WILLIAM CAREY

"Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God"

In a humble cottage in the little English village of Paulerspury, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, lived a weaver and his wife. To that lowly couple was born, August 17, 1761, a son who was to become famous as "the father and founder of modern missions." William Carey was his name.
When William was about six years old the family moved and his father became schoolmaster and parish clerk. He was upright and faithful in the performance of his duties, and was respected and esteemed by his neighbors.
Young William attended his father's school and was a studious lad. At night he would go over his sums before he went to sleep. He was an ardent lover of nature and his room was filled with birds' eggs, insects, and botanical specimen. For reading matter he preferred books of science, history, stories of travel, and the like.
When the time came for him to earn his own living, he first attempted farming, and then turned to shoemaking, an occupation which, Coleridge said, has "given the world a larger number of eminent men than any other handicraft."
In a commentary belonging to his master he saw some Greek letters, and wondered what they meant. Determined to find out, he visited a poor man in his native town whom he knew to have been well educated, and from him received his first Greek lesson.
Young Carey was still unconverted. Lying was a common sin with him. At one time, having used some money belonging to his master, and intending to lie about it, his conscience so troubled him that he promised God that if He would "help him through" with this wrong act, he would abandon all sin thereafter. But the theft and the deception were found out and he was filled with shame.
Through the efforts of a fellow-apprentice, a Dissenter's son, Carey began to feel convicted of his sins. He then became very zealous, trying by works of righteousness to obtain God's favor. But at last he saw the fruitlessness of all this. He saw fully his sinful condition, and was converted.
He desired all the spiritual help obtainable, and listened to the preaching of able ministers whenever he could do so. A book — "Help to Zion's Travelers," fell into his hands and was read with great delight.
While still quite young he made an occasional attempt at preaching in a humble meetinghouse. His hearers were humble people and were well pleased with his efforts. He said afterward, "Being ignorant, they sometimes applauded, to my great injury."
He was united, when less than twenty years of age, to Dorothy Placket[t]; but the marriage was not congenial. She was predisposed to mental disease, and had little sympathy for the great work to which God had called her husband. But the nobility of his character was displayed in the tenderness he always manifested toward her.
Mr. Carey at this time was a stranger to temporal prosperity. He was carrying on a business in shoemaking, but the profits were small. Then sorrow came, in the death of his little daughter. He himself was stricken with a fever from the effects of which he did not fully recover for a long time, and they were almost at the point of starvation. A younger brother and a few friends came to their assistance, and they moved to another village where Mr. Carey continued his shoemaking, and also taught an evening school.
From this time on he preached more frequently and in 1791 he was formally set apart for the ministry. In the old church-book at Olney the following interesting item was recorded:

"August 10, Church Meeting. This evening our brother, William Carey, was called to the work of the ministry, and sent out by the Church to preach the Gospel wherever God, in His providence, might call him."

The first pastorate was at Moulton where he received about 10 pounds a year. He tried to supplement this meager salary by school-teaching, but being obliged to give up his school, he again tried shoemaking. Once every two weeks he walked to Northampton to deliver the boots he had made, and returned with a new stock of leather.
But his life was not to be spent in shoemaking. Thoughts of the heathen world and plans for its evangelization were already filling his mind. On the wall of his shop hung a large map he himself had drawn, showing each nation known at that time. On the map were written whatever facts he had read concerning these nations.
The first time Carey openly suggested the idea of foreign missionary work he was repulsed by a senior minister who said, "Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen He will do it without your aid or mine." Others, however, encouraged him to continue his studies on the subject. The burden for the souls in heathen darkness never lifted from his heart, and in 1791 he urged the association of ministers to consider the question at once. Some interest was aroused, but no definite steps were taken.
The next year Carey was one of the preachers at the meeting of the association. From Isaiah 54:2,3 he drew two striking thoughts — "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." These words have lived through the years and have become a famous missionary motto. The fire of Carey's zeal kindled in other hearts and a missionary society was formed soon afterward. Carey published "An inquiry into obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of the heathen in which the religious state of the different nations of the world, the success of former undertakings, and the practicability of further undertakings, are considered."
The next step to be taken by the little society was the decision as to the field in which laborers should commence, and the selection of the missionaries. Their attention was directed to a Mr. Thomas who had returned to England after spending several years in India as a surgeon. While there he had also put forth considerable effort to spread the Gospel. He was selected as one of the first missionaries to be sent by the new society.
After reading the account given by Mr. Thomas of conditions in India, Andrew Fuller, Secretary of the Society, remarked that there was a gold mine in India, but it seemed almost as deep as the center of the earth. "Who will venture to explore it?" he asked. Carey's reply came instantly — "I will venture to go down, but remember that you must hold the ropes." His offer was accepted and plans were made for him to accompany Mr. Thomas.
Carey's congregation was saddened at the thought of the departure of their beloved pastor, yet they dared not try to hinder his going where God called him. "We have been praying," one of the members said, "for the spread of Christ's kingdom among the heathen, and now God requires of us the first sacrifice to accomplish it."
"A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries," wrote Paul the apostle. And William Carey might well have said the same. Immediately after their selection by the missionary society, Mr. Carey and Mr. Thomas began to make preparation to leave, but many were the difficulties they found in their way.
The greatest trial to Mr. Carey was his wife's persistent refusal to go with him. His entreaties were in vain, and the thought of a long separation was very hard to bear. His son Felix chose to accompany him, and together they left home. He wrote from Ryde, to Mrs. Carey:

"If I had all the world, I would freely give it all to have you and the dear children with me; but the sense of duty is so strong as to overpower all other considerations. I could not turn back without guilt on my soul. ...Tell my dear children I love them dearly and pray for them constantly. Be assured I love you most affectionately."

Another difficulty presented itself when the East India Company refused to give them permission to enter India. They decided to go without a license and boarded a boat, but a letter was sent to the captain, warning him not to take them, and they were compelled to go ashore. Every plan seemed thwarted, but they were undaunted, and very soon their courage and faith were rewarded. A Danish ship, they found, was soon to sail, and to their great delight they were able to engage passage at a very reasonable rate.
Mrs. Carey was again entreated to accompany her husband and this time consented, on condition that her sister might go with her. They sailed June 13, 1793.
The hardships already encountered had in no wise cooled Carey's ardor. Eager to preach as soon as possible, he spent his time during the voyage studying Bengali, and when nearing India he wrote:

"Africa is but a little way from England, Madagascar but a little farther. South America and all the numerous and large islands in the India and China seas, I hope, will not be passed over. A large field opens on every side. Oh, that many laborers may be thrust out into the vineyard of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Gentiles may come to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Him."

After a tiresome, stormy voyage they landed in Calcutta, November 9, and began at once to experience the hardships of life in a foreign land. Living in ease was no part of Carey's plan. "A missionary must be one of the companions and equals of the people to whom he is sent,"' he had written, and to this principle he adhered.
The trials were severe. It was hard to find a suitable place for the establishing of the mission, and in the meantime he wrote: "I am in a strange land alone, with no Christian friend, a large family, and nothing to supply their wants." Sickness came into the family. But he did not turn back. "All my friends are but one," he wrote; "I rejoice, however, that He is all sufficient, and can supply all my wants, temporal and spiritual ... Bless God, I feel peace within, and rejoice in having undertaken the work. I anxiously desire the time when I shall so far know the language, as to preach in earnest to these poor people."
In the marshy jungles near the Bay of Bengal was some land that could be secured free of rent, and in his extremity, Carey decided to locate there. An English gentleman offered him a bungalow where his family might live until he could build a house for them. But this place did not prove suitable for missionary work and God opened up something better. A Christian man, Mr. Udny, offered him a position as superintendent of an indigo factory at Mudnabatty. Mr. Thomas was offered a like position and they gratefully accepted the kind offers.
The experience obtained there proved invaluable in Carey's later work, and the salary he received supplied the needs of his family. But above all other advantages was this — it gave him abundant opportunity for the missionary work which he loved more than all else. In his factory were ninety native workmen to whom he gave Christian instruction, with Mr. Udny's full approval. Two hundred villages were within reach and from one to another he went, on Sunday, preaching in Bengali. His work gave him much leisure, which he spent in translating the Bible, realizing the importance of having God's Word in the language of the people. He also prepared a small grammar.
A wooden printing-press was presented to the mission by Mr. Udny, and when this was installed in one of the rooms at the factory, the wondering natives thought it must be the "idol of the Europeans."
In the midst of the work Mr. Carey was stricken with fever. After some time he recovered, but one dear little boy was taken from the family circle. The customs and superstitions of the people occasioned some difficulties concerning his burial. The father's mention of it is touching:
"When my dear little boy died I could not prevail upon any one to make a coffin, though we had carpenters in our own employ. With difficulty I engaged four Musselmans to dig a grave for him. No one would undertake it alone, and therefore many of them went together, that they might all have an equal share of shame. We went seven or eight miles for two persons to carry him to the grave, but in vain, and my wife and I had agreed to do it ourselves, when a lad who had lost caste and our 'mater' (a servant who performs the most menial offices) were induced to relieve us of this painful service."
At the end of five years the indigo factory had to be abandoned and soon the day came for the establishment of a permanent mission.
From the first, Carey believed that a missionary's life should be one of self-denial, and he never altered his views on this point. In a letter to Mr. Fuller in which he asked for more workers, he made this suggestion: "I recommend all living together in a number of little straw houses, forming a line or square, and having nothing of our own, but all general stock."
New missionaries arrived in 1799. They went at once to the Danish settlement, as the East India Company was hostile to missionary work. Colonel Bie, the governor, gave them a cordial welcome, inviting them to settle on Danish territory, and so Serampore became the home of the mission.
Among the new missionaries were Joshua Marshman and William Ward, whose names will always be associated with that of Carey.
Of the early church it is recorded — "All that believed were together, and had all things common," and the same description might be given of the mission at Serampore. Of the life of the missionaries we have a pleasant glimpse in this quotation from Mr. Ward's journal:

"About six o'clock we rise: Brother Carey to his garden; Brother Marshman to his school at seven; Brother Brunsdon, Felix, and I to the printing office. At eight the bell rings for family worship; we assemble, sing, read, and pray. Breakfast. Afterward, Brother Carey goes to the translation, or reading proofs; Brother Marshman, to school; and the rest, to the printing office. Our compositor having left us, we do without, we print two half-sheets of 2000 each week; have five pressmen, one folder, and one binder. At twelve o'clock we take a luncheon; then most of us shave and bathe, read and sleep before dinner, which we have at three. After dinner we deliver our thoughts on a text or question, this we find to be very profitable. Brother and Sister Marshman keep their schools till after two. In the afternoon, if business be done in the office, I read and try to talk Bengali with the Brahmans. We drink tea about seven, and have a little or no supper. We have Bengali preaching' once or twice in the week, and on Thursday evening we have an experience meeting. On Saturday evening we meet to compose differences and transact business, after prayer, which is always immediately after tea. Felix is very useful in the office; William goes to school, and part of the day learns to bind. We meet two hours before breakfast on the first Monday in the month, and each one prays for the salvation of the Bengal heathen. At night we unite our prayers for the universal spread of the Gospel."

From a set of resolutions formulated five years later, we make these brief extracts, which give us an idea of the spirit of these noble missionaries:
"We can never make sacrifices too great, when the eternal salvation of souls is the object, except, indeed, we sacrifice the commands of Christ."
"Prayer, secret, fervent, believing prayer, lies at the root of all personal godliness."
"Let us give ourselves up unreservedly to this glorious cause. Let us never think that our time, our gifts, our strength, our families, or even the clothes we wear, are our own. Let us sanctify them all to God and His cause... Let us forever shut out the idea of laying up a dowry for ourselves or our children. If we give up the resolution which was formed on the subject of private trade, when we first united at Serampore, the Mission is from that hour a lost cause... No private family ever enjoyed a greater portion of happiness, even in the most prosperous gale of worldly prosperity, than we have done since we proposed to have all things in common... If we are enabled to persevere in the same principles, we may hope that multitudes of converted souls will have reason to bless God to all eternity for sending His Gospel into this country."
Seven years Carey toiled on without witnessing a single native conversion, but the seed was taking root to spring up and bear fruit "in due season." One day Krishnu Pal, a carpenter, having dislocated his arm, came to Mr.Thomas for surgical help. He had heard something about the Gospel and realized his sinful condition. "I am a great sinner! a great sinner am I! save me, Sahib, save me!" His desire for salvation was genuine and he was converted.
December 28, 1800, Carey had the pleasure of baptizing his own son, Felix; then for the first time, the baptismal service was spoken in Bengali, as Krishnu Pal thus publicly professed his faith in Christ. Later in the day the Lord's Supper was celebrated in Bengali. The hearts of the missionaries rejoiced with joy unspeakable over this soul turned from darkness to light.
Krishnu Pal composed a hymn, the first stanza of which has been translated thus:

"Oh thou, my soul, forget no more
The Friend, who all thy misery bore:
Let every idol be forgot,
But, oh, my soul, forget Him not."

This first convert remained steadfast. Three years after his conversion, Mr. Carey wrote regarding a missionary journey, "Krishnu Pal accompanied me and rejoiced my heart."
Early in the nineteenth century Fort Williams College was established in Calcutta for the purpose of teaching English civilians the languages and customs of India. Carey's translation of the New Testament attracted attention to his proficiency in the vernaculars, and he was offered a position as teacher of Bengali in the new college. He accepted only on condition that the position should not interfere with his missionary duties. He was later chosen teacher of Sanskrit and Mahratta and kept the position until a few years before his death.
As the faithful missionaries continued their work, other natives were added to their Christian church; and opposition arose. But God definitely answered prayer and the enemy's plans were thwarted.
The first Christian marriage ceremony among the converts took place in 1803. The same year, an acre of land was purchased and set apart as a cemetery, and soon a convert who had been of low caste died. The body was placed in a plain coffin, covered with white muslin, and Mr. Marshman, Felix Carey, a Brahman convert, and a Mohammedan convert carried it to the cemetery. Thus another effort was made to loosen the bonds of caste.
In 1807 Mrs. Carey died, after having been violently insane for several years. In spite of her affliction, Carey's love and tenderness toward her never ceased.
Later he was united in marriage to Miss Charlotte Rumohr, a Danish lady, in whom he found a loving companion and the Mission a true helper.
A severe blow to all the missionaries was the Serampore fire, in which the printing office was entirely destroyed. Manuscripts and printed Bibles were burned, the type that had been made at the cost of so much labor was reduced to a mass of lead, and the work of years seemed lost. The financial loss also was great, but undaunted, they cleared away the ruins and began anew. When the news reached England, Christians at once rallied to the help of the missionaries, and in a short time funds sufficient to replace the loss were forwarded to Serampore. The type was recast, and a month after the fire, two editions of the New Testament went to press.
"Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God," was Carey's motto, and all through his long life he carried it out. Among the "great things" attempted and accomplished was the translation of the Scriptures, or portions of them, into the numerous vernaculars. Some of these translations Carey only supervised, while many of them he made himself. When he was correcting the last sheet of the eighth edition of the Bengali New Testament, he said, "'My work is done. I have nothing more to do but to wait the will of God." During his life the entire Scriptures were published in Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi, Orissa, and Mahratta, and portions in thirty more dialects.
It was partly owing to Carey's efforts that the awful custom of sacrificing children in the "sacred'' rivers was done away with.
During the early years of Carey's life as a missionary he witnessed the burning of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre. He protested against the ceremony and warned those taking part in it that he would surely bear witness against it at God's judgment bar. And when, after many years, the proclamation abolishing this horrible practice of "suttee" was issued, he at once put aside his preparations for the Sunday services and set about the translating and printing of it. The proclamation was ready for distribution Sunday evening.
Through all the forty-one uninterrupted years of Carey's missionary career, his zeal was unabated. But at last his strength failed — the end was drawing near.
On one occasion, when Alexander Duff visited him, the conversation was about Carey's work, until he whispered, "Pray." Mr. Duff prayed and then started to leave the room. But Carey's feeble voice called him back. "Mr. Duff," he said, "you have been speaking about Dr. Carey, Dr. Carey; when I am gone, say nothing about Dr. Carey — speak about Dr. Carey's Savior."
One of his fellow-missionaries wrote of him, "He is ripe for glory and already dead to all that belongs to life."
On the morning of June 9, 1834, his earthly life ended. The next morning a long procession of sincere mourners wended their way to the cemetery. A heavy rain seemed to intensify the sadness of the occasion. But as the procession stopped at the grave, the rain ceased and the sun shone out in all its glory, bringing thoughts of that glad day when the dead in Christ shall rise, and sorrow and death shall be forever banished.
The last resting-place of the venerable missionary was marked only by a simple epitaph of his own composing:

Wm. Carey
Born, August 17, 1761
Died, June 9, 1834
"A wretched, poor, and helpless worm,
On Thy kind arms I fall."

Forty-one years in India! Reader, the field still needs workers. And the promise is — "He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal."

Source: www.wholesomewords.org

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The bicentenary of William Carey's arrival in India (1793) was an important occasion for taking the measure of some unusual missionary achievements and for forging a profound contextual understanding of the Serampore Mission. This essay reflects on what it took to launch and then sustain that riverine venture in Bengal (1800-1837). Some important facts and processes are uncovered that have been all too "conveniently" disregarded hitherto. Thus my call for a multi-disciplinary missiological inquiry that will transcend the limitations of past publications, received traditions, treasured symbolism and the myth-like misunderstandings that have held the field since the 1800s.

Since the 1960s, several fine historical works have been published on the background and various elements of the pre-Victorian Baptist enterprise in Bengal. These have paved the way for a new era of historiography on William Carey and the mission at Serampore, upriver from Calcutta. In spite of this, many mission and church historians, have been prone to assume that the story of "the Serampore Trio" can be taken as "given," as if some definitive work on Carey and his colleagues had already been written.

Unfortunately, very few scholars have made it their business to assess whether any of the biographies published during the last fifty years have advanced our knowledge much beyond the findings of S.P. Carey (1923 and 1934). Far too often, popular publications have done little more than re-cycle received tradition -- even "pleasing dreams" -- and no effort has been made to distinguish between "the Carey of tradition" and "the historical Carey."(2) This is to be regretted because it diverts our attention away from the means that are available for more clearly perceiving the structure and dynamics of an unusual turning point in the history of the worldwide Christian movement.

