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I have a good story to start today’s message. A man
lost an arm in a bad accident. He still had one arm, but the loss of the
other was a terrible blow to him. He grew depressed, then suicidal. He
climbed to the top of a building and was prepared to jump to his death.
But as he looked out over the side, he noticed a man who had no arms at
all. Yet this man seemed to be dancing with joy. He was jumping in the
air, kicking up his heels, throwing his head back. So the man with one
arm thought, “How can I be so depressed and miserable? Here I am with
one good arm, yet that poor man has no arms at all, yet he seems to be
happy as a lark.”
So he climbed back
down from the top of the building, ran up to the man with no arms, threw
his one good arm around him and said, “You’ve saved me! You’ve
completely changed my attitude. Seeing you dance made me realize I can
choose how I want to feel. But tell me, what’s your secret. How are so
you happy even though you lost your arms?” And the man looked back at
him in puzzlement. He said, “I’m not happy, my back itches!”
Isn’t it true that
sometimes you can’t tell who truly has a positive attitude in life? Yet
on the other hand, sometimes someone else’s positive attitude will leave
you awe-struck.
I want to tell you a
moving story about a man named Bill. When Bill was born in the 1930s he
was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The doctor predicted that he would be
mentally retarded and urged Bill’s parents to have him
institutionalized. Fortunately, they ignored the doctor’s advice. At
first, Bill attended a school for children with disabilities. Later he
gained entrance to a mainstream high school. This was an unusual
accomplishment for a physically challenged person of that era. Then,
with the help of a counselor, Bill began looking for a career.
This effort resulted in little more than
humiliation. A job as a pharmacy store clerk lasted less than a day
because Bill’s trembling hands would not allow him to stock the shelves
neatly. A job as a Goodwill Industries cashier lasted three days because
Bill’s fingers kept hitting the wrong keys.
His physical
limitations also ended a job at the Salvation Army. And his slurred
speech soon lost him his job answering phones at a Veterans Center.
After five months, the counselor told Bill he was unemployable. He
suggested Bill stay home and collect disability.
Another person in Bill’s position may have taken
this advice to heart, but Bill knew deep down inside that he could be a
productive member of society--even if he couldn’t tie his own shoes
without difficulty or button his own shirt cuffs. Having exhausted his
patience with state counselors, Bill began combing the want ads himself.
Naturally, this met with more rejection. Most times he didn’t even get
past the initial phone call.
Then, one day, Bill
landed an interview with a company, Watkins Products, that sold products
door-to-door. “I know I can do this job,” Bill confidently told the
interviewer. Don’t forget, we’re talking about 1961, decades before
disability laws, when tolerance for people who were “different” ebbed
very low. Bill got his break, but the sales manager assigned Bill to the
worst, most hopeless territory, where people lived in dire poverty and
the houses were falling down. And the poor man was working on
commission. But he had a job.
He packed his
briefcase with brochures, hit the street at 9:00 A.M., and hasn’t looked
back since. Eventually, Bill Porter went on to become one of the top
salesmen in the history of Watkins Products--their top salesman ever in
the Northwest.
ABC’s 20/20 told Bill’s story to the nation on
Christmas Eve 1995 and it was later dramatized in an HBO movie starring
William H. Macy. Bill Porter’s perseverance and positive thinking have
had an impact on many people. As one of his many fans wrote: “I once
read that the quality of one’s life is not measured by the things one
acquires, but by the lives one touches.” Bill Porter has touched many
lives.
Bill Porter’s story inspires us. But it also
reminds us. Life is tough. For some people like Bill Porter, it is
unbelievably tough. Sooner or later, however, you and I will have our
challenges. Frailty. Sickness. The loss of someone we love, a failure in
business or a marriage. Did you know that the ratio of Christians who
have been divorced is higher than the percentage of non-Christians?
Marriage isn’t easy, of course. A hilarious letter has been circulating
on the Internet. It’s supposedly a letter addressed to the makers of
Tide detergent. It reads:
Dear Tide: I’m writing to say what an excellent product you have! I’ve
used it all through my married life, as my Mom always told me it was the
best. Now that I am in my fifties, I find it even better! About a month
ago, I spilled some red wine on my new white blouse. My inconsiderate
and uncaring husband started to berate me about how clumsy I was, and
generally started becoming a pain in the neck. Somehow I ended up with
his blood on my white blouse. I tried to get the stain out using a
bargain detergent, but it just wouldn’t come out.
I purchased a bottle
of liquid Tide with bleach, and to my surprise and satisfaction, all of
the stains came out! In fact, the stains came out so well the detectives
told me that the DNA tests on my blouse were negative and then my
attorney called and said that I would no longer be considered a suspect
in the disappearance of my husband. What a relief! Going through
menopause is bad enough without being a murder suspect! I thank you,
once again for having such a great product. Well, gotta go. I have to
write a letter to the Hefty trash bag people.
One of the things that life has taught me, and it’s
been a rough, tough lesson to learn, is that attitude determines
latitude. Do you get that? By latitude I mean how far we are able to
rise above the problems and pain we all have, but I also mean how close
we are able to draw to God. We were talking at the ministerium meeting
yesterday about how sometimes we are all angry with God. In the past
five months I have been angry towards God on a regular basis, but I also
have faith in a God whose shoulders are so big that he lets me yell and
moan and then says, “You got it out of your system? Fine. Now draw close
to me.”
