot of beauty between Dallas and Wichita (really, there is). I like the open prairie and I was able to see all of it.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man. If being short is considered a problem, it was the smallest of his problems. He worked for the Roman government as a tax collector and he cheated the people. Even with these problems, he was interested in Jesus and Jesus was interested in him.
In a column on art restoration, Robert Fulford writes, “A scholar came upon a striking fact: in the year 1516, the Brancacci Chapel in Florence burned half a barrel of oil every day, just to keep its votive lamps flickering. The oil of course produced soot, which floated upwards and coated the art on the walls. Multiply that half-barrel by the days of the year, multiply again by the number of years this practice was followed (say, 400), then factor in the wax from candles lit by individual worshippers.” Believe me, that’s a lot of soot covering up the artistic masterpieces in that chapel.
I hate to admit it, but I waited for years to have a girl fall in love with me. I always had bad experiences with girls. In 5th grade Andrea really acted as if she liked me. We were going on a field trip to Brookfield Zoo near Chicago. She gave off all those 5th grade signals of affection. Of course, receiving those signals loud and clear, I offered Andrea some of my M&M’s.
Superman was a mighty strong man. He could leap buildings in a single bound. He was powerful enough to stop a train. Superman was faster than a speeding bullet. Even with all that strength, if he came into contact with kryptonite, he became very weak. When he was falling down, barely able to walk, did Superman look strong? No! He was unable to do anything. None of us would say, “Wow! He’s weak and that makes him so strong!”
I’ve been persistent over the years. I write picture books and the name of my website is “Persistent Picture Book Writer.” I’ve seriously been submitting my manuscripts for two and half years and I have 175 rejections and no acceptances. However, an editor at Putnam Books in New York recently requested I revise a picture book and send it back to her.