In what follows, I propose to provide some leads and examples, and refer to some pregnant sources, which point to ways by which new light can be shed on the Baptist mission in pre-Victorian Bengal.(3) These need to be pursued in a spirit of biblical realism and in the interest of deeper missiological understanding.

Missiological methodology

It is well known that Christians tend to take history seriously, given the supreme revelation of God in Christ 2,000 years ago. William Carey and his colleagues certainly did. In honour of them, we do well to re-examine the foundations of what we believe about their lives and achievements. We do well to ponder whether our understanding of "the Serampore mission" is based mostly on the contents of popular biographies about William Carey and his company, or on more substantial, deep-hewn foundations. In other words, we want to beware of imaginary idealizations, distorted representations and unverifiable interpretations of the past.(4) The challenge is to recognize that the cross-cultural history of the Serampore mission was far more complicated than we have been led to suppose. The time for a full-orbed missiological, multi-disciplinary analysis of the work of the renowned trio -- William Carey, William Ward and Joshua Marshman -- has come.

Sober inquiry into multiple contexts

When taking the measure of William Carey and his Serampore partners, one does well to highlight the spirit of sober modesty with which they assessed their achievements during their sojourn in India (Smith 1992a:2,7). This study consequently moves beyond the limits of the traditions generated by "monumental" heroic historiography.(5) It involves "demythologizing" or "demystifying" important aspects of the well-known Serampore story. It invites us to focus on who the historical Carey, Ward and Marshman were, how they opted to function in pre-Victorian India and what they actually did accomplish.

Christian historians have shown that the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS, founded in 1792), rather than being "the first of a kind," stood in direct descent to a whole series of missionary exploits. Thus Brackney (1992) and I have argued that Baptist missions in general, particularly in Bengal, were able to profit greatly from others' achievements in areas such as literature production, management processes, stewardship theology, mission promotion, and partnership efforts (Smith 1992b:479-489).

Study of the context and experience of pre-Victorian missions in Bengal reveals that there was hardly any activity or enterprise that Carey and his cohort engaged in that had not been tackled already by some secular Britisher in India. One finds repeatedly that the trio and their associates came across what their compatriots had been doing there and proceeded to adopt it. Whether it was translating scripture, cutting types for printing, producing paper, engaging in Oriental Studies, learning Asian languages, working with pundits, setting up schools, engaging in agricultural and horticultural experiments, whatever, the trio applied extant knowledge and procedures in their own way to the task of sharing the gospel.

This discovery is of prime importance because it reflects the fact that a thorough-going, multi-contextual, missiological analysis of the Serampore missionary company has never been undertaken. It suggests strongly that Carey and his company cannot be understood well until they are viewed in relation to the multiple contexts of "the occupied territory" of Bengal in which they moved and were shaped. How different it all would have been for Carey and the BMS if British forces had not already imposed their rule on Bengal! If the European powers had not vied for control of that prosperous territory in the second half of the eighteenth century, Carey might never have been writ large in Christian mission or evangelical tradition. In that case, modern technology and literary expertise would have figured much less in the dissemination of the gospel in Bengal and Carey's cross-cultural interaction would most probably have been much more of an incarnational, grassroots style of evangelism.

Serampore's pioneer missionaries thus need to be seen as players on a large multi-cultural playing field at a very unusual moment in time. They were able to take advantage of a window of opportunity -- from a quasi-colonial British point of view -- during the grandiose rule of the Marquis Wellesley, Governor General of Bengal during the early 1800s. That setting and experience had a lasting effect on the shape, values and development of their mission venture, as did the internal contradictions of British East India Company rule in the subcontinent.

Guidelines for a new inquiry

The Serampore saga has been of great utility and symbolic significance to promoters of modern missions. It provided them with venerable, even hallowed, points of reference in the midst of a changing world and turbulent times. Yet there is much about the genesis and the acts of the pioneer Serampore mission team that still remains shrouded by dense mist. That is why a new scholarly quest has been initiated during the last ten years.

The new missiological inquiry considers the trio's sense of calling and their location in time, both chronological and theological. It looks to the rock from which they were hewn and asks how their lives were shaped -- by what and by whom -- before they ever set sail for the Bay of Bengal. New light has been shed on Dorothy Carey and William Ward, though much still remains to be discovered about the life of Joshua Marshman and the unusual significance of Charlotte Carey, not to mention less prominent characters in the Serampore saga.(6) Investigations must occur in these and related areas if we are to come within range of doing scholarly justice to William Carey and his missionary band. Then we will be better placed to tackle a surprisingly neglected series of wide-ranging partnership questions.

Glimpses of what this new quest may involve can be gained by noting various "reality checks" in the history of the Baptist missionary awakening and by looking into the curriculum vitae of Serampore College. These reveal that "storms of protest" occurred at various junctures during institutional and intellectual transition from established traditions to more effective ways of understanding and serving the kingdom of God.

Research here should lead to the development of a detailed understanding of the dynamics and evolution of the Serampore mission venture. It will be enriched by significant input from Indian scholars and Indologists from many disciplines who are positioned to uncover important facets of the missionaries' Bengali contexts that have escaped us hitherto (cf. Daniel and Hedlund 1993: 153-334). We need them to help us understand "the indigo scene" of Carey's day more accurately. We need them to do in-depth studies on the opium trade that John Company channelled through Calcutta and Serampore. We need them to provide us with a business history of the Scrampore mission estate, and then to compare that carefully with the grand international enterprise of August Hermann Francke one hundred years earlier in Prussia.(7) And that is not to mention a whole host of Indian realities, cross-cultural concerns, socio-political questions and comprehensive linguistic problems that still await serious analysis.

But let us return to the beginning of the story, in which we can discern what it took to give birth to something new.

Storms of protest during times of transition

Major upheavals have occurred in Baptist history since the time of William Carey (1761-1834). Choruses of concern have been heard loud and clear. Debates became heated as Christians strived in contrary ways to respond faithfully to changing circumstances and unexpected challenges. This was characteristic of the centuries-long Serampore saga during several periods of transition, as the following incidents attest.

An early case comes from the first half of the 1780s. Andrew Fuller, Carey's mentor and senior friend, had read Jonathan Edwards' theological classic Inquiry into the Freedom of the Will, which distinguished between sinners' natural and moral ability before God. Inspired by this, Fuller wrote a treatise that correlated "the mystery of divine sovereignty" with issues of human responsibility. He stuck close to holy scripture, but it still took much courage to reconcile evangelism and calvinism in his denomination then. This explains Fuller's reluctance to proceed to publish his work. He was afraid that it might become fuel for sectarian controversy (cf, George 1992:55-56). On 23 August 1784, the Baptist theologian wrote in his diary:

The weight of publishing still lies upon me. I expect a great share of unhappiness through it. I had certainly much rather go through the world in peace, did I not consider this step as my duty.

In 1785, he finally took the plunge and had his The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation published. True to his expectations, his little book fell "like a bombshell on the playground" of British Baptist life. However, after a great struggle, it did eventually achieve "great things" in terms of theological renewal and thinking on mission -- to Carey's relief.(8)

Another noteworthy turning-point in Baptist mission history is to be found in the period between 1816 and 1827. Carey's pathway was pockmarked with crises. Witness the management re-structuring that occurred in the BMS during the first decade after Fuller's decease as its first executive secretary. A "protracted and bitter controversy" developed among his successors that resulted from a clash between "two mutually incompatible conceptions of what a missionary society is" (Stanley 1992b:57-67). A tragic series of miscommunications and misunderstandings complicated matters further. This resulted in a breakdown of trust between the trio and the London-based BMS Committee, which resisted all efforts to effect reconciliation (cf. Smith 1992c:6,13-20). Christian leaders with differing worldviews in Britain and Bengal found it impossible to agree on how to fund and run Serampore College. Thus the college became a lightning rod in a fiscal conflict that had deep missiological implications. An unpleasant schism with the BMS followed in 1827 and the Serampore Mission found itself stranded.(9) As a result, British Baptist mission work ceased to be at the forefront of the world mission movement from the 1820s onwards.

A further "storm of protest" occurred between the 1850s and 1870s, as leaders in Bengal and Britain tussled over church-mission relations. Here was further evidence that transition from one era to another did not come easily in mission work related to Serampore. During that period, the BMS urged the Baptist churches that it supported in India to move "towards genuine financial independence" of expatriate agencies. To help the work there mature, E.B. Underhill, the British BMS Secretary, "initiated a phase of renewed expansion and fundamental re-evaluation of strategic objectives." However, BMS personnel in Bengal firmly resisted his policy to discontinue "financial support for Indian agents" and to "propel" their churches "towards genuine financial independence." This sparked off considerable controversy within the denomination in Britain which was resolved only with great difficulty (Stanley 1992b: 148-156). After that, church-mission relations continued to be fraught with tension for many years.

In short, the Serampore story is not easily told. It was beset with difficult transitions and painful memories. All these constitute building blocks of deep-seated truth and timely reminders for current attempts to gain new missiological understanding. In their light, the present "quest for the historical Carey" and his colleagues seeks to discover how and what the triumvirate learned, how they developed skills, how they acted cross-culturally in the midst of complex socio-political circumstances, whom they influenced in the process of trying to be true to Jesus Christ, what they achieved, what legacy they left, and how their principles may be relevant for us today. This constitutes an agenda that is challenging in depth and breadth, and height and length.

Serampore, mythology, and theology

Missiological scholars will have to investigate the different types of partnership in which Carey and his company participated. Questions need to be asked about whom the Serampore trio fraternized with, whom they cooperated with and whom they depended on. Evidence needs to be marshalled on the sorts of partnership they engaged in and the types of cross-cultural Christian partnership that they developed.(10) Here, we must look out for indications of the extent to which Carey's cohort demonstrated loyalty to Christ and his mission without succumbing to myopic forms of nationalism, racism and ethnocentrism. Opportunities must not be neglected to learn in depth about the compromises they accepted and the costs they paid for doing mission business in a land that was under British rule. Then we will be able to develop a missiological profile of their life-work, even if their missiological reflection in India tended to be more implicit than explicit, and indirect rather than direct.

Clearly this is not the place to tackle such a task in detail. All we can do here is lay out a rudimentary sketch map for the way ahead. On this map, many elevated points appear. Two of these will now be considered since they are quite apropos to fresh reflection on the early mission experience of Bengal. The first enables us to survey a broad stretch of Carey's life and then to zoom in on an interesting proposal from his bosom-friend, William Ward. The second vantage point overlooks Serampore College itself. We now proceed to the foothills.

Heroic narrative and Indian mythology

Carey has traditionally been portrayed as a "heroic" character -- as one of a class of big, ordinary people who do not resign themselves to misfortune but give their utmost to help others find hope in life. This we can see clearly in his arduous pilgrimage between 1793 and the close of the century.

From 1800 onwards, his circumstances changed dramatically. That was when he turned away from a backwater in the north of Bengal to invest the best part of his life in metropolitan Calcutta and its suburbs. That was when he emerged from a frontier, pioneer-missionary chrysalis to use the wings of an urban professional educator and translator. Thereafter, his biographers have identified the heroic in his life by highlighting the courage with which he persevered in the midst of difficult odds; by portraying him as a person of grace, kindness and nobility who indicated how ordinary humanity can be redeemed. A noble picture, indeed, and one which has often provided Christian readers with hearty motivation to do good in "foreign places."(11) But that is only part of a much larger canvas. A missiologist's task is to transcend the boundaries of "Carey-centricity." The call is to move on: to see him as a member of a brotherhood; then to understand the Serampore mission band as part of a much larger effort to unite the east and the west -- to perceive its contribution to the coming of the kingdom of God and to better address the challenges posed by a sinful world.

The call is to see beyond the horizon of heroic tradition: to engage in more holistic, systemic and inter-disciplinary historical analysis; to take all sorts of evidence seriously. Not to shy away from unexpected light, but to proceed resolutely, accepting careful "demythologizing" of easy tradition as a therapy of great value for the advance of truth and the life of faith.

So we come to two points in the story that have been shrouded for centuries: points which western scholars, Carey biographers and Hindu devotees need to explore together.

The first elevated point has the name of William Ward written all over it. It consisted of a public recommendation for a pantheon that was first made by Carey's close companion in 1818. Although Ward's proposal came to nothing, it was remarkable enough to merit mention in any of the many books written on the trio. But that never happened. Presumably, it was discarded as unfit for inclusion in approved missionary tradition. Yet its significance remains as a challenge to facile stereotypes, posing questions that are waiting to be answered.

Ward's open-ended proposal appeared at the beginning of the second edition of his A View of the History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindoos. He recommended that a Society should be formed, either in Calcutta or London, for improving our knowledge of the History, Literature, and Mythology, of the Hindoos; -- that after collecting sufficient funds, this Society should purchase an estate, and erect a Pantheon which should receive the images of the most eminent of the gods, cut in marble -- a Museum to receive all the curiosities of India, and a Library, to perpetuate its literature. Suitable rooms for the accommodation of the officers of the society, its committees, and members, would of necessity be added.(12)

Ward favoured "the metropolis of India" (Calcutta) as the best location for this great project, although he was not opposed to its being set up in London. He admitted that he was recommending an Institution of this nature from the fear that no Society now existing, that no individual exertions, will ever meet the object, and that if, (which may Providence prevent) at any future period. . . . India should be torn from Britain, and fall again under the power of some Asiatic or any other despotism, we should still have the most interesting monuments of her former greatness, and the most splendid trophies of the glory of the British name in India.

Ward's motivation for such a project seems to have been a curious mixture of respect for Indian culture and eurocentric pride in the early nineteenth century, Orientalist "Enlightenment" that occurred in India under British rule. He continued: Another argument urging us to the formation of such a Society is, that the ancient writings and the monuments of the Hindoos are daily becoming more scarce, and more difficult of acquisition: they will soon irrecoverably perish. Should the funds of the society be ample, literary treasures would pour in daily into the Library, and scarce monuments into the Museum, from all parts of India. . . . And if formed in Calcutta, how would persons from all parts of India, European and native, and indeed from all parts of the world, be drawn to it; and how greatly would it attach the Hindoos to a people !British^ by whom they were thus honoured.(13)

Such a bold proposal would have shocked BMS leaders like Andrew Fuller and John Ryland, Jr to their Calvinistic core. Without a doubt, it challenges prevailing interpretations that Ward's tomes were a one-sided, blistering attack on hinduism. It provides another angle on the Serampore trio that suggests that they took Indian culture and belief seriously, however much they may have disagreed with it, and its local permutations, at many points. Thus Ward's call conjures up an array of questions that cannot be answered easily by conventional hermeneutics.

Ward's recommendation is so striking because it deliberately countenanced the investment of precious funds in an avant-garde, even "liberal," project. This suggests, in line with much other evidence, that he and his close colleagues do not deserve to be dismissed summarily as undiscriminating iconoclasts. Instead, their joint pilgrimage needs to be examined in the light of questions that many authors have failed to tackle. This must be remedied if we are to come closer to grasping the extent to which they were missiologists-in-the-making -- before Ward's life was suddenly cut short.

Theological education at Serampore

A second vantage point on the Serampore sketch map reveals another surprise. In Carey historiography, almost no attention has been paid to the standard of theological education provided by Serampore College during the nineteenth century.(14) This is all the more surprising since Serampore College has been lauded by mission biographers and historians for making a substantial contribution to training nationals to spread Christian faith in India. We must, accordingly, revisit this neglected area of mission history, comparing what the triumvirate said about their college with the theological education that it actually provided.

The tradition is well known that Serampore College "upheld both theological and secular disciplines side by side with lively cooperation and creative tension" (Daniel 1992:2). It was established to foster the creation of a largely indigenous church in India. Under the patronage of the Marquis of Hastings, Governor-General of India, the college was founded in August 1818 "for the instruction of Asiatic!,^ Christian, and other Youth." It was deliberately set up as a liberal arts and science college for both "Christian and heathen" students, rather than as "a strictly theological seminary for missionary students, native or East Indian" (Serampore College, 1821; cf. Laird 1993:206). Instruction was to be primarily in Indian languages and orientalism was to be honoured in the curriculum.

Classes "in Eastern literature and European science" began in 1819 and were followed by an ambitious building programme that was completed in 1823. British support was sought by the founders, who urged Christians in the motherland to view the college as a "handmaid of evangelization." Carey and his colleagues predicted that the college would enable an Indian Christian teacher or preacher to . . . obtain full instruction in the doctrines he was to combat, and the doctrines he was to teach, and acquire a complete knowledge both of the Sacred Scriptures ! Christian and otherwise?^, and of those philosophical and mythological dogmas which formed the soul of the Buddhist and Hindoo systems.

The trio adopted this course on the assumption that, "While the native preacher remained ignorant of the principles on which the learned heathen built their arguments, his position as a public teacher was necessarily disadvantageous." Ward told BMS supporters that their creation in Serampore was "a Native Missionary college" -- even "a missionary Hindoo college." But that was a bold assertion that may have been more of "a pleasing dream" than anything else. After all, the "missionary nursery" section of the institution was never more than a small fraction of the size of the broad-based "literary" department.(15)

In reality, the college had two rather different personae by which it appealed to contrasting constituencies. In India, it functioned as an Arts and Science College, while to mission supporters in the North Atlantic World it was portrayed as a school that would "train Indians to replace Europeans completely as missionaries, and so create a truly indigenous church" (cf. Potts 1967: 129-135; Ivimey 1831:40, 48). By 1825, the ambiguity and contrast between these two views was apparent to Britain's BMS officers and they firmly refused to yield to the trio's appeals to support the college.

Serampore College included a divinity department but was not constituted as a divinity college for Asiatic Christians (Marshman, II, 168-170, 463, 484-485). For several months before his untimely death in 1823, eirenic William Ward was in charge of "the theology department." His tragic departure threw a huge load onto Carey, who put his shoulder to the wheel and provided a "course of theology lectures in the Bengalee language" between December 1823 and March 1824 (Marshman 1857, II:260).(16) We then read of a Mr Swan who studied at Edinburgh University in 1824 in preparation for service under the BMS as Serampore's "professor of theology" (from 1825). Under his tutelage, a class of students was formed "to secure an increase of Missionaries in European habits."(17) However, Swan provided relief only in the short term because he severed his connections with the college in 1827, when the BMS and the Serampore Mission parted company.

After Swan's abrupt departure, Carey once again stepped into the breach, hoping that some replacement would be soon be obtained from Britain. But in this he was disappointed. The year 1830 found him still responsible for lectures in Christian doctrine.(18) To this, the dedicated veteran added "a short course . . . on the history of the Christian Church," while Joshua Marshman, who was no theologian, delivered a regular series on "Hindooism and Christianity" (cf. Smith 1990b:190-193). When Carey's health began to give way in 1830, Marshman supplied for his senior colleague by tackling "Prophecy and Revelation," "Ancient History" and "Ecclesiastical History." Thus it was left to the Serampore veterans and a junior colleague to do what they could to provide lectures in theology to small numbers of students between 1823 and 1830. They struggled to keep that small section of the college open; but it was an uphill battle. Staff shortages at Serampore made it impossible for them to provide anything resembling the "complete course of instruction in Christian theology" envisaged by the college's 1818 prospectus.

Once the triumvirate had been laid to rest, "the glory departed" from Serampore and training for Christian ministry became "increasingly marginal to the work of the College." Stanley records that by the mid 1830s it had become rather difficult to recruit suitable students -- not to mention qualified staff. During the second half of the nineteenth century the college did little better in providing specific theological training for Christian leaders. In 1851, an attempt was made with new support from the BMS to re-establish a vernacular theological class, but Serampore proved to be unviable as a base. Another attempt was made in 1884, but that too failed, as did further BMS efforts to contribute to "the creation of mature and autonomous Indian churches" before the first world war. This was a source of much discouragement and fuelled much debate among Baptists. In fact, it was only after the college was taken over by Indian leadership in post-independence India that criticism of the college as "impossibly expensive, wrongly located, and largely irrelevant to the life of the churches" begin to die down (Stanley 1992b:157-163, 296-300, 425-426).(19)

Since then, the challenge has been how to revive the college's original sense of mission as a servant to India's churches. This was addressed by Serampore's leaders in a bold and creative manner during the bicentennial "Carey celebrations" of 1992-1993, when they established a new mission studies programme in the college's theology department.

How the trio's minds changed over time

One of the important aspects of the Serampore troika's life-work may be summed up in the phrase pragmatic flexibility. By that, I do not imply at all that they were not men of high and resolute principle. Nor does my assertion diminish their stature as men of vision. Rather, it is a way of emphasizing how they learned from other people's experience and knowledge, and how they sought to fulfil their God-given mission.

Carey, Marshman and Ward left Britain with clearly formed theological ideas, but their pilgrimage demonstrated that they could not operate well in Bengal by adhering slavishly to a pre-determined plan of action. They learned very quickly that no missionary blueprint could be imposed on India, or applied to it here, there and everywhere. Instead, they opted to interact patiently with unexpected circumstances and developments in the sub-continent, adjusting course accordingly in good faith.

Nor did the three pioneers always agree on what the wisest strategy might be. At times they strongly advocated contrary courses of action among themselves and minced no words in letting BMS leaders back in Britain know about it. On some issues, the thinking of one of the three could evolve in a very different manner from that of his colleagues. On other occasions, they moved forward unanimously; then one of them reverted to his original position, after mature reflection on a spell of practical experimentation. This was only to be expected from three different characters and personalities; but it does underline the fact that the trio cannot be viewed properly as a homogeneous team who always saw eye to eye.

Because of this, we focus now on a few instances of how their thinking changed as they sought to discern God's will, honour biblical principles and face up to stern realities. Such reflection should help to displace stereotyped interpretations and facile myth in favour of more accurate historical accounts.

The significance of caste

If ever there was a challenge from India to the trio's understanding of the ordering of human life under God the Creator, it was the question of caste (cf. Mangalwadi 1993:310-317). This issue had far-reaching implications for efforts to introduce Indians to Christ and then to raise up indigenous churches. Reflecting its complexity, the BMS threesome ended up taking years to decide how best to respond to it.

Archival records suggest that the trio did try to act carefully and sensitively in this domain. Of course, they might have done much better had their first priority in practice been to live with and in the midst of India's people, rather than in a colonial enclave. But that line of inquiry must be dealt with elsewhere.

The first point to notice is that Carey did not arrive in Bengal with his mind already firmly made up on the caste question. He realized that it was a difficult and many-sided problem, on which he needed others' advice. Initially, he was inclined to lean towards the almost pre-Enlightenment position of Ziegenbalg and Plutschau, the Danish-German missionaries at Tranquebar, who viewed caste simply as a social phenomenon. As early as 1796, a confidant of Carey's reported the pioneer's misgivings on whether future converts associated with the Baptist mission could be brought to "lose cast !sic^." Carey even doubted for a while whether he ought to enforce such a step because:

(1) It is not any part of their religion, but a mere civil distinction. (2) They can leave all their Idolatries, and practise all Xn duties (except eating the bread in the Lord's Supper) without losing cast. (3) To lose cast wd. ruin not only them but their families & posterity, as no person wd. eat or drink with them, or marry them.

Thus he asked his mentors in England for their judgement.

He received a thought-provoking reply. Generally, the advice was that disavowal of caste need not "be urged in the first instance" at all. Ryland's reflection on the matter demonstrated remarkable pastoral insight. Hogg opined that losing caste would be "a fiery ordeal" that a disciple of Christ would have to expect to undergo at some future point. Fuller concurred, admitting: "It is trying, but we & you must not go out of our way to avoid" the uncomfortable issue. Casting around for some sort of solution, Fuller wondered whether they might "hope that a new !Christian^ cast may be formed?"(20) But events overtook the debate. Developments in the Malda area and lessons from the Danish mission in South India induced Carey to move beyond the BMS leaders' position. Thus he wrote back to Fuller on March 23, 1797:

Perhaps it may be as Brother Ryland suggests; general knowledge may first prevail, and pave the way for losing caste and joining to the Lord. I thank you for your opinion upon and advice about receiving the natives !viz., converts^ while they retain their caste. I have since found it to be impracticable; for they would undoubtedly be cast out of society in that case as well as the other. Mr. Schwartz's people have all lost cast who are joined to his church.

Carey concluded that caste was "one of the most accursed engines that ever the devil invented to enslave the souls of men." He became appalled by the deep social evils that the system of caste status unleashed, including the fearful persecution of any who dared to forsake hinduism. Ward called it "a scourge." Caste thus came to be seen as a religious institution: it was hinduism's implacable antithesis to the gospel. Condemnation of the system became a central element in pre-Victorian and Victorian missionaries' "total engagement with idolatry." As a result, varying policies of "exclusion of observances based on caste" were adopted in Bengal's Christian churches.(21)

The caste question came to symbolize relentless confrontation between the east and the west. It made the task of evangelizing India's people extremely difficult and did enormous damage to attempts to indigenize Christianity in the northern part of the subcontinent. Ward described his colleagues' sense of dismay in 1821 by observing that the Christian convert in India ". . . must remain a living martyr from the hour of his baptism to the day of his death" (Ward 1821:144-146).

Faced by such odds, the pioneer missioners felt compelled to bring relief to those who had lost caste, home and livelihood because they professed faith in Christ. The first step was to provide special employment opportunities at the mission's institutional base. Initially, most of the beleaguered converts lived on the Serampore mission estate, but as their numbers increased Christian villages were created for them off the property. Such an arrangement made it fairly easy for missionaries to monitor new believers' conduct; but it severely hindered the rooting of Christian faith in some Indian soils. The "reduction"-like policy provided a place of refuge; but it emphasized Christians' non-status as a marginalized group of untouchables. Members of that group suffered as if they were an alien sub-caste, "isolated from the Hindu world and not fully at home in, or fully accepted by, European society in India" (Neill 1986:381, 404; Chowdhury 1939:344-347). Who can tell what might have happened if the missionaries had not been in a position to provide employment or other facilities!

But India was not the sole contributor to the trio's cross-cultural problems, for did not the British occupiers of Indian territory themselves promote a social order that resembled the Hindu caste system in some respects? (Kooiman 1989:44-45).(22) The Serampore trio themselves became staunch supporters of the heirarchical establishment imported by their imperially-minded countrymen. Witness Marshman's declaration in 1807 that inquirers seeking Christ must be prepared to lose caste, to reject caste scruples in specified ways, and to become attached "in the most cordial manner to their Christian Governors." He and his colleagues were committed to dethroning "the gloomy, the faithless daemon !sic^ of superstition" in "the Hindoos"' hearts, in order to enable them to become "literally regenerated."(23) However, that objective appeared to meld in his thinking with political concern to render allegiance to Britain's powerful representatives in the subcontinent.

During the pre-Victorian period, cross-cultural thinking was still clearly in its infancy. Because of that, cross-cultural communication problems were magnified whenever Indian Christians' patrons failed to identify closely with native cultural life. At times, political and religious loyalties accordingly became strangely entangled. Thus biographers and mission historians of the pre-Victorian period find themselves faced with questions about caste that have strange twists in their tails.

Proper languages for instruction?

Another difficult issue that the trio wrestled with centred on questions about providing India's people with education in English, Sanskrit or the vernacular (cf. Laird 1993:207-213). If in English, how much should be provided, and at what level(s)?

Tradition has it that the mission leaders were quite unequivocal that the vernacular route was all important for the growth of an indigenous church in India. However, there is ample evidence for positing that they were prepared to invest an increasing amount of their energy in English-based education efforts. At times, Carey and his cohort see-sawed between the two alternatives, now coming down on one side, and then on the other -- frequently for pragmatic reasons.

As early as 1800, Carey confided to Fuller: "We have an intention as soon as we are able to set up a School to teach the Natives English." This embryonic policy was precipitated by the following event. During 1800, a native Malabar Christian from Tranquebar visited Serampore. He had been taught to speak German fluently by C.W. Gericke, the Halle-trained, "Royal Danish" SPCK missionary in South India, and could understand the German Bible. This led Carey to write to Britain, that November:

. . . I was much encouraged by this man, and thought. Indeed I have long thought whether it would not be desirable for us to set up a School to teach the Natives English -- I doubt not but a Thousand scholars would come: I don't !sic^ say this because I think it an object to teach them the English tongue, but quere, is not the universal inclination of the Bengallees to learn english !sic^ a favorable Circumstance which may be improved to valuable ends. I only stick at the expense.

Several weeks later, he added wistfully:

We have an intention as soon as we are able to set up a School to teach the Natives English. The design of this is to turn the almost universal desire of these people to acquire English to some profitable account -- the plan is not yet matured, nor will our circumstances admit of it at present.

Funds then could not be stretched to cover that sort of project. Thus little was attempted in this area until after Serampore College was established, when Sanskrit study was made compulsory.

At the founding of the college in 1818, the trio decided to teach English only to a select minority of its students, "to enable them to dive into the deepest recesses of European science, and enrich their own language with its choicest treasures" (J.C. Marshman, II: 170-73). Several years later, in 1822, a similar class was started for the children of Serampore's Asiatic missioners. By 1824, the time devoted to teaching Sanskrit at the college was decreasing. Transition was under way. The systematic cultivation of English was introduced and by 1829 it was receiving more attention than "the Oriental classics." In fact, English classes had already become compulsory for "native Christian students," several years before Carey died!(24)

Stephen Neill records that by 1830 the majority of missionaries in India were skeptical about the value of higher education in English as an evangelistic method. However, the newly arrived Scot, Alexander Duff, found real encouragement for his plans to pursue that type of education for young Bengali Brahmins -- from none other than William Carey. Perhaps he discovered that the veteran educator had been toying with similar ideas and had been implementing them for many years alongside his vernacular work.(25) This would make it easier to understand why Carey could be so supportive of Duff's plan to provide education in English to Bengali Brahmins. It also casts light on the popular tradition that mission promoters used -- which led British supporters to believe that Carey's great mission enterprise focused almost exclusively on vernacular education and church worship!

This leads to identification of two parallel developments in the Serampore story. Just as the trio shifted quickly away from adhering to the terms of their 1805 "Form of Agreement" -- while British BMS leaders still believed that they were following it twenty years later -- so the trio moved progressively into English education, while British supporters had little awareness or sense of the significance of the linguistic shifts that had occurred at Serampore.

Carey and his company argued continually that education was one of the best ways to prepare India's people to accept the gospel. They invested in schools on the grounds that they constituted an important praeparatio evangelica. That is understandable, given the resolute focus of their mission operation on metropolitan Calcutta and colonial Serampore (cf. Shenk 1993:20-22, 26). However, such linkage of education and evangelism afforded them little cheer in practice, and the bridge they established between the two swayed considerably (cf. Potts 1967:127). Baptist missionaries in nineteenth century Bengal rarely found that their educational schemes did much more for their converts' growth in faith than provide them with literacy for reading the Bible.(26) Thus it would appear that attempts to pattern mission today on the basis of popular tradition about Serampore is far more problematic than many biographers would have us believe. Roland Allen's missiological classics (1912, 1927) still ring resoundingly true in many missiological respects.

The achievements of Carey and his company

Whatever criteria one chooses for assessing the achievements of Carey and his missionary cohort, this much is obvious. Carey was a very poor man who made good in Bengal, with the help of some highly committed colleagues.

Per Angusta Ad Augusta(27)

As a young lay preacher, Carey never managed to live in anything but poverty until he left for India in 1793. James Beck, the biographer of Carey's first wife, has made it clear how the poor cobbler and his family had to obtain a certificate signed by three overseers in his home village before the parish of Moulton would allow him to settle into his first pastoral charge in 1785. Such filing of special documents for the poor reflected the stipulations of England's 1662 Act of Settlement, which tried to protect villages from becoming liable for destitute people who wished to move in from other rural communities. The certificate that Carey obtained was an affidavit in which Moulton was assured that Carey's home village would become responsible for his family should they fall into penury and become a burden on the parish (Beck 1992:43-45).(28) While resident in Moulton, the Careys lived in "considerable straits for want of Maintenance," as his church admitted. Thus during his eight years as a Baptist pastor, he and his family never escaped from conditions of grinding poverty (Drewery: 32-33, 44). This makes his production of a booklet such as the Enquiry all the more remarkable. On the one hand, its writing was quite a feat for someone who was almost penniless; though one could also argue that he was fairly well positioned to empathize with the "poor, abject and miserable" inhabitants of "heathen nations" -- to whom his Lord had "ordained the gospel to be preached."(29)

It was also no mean accomplishment that he and his colleagues scraped enough money together to pay the passage to India for the poor pastor and his family. Indeed, it was a labour of great love, carried out during a national food crisis.(30) We may also posit that Carey was under no illusion about the financial situation that awaited him and his family at the end of their sea journey. In no way did they have grounds for hoping that their material lot would be at all improved by leaving England, especially given the fact they were personae non grata to the East India Company. Their first year in Bengal was one of terrible financial hardship, and it was only after they found indirect means to avail themselves of the resources of the colonial British establishment that their circumstances began to improve. By then, lowever, it was too late for Carey's first wife, Dorothy, who was driven insane by the circumstances to which she and her children had been subjected. Through no fault of her own, she could hardly have been less prepared for the cross-cultural challenges that she and her family had to confront. As a result, she succumbed to more than a decade of mental illness, during which she tried to take her husband's life on several occasions.

Yet Carey managed to survive all of this. He went on to acclaim in the work of translations and a broad range of other business. That he did so suggests that he was a quite remarkable person who could persevere towards his God-given mission goal through the most daunting of circumstances. For that, we must salute him as a quite extraordinary Christian worker, who not only "expected great things and attempted great things," but also paid a great price in order to do it (Smith 1990:226-237).

A serious, trinitarian approach

His achievements, however, need to be seen in proper proportion, because he was no solitary, grand individual who towered head and shoulders above his contemporaries. What he became and what he achieved was made possible by his position in an extraordinary mission team that was backed up by a large Bengali support staff.

Such a view does nothing to diminish his stature as a noble person and an eager learner. Rather, it alerts us to eschew undue Carey-centricity. It reminds us of the real need there is for a trinitarian methodological approach to the Serampore story, for Carey was one of three (the Serampore trio), supported by three close senior colleagues in Britain (Fuller, Ryland and Sutcliffe), and served by a linguistic team of over one hundred moonshees and pundits in Bengal.(31) To that set of three teams, Carey was most indebted. Thus when he is singled out as "the father of the Serampore Mission," we also remember that there were grandfathers and uncles -- and faithful children. And of course, we must honour the memory of "the mother of the mission," Hannah Marshman, wife of one of the trio, of whom it was written late in Carey's life:

It grieves us to the heart to see that Mrs. Marshman, now approaching sixty, should be required !by the mission's "pecuniary embarrassments"^ to toil as severely as ever, to contribute to the support of the mission."(32)

All of which bears testimony to the herculean labour carried out by Carey's co-workers -- without whom, the Serampore mission enterprise could hardly have survived during Carey's lifetime.

To be sure, it has been argued that one of Carey's special accomplishments under God was to assemble and inspire a diverse and dedicated group of mission workers. But he would be loath to take the credit for it and would insist instead that Providence alone had made it happen. And in that he would be right, at least in regard to the provision of first-class Christian colleagues. Nevertheless, such mention of "Providence" provides no grounds for assuming that his dependence on the largesse of the British (quasi Civil Service) College of Fort William in Calcutta was essential for the successful accomplishment of God's mission agenda for Bengal.

Once again, this does not minimize what Carey and his cohorts achieved in the areas of philology, Bible translation, orientalism, literacy, education, publishing, technology, relief work, social reform, botany, evangelization, and mission promotion. That lengthy record is well known and can be rehearsed readily by many.(33) Instead, my point is to honour Carey and his company by urging for the development of a first-class, missiological methodology that will help us see their lives and work in all their profundity, in relation to all their contemporaries, in the midst of fascinating and unique contexts, and in light of the biblical values of the kingdom of God (Smith, 1992a:2-8; 1992b:488-496; 1990:190-199). This means opting for a dynamic, analytical approach to the veterans and their complex legacy, rather than settling for a facile, static antiquarian account (cf. Walls 1990:22). It challenges scholars and practitioners to become seriously involved in an open-minded inquiry by delving deeply into one of mission history's treasure troves.

Carey's achievements have not been examined here in detail, for several reasons. First, because the purpose and focus of this essay has been primarily methodological. Second, because he must first be understood in relation to multiple (micro and macro) contexts. Third, because one or more new volumes must be dedicated to a careful examination of the veterans' work in Bengal during the period in which the so-called "modern missionary movement" got under way (cf. Smith 1990:200-202). All that I have done is suggest how missiologists and scholars from other disciplines might consider proceeding to do justice to the great Serampore missioners. Conceivably, one or more international research teams will be needed to accomplish this in a worthy manner.

One hopes that such an inquiry would merit the approval of Serampore's pre-Victorian mission team. Appropriate studies(34) thus would be:

* carried out in keeping with their noble spirit and basic attitude of Christ-centred modesty.

* pursued with wide-eyed awareness of the breadth and depth of the mission team partnership on which Carey depended so heavily.

* enriched by an unfailing memory of Carey's character as a minister and professor who acted according to a high standard of moral integrity, doing his best to serve in God's world according to "the freedom with which Christ has made his followers free" (cf. Galatians 5:1,13).

* undertaken with lively appreciation of the focus of the trio's pilgrimage and testimony, which can be summed up in lines from a nineteenth century hymn:

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness....

His oath, His covenant, and blood, Support me in the whelming flood; When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.

Thus we may fairly take the measure of some famous Serampore souls, without any need to be defensive, knowing that our lives, our identity and our confidence are founded not on earthly heroes nor on great leaders but on the Christ of Calvary, and his finished work.

Epilogue: From mythology to missiology

This essay on missiological methodology is, in part, a response to an unfortunate, and at times dangerous, tendency of most Hindus and some Christians to underestimate the need there is to distinguish between historical reality and myth (see note 4, and Winter 1993:147,n.1). It has sketched a missiological route to help us pass through the mists of tradition, to penetrate "pleasing dreams" and to stimulate a new order of cross-cultural, historically-based research. It is to be hoped that such an inquiry will stimulate a new order of mission analysis in various quarters and will contribute to the empowerment of those who are bravely tackling the agenda that God Almighty has set before India's churches.

One of the anchors of this study has been a singularly resolute young shoemaker who forged his way into the proverbial unknown. He eventually settled down in India after years of uncertainty, survived many threats to his health and life and gradually became transformed into an interpreter of the east to the west. As an Indianized Briton in quasi-colonial Calcutta, he permanently adapted to Indo-British life and left an indelible mark in Bengali society.

Like many of the Baptists of his day, he and two of his closest colleagues were deeply indebted to Europe's Protestant Reformers and courageous Dissenters. The evidence suggests that they did not father many original thoughts or do much astute missiological strategizing -- William Ward regretted this -- but they were creative and astute adaptors of others' ideas and inventions. As a dedicated threesome, they found themselves at an unusual turning-point in world history and bravely seized opportunities that came their way. The primus inter pares among them served as a potent catalyst for motivating people from the North Atlantic region to get personally involved in crossing boundaries for Christ. He became a figurehead for the development of the so-called "modern missionary movement."(35) As a result, there are many in Bengal and beyond who have thanked Providence for sending a Baptist band to sojourn among them, empower them and contribute to the renaissance of Indian culture.

History has shown that two Williams and one Joshua helped to carve out a space where Christians could rendezvous before the Lord: where they could put heads and hands, heart and mind together -- to "attempt great things" for God. This we recognize, recalling the words that the young mission company penned to anxious BMS supporters, at the end of year one in Serampore:

Farewell. . . . You have all need of Patience. The expence of the Mission is great, and success has been long delayed, but in due Season you shall reap, if you faint not. We are full of expectation -- we are full of hope.(36)

NOTES:

1 This is a revised and much abbreviated version of the "Carey Day Lecture" presented at Serampore College, Bengal, for the 1992-1993 Bicentennial Celebrations of "Carey's Contribution to India's Renaissance," on 17 August 1993. The full version with extensive footnotes is to be found in Smith (1993).

2 In addition to bringing new evidence to light and drawing on the contextual findings of Indological studies since the mid-1960s, our task must be to view the relevant parts of the Carey tradition (especially for the relatively neglected period of 18001834) with the aid of cross-cultural, social anthropology and socio-political history.

3 The quarry that provides materials for missiological analysis of the Serampore Trio and their mission is still very far from being exhausted. This essay therefore sounds a long overdue call for a new missiological era of Carey scholarship. In spite of the broad international array of bicentennial "Carey celebrations" between 1991 and 1993, nothing has yet been published that seriously addresses this focused missiological challenge from the basis of deep and detailed knowledge of the contents of the archives of the Baptist Missionary Society (England) and the Serampore Mission. For access to these archives, this author is indebted to the BMS and the Council of Serampore College.

4 It is necessary to distinguish between the generic phrase "the Serampore mission" (the Baptist mission based at Serampore since 1800) and the formal institution of "The Serampore Mission," which was established by the trio around 1818 as an operation that became increasingly independent of the BMS.

It may be said that scholars use the term "myth" in at least four different ways. Cf. IVP's New Dictionary of Theology, (1988:449-451) and Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, (1985:785). When I use the slippery term "myth" in relation to the Serampore mission, I am not referring to a story of unhistorical beings, nor to a mere "legend," which is a historical but unverifiable story. Rather, I use the term "myth" as it is used in Religious Studies, to refer to "a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially, one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society." I recognize that this functional definition of the term "myth" may overlap and include "symbolical vepresentation," which points to a reality that is essentially beyond description and that is not a statement of historical fact. "Myth" then may refer to an "invented story" that may have been constructed by someone with the best will in the world who was concerned to embellish or represent the life of Carey and his company in a manner designed to advance the cause of mission. In that case, "myth" might be said to constitute "a traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the worldview of a people or explain a practice, belief or natural phenomenon." Such use has been made of the heroic figure of Carey by Baptist and other mission promoters during the last two hundred years. On this, see Smith (1992b:481-482,493-495).

To paraphrase Stephen Neill, the task of a responsible mission historian task involves: concealing nothing that he believes to be the truth and refusing to accommodate himself to what he believes are simply the errors of mythology. See his autobiography (ed. by Jackson, 1991). Idealization of the past by western Christians often reflects "a nostalgic desire to return to the womb" of the supposedly "good old days." Guinness (1983) analyzed this sort of sociological phenomenon among evangelicals. On such unrefined Christian thinking, see Smith 1992b:489,496-497.

5 Far from being reductionist, or engaging in radical relativism, or adopting a post-modernist approach, let us focus on some of the values and realities that were part of Carey's earthly existence, pilgrimage and labours. "Postmodernism denies not only suprahistorical truths but historical truths, truths relative to particular times and places" (Himmelfarb 1992:28-36). Consider Brackney (1992), who demythologizes "organizational hagiography" from the perspective of church history: this complements my approach from a missiological perspective. "Hagiography has ever been a popular literary endeavor among religious enthusiasts and Baptists have been no exception. In times of significant anniversaries of organizations, the organizations themselves have often become the objects of reverence.... In spite of the important attempts to set the record straight with historical accuracy, many Baptists and others will engage again in organizational hagiography." (Brackney 1992:364).

6 For new discoveries concerning the life of William Ward, see Smith (1991). This is a classic expose and example of the way in which parts of the historical record were "sanitized" or entirely glossed over by certain purveyors of mission tradition. For an entirely new angle on the life and progressive insanity of Carey's first wife, Dorothy, see Beck (1992). Although some of Beck's reconstruction of her life is conjecture, he does make a respectable attempt at analyzing Carey's domestic life. He brings forth new evidence, sheds new light on Carey's personality, and applies his psychiatric skills in a thought-provoking manner. His writing is not at all a vain attempt to re-visit the Carey story. The missiological implications of his findings still have to be worked out fully.

7 On Francke's extraordinary Stiftungen, or philanthropic "Foundations," in the Halle area of Saxony, in Prussia, see Smith (1992b:486-488). This Christian mission-complex consisted of a large college and a nexus of practical ministries on an even larger scale than Serampore.

8 This publication was of immense help to Carey and a whole host of his Baptist brethren. It proved to be a great step forward in the development of pre-Victorian, Reformed mission theology.

9 One of his colleagues wrote from Serampore to Joshua Marshman (who was then in England) in mid-April 1826: "Dr. Carey's spirits have been broken by the unkindness of the society, which has dispelled all hope of reconciliation. It has been to him like the hand of death": quoted by Marshman (1857, II:354). On the contrast between the trio's missionary view and the BMS' metropolitan view, see Stanley, (1992b:66-67).

10 What sort of partners did the trio function as in Bengal? Junior partners? Senior partners? Sleeping partners? Equal partners? Colonial partners? Imperial partners? Unequally-yoked partners? Independent partners? Loyal partners? Legal partners? Professional partners? Private partners? etc., etc.

11 Carey and his Serampore colleagues likewise had their own heroes, to whom they looked up with reverence. They often sought to emulate aspects of their lives. David Brainerd (1718-1747) was a psychological lodestar for Carey in the 1790s and perhaps for Ward at the turn of the century. It is possible that Joshua Marshman had Dr John Clarke as a hero and named his son after him. Brainerd and Clarke were British-type, Puritan pioneers in New England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Clarke was a Rhode Island colleague of the unusually able Baptist missionary to the Indians (native Americans), Roger Williams. Williams appears to have been much more adept at cross-cultural communication of the gospel than Brainerd ever was.

12 Altogether, some five editions were published of Ward's opus magnum. Their contents and titles varied considerably. The second edition, entitled A View of the History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindoos: including a minute description of their manners and customs, and translations from their principal works, was published at Serampore between 1815 and 1818. A variation of this edition was published in London in 1820. For Ward's recommendation, see volume I (1818:lxix-lx). This proposal is also to be found in the 4th edition of Ward's opus magnum, volume I, (1822:clxxiii-clxxiv), suggesting that the project idea was not dropped quickly; rather, it endured for several years.

13 Ward suggested that "such a Society ... should employ individuals in translations from the Sungskritu, and offer suitable rewards for the best translations of the most important Hindoo works" (1818:lxix). His recommendation finished thus: "By the employment of an artist or two from England, all the sculptured monuments of India would soon be ours, and thus be carried down to the latest posterity." Just what did Ward have in mind in writing this?

14 This is even true of the coverage given to the theology department by Stewart (1961:58-69). She referred only to the period between 1929-1960. The useful survey of "The Story of Serampore College, 1818-1929" by D. A. Christadoss (Ibid:20-40) did not compensate for this.

15 According to the "Third Report relative to Serampore College, for the year ending December 31st, 1822", the college contained "a preparatory Seminary for those Native Christian Youths sent to the College too young to enter immediately ... "into regular classes. Note that the use of the term "seminary" here is very different from late twentieth century, American usage. S.P. Carey noted (1923:330) that less than ten percent of the students were "expected to be preachers. Most would be schoolmasters, writers, doctors, lawyers...."

16 Cf. the BMS' Missionary Herald (no. 69, September 1824, p. 66); also Carey to Dyer, 18 March 1824, p. 3. Since, to the best of my knowledge, no lecture notes have remained, we cannot tell whether Carey, who was no theologian, borrowed significantly from the Divinity Lectures of Doddridge, which were published posthumously between 1763 and 1805. Cf. Smith (1992a:2-3,7).

17 Swan provided "a course of Divinity Lectures on the 'Evidences, External and Internal, for the Truth of Revelation, and on the Existence of God and his Attributes"' to a number of youths to whom he taught Greek and Latin. He also gave several theological lectures to students in Bengali: Periodical Accounts from the Serampore Mission !1828 I(1):72-74^.

18 An outline of Carey's lectures in 1829 is provided in the "Ninth Report of Serampore College" (Serampore 1830 I(5):332); for 1830, see Ibid.(1831 I(7):548). It is not clear whether Carey drew on some of Swan's printed lectures (in English) here, nor whether he lectured only to "the class of Students in European habits," which included British men who had left the army in India.

19 For some of the telling objections to the training of a vernacular ministry at Serampore, see Howells and Underwood (1918:49-51). Stanley's concluding assessment (1992:380-381) is objective, fair and missiologically sound.

20 Andrew Fuller wrote about Carey's wrestling with the caste issue to John Saffery on 22 August 1796; see also Fuller's reply to Carey, dated 1 September 1796. Fuller tried to make some sense of the situation in his letter of 1 August 1801 to William Ward.

21 Such enslavement was in the interest of one group in Indian society, viz., the Brahmins. Cf. Jackson (1984:346357) and Forrester (1979:25-26). According to Forrester, by the middle of the nineteenth century missionaries were almost universally hostile to caste.

22 At the top of the British social order in India "were the members of the senior government services. This ruling class was followed by British military officers and next in social order came different categories of businessmen, traders and planters. At the bottom of the scale, ordinary British soldiers, domiciled Europeans and Eurasians were to be found" (Kooiman 1989). "In the social heirarchy of the Raj, religious specialists, such as missionaries and clergymen, occupied a rather humble position on the periphery of fashionable European society." "Even among themselves, the missionaries were subdivided among several denominational subcastes with their own territorial sphere of influence."

23 Marshman to Ryland, ca. February 1807; cf. Carey to Sutcliffe, 17 March 1802. For actions that resulted in the loss of caste in Carey's time, see John C. Marshman (1857 I:181,186).

24 Hugald Grafe is correct in asserting that the trio's "gradual switch-over to English medium at Serampore College . . . made them take a middle position between the 'Orientalists' and the 'Anglicists '": see his review of Potts' 1967 work, in Indian Church History !1968 II(1):73^. Carey was not a simple Orientalist nor a simple vernacularist, nor was he a strong Anglicizer; rather, he was an Anglo vernacularist-cum-orientalist.

25 The trio's policy was to use the vernacular for "native" elementary school education. By way of contrast, their initial policy for higher education through Serampore College had an Orientalist emphasis on Sanskrit.

26 This is not the place to evaluate the quality of Serampore's Bible translations into Indian languages that were based on, or mostly conducted from, English or Sanskrit versions of the Bible (rather than from Hebrew or Greek). Nor is there space here to discuss whether the veterans were more active in, and adept at, vernacular translation than vernacular training.

27 This Latin phrase translates as: "Through difficulties to honours." It is quite appropriate for August-born Carey (17 August 1761). "Carey Day" is traditionally held at Serampore on 17 August each year.

28 In the early 1780s, Carey's poor mother was "shocked at the abject conditions" in which he and his young wife lived in Hackleton, Northamptonshire (Beck 1992:39). Several years before the consecrated cobbler and his wife moved from Hackleton to Moulton, people in his home village collected money to help them survive.

29 Carey's early writing resonated with the concern for the poor expressed in John Fawcett's Considerations Relative to the Sending of Missionaries to Propagate the Gospel among the Heathens (1793:5). Fawcett's booklet was written one year after Carey's Enquiry.

30 Carey preached his "deathless sermon" in Nottingham in May 1792 only two days after troops were brought in to suppress food riots in Leicester (his home town since 1789) -- and eighteen days after the same in Nottingham! !Rivington, Annual Register, 1792, 'Chronicle' section, pp. *20, 22.^ England suffered from an epidemic of strikes and food riots from October 1792 onwards: cf. Bryant (1942:68-69).

31 On the "Native Establishment of the College of Fort William," which comprised learned natives, some of whom were employed in teaching students in Calcutta, some in making translations, and others in composing "original works in the Oriental tongues," see !anon.^, The College of Fort William in Bengal (1805:239-240). These learned men had been encouraged by Lord Hastings, the governor general of Bengal in the 1770s-1780s and a great promoter of Orientalist studies, to come "from different parts of India, Persia, and Arabia" (Pearce 1846, II:295). Marshall and Williams are quite correct in pointing out that "men like Halhed, Wilkins or Jones would have been able to accomplish very little without the cooperation of learned Indians" (1982:77). The same holds true for Carey and his colleagues (who learned much from those British scholars in Bengal) in the translation of the Bible and other Oriental literature.

32 Letter of 16 April 1826 from someone at Serampore to Joshua Marshman. What Hannah also did to keep the Serampore family together has been covered in many biographies of Carey's life.

33 Assessors of the trio's achievements, however, do have to reckon with a communication problem that plagued the Serampore Mission and that has occurred in all sorts of other situations (not least in theological education projects in the two-thirds world) until the present day. It may be expressed in paraphrased terms:

Early in Serampore's meteoric rise to world acclaim, the trio's innovations acquired an aura of myth. Although motives clearly were high and no deception was intended, much that was aspiration in the mission experiment was reported in such a way that first world supporters assumed that it was already a fact; this was then held up as strong justification for continuing to provide financial support (cf. Ferris 1990:14).

Never Feel Powerless Again
by Jane Powell

“Release what needs to be free.”

It’s really hard to let go – especially if you are a woman.

For many women, it is almost instinctive to cling. Whether it’s a love letter, a secure job, a relationship or a dear friend – holding on to what is no longer yours only causes pain.

When you let go of old things, you pave the way for new things – experiences that are perhaps more exciting, adventurous or wholesome. When you let go of the past, you free yourself. You are letting go of that which is rotting and decaying. You are then ready to embrace the fresh, unopened buds of change.

Have the courage to let go. When you relinquish the past, your future embraces you.

When enthusiasm strikes, you know because you
Want to jump up and down and scream with
Happiness. It's a moment when your heart soars
Because you have just felt or done something that
Inspires you deep within.

Enthusiasm is where your body screams with
Excitement and you hear that "Yes !" from deep
Inside. It's one of the best feelings in the world.

Today, no matter what your rational mind says look
And listen for places, events, ideas, people and
Activities that make your heart shout a loud "Yes!"
Next, spend some time deciding how to bring more of
Those into your life.

Make a commitment to yourself to do the things you
Need to do to live a more enthusiastic life. When
You're enthusiastic you look forward to each and
Every day. And, that is what makes life so fun!

Start making progress
The opportunities you have are too beautiful and too valuable for you to let them pass you by. Stop making excuses and start making progress.

What you imagine, you can begin. What you begin, you can finish.

It’s all a matter of choosing to get it done. That’s a choice you can make in any and every moment.

Sure, there are challenges and yes, you’ll have to step outside your comfort zone to make the necessary efforts. The great thing is, you’re fully capable of doing whatever it takes.

You can, if you will. You will, when you make it meaningful enough.

There’s great value to be found as you make your way through this day. Seize the opportunity, make the necessary effort, and bring that value to life in your world.

Ralph Marston

What’s REALLY Behind Clutter?

by Jane Powell

“Clean your spirit.”

When our mothers told us to clean our rooms, they were unwittingly giving us a gift that would have lasting repercussions. Although we grumbled when asked for the umpteenth time to clear the mess, we were actually doing more than physically cleaning our rooms. We were cleaning our spirits as well.

There is a spiritual side to everything – even household chores. Cluttered rooms are often indicative of a cluttered mind. Messy houses may point to messy lives. If you are feeling overwhelmed by life, go clean a closet. It’s the quickest and cheapest therapy for regaining a sense of control and a feeling of accomplishment.

From that platform of confidence, you can then go on to solve the more difficult aspects of your life, knowing that you have solidarity and order backing you up.

Cleaning a closet, a room, or an entire house can give you a real sense of power. It’s like saying to the universe: “My house is in order!”

When You Worry Will You Go Out Without Knowing?

.Why Not You?

Today, many will awaken with a fresh sense of inspiration. Why not you?

Today, many will open their eyes to the beauty that surrounds them. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to leave the ghost of yesterday behind and seize the immeasurable power of today. Why not you?

Today, many will break through the barriers of the past by looking at the blessings of the present. Why not you?

Today, for many the burden of self doubt and insecurity will be lifted by the security and confidence of empowerment. Why not you?

Today, many will rise above their believed limitations and make contact with their powerful innate strength. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to live in such a manner that they will be a positive role model for their children. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to free themselves from the personal imprisonment of their bad habits. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to live free of conditions and rules governing their own happiness. Why not you?

Today, many will find abundance in simplicity. Why not you?

Today, many will be confronted by difficult moral choices and they will choose to do what is right instead of what is beneficial. Why not you?

Today, many will decide to no longer sit back with a victim mentality, but to take charge of their lives and make positive changes. Why not you?

Today, many will take the action necessary to make a difference. Why not you?

Today, many will make the commitment to be a better mother, father, son, daughter, student, teacher, worker, boss, brother, sister, and so much more. Why not you?

Today is a new day! Many will seize this day. Many will live it to the fullest.

Why not you?

Spread the joy

There’s no reason to feel the least bit guilty about enjoying life. If life were not to be enjoyed, then how would it be possible to enjoy anything?

You are here to see the beauty, and to enjoy it. You are here to feel the love, and to delight in it all.

You are here to be aware of how magnificent it is to be aware. You are here to experience what it means to exist.

There is great enjoyment to be found it life’s pleasures. There is also unique enjoyment to be found in the challenges and the difficulties, and in working your way through them.

Fully experience and enjoy the ups and downs that come from passionately following your purpose. Find real joy in an endless variety of situations, and truly know what it means to live.

The more you enjoy your own life, the more joy you have to give to all of life. Live, enjoy, and spread your magnificent joy far and wide.

Ralph Marston

Master Self-Improvement
by Jane Powell

“It’s in our nature to improve our private selves.”

Choosing ways to improve yourself is not the hard part. What’s difficult is maintaining the enthusiasm and having the self-discipline to make self-improvement part of your daily routine.

There is no easy way around it. It takes consistent daily effort to get results.

Improving yourself gives you a wonderful sense of satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment that’s difficult to match.

Remind yourself every day of the benefits of improving yourself, and how these benefits will enhance your life. If you succeed in keeping your awareness high, your enthusiasm will remain high and carry you through.

Start making improvements, today, and don’t quit! After all it’s part of your nature.

When You Stop Dreaming You Stop Living
If you want to enlarge your life,
You must first enlarge your thought of it and yourself.
Hold the image of yourself as you long to be,
The image of what you long to obtain,
The image of health, efficiency and success.
You can lift yourself by your thoughts.
Your vision will allow you surmount the highest obstacles.
High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.
What you see is what you get.
You'll become as small as your controlling desire
Or as great as your dominant aspiration.
The courage to follow your dreams
Is your first step towards destiny.
YOU CAN LIVE YOUR DREAMS.

A brand new moment
Allow, experience, and let go. The goodness and value continue to flow.

Think, feel, and do. Your most authentic and consistent intentions become real.

Love, care, and give. What you send, comes back and finds you, again and again.

The world is complex and yet the truth is pure and simple. Life is the way you most honestly choose to express it.

The tricks and shortcuts will not get you ahead because you already are ahead. Simply realize the limitless nature of what you can accomplish and then you’ll begin to make it happen.

Face the challenges and take in the exquisite beauty of being. All is well, and a brand new moment, filled with possibilities, now is here.

Ralph Marston

Build Rock Solid Self-Esteem & Confidence
by Jane Powell

“Refuse to remain in your comfort zone.”

Your comfort zone feels safe, familiar and relaxing. The problem is, if you’re spending too much time there you may not be growing and evolving as a woman.

It takes a tremendous amount of bravery to do what is unfamiliar and uncomfortable. The good news is, the payoff is worth it. Your self esteem rises and your self confidence becomes unyielding.

Challenge yourself this week. Put yourself in an uncomfortable situation on purpose. How about volunteering for a project that you would normally shy away from? Strike up a conversation with a stranger or sign up for a class to learn something new.

Whatever step you take, expect to be uncomfortable but know in your heart that you’re doing wonders for your well-being.

What You See Is What You Get

When You Worry.

When Life Pushes You Down

When life pushes you down, push back!

That’s what you’re here for.

You’re capable, you’re creative, you’re full of life and energy.

You have what it takes to move yourself forward around any obstacle

. Don’t let anything stop you.

Take strength from meeting the challenges,

And move ahead. The struggles you face are just what you need to fulfill your potential for greatness.

A year from now, when you look back at today, you’ll see that the problem you’re so concerned with right now, was another valuable lesson waiting to be learned.

~~unknown

Filled with opportunities
What if the things you thought would hold you back actually were to provide you with new ways to move forward? What if within your greatest annoyances you could find your greatest effectiveness?

Instead of fighting against the perceived obstacles, take a closer look at them. Somewhere within each obstacle is a pathway for moving forward.

Consider that it’s not the obstacle itself that’s stopping you. What’s stopping you is your assumption that you can be stopped.

Yet you can change that assumption. You can choose to find a successful way through the situation, whatever it may be.

The various challenges that come your way can be quite intimidating. Yet when you let go of the intimidation, you’ll see that those very same challenges are filled with opportunities.

Embrace those obstacles, embrace those challenges. For they are essential components of your eventual achievement.

Ralph Marston

Do you love the work you do?
by Jane Powell

“Fulfillment is the fruit of work that is more than a job.”

Passion, a positive attitude and a sense of adventure, excitement and fun, all make your work more than just a job.

There is no mystery in the fact that the rewards of work are greater when you’re engaged in what you do.

Are you engaged in your work, or is it just a job? If you dread your days in the office and feel like a robot going through the motions, then honestly ask yourself if this is how you want to spend your life.

Women who love what they do, take immense pleasure in their work experience. Achievements come naturally, and they feel refreshed and exhilarated at the end of the day.

Remember, you were born to do work that you love. So, do it. And feel the joy!

“Acceptance fuels change.”
Some of us suffer from painful relationships, dead-end jobs, or “survival” mentalities. The truth is that we aren’t going anywhere because denial or blame keeps us stuck in misery. This kind of life is awful.
Think about your own situation. Are you using denial to survive dissatisfying consequences? Accepting and taking responsibility for mistakes and choices is not easy. It takes courage. But you must accept responsibility if you want things to change.
When you accept the reality of your situation, you take the first essential step to a new and better life. This is reason for celebration!

Be a force of goodness in this world. Be a source of light.
Let the joy you imagine flow out from you and take on a life of its own. Give love and see it grow.
Feel the dreams and values and visions that are most authentically you. Let them guide your thoughts and actions.
You are beautiful in your very own way. That special beauty is your gift to life, so give freely and enjoy each precious day.
Live true to what you know is good and what you know is right. What you gain by so doing is truly worth having.
Feel the miracle of which you are a part. And live the goodness in every moment.
Ralph Marston

I Made A Misteak

So, I made a mistake.

Mistakes happen. Not only do they happen, they are guaranteed.

My father used to say, the only way you won't make mistakes is
if you don't do anything, and that itself is a mistake.

Too many are afraid to try something new because they feel they
might make an error. They are both right and wrong. Yes, they
will probably make errors but it is good to understand that
errors go with the territory.

You will never accomplish great or worthwhile things without
risk and risk generally means great mistake potential.

You are probably reading this by light bulbs invented by Thomas
Edison. He made over a thousand light bulbs that didn't work.
The world would have called them mistakes. He said he learned a
thousand ways not to make a light bulb.

The way to avoid mistakes is experience.
The way to get experience - Mistakes.

Don't feel bad because you messed up with something.
Don't be afraid to venture out into a good thing because you are
afraid that you might mess up.

While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, another is
busy making mistakes and becoming superior.

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be
made, in a narrow field.

We have to keep trying things we're not sure we can pull off.
If we just do the things we know we can do... you don't grow as
much. You gotta take those chances on making those big mistakes.

Stop Annoying Thoughts

by Jane Powell
“Free yourself from anxiety by chasing away the ‘What-if’s?’”

“What-if?” So many negative thoughts start with these two words. “What if I’m late for work?” “What if I don’t lose weight?” “What if I don’t go to my friends for dinner because I’m too tired?” What if…what if…what…if!
Each anxious thought leads to another anxious thought, and another – only to feed a negative spiral of worry. Before you know it, your heart races, it’s hard to breathe and there’s a knot in your stomach the size of a pot roast.
Catch yourself! Next time you fall in to the “what-if” trap, stop it in its tracks. Turn your thinking in a positive direction. It takes time and consistent practice, but the freedom from anxiety is well worth the effort.

Every joy, every treasure, every fulfillment that you could imagine is available to come into your life. It is only your insistence on continuing to need these things that keeps them apart from you.
The moment you stop needing, that's when you start allowing. Your connection to life's abundance is limited only by your failure to see it.
As long as you think of yourself as needing something, you will continue to be without it. As long as you assume that the road to fulfillment is blocked in some way, you will not be able to travel that road.
But the only thing really blocking the pathway is your own perception. Take the first step, and you will see for yourself that the way is clear for you to move forward.
Stop imagining what you need, and start realizing the true and boundless value of what you have. Allow the abundance that is already yours to express itself as the fulfillment of your most magnificent dreams.
Let go of the need to need. And find your own joyous path through the richness that extends in every direction.
Ralph Marston

When children try something new, they practice
Over and over until they master it. They make the
Challenge of learning fun and the work of training
Turns into play.

Unlike a child's mind, your adult mind reminds you
Of the reasons why you can't do something, which
Creates resistance and ultimately leads to quitting.
You end up turning back to your old ways, to
Comfort zones that have nothing new to offer.
Imagine yourself as a child. Now, how do you feel
About that new project?

Next time you tackle something new, adopt the
Mind set of a child. Remain open and try not to place
Expectations on the outcome. Before you know it,
You will be immersed in continual positive
Reinforcement. Success will come easily because
You are thinking like a child.

Dissipate Fear
by Jane Powell

“Dissipate fear of failure by rediscovering the child within.”

Look at a young child working on a project – cutting with little plastic scissors, drawing with crayons, taping the loose ends, with never a thought of failure.

No matter what the outcome, a child always feels a sense of pride and accomplishment.

This same child is within you; the child that does not worry about failure or being judged for trying.

It’s not very often that things turn out right on the first try. That’s okay! Just accept that trial and error are part of the process and learn from your mistakes. Children persevere, try again and learn.

The secret that every child knows is that there is no such thing as failure. Now you know it, too!

Would you spend your hard-earned money buying things you didn't want or need? Of course not.
So why would you spend any of your precious and powerful thoughts on things you don't want? It makes much more sense to focus your thoughts on the positive, desirable things you would like to create and expand upon.

The thoughts with which you choose to fill your mind have a direct influence on the people, things, and events that surround your life. Every moment, with each thought, you have the opportunity to point your life in a specific direction.

The way you think about life plays a major role in the way your life unfolds. Again and again, choose those thoughts that resonate with a life that's rich, joyous and fulfilled.

You think thousands of thoughts each day. Use the opportunity of each thought to push you toward the precise life you wish to create for yourself.

Everything in your world begins with a thought. So use your thoughts to give everything a powerful, positive beginning.

Ralph Marston

Stop Comparing Yourself With Others
by Jane Powell
“Preserve your confidence.”
When you use others as your measuring stick, you usually come up short. You convince yourself you’re not as clever, beautiful, thin or talented.
Lasting satisfaction and confidence comes from appreciating yourself with all that you have to offer. Equating yourself with others eats away at your confidence and leaves you feeling inferior.
Remind yourself of these simple truths. You are a unique and special person, exactly as you are. You’re one-of-a-kind and you’re irreplaceable.
With convictions such as these, you confidence is impermeable, just as it should be.

Life is full of hills and valleys,
some of which would want us to
quit along the way.
It is during these times that we
need to check our focus and remember
that - the focus needs to be on the
finish, not the difficulties along the way.
Set your eye on the goals.
Do not be worried of the
difficulties on your way,
keep your focus on your goals.
Live your joy
It’s not the troubles that trouble you. It’s the way you react to them.
What if you could choose not to let the troubles get to you? What if you could work your way through them while remaining positive and joyful?
Life’s difficulties do not need your help. They are plenty difficult on their own, without you adding to them.
So make the choice not to add to them. Acknowledge their reality, deal effectively with them, but don’t allow them to pull you down.
The way you feel is the way you choose to feel. Choose to feel powerful, choose to feel in control, choose to feel purposeful, abundant and joyful because at the heart of you, you are.
The living spirit in you is stronger than any trouble you’ll ever encounter. Remember that, feel its truth, and live your joy no matter what.
Ralph Marston
-

Change Whatever You Can Dream Of
by Jane Powell

“You have a choice.”

Every day you make literally hundreds of choices, consciously and unconsciously. One of those choices is your attitude. What was your attitude like when you woke up? What is it like now?

When you’re aware of how your attitude affects your well being, choices are so much easier to make. With this new found knowledge, you can literally change whatever you can dream of.

You deserve a great life, happiness and self fulfillment. Choose today to make it that way!

Don’t wait for someone to help you;

You can do everything you want to.
You will be better,

but if you start working.

Start to put your dreams,

your wishes in to action.
Limit the things you hate

and change it bit by bit.

If you continue to do the same things,

you will gain the same results.
You must do all what you

can to get all what you want.

Start from now. Go ahead.

The richness of now
Let this moment now be here. Let yourself be fully in it.

Feel the depth of beauty that surrounds you. Be good to yourself and to all you encounter.

Float peacefully on the gentle waves that push you forward into each new experience. Make use of the opportunities to express your authentic self in new, creative and fulfilling ways.

Rejoice at the simple yet miraculous reality of your awareness. Love what is, and the possibilities of what can be, just because it feels so right.

Let go of any urge to fret or to fight. Allow the richness of now to unfold in your heart.

Feel how truly splendid it is to be here now. Live the peace and let it grow.

Ralph Marston

Increase Your Wealth
by Jane Powell

“Attract prosperity.”

They say money attracts more money. Wouldn’t it be nice to find out? But in truth, prosperity isn’t about money anyway. It’s about feeling rich in happiness, love and positive experiences.

This is something you not only can have, you can multiply with the right approach.

Appreciate your friends, and new friends will arrive. Look for joy each day, and you’ll find more. Feel happy about all you have in life, and you’ll find your happiness grows.

Live ths way and you’ll end up with a wealth of prosperity that all the money in the world can’t buy!

Survive Tough Times

“When waiting is the hardest choice.”

Are you facing a difficult time in your life?

Give yourself the gift of patience. Patience is the main ingredient necessary to get through difficult times.

Yes,it’s hard to be patient! But,without patience, you would have no hope. And, if life was organized so that your desires materialized instantly,that wouldn’t serve you either.

Patience helps you grow. It nourishes both compassion and empathy. So,embrace patience. Ultimately this makes you stronger.

Get through
You’ve got a lot to get through today, so jump right in. You’ve got a lot to get through today, so remind yourself what a true blessing it is.

In all that you must do are multiple opportunities to make a difference in your world. That list of things to do is a list of ways in which you can have a positive impact.

You may not get it all finished today, but that’s no reason to delay or be discouraged. On the contrary, that’s a reason to get going just as soon as you can.

You may not get it all done perfectly, but that’s no reason to avoid doing it. Do your best with what you have, from where you are, with the time available, and though it may not be perfect, it will be great, and it will be done.

Certainly you’ll make some mistakes, and maybe you’ll experience some disappointment or embarrassment. Yet at the end of the day, you’ll have some real, substantive accomplishments under your belt, and they’ll be well worth whatever you had to endure.

In what you must get done, there is immense opportunity. Get busy, get it done, and reap the rewards that are yours to create.

Ralph Marston

You Have Talent!
by Jane Powell

“Cultivate your talents.”

Talent does not mean you have to be an artist who paints masterpieces, or a gymnast who does flips. Talent resides within you, right now, in many different ways.

Caring for others is a talent, teaching is a talent, making people feel welcome is a talent, solving problems is a talent and parenting is a talent.

Never underestimate your talents and try not to compare or wish for the talents of others. Focus on and accept the talents you have, and you will find great fulfillment in life.

ALL FILLED UP

I recall reading that a man from Virginia Beach (Virginia, USA)
filed a law suit against his hospital. He opted to have surgery in
order to lose weight. So he had his stomach stapled -- a procedure
that reduced the size of his stomach so he couldn't eat as much.

A couple of days after surgery he sneaked down the hospital
corridors to the kitchen. There he raided the refrigerator and ate
so much that his staples burst.

The law suit? He claimed it was the hospital's fault. They should
have locked the refrigerator.

And no - I don't know how the suit came out. Just the staples.

He wanted to make other people responsible for what he put into his
mouth. Which raises the question: who decides what we bring into our
lives?

One man told me, "I'm not a garbage truck."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked him.

"I mean that sometimes other people want to dump their garbage on
me," he said. "They fill themselves up with negativity and
complaints and want to dump all of that garbage on me. I'm not going
to take all of their garbage. They may need to get rid of it, but
not all over me."

He believes people need to be responsible for the garbage in their
lives. And that's probably true for the good stuff, too. For me,
that includes just about everything. It means I am responsible for
everything I put into my mouth, but also for everything I choose to
watch and hear. Some of it's good and some of it's garbage. It even
means everything that comes into my head through my eyes and ears.
It's also about everything that fills up my time. Everything.

And to be honest, I don't always do a great job with everything that
comes into my life. But I am clear that what I allow in is up to me,
not somebody else.

When we fill our bodies with the right foods, they perform well.

When we fill our heads with learning, they won't easily stagnate.

When we fill our minds with healthier attitudes, we will have a
better outlook.

When we fill our hearts with a little more courage, we will be able
to face life with confidence.

When we fill our talk with more gratitude, we will be happier.

When we fill our lives with more love, we will never be alone.

Only we can decide how to fill ourselves up.

Have you heard the story of the two wolves? A common version of it
goes like this:

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life...

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a
terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

"One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed,
arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies,
false pride, superiority, self-doubt and ego.

   "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity,
   humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth,
   compassion, and faith.

"This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other
person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his
grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old chief simply replied, "The one you feed."

Only I can choose what should come into my life. Only I can choose
which wolf to feed. And only I can choose what to do about it today.

Steve Goodier

Your time to begin
The place to start is where you are. The way to start is by doing what you can, with what you know, using what you have.

You may get it wrong at first. But if you wait until you’re sure you can get it perfect, you’ll never get it done.

The best learning comes from doing. The way to get the experience you seek is to get busy without hesitation.

The longer you wait to get started, the more powerful your doubts will grow. Jump in right away, get going, and those doubts won’t have a chance to take hold.

Time always moves forward whether you move forward or not. Your most effective strategy is to make use of each moment as soon as it arrives.

There’s no end to what you can accomplish if you’ll just go ahead and get going. Now is what you have, so make now your time to begin.

Ralph Marston

There Is Just Something Special About You

Isaiah 60:1
1Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

People might have said to you, “Why are you so lucky?” or “You seem to be looking younger and younger,” or “There is so much bad news these days, yet you seem untroubled by them.”

Now, the people of the world don’t have spiritual discernment. They can only go by your physical appearance, behavior and what happens to you. In other words, if they notice something different about you, it is because they see the evidence of God’s glory on your life — in your family and work life, health and finances.

Your friends and colleagues may have told you that you stand out from the rest as though a spotlight were on you. Indeed, this is so because of Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) When God’s glory rises upon you, your words carry weight, even if you are not eloquent. I should know. I stuttered and stammered right up into my teens. So when your words change people’s lives, you know that it is not you. It is the Lord!

You don’t have to be a straight-A student or someone able to speak the Queen’s English. You may be foul-mouthed like the disciple Peter, but when God changes you and His glory rises upon you, and you stand up and preach, 3,000 people get saved! (Acts 2:14–41) What is important is that God gives weight to what you say.

You might be a nobody like Joseph, a slave cast aside and forgotten in a dungeon. Yet, the greatest king on earth at that time sought Joseph out to have him interpret his dreams. In other words, God will give to you answers that the people of the world do not have.

Maybe it is your hands. When you lay hands on the sick, they recover. Maybe it is your ability to give counsel that is spot on, or your ability to speak into their future with a word of knowledge or word of wisdom from God.

“The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Isaiah 60:3) My friend, when you see this happening, it is because the people of the world are drawn to the glory of the Lord which has risen upon you!

Protect Your Energy
by Jane Powell

“Take Five.”

There’s nothing worse than being overloaded with tasks and having minimal control over your amount of work, especially when you’re feeling the pressure of deadlines. The longer this goes on, the more frustrated and unhappy you start to feel.

It’s not worth it! You need to take care of yourself. Take a break if you need it, and get back in touch with yourself.

Something as simple as a five-minute walk can do wonders. It gives you time to think clearly, relax and put things back in perspective.

Remember, that you can only do what you can do, and stressing out over the impossible wastes the precious energy you need for the rest of your life.

So, take five, and feel glad to be alive!

Bulletproof

When you have a clear idea of exactly where you're going, and you're committed to it, you are bullet proof. No person, no situation, no setback can stop you. You will find a way. Those who are just drifting, can be swayed by the slightest breeze. It's different when you have a determined, specific goal. You may get blown off course occasionally, but you can quickly regain your direction.

Nothing anyone can say will discourage you when you KNOW exactly where you're going. No obstacle can stand in your way when your goal is in sight. Barriers disappear when passion and commitment take hold. The things that once held you back, start to propel you forward.

You have the power to do whatever you want. The trouble is, that power works against itself if it is not all aimed in the same direction. How far could you drive your car if the wheels weren't all pointing the same way?

Get focused. Decide what's important to you, and go for it. You've got what it takes. Your engine has plenty of horsepower. All you need to do is get your wheels all pointing the same way, and step on the accelerator.

Freedom and accomplishment
What are you resisting? What are you fighting or avoiding?

Would it be so bad to simply let it unfold? Would it be so bad to go ahead and deal with it?

Think of how good it will feel to stop fighting, to stop hiding, to stop avoiding. Imagine how great you’ll feel when you deal with it and get it behind you.

Procrastinating, fighting and avoiding will only make it more difficult. The way out is to get it done.

Instead of feeling constantly drained, you can be positively energized. Instead of wasting your effort on running away, you can enjoy the satisfaction of getting it resolved.

Get it done. And enjoy the glorious feeling of freedom and accomplishment.

Ralph Marston

Stop Criticizing Yourself

by Jane Powell
Are you your own best friend?

Sadly, most are their own worst enemy. Who needs enemies when you can consult your harshest critic anytime you glance in a mirror? Logically, we should all be our own best friend, but it often isn’t the case. We reserve our harshest criticism for ourselves.
Learn now to be gentle with yourself. You deserve special treatment simply because you are special. Who best to comfort you, but you? Who best to compliment you, but you? Learning to love yourself is the greatest gift that you can give yourself. No expensive cosmetics, no retail therapy can deliver the inner warmth of knowing that you are happy being you.
When we love ourselves, it is no longer important that our hair is not perfect or that our thighs are a little dimpled. We don’t beat ourselves up for imagined imperfections anymore. In fact, we embrace our imperfections.
Today, look in the mirror and smile. The person there will smile right back.

We are all at different paths
In our lives,
But no matter where we go,
We take a little of
Each other every where!

Opportunity may knock once,
But temptation bangs
On your front door forever.

A bad attitude is like a flat tire.
You ain't going no where
Till you change it.

The best thing
About the future
Is that it comes only
One day at a time.

Out of difficulties grow miracles.

Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
At the end of the day saying,
I will try again tomorrow.

Only those who risk going too far
Can possibly find out
How far one can go.

Though no one can go back and
Make a brand new start,
Anybody can start from NOW
And make a brand new ending.
We may not have it all together,
But together we have it all.

~~unknown

On higher ground
You can see much farther from the top of the mountain than you can from the lowest point in the valley. So raise your perspective, and climb that mountain.
Raising your perspective will enable you to see many more possibilities. And you’ll be able to move more effectively toward them.
When you’re on the same level as your problems, those problems can seem overwhelming. Yet when you raise yourself just a little bit above those problems, the picture changes dramatically in your favor.
You may feel tempted to try and push the problems down to a lower level, but that will not work. The challenges and obstacles are what they are, and it does no good to pretend any differently.
A much more effective strategy is to accept the situation for what it is, and then to raise yourself above it. Visualize how you would think, how you would feel, and what you would do if you were at a higher level of awareness and effectiveness.
Then, live out that vision and think those thoughts, feel those feelings, take those actions. Rise above the challenges, and from the perspective of higher ground, move successfully beyond them.
Ralph Marston

Are you ashamed of your failures?
by Jane Powell

“Find the lessons within your failures.”

It’s unrealistic to expect to have success in meaningful things you do and not have failures along the way. It’s the way of life.

Instead of fighting it or feeling ashamed or guilty, accept this with grace. Look for the lessons to be learned – lessons not to be repeated and lessons showing you how to do it right the next time.

Any failures that you experience can be transformed into something of worth. It all depends on how you look at it.

If you remain focused and determined, these lessons become stepping-stones to the success that you seek.

Never Judge Anyone By Appearance

One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. Many kinds of trees and plants grew there. As the rose looked around, a pine tree nearby said, "What a beautiful flower. I wish I was that lovely."

Another tree said, "Dear pine, do not be sad, we can not have everything."

The rose turned its head and remarked, "It seems that I am the most beautiful plant in this forest." A sunflower raised its yellow head and asked, "Why do you say that? In this forest there are many beautiful plants. You are just one of them."

The red rose replied, "I see everyone looking at me and admiring me." Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, "Look at that ugly plant full of thorns!" The pine tree said, "Red rose, what kind of talk is this? Who can say what beauty is you have thorns too."

The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, "I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You can not compare my thorns to that of the cactus."

What a proud flower, thought the trees.

The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like "This plant is useless. How sorry I am to be his neighbor."

The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose, saying, "God did not create any form of life without a purpose."

Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life became difficult in the forest, as the plants and animals needed water and no rain fell. The red rose began to wilt. One day the rose saw sparrows stick their beaks into the cactus and then fly away, refreshed.

This was puzzling, and the red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that "the birds got water from the cactus." "Does it not hurt when they make holes?" asked the rose.

"Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds suffer," replied the pine.

The rose opened its eyes in wonder and said, "The cactus has water." "Yes you can also drink from it. The sparrow can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help."

The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words and behavior to ask for water from the cactus, but then it finally did ask the cactus for help. The cactus kindly agreed and the birds filled their beaks with water and watered the rose's roots.

Thus the rose learned a lesson and never judged anyone by their appearance again.

Go ahead, and let yourself be wonderful. It's much, much easier than you think.
Nothing has to get you down unless you choose to get you down. Stop looking for reasons to place judgments on events and realize the abundance that always is.

Go ahead, and let your beautiful purpose flow out through your words and actions. Let go of the twisted reasoning that says you must hold yourself back.

It never makes sense to be any less than you are. Richness arises out of how much you put into each moment, not from what you hide away.

Instead of wasting your energy on blocking your true self, use that energy to create and fulfill and express in ways that are wonderful. Instead of constructing and maintaining doubt, release and nourish new joy.

It's so much easier to be who you are than to try and pretend who you're not. Go ahead, feel the abundance, and let yourself live its endless possibilities.

Ralph Marston

A Crucial Lesson Often Forgotten
by Jane Powell

“Grow-up and laugh at yourself!”

When you were young, the worst thing that could happen was the ridicule of others. Looking back, you can recall the embarrassment and humiliation of being laughed at. And, God forbid that you made fun of yourself. It didn’t happen.

But, as we grow older, we gradually learn that laughing at ourselves is okay. This is an important lesson. A lesson that, all too often, we forget to live.

Next time something doesn’t go your way or you do something you regret, no matter how upset you feel, say to yourself, “In time, I will laugh at this.”

You don’t always have to wait for time to pass. Decide to laugh about it right then and there. Laughing puts things in perspective and chases embarrassment away. So, laugh at yourself, today!

Take time out to work ~
It is the price of success.

Take time out to think ~
It is the source of power.

Take time out to play ~
It is the secret of youth.

Take time out to read ~
It is the foundation of knowledge.

Take time out to worship ~
It is the highway of reverence.

Take time out to help and enjoy friends ~
This is the source of happiness.

Take time out to love ~
It is the one sacrament of life.

Take time out to dream ~
It hitches the soul to the stars.

Take time out to laugh ~
It is the singing that eases life's load.

Other options
Here’s a quick, easy and extremely effective way to remain confident in practically any situation. Always keep in mind that you have other options.

Sure, you want to do the best you can, and to get the most value from whatever you’re doing. Yet excessive worrying about the results will destroy your effectiveness.

Of course it’s important to expect the very best of the other people you deal with, and your positive expectations can have a profound effect. Even so, there will still be times when other people disappoint you, and times when factors beyond your control will hinder your efforts.

So remind yourself that if it doesn’t work out, you have other options. Free yourself from worry, and move confidently forward.

If one path is blocked, there’s another way to get there. If the door is slammed shut, there’s most likely a nearby window you can climb through.

You may not know exactly what they are, yet you do indeed have other options. And though you probably won’t even have to use them, knowing you have them can make all the difference.

Ralph Marston

How to Believe in Yourself
by Jane Powell
“What you think and say determines your personal power.”
Do you frequently hear yourself saying things like, “I can’t do that,” “It’s beyond me,” or, “I am not the person for this task?”
If you express negativity often enough, your mind will believe it as truth. It becomes a self -fulfilling prophecy and the longer it goes on the more you will be driven by false beliefs. You’ll be left feeling powerless and out of control.
Stop this vicious cycle!
Take notice of your inner chatter and vow to transform the “can’ts” into “cans.” Your internal voice must support you and give you reason to believe in yourself. It must foster respect and drive your potential. You are a capable woman, capable of endless possibilities.
Harness your negative thoughts today and make the transformation that destines you to greatness.

There is no limit to what you can imagine. And the moment you imagine anything, it begins to come to life.
When you imagine, you plant a seed. The more detailed and specific your imagination becomes, the more that seed will grow.
Imagine the place you would most like to be. Then imagine how you could get there.
Continue to imagine, in greater and greater detail, and at some point an amazing transformation occurs. The object of your imagination crosses over into reality.
When you imagine, you focus your mind on the possibilities. And your mind goes to work to make those possibilities happen.
When you imagine, be sure to imagine the very best. For what you can imagine sets the stage for where you'll go.

Worry and confidence
If you’re able to worry, you’re also able to be confident. Because from a functional standpoint, worry and confidence are pretty much the same thing.
Worry is the expectation that something negative will happen. Confidence is the expectation that something positive will happen.
How do you create confidence about something that hasn’t happened yet? You use the exact same process you would use to create worry.
The big difference between worry and confidence is the expected outcome. And the powerful fact is, you can expect whatever outcome you choose.
There’s another way that worry and confidence are quite similar. They both tend to be self-fulfilling prophesies.
So instead of destroying your effectiveness with worry, you can vastly enhance your effectiveness with confidence. It takes nothing more than a simple yet powerful change in your expectations.
Ralph Marston

50 Famously Successful People Who Failed At First

Not everyone who's on top today got there with success after success. More often than not, those who history best remembers were faced with numerous obstacles that forced them to work harder and show more determination than others. Next time you're feeling down about your failures in college or in a career, keep these fifty famous people in mind and remind yourself that sometimes failure is just the first step towards success.

Business Gurus
These businessmen and the companies they founded are today known around the world, but as these stories show, their beginnings weren't always smooth.

Henry Ford: While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and American-made cars, he wasn't an instant success. In fact, his early businesses failed and left him broke five time before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.
R. H. Macy: Most people are familiar with this large department store chain, but Macy didn't always have it easy. Macy started seven failed business before finally hitting big with his store in New York City.
F. W. Woolworth: Some may not know this name today, but Woolworth was once one of the biggest names in department stores in the U.S. Before starting his own business, young Woolworth worked at a dry goods store and was not allowed to wait on customers because his boss said he lacked the sense needed to do so.
Soichiro Honda: The billion-dollar business that is Honda began with a series of failures and fortunate turns of luck. Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job after interviewing for a job as an engineer, leaving him jobless for quite some time. He started making scooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbors, finally started his own business.
Akio Morita: You may not have heard of Morita but you've undoubtedly heard of his company, Sony. Sony's first product was a rice cooker that unfortunately didn't cook rice so much as burn it, selling less than 100 units. This first setback didn't stop Morita and his partners as they pushed forward to create a multi-billion dollar company.
Bill Gates: Gates didn't seem like a shoe-in for success after dropping out of Harvard and starting a failed first business with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data. While this early idea didn't work, Gates' later work did, creating the global empire that is Microsoft.
Harland David Sanders: Perhaps better known as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, Sanders had a hard time selling his chicken at first. In fact, his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.
Walt Disney: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of a rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because, "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn't last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.

Scientists and Thinkers
These people are often regarded as some of the greatest minds of our century, but they often had to face great obstacles, the ridicule of their peers and the animosity of society.

Albert Einstein: Most of us take Einstein's name as synonymous with genius, but he didn't always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It might have taken him a bit longer, but most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in the end, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics.
Charles Darwin: In his early years, Darwin gave up on having a medical career and was often chastised by his father for being lazy and too dreamy. Darwin himself wrote, "I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect." Perhaps they judged too soon, as Darwin today is well-known for his scientific studies.
Robert Goddard: Goddard today is hailed for his research and experimentation with liquid-fueled rockets, but during his lifetime his ideas were often rejected and mocked by his scientific peers who thought they were outrageous and impossible. Today rockets and space travel don't seem far-fetched at all, due largely in part to the work of this scientist who worked against the feelings of the time.
Isaac Newton: Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math, but he had some failings early on. He never did particularly well in school and when put in charge of running the family farm, he failed miserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off to Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.
Socrates: Despite leaving no written records behind, Socrates is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the Classical era. Because of his new ideas, in his own time he was called "an immoral corrupter of youth" and was sentenced to death. Socrates didn't let this stop him and kept right on, teaching up until he was forced to poison himself.
Robert Sternberg: This big name in psychology received a C in his first college introductory psychology class with his teacher telling him that, "there was already a famous Sternberg in psychology and it was obvious there would not be another." Sternberg showed him, however, graduating from Stanford with exceptional distinction in psychology, summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa and eventually becoming the President of the American Psychological Association.

Inventors
These inventors changed the face of the modern world, but not without a few failed prototypes along the way.

Thomas Edison: In his early years, teachers told Edison he was "too stupid to learn anything." Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.
Orville and Wilbur Wright: These brothers battled depression and family illness before starting the bicycle shop that would lead them to experimenting with flight. After numerous attempts at creating flying machines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane that could get airborne and stay there.

Public Figures
From politicians to talk show hosts, these figures had a few failures before they came out on top.

