Wrong Approach

John, the top marketing guy of a cola company, returned from unsuccessful assignment in the Middle East. A friend asked him: "Why weren't you successful with the Middle East?"

John said: "I didn't know any languages there (Arabic, Hebrew, ...), which didn't bother me at the beginning. I was very confident that I would make a good sales pitch. I planned to convey the message through 3 posters:

1st: A man lying in the hot desert sand totally exhausted and fainting;

2nd: The man is drinking cola;

3rd: Our man is now totally refreshed.

And then, these posters were posted all over the place."

"Terrific! That should have worked!" said the friend.
"It didn't!" John said "No one told me people there read from right to left!"

No idea who made up this story. It helped me getting things straight today. Recently, I posted my personal opinions on a few sermons. This story reminded me to look at things from different ends. Preachers deliver God's message. Message is there for everyone but not everyone will be touched. Because God will be gracious to whom he will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom he will show mercy. My opinions are really unnecessary in any cases. Psalms 106:25 came to touch my heart: “Talking against him secretly in their tents, they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord." It touched me the most in Chinese: "在自己帳棚內發怨言, 不聽耶和華的聲音.” Wow! That's exactly me. God, please forgive me. I had no intention to talk against you. Thank you for cleaning my thought and leading me back to the brightness.