Once we have that anger out of our system, then it’s
time to regain our positive attitude and get back to the work we’ve been
called to do. But how do we do that? How do we live lives of Christian
faithfulness with positive attitudes knowing all the negatives that
people have to struggle against in this modern world? I think that
preachers truly fall down on the job by failing to address issues like
this. It’s such a vital issue. How many of you would be brave enough to
admit, with me, that we have been guilty of a rotten attitude from time
to time. When we wallow in our rotten attitudes, we are literally
wasting the life that is our greatest gift from our Father. So this
morning I have a few suggestions—actually I could go on all day, but
then you’d miss the Steeler game, and we’re all going to stay positive
about them aren’t we?—so let’s run through them quickly.
1—Everyone has negative circumstances in our
lives.
I know it sounds like I'm stating the obvious here,
but I'm continually amazed at the number of people who believe that
somehow they ought to be exempt from the pain and difficulty that comes
from living in a fallen world. The collective sin and rebellion of the
human race has cursed this world and all of us who live
in it and, as a result, life is not fair; people are not always nice;
they don't always do what they say; things don't always go as planned
and until the day you die, you're going to get the short end of the
stick from time to time.
The way I see it, you've got two choices; to sit
around and whine about it or learn how to deal with it (which is an
issue of attitude).
2—People think that God WANTS us to have negative
circumstances in our lives. That’s baloney. God doesn’t want us to
be unhappy or to lie on the ground gasping for air. God made this
wonderful world and said, “Enjoy it. Revel in it. Leave it in good shape
for the next guy who comes along, but embrace my gifts.” Does that sound
like a God who wants us to sit around saying “Woe is me!” No! But
because we live temporarily in this fallen and sinful world, God wants
us to keep a positive attitude about our problems and he wants us to
help other people with their problems.
3—Think of the glass as half full, not half empty.
None of us has a perfect life, not even Joe Hardy. It can’t be
comfortable sleeping on all those money bags. One of the best ways we
can avoid grumbling is to begin seeing a glass half full rather than
half empty in life. A wonderful story that illustrates this point comes
from the 17th century and it centers upon the great English architect
Sir Christopher Wren.
Wren was supervising the construction of a
magnificent cathedral in London. A journalist interviewed some of the
workers, and asked them this question, "What are you doing?" The first
replied in a negative manner, "I'm cutting stone for 10 shillings a
day." The next answered in a similar manner saying, "I'm putting in 10
hours a day on this job." But the third said person, "I'm helping Sir
Christopher Wren construct one of London's greatest cathedrals and I
look forward to the day we can worship here."
4—Most importantly, remember that we have a choice
to be positive or negative. Let me tell you about one more person
with a great attitude. Though talented, she went unrecognized for years.
Prestigious opera circles closed their ranks when she tried to enter.
American critics ignored her compelling voice. She was repeatedly
rejected for parts for which she easily qualified. It was only after she
went to Europe and won the hearts of tough-to-please European audiences
that stateside opinion leaders acknowledged her talent.
Not only has her professional life been a battle, her
personal life has been marked by challenge. She's the mother of two
handicapped children, one of whom is severely retarded. Years ago, in
order to escape the hectic pace of life in New York City, she purchased
a home on Martha's Vineyard. It burned to the ground two days before she
was to move in. Professional rejection, personal setbacks - perfect soil
for the seeds of bitterness and negativity.
But her friends don't call her bitter;
they call her "Bubbles." Her real name is Beverly Sills, internationally
acclaimed opera singer, retired director of the New York City Opera, a
person Mike Wallace called "one of the most impressive - if not the
most impressive - women I've interviewed." How can a person handle such
professional rejection and personal trauma and still be known as
Bubbles? "I choose to be cheerful," she says. "Years ago, I knew I had
little or no choice about success or circumstances ... But I knew I
could choose to be cheerful."
Chuck Swindoll writes, "the remarkable thing [about
human beings] is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude
we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot
change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change
the inevitable. The only thing we can do is to play on the one string we
have, and that is our attitude."
Some of you walked in here this morning carrying a
heavy load. I know that for a fact. Some of you are in the middle of
family conflict that seems almost impossible to resolve. Others are
battling personal illness. Still others face problems that I can't even
begin to imagine. And there's not much light at the end of the tunnel.
About the only thing you can do is to play on the one
string you have - your attitude. And you'd better learn to play it well
because if you allow your negative situation to control your attitude,
you might as well turn out the lights because the party's over. You're
going nowhere - in your relationships, physically, emotionally and
spiritually - with a negative attitude.
Friends, here is the
secret to dealing with life when it gets tough. Take the focus off your
problems and place them on Christ and on those around you. If you keep
your eyes focused on your problems, all you’re going to do is wallow in
self-pity. You will be a burden to yourself and everyone around you. But
if you will focus on Christ and on the people around you, then there is
hope that you will find the real meaning of life.
Alice Gray tells
about a man who was in a terrible accident that resulted in the loss of
both his legs and one arm. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, the man
resolved to look for ways to encourage other hurting people. He began
writing letters to a prison. Each letter was full of all the hope and
faith this man could muster. Yet he never knew if anyone was even
reading the letters; prison policy did not let prisoners write back.
Occasionally, he was tempted to stop writing; what good was it really
doing?
But one day, this man received a letter from the guard who censored
the prisoners’ mail. Here is what the guard wrote, “Please write on the
best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from cell to cell
till they literally fall to pieces.” This man’s letters were appreciated
by the prisoners. He was helping. But the person he ended up helping
most was himself.
All of us have a choice to make—we can be bitter, or
we can get better. We know we’re going to hit tough times in life. But
they don’t have to defeat us. Don’t give up on God. He never gave up on
you. Don’t give up on helping others.. Ask yourself what Jesus would do.
Or better still, ask yourself what Bill Porter would do, a man who
refused to throw a pity party for himself, a man who never gave up
believing he could make a difference. I think it’s good to ask the
question, WWBD? What would Bill do?
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