Winston Churchill: This Nobel Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom wasn't always as well regarded as he is today. Churchill struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. After school he faced many years of political failures, as he was defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old age of 62.
Abraham Lincoln: While today he is remembered as one of the greatest leaders of our nation, Lincoln's life wasn't so easy. In his youth he went to war a captain and returned a private (if you're not familiar with military ranks, just know that private is as low as it goes.) Lincoln didn't stop failing there, however. He started numerous failed business and was defeated in numerous runs he made for public office.
Oprah Winfrey: Most people know Oprah as one of the most iconic faces on TV as well as one of the richest and most successful women in the world. Oprah faced a hard road to get to that position, however, enduring a rough and often abusive childhood as well as numerous career setbacks including being fired from her job as a television reporter because she was "unfit for tv."
Harry S. Truman: This WWI vet, Senator, Vice President and eventual President eventually found success in his life, but not without a few missteps along the way. Truman started a store that sold silk shirts and other clothing–seemingly a success at first–only go bankrupt a few years later.
Dick Cheney: This recent Vice President and businessman made his way to the White House but managed to flunk out of Yale University, not once, but twice. Former President George W. Bush joked with Cheney about this fact, stating, "So now we know –if you graduate from Yale, you become president. If you drop out, you get to be vice president."

Hollywood Types
These faces ought to be familiar from the big screen, but these actors, actresses and directors saw their fair share of rejection and failure before they made it big.

Jerry Seinfeld: Just about everybody knows who Seinfeld is, but the first time the young comedian walked on stage at a comedy club, he looked out at the audience, froze and was eventually jeered and booed off of the stage. Seinfeld knew he could do it, so he went back the next night, completed his set to laughter and applause, and the rest is history.
Fred Astaire: In his first screen test, the testing director of MGM noted that Astaire, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." Astaire went on to become an incredibly successful actor, singer and dancer and kept that note in his Beverly Hills home to remind him of where he came from.
Sidney Poitier: After his first audition, Poitier was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" Poitier vowed to show him that he could make it, going on to win an Oscar and become one of the most well-regarded actors in the business.
Jeanne Moreau: As a young actress just starting out, this French actress was told by a casting director that she was simply not pretty enough to make it in films. He couldn't have been more wrong as Moreau when on to star in nearly 100 films and win numerous awards for her performances.
Charlie Chaplin: It's hard to imagine film without the iconic Charlie Chaplin, but his act was initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because they felt it was a little too nonsensical to ever sell.
Lucille Ball: During her career, Ball had thirteen Emmy nominations and four wins, also earning the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors. Before starring in I Love Lucy, Ball was widely regarded as a failed actress and a B movie star. Even her drama instructors didn't feel she could make it, telling her to try another profession. She, of course, proved them all wrong.
Harrison Ford: In his first film, Ford was told by the movie execs that he simply didn't have what it takes to be a star. Today, with numerous hits under his belt, iconic portrayals of characters like Han Solo and Indiana Jones, and a career that stretches decades, Ford can proudly show that he does, in fact, have what it takes.
Marilyn Monroe: While Monroe's star burned out early, she did have a period of great success in her life. Despite a rough upbringing and being told by modeling agents that she should instead consider being a secretary, Monroe became a pin-up, model and actress that still strikes a chord with people today.
Oliver Stone: This Oscar-winning filmmaker began his first novel while at Yale, a project that eventually caused him to fail out of school. This would turn out to be a poor decision as the the text was rejected by publishers and was not published until 1998, at which time it was not well-received. After dropping out of school, Stone moved to Vietnam to teach English, later enlisting in the army and fighting in the war, a battle that earning two Purple Hearts and helped him find the inspiration for his later work that often center around war.

Writers and Artists
We've all heard about starving artists and struggling writers, but these stories show that sometimes all that work really does pay off with success in the long run.

Vincent Van Gogh: During his lifetime, Van Gogh sold only one painting, and this was to a friend and only for a very small amount of money. While Van Gogh was never a success during his life, he plugged on with painting, sometimes starving to complete his over 800 known works. Today, they bring in hundreds of millions.
Emily Dickinson: Recluse and poet Emily Dickinson is a commonly read and loved writer. Yet in her lifetime she was all but ignored, having fewer than a dozen poems published out of her almost 1,800 completed works.
Theodor Seuss Giesel: Today nearly every child has read The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham, yet 27 different publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
Charles Schultz: Schultz's Peanuts comic strip has had enduring fame, yet this cartoonist had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Even after high school, Schultz didn't have it easy, applying and being rejected for a position working with Walt Disney.
Steven Spielberg: While today Spielberg's name is synonymous with big budget, he was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three times. He eventually attended school at another location, only to drop out to become a director before finishing. Thirty-five years after starting his degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002 to finally complete his work and earn his BA.
Stephen King: The first book by this author, the iconic thriller Carrie, received 30 rejections, finally causing King to give up and throw it in the trash. His wife fished it out and encouraged him to resubmit it, and the rest is history, with King now having hundreds of books published the distinction of being one of the best-selling authors of all time.
Zane Grey: Incredibly popular in the early 20th century, this adventure book writer began his career as a dentist, something he quickly began to hate. So, he began to write, only to see rejection after rejection for his works, being told eventually that he had no business being a writer and should given up. It took him years, but at 40, Zane finally got his first work published, leaving him with almost 90 books to his name and selling over 50 million copies worldwide.
J. K. Rowling: Rowling may be rolling in a lot of Harry Potter dough today, but before she published the series of novels she was nearly penniless, severely depressed, divorced, trying to raise a child on her own while attending school and writing a novel. Rowling went from depending on welfare to survive to being one of the richest women in the world in a span of only five years through her hard work and determination.
Monet: Today Monet's work sells for millions of dollars and hangs in some of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Yet during his own time, it was mocked and rejected by the artistic elite, the Paris Salon. Monet kept at his impressionist style, which caught on and in many ways was a starting point for some major changes to art that ushered in the modern era.
Jack London: This well-known American author wasn't always such a success. While he would go on to publish popular novels like White Fang and The Call of the Wild, his first story received six hundred rejection slips before finally being accepted.
Louisa May Alcott: Most people are familiar with Alcott's most famous work, Little Women. Yet Alcott faced a bit of a battle to get her work out there and was was encouraged to find work as a servant by her family to make ends meet. It was her letters back home during her experience as a nurse in the Civil War that gave her the first big break she needed.

Musicians
While their music is some of the best selling, best loved and most popular around the world today, these musicians show that it takes a whole lot of determination to achieve success.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mozart began composing at the age of five, writing over 600 pieces of music that today are lauded as some of the best ever created. Yet during his lifetime, Mozart didn't have such an easy time, and was often restless, leading to his dismissal from a position as a court musician in Salzberg. He struggled to keep the support of the aristocracy and died with little to his name.
Elvis Presley: As one of the best-selling artists of all time, Elvis has become a household name even years after his death. But back in 1954, Elvis was still a nobody, and Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after just one performance telling him, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."
Igor Stravinsky: In 1913 when Stravinsky debuted his now famous Rite of Spring, audiences rioted, running the composer out of town. Yet it was this very work that changed the way composers in the 19th century thought about music and cemented his place in musical history.
The Beatles: Few people can deny the lasting power of this super group, still popular with listeners around the world today. Yet when they were just starting out, a recording company told them no. The were told "we don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out," two things the rest of the world couldn't have disagreed with more.
Ludwig van Beethoven: In his formative years, young Beethoven was incredibly awkward on the violin and was often so busy working on his own compositions that he neglected to practice. Despite his love of composing, his teachers felt he was hopeless at it and would never succeed with the violin or in composing. Beethoven kept plugging along, however, and composed some of the best-loved symphonies of all time–five of them while he was completely deaf.

Athletes
While some athletes rocket to fame, others endure a path fraught with a little more adversity, like those listed here.

Michael Jordan: Most people wouldn't believe that a man often lauded as the best basketball player of all time was actually cut from his high school basketball team. Luckily, Jordan didn't let this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Stan Smith: This tennis player was rejected from even being a lowly ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because event organizers felt he was too clumsy and uncoordinated. Smith went on to prove them wrong, showcasing his not-so-clumsy skills by winning Wimbledon, U. S. Open and eight Davis Cups.
Babe Ruth: You probably know Babe Ruth because of his home run record (714 during his career), but along with all those home runs came a pretty hefty amount of strikeouts as well (1,330 in all). In fact, for decades he held the record for strikeouts. When asked about this he simply said, "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."
Tom Landry: As the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Landry brought the team two Super Bowl victories, five NFC Championship victories and holds the records for the record for the most career wins. He also has the distinction of having one of the worst first seasons on record (winning no games) and winning five or fewer over the next four seasons.

Inspirational Stories of Famous Failures and Their Future Success

So you have tried something and you have failed. Maybe numerous times. You may have been told you have no talent, aren't cut out for "this business" or are never going to "make it in this line of work".
Well don't be discouraged. The following are stories of other people who were told the same thing or something similar and went on to be major successes! You might just recognize a few:

The Vice President of Columbia told this actor that he was never going to make it in the business. The actor? - Harrison Ford

His first book was rejected by 12 publishing houses and sixteen agents. - John Grisham

Turned down by a recording company saying "We don't like their sound and guitar music is on the way out" They were talking about the Beatles

Was told by his father that he would amount to nothing and be a disgrace to himself and his family - Charles Darwin

Told by a music teacher "as a composer he is hopeless" - Beethoven

Was told that "he couldn't sing at all" Enrico Caruso

Fired from a newspaper because he "lacked imagination and had no original ideas" - Walt Disney

Were told by Publishers that "anthologies didn't sell" and the book was "too positive"

Rejected a total of 140 times. The book? Chicken Soup for the Soul. It now has 65 different titles and has sold over 80 million copies all over the world.

Told by a teacher he was "too stupid to learn anything" -Thomas Edison

Failed the sixth grade - Winston Churchill

Wasn't able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would "never amount to much" - Albert Einstein

Did poorly in school and failed at running the family farm - Isaac Newton

Was not allowed to wait on customers in the store he worked in because "he didn't have enough sense" - F. W. Woolworth

16 Most Inspiring Famous Failures

To succeed in business or life, I came to realize that we must continually take remedial actions. Putting myself on the line day after day can be extremely draining, especially when things do not work out as I desired. Hence, each time I face a disappointing event or undesirable outcome, I NEVER FORGET these famous failures:

1. Bill Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft, has literally changed the work culture of the world in the 21st century, by simplifying the way computer is being used. He happens to be the world's richest man for the last one decade. However, in the 70's before starting out, he was a Harvard University dropout. The most ironic part is that, he started a software company (that was soon to become Microsoft) by purchasing the software technology from "someone" for only $US50 back then.

2. Abraham Lincoln, received no more than 5 years of formal education throughout his lifetime. When he grew up, he joined politics and had 12 major failures before he was elected the 16th President of the United States of America.

3. Isaac Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. His work on optics and gravitation made him one of the greatest scientists the world has even known. Many thought that Isaac was born a genius, but he wasn't! When he was young, he did very poorly in grade school, so poor that his teachers became clueless in improving his grades.

4. Ludwig van Beethoven, a German composer of classical music, is widely regarded as one of history's supreme composers. His reputation has inspired - and in many cases intimidated - composers, musicians, and audiences who were to come after him. Before the start of his career, Beethoven's music teacher once said of him "as a composer, he is hopeless". And during his career, he lost his hearing yet he managed to produce great music - a deaf man composing music, ironic isn't!

5. Thomas Edison who developed many devices which greatly influenced life in the 20th century. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S patents to his name. When he was a boy his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. When he set out on his own, he tried more than 9,000 experiments before he created the first successful light bulb.

6. The Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original five-and-ten-cent stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth and soon grew to become one of the largest retail chains in the world in the 20th century. Before starting his own business, Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21. But his employer would not let him serve any customer because he concluded that Frank "didn't have enough common sense to serve the customers".

7. By acclamation, Michael Jordon is the greatest basketball player of all time. A phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of grace, speed, power, artistry, improvisational ability and an unquenchable competitive desire. Jordan single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar. Before joining NBA, Jordan was just an ordinary person, so ordinary that was cut from high school basketball team because of his "lack of skill".

8. Walter Disney was American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and animator. One of the most well-known motion picture producers in the world, Disney founded a production company. The corporation, now known as The Walt Disney company, makes average revenue of US $30 billion annually. Disney started his own business from his home garage and his very first cartoon production went bankrupt. During his first press conference, a newspaper editor ridiculed Walt Disney because he had no good ideas in film production.

9. Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade. However, that never stopped him to work harder! He strived and eventually became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Churchill is generally regarded as one of the most important leaders in Britain and world history. In a poll conducted by the BBC in 2002 to identify the "100 Greatest Britons", participants voted Churchill as the most important of all.

10. Steven Spielberg is an American film director. He has won 3 Academy Awards an ranks among the most successful filmmakers in history. Most of all, Steven was recognized as the financially most successful motion picture director of all time. During his childhood, Spielberg dropped out of junior high school. He was persuaded to come back and was placed in a learning-disabled class. He only lasted a month and then dropped out of school forever.

11. Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist widely regarded as the most important scientist of the 20th century. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905 and "for his services to Theoretical Physics". However, when Einstein was young, his parents thought he was mentally retarded. His grades in school were so poor that a teacher asked him to quit, saying, "Einstein, you will never amount to anything!"

12. In 1947, one year into her contract, Marilyn Monroe was dropped by 20th Century-Fox because her producer thought she was unattractive and cannot act. That didn't deter her at all! She kept on going and eventually she was recognized by the public as the 20th century's most famous movie star, sex symbol and pop icon.

13. John Grisham's first novel was rejected by sixteen agents and twelve publishing houses. He went on writing and writing until he became best known as a novelist and author for his works of modern legal drama. The media has coined him as one of the best novel authors even alive in the 21st century.

14. Henry Ford's first two automobile companies failed. That did not stop him from incorporating Ford Motor Company and being the first to apply assembly line manufacturing to the production of affordable automobiles in the world. He not only revolutionized industrial production in the United States and Europe, but also had such influence over the 20th century economy and society. His combination of mass production, high wages and low prices to consumers has initiated a management school known as "Fordism". He became one of the three most famous and richest men in the world during his time.

15. Soichiro Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation during a job interview as "engineer" after World War Two. He continued to be jobless until his neighbors starting buying his "home-made scooters". Subsequently, he set out on his own to start his own company. Honda. Today, the Company has grown to become the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer and one of the most profitable automakers - beating giant automaker such as GM and Chrysler. With a global network of 437 subsidiaries, Honda develops, manufactures, and markets a wide variety of products ranging from small general-purpose engines and scooters to specialty sports cars.

16. Akio Morita, founder of giant electric household products, Sony Corporation, first product was an electric rice cooker, only sold 100 cookers (because it burned rice rather than cooking). Today, Sony is generating US$66 billion in revenue and ranked as the world's 6th largest electronic and electrical company.

Motivational quotes To Help You Feel Good Again.

A LIFE OF PURPOSE

BEST MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES

REACH YOUR GOAL

PROGRAMMING URSELF FOR SUCCESS

Positive Motivational Thought Video

24 Things to Always Remember. . .
and One Thing to Never Forget

your presence is a present to the world.
You’re unique and one of a kind.
Your life can be what you want it to be.
Take the days just one at a time.

Count your blessings, not your troubles.
You’ll make it through whatever comes along.
Within you are so many answers.
Understand, have courage, be strong.

Don’t put limits on yourself.
So many dreams are waiting to be realized.
Decisions are too important to leave to chance.
Reach for your peak, your goal, and your prize.

Nothing wastes more energy than worrying.
The longer one carries a problem, the heavier it gets.
Don’t take things too seriously.
Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

Remember that a little love goes a long way.
Remember that a lot . . . goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise investment.
Life’s treasures are people . . . together.

Realize that it’s never too late.
Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
Have heath and hope and happiness.
Take the time to wish upon a star.

And don’t ever forget . . .
For even a day . . .
How very special you are.

Faithful Young Woman...

One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at herheart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord andSavior.

The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs,and prostitution. But, the change in her was evident. As time went on shebecame a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved inthe ministry, teaching young children.

It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son. Therelationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. This is when theproblems began. You see, about one half of the church did not think that awoman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son.

The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decidedto have a meeting. As the people made their arguments and tensionsincreased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand.

The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry the pastor's son stood to speak. He could not bear thepain it was causing his wife to be. He began to speak and his statement wasthis: "My fiancee's past is not what is on trial here. What you arequestioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin."

"Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash awaysin or not?" The whole church began to weep as they realized that they hadbeen slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Too often, even as Christians, we bring up the past and use it as a weapon against our brothersand sisters. Forgiveness is a very foundational part of the Gospel of ourLord Jesus Christ.

If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely then it cannot cleanse us completely. If that is the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble. What can wash away my sins?... Nothing butthe blood of Jesus! End of case!!!!

TRUST IN GOD'S PLANS FOR YOU

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. The first little tree looked up at the stars and said, "I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I'll be the most beautiful treasure in the world!" The second little tree looked out at a small stream trickling by on it's way to the ocean. "I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I'll be the strongest ship in the world."

The third tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. "I don't want to leave this mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me, they will raise there eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world." Years passed. Rain came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain. The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining ax, the first tree fell. "Now I will be made into a beautiful chest. I shall hold wonderful treasure!" the first tree said. The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, "this tree is strong, it is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining ax, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters!" thought the second tree. "I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!" The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looker her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the woodcutter toppled it. Any kind of tree will do for me." he muttered. With a swoop of his shining ax the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought her to a carpenter's shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feedbox for animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, nor with treasure. She was covered in saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals. The second tree smiled when the woodcutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead, the once strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail an ocean, or even a river; instead she was taken to a small lake. The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" the once tall tree wondered. "All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God."

Many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams. But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box. "I wish I could make a cradle for him, her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. "This manger is beautiful," she said. And suddenly the first tree knew she was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She knew she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through with the wind and the rain. The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand and said, "Peace, be still." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew she was carrying the King of Heaven and Earth. Early one morning a couple years later, the third tree was startled when her beam was yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hands to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel. But three days later, with he sun shining and the earth trembling beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. It had made the third tree strong, And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God, that was better than being the tallest tree in the world!

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3 ... 2jesus

GOD LED ME TO YOU

From Daryl

The man slowly looked up. This was a woman clearly accustomed to the finer things of life. Her coat was new. She looked like that she had never missed a meal in her life. His first thought was that she wanted to make fun of him, like so many others had done before.

