James 1:2 (NIV) Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.
I like the attitude of Captain David Fortune of the Monterey Police Department. Captain Fortune has had three different types of cancer. His first round was with cancer of the larynx in 1979. That cancer led to surgery, radiation and an artificial voice box. Later, in 1988 he’d get cancer in his left kidney and skin cancer in 1993. The odds of getting two types of cancer is great but the odds of getting three types is astronomical. What was his response? “I don’t feel picked on. I don’t feel I’m a marked man,” he said. “I feel blessed to be able to handle the challenges and keep going.”—Monterey County Herald, June 19, 2002
Instead of belly-aching over the hardships we face in life, perhaps we need to develop an attitude of gratitude, like Captain Fortune has.
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Illustrations, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch, 2004), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "HARDSHIPS/TRIALS".