"Leave me alone," he growled.

To his amazement, the woman continued standing.

She was smiling - her even white teeth displayed in dazzling rows.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"No," he answered sarcastically. "I've just come from dining with the president. Now go away." The woman's smile became even broader.

Suddenly the man felt a gentle hand under his arm. "What are you doing, lady?" The man asked angrily. "I said to leave me alone."

Just then a policeman came up. "Is there any problem, ma'am?" he asked.

"No problem here, officer," the woman answered. "I'm just trying to get this man to his feet. Will you help me?"

The officer scratched his head. "That's old Jack. He's been a fixture around here for a couple of years. What do you want with him?"

"See that cafeteria over there?" she asked. "I'm going to get him something to eat and get him out of the cold for awhile."

"Are you crazy, lady?" the homeless man resisted. "I don't want to go in there!"

Then he felt strong hands grab his other arm and lift him up.

"Let me go, officer. I didn't do anything."

"This is a good deal for you, Jack," the officer answered. "Don't blow it."

Finally, and with some difficulty, the woman and the police officer got Jack into the cafeteria and sat him at a table in a remote corner. It was the middle of the morning, so most of the breakfast crowd had already left and the lunch bunch had not yet arrived. The manager strode across the cafeteria and stood by the table.

"What's going on here, officer?" he asked. "What is all this. Is this man in trouble?"

"This lady brought this man in here to be fed," the policeman answered.

"Not in here!" the manager replied angrily. "Having a person like that here is bad for business."

Old Jack smiled a toothless grin. "See, lady. I told you so. Now if you'll let me go. I didn't want to come here in the first place."

The woman turned to the cafeteria manager and smiled. "Sir, are you familiar with Eddy and Associates, the banking firm down the street?"

"Of course I am," the manager answered impatiently. "They hold their weekly meetings in one of my banquet rooms."

"And do you make a goodly amount of money providing food at these weekly meetings?"

"What business is that of yours?"

"I, sir, am Penelope Eddy, president and CEO of the company."

"Oh."

The woman smiled again. "I thought that might make a difference."

She glanced at the cop who was busy stifling a giggle. "Would you like to join us in a cup of coffee and a meal, officer?"

"No thanks, ma'am," the officer replied. "I'm on duty."

"Then, perhaps, a cup of coffee to go?"

"Yes, ma'am. That would be very nice."

The cafeteria manager turned on his heel. "I'll get your coffee for you right away, officer."

The officer watched him walk away. "You certainly put him in his place," he said.

"That was not my intent. Believe it or not, I have a reason for all this."

She sat down at the table across from her amazed dinner guest. She stared at him intently. "Jack, do you remember me?"

Old Jack searched her face with his old, rheumy eyes "I think so - I mean you do look familiar."

"I'm a little older perhaps," she said. "Maybe I've even filled out more than in my younger days when you worked here, and I came through that very door, cold and hungry."

"Ma'am?" the officer said questioningly. He couldn't believe that such a magnificently turned out woman could ever have been hungry.

"I was just out of college," the woman began. "I had come to the city looking for a job, but I couldn't find anything. Finally I was down to my last few cents and had been kicked out of my apartment. I walked the streets for days. It was February and I was cold and nearly starving. I saw this place and walked in on the off chance that I could get something to eat."

Jack lit up with a smile. "Now I remember," he said. "I was behind the serving counter. You came up and asked me if you could work for something to eat. I said that it was against company policy."

"I know," the woman continued. "Then you made me the biggest roast beef sandwich that I had ever seen, gave me a cup of coffee, and told me to go over to a corner table and enjoy it. I was afraid that you would get into trouble. Then, when I looked over, I saw you put the price of my food in the cash register. I knew then that everything would be alright."

"So you started your own business?" Old Jack said.

"I got a job that very afternoon. I worked my way up. Eventually I started my own business, that, with the help of God, prospered." She opened her purse and pulled out a business card. "When you are finished here, I want you to pay a visit to a Mr. Lyons. He's the personnel director of my company. I'll go talk to him now and I'm certain he'll find something for you to do around the office." She smiled. "I think he might even find the funds to give you a little advance so that you can buy some clothes and get a place to live until you get on your feet. If you ever need anything, my door is always opened to you."

There were tears in the old man's eyes. "How can I ever thank you?" he said.

"Don't thank me," the woman answered. "To God goes the glory. Thank Jesus. He led me to you."

Outside the cafeteria, the officer and the woman paused at the entrance before going their separate ways. "Thank you for all your help, officer," she said.

"On the contrary, Ms. Eddy," he answered. "Thank you. I saw a miracle today, something that I will never forget. And ... And thank you for the coffee."

If you have missed knowing me, you have missed nothing. If you have missed some of my emails, you have missed a laugh. But, if you have missed knowing my LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST,you have missed everything in the world ... 2jesus

THE STORM
From Billie, author unknown

Years ago, I was enthralled as I listened to a pastor who for several years had faithfully served the church. His executive responsibilities had taken him all over this country. As he concluded his message, he told of one of the most frightening yet thought-provoking experiences of his life.

He had been on a long flight from one place to another. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: Fasten your seat belts. Then, after a while, a calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."

As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice of the announcer said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us."

And then the storm broke. The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightening lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.

The pastor confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying. The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm.

Then, I suddenly saw a little girl. Apparently the storm meant nothing to her. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat; she was reading a book and every thing within her small world was calm and orderly. Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world. When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm, when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid." The minister could hardly believe his eyes.

It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, our pastor lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time. Having commented about the storm and behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.

The sweet child replied, "Sir, my Dad is the pilot, and he is taking me home."

There are many kinds of storms that buffet us.

Physical, mental, financial, domestic, and many other storms can easily and quickly darken our skies and throw our plane into apparently uncontrollable movement. We have all known such times, and let us be honest and confess, it is much easier to be at rest when our feet are on the ground than when we are being tossed about a darkened sky.

Let us remember: Our Father is the Pilot. He is in control and He is taking us home ... 2jesus.\\\\

'TWAS THE NIGHT
JESUS CAME FROM DAWN

'Twas the night Jesus came
and all through the house,
not a person was praying,
not one in the house.

The Bible was left
on the shelf without care,
for no one thought
Jesus would come there.

The children were dressing
to crawl into bed,
not once ever kneeling
or bowing their head.

And Mom in the rocking chair
with babe on her lap,
was watching the Late Show
as I took a nap.

When out of the east
there rose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet
to see what was the matter.

Away to the window
I flew like a flash,
tore open the shutters
and lifted the sash.

When what to my wondering
eyes should appear,
but Angels proclaiming
that Jesus was here.

The light of His face
made me cover my head ...
was Jesus returning
just like He'd said.

And though I possessed
worldly wisdom and wealth,
I cried when I saw Him
in spite of myself.

In the Book of Life
which he held in his hand,
was written the name
of every saved man.

He spoke not a word
as he searched for my name,
when He said "it's not here"
My head hung in shame.

The people whose names
had been written with love,
He gathered to take
to his Father above.

With those who were ready
He rose without sound,
while all of the others
were left standing around. ..

I fell to my knees
but it was too late,
I'd waited too long
and thus sealed my fate.

I stood and I cried
as they rose out of sight,
Oh, if only I'd known
that this was the night ...

In the words of this poem
the meaning is clear
the coming of Jesus
is now drawing near ...

There's only one life
and when comes the last call,
We'll find out that the Bible
was true after all ...

B Basic
I Instruction
B Before
L Leaving
E Earth

JESUS LOVES YOU!!!! ARE YOU READY?? ... 2jesus\\\

GOD IS IN CONTROL

From: Greg W.

This is one of the MOST touching emails I have ever received. Please take the time to read it thru. You will be blessed.

A man from Norfolk, VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003. His Name was Robert Matthews. These are his words:

"A few weeks before Sept 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister. On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her. Shortly after I said 'amen' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently. We had blown out a tire.

I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. Both very upset, we drove home. I received a call from my father who was retired FDNY. He asked what my wife's flight number was, but explained that we missed the flight. My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower. I was too shocked to speak.

My father also had more news for me; he was going to help. 'This is not something I can just sit by for, I have to do something.' I was concerned for his safety, of course, but more because he had never given his life to Christ. After a brief debate, I knew his mind was made up. Before he got off of the phone, he said, 'take good care of my grandchild.' Those were the last words I ever heard my father say; he died while helping in the rescue effort.

My joy that my prayer of safety for my wife had been answered quickly became anger. Anger at God, at my father, and at myself. I had gone for nearly 2 years blaming God for taking my father away. My son would never know his grandfather, my father had never accepted Christ, and I never got to say goodbye.

Then something happened. About 2 months ago, I was sitting at home with my wife and my son, when there was a knock on the door. I looked at my wife, but I could tell she wasn't expecting anyone. I opened the door to a couple with a small child. The man looked at me and asked if my father's name was Jake Matthews. I told him it was. He quickly grabbed my hand and said, 'I never got the chance to meet your father, but it is an honor to meet his son.'

He explained to me that his wife had worked in the World Trade Center and had been caught inside after the attack. She was pregnant and had been caught under debris. He then explained that my father had been the one to find his wife and free her. My eyes welled up with tears as I thought of my father giving his life for people like this. He then said, 'there is something else you need to know.' His wife then told me that as my father worked to free her, she talked to him and lead him to Christ. I began sobbing at the news.

Now I know that when I get to heaven, my father will be standing beside Jesus to welcome me, and that this family would be able to thank him themselves."

When their baby boy was born, they named him Jacob Matthew in honor of the man who gave his life so mother and baby could live.

This story should help us to realize two things: First, that though it has been two years since the attacks, we should never let it become a mere tragic memory. And second, but most important, God is always in control. We may not see the reason behind things, and we may never know this side of heaven, but God is ALWAYS in control.

Please take time to share this amazing story with those you love. You may never know the impact it may have on someone.

"All of you who labor and are overburdened, come to Me and I will give you rest ... for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls."

Jesus of Nazareth
Amen, 2jesus

THREE MARBLES

True story written by W. E. Petersen.

During the waning years of the depression in a small south eastern Idaho community, I used to stop by Mr. Miller's roadside stand for farm-fresh produce as the season made it available. Food and money were still extremely scarce and bartering was used, extensively.

One particular day Mr. Miller was bagging some early potatoes for me. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprising a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller and the ragged boy next to me.

Mr Miller, "Hello Barry, how are you today?"

"H'lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas ... sure look good."

"They are good, Barry. How's your Ma?"

"Fine. Gittin' stronger alla' time."

"Good. Anything I can help you with?"

"No, Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas."

"Would you like to take some home?"

"No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with."

"Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?"

"All I got's my prize marble here."

"Is that right? Let me see it."

"Here 'tis. She's a dandy."

"I can see that. Hmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?"

"Not 'zackley ... but, almost."

"Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble."

"Sure will. Thanks, Mr. Miller."

Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me. With a smile she said: "There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, perhaps."

I left the stand, smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Utah but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys and Mr. Miller and their bartering.

Several years went by each more rapid than the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died.

They were having his viewing that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon our arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could.

Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts ... very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing smiling and composed, by her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved on to the casket. Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket.

Each left the mortuary, awkwardly, wiping his eyes. Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and mentioned the story she had told me about the marbles. Eyes glistening she took my hand and led me to the casket. "Those three young men, that just left, were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim "traded" them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size ... they came to pay their debt. "We've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world," she confided, "but, right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho."

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three, magnificently shiny, red marbles.

Moral: We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds ... 2jesus ... Believe in Miracles:-)

LISTENING TO GOD

A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor Had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?"

After service he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways. It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to,"God ... If you still speak to people speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey." As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, "God is that you?" He didn't get a reply and started on toward home. But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. "Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk." It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home. As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, "Turn down that street." This is crazy he thought and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he returned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay, God, I will". He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in semi-commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street." The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. "Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid." Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door, "Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here." He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it? What do you want?" Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. "What is it?" The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, "Here, I brought this to you." The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway speaking loudly in Spanish. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, "We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk." His wife in the kitchen yelled out, "I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?" The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face. He knew that God still answers prayers.

From DanielO.

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparce surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the little boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my boys life."

"No, I cannot accept payment for what I did," the farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of."

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.

Someone once said what goes around comes around. Jesus said it much better. "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38

Jesus is always talking to us. We are just not listening ... 2jesus.

GOD KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE

Do you believe that God not only loves you, but knows where you are and what you're doing every minute of the day? I certainly do after an amazing experience I had several years ago.

At the time I was driving on 1-75 near Dayton, Ohio, with my wife and children. We turned off the highway for a rest and refreshment stop. My wife Barbara and children went into the restaurant. I suddenly felt the need to stretch my legs, so waved them off ahead saying I'd join them later.

I bought a soft drink, and as I walked toward a Dairy Queen, feelings of self-pity enshrouded my mind. I loved the Lord, but I felt drained, burdened. My cup was empty.

Suddenly the impatient ringing of a telephone nearby jarred me out of my doldrums. It was coming from a phone booth at a service station on the corner. Wasn't anyone going to answer the phone?

Noise from the traffic flowing through the busy intersection must have drowned out the sound because the service station attendant continued looking after his customers, oblivious to the incessant ringing. "Why doesn't somebody answer that phone?" I muttered. I began reasoning."It may be important. What if it's an emergency?"

Curiosity overcame my indifference. I stepped inside the booth and picked up the phone. "Hello," I said casually and took a big sip of my drink. The operator said: "Long distance call for Ken Gaub." My eyes widened, and I almost choked on a chunk of ice. Swallowing hard, I said, "You're crazy!" Then realizing I shouldn't speak to an operator like that, I added, "This can't be!

I was walking down the road, not bothering anyone, and the phone was ringing ... "Is Ken Gaub there?" the operator interrupted, "I have a long distance call for him." It took a moment to gain control of my babbling, but I finally replied, "Yes, he is here."

Searching for a possible explanation, I wondered if I could possibly be on Candid Camera! Still shaken, perplexed, I asked, "How in the world did you reach me here? I was walking down the road, the pay phone started ringing, and I just answered it on chance. You can't mean me."

"Well," the operator asked, "is Mr. Gaub there or isn't he?" "Yes, I am Ken Gaub," I said, finally convinced by the tone of her voice that the call was real. Then I heard another voice say, "Yes, that's him, operator. That's Ken Gaub."

I listened dumbfounded to a strange voice identify herself. "I'm Millie from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You don't know me, Mr. Gaub, but I'm desperate. Please help me." "What can I do for you?" She began weeping. Finally she regained control and continued. "I was about to commit suicide, had just finished writing a note, when I began to pray and tell God I really didn't want to do this. Then I suddenly remembered seeing you on television and thought if I could just talk to you, you could help me. I knew that was impossible because I didn't know how to reach you, I didn't know anyone who could help me find you. Then some numbers came to my mind, and I scribbled them down."

At this point she began weeping again, and I prayed silently for wisdom to help her. She continued, "I looked at the numbers and thought, 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if I had a miracle from God, and He has given me Ken's phone number?' I decided to try calling it. I can't believe I'm talking to you. Are you in your office in California?" I replied, "Lady, I don't have an office in California. My office is in Yakima, Washington."

A little surprised, she asked, "Oh really, then where are you?" "Don't you know?" I responded. "You made the call." She explained, "But I don't even know what area I'm calling. I just dialed the number that I had on this paper." "Ma'am, you won't believe this, but I'm in a phone booth in Dayton, Ohio!" "Really?" she exclaimed. "Well, what are you doing there?"

I kidded her gently, "Well, I'm answering the phone. It was ringing as I walked by, so I answered it." Knowing this encounter could only have been arranged by God, I began to counsel the woman. As she told me of her despair and frustration, the presence of the Holy Spirit flooded the phone booth giving me words of wisdom beyond my ability. In a matter of moments, she prayed the sinner's prayer and met the One who would lead her out of her situation into a new life.

I walked away from that telephone booth with an electrifying sense of our heavenly Father's concern for each of His children. What were the astronomical odds of this happening? With all the millions of phones and innumerable combinations of numbers, only an all-knowing God could have caused that woman to call that number in that phone booth at that moment in time.

Forgetting my drink and nearly bursting with exhilaration, I headed back to my family, wondering if they would believe my story. Maybe I better not tell this, I thought, but I couldn't contain it. "Barb, you won't believe this! God knows where I am!"

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jer 33:3

This has also happened to me before. A person will walk up that I have never seen today and say, "I do not know why I am here. But I have to speak to you." I shortly find out why ... God sent them. - Ferd@2jesus

Written by Ken Gaub, Yakima, Washington.

DON'T LET ME CRY

My son Gilbert was eight years old and had been in Cub Scouts only a short time. During one of his meetings he was handed a sheet of paper, a block of wood and four tires and told to return home and give all to "dad".

That was not an easy task for Gilbert to do. Dad was not receptive to doing things with his son. But Gilbert tried. Dad read the paper and scoffed at the idea of making a pine wood derby car with his young, eager son. The block of wood remained untouched as the weeks passed.

Finally, mom stepped in to see if I could figure this all out. The project began. Having no carpentry skills, she decided it would be best if she simply read the directions and let Gilbert do the work. And he did. She read aloud the measurements, the rules of what they could do and what we couldn't do.

Within days his block of wood was turning into a pinewood derby car. A little lopsided, but looking great (at least through the eyes of mom). Gilbert had not seen any of the other kids cars and was feeling pretty proud of his "Blue Lightning", the pride that comes with knowing you did something on your own.

Then the big night came. With his blue pinewood derby in his hand and pride in his heart they headed to the big race. Once there Gilbert's pride turned to humility. His car was obviously the only car made entirely on his own. All the other cars were a father-son partnership, with cool paint jobs and sleek body styles made for speed.

A few of the boys giggled as they looked at Gilbert's lopsided, wobbly, unattractive vehicle. To add to the humility Gilbert was the only boy without a man at his side. A couple of the boys who were from single parent homes at least had an uncle or grandfather by their side, Gilbert had "Mom".

As the race began it was done in elimination fashion. You kept racing as long as you were the winner. One by one the cars raced down the finely sanded ramp. Finally it was between Gilbert and the sleekest, fastest looking car there. As the last race was about to begin, my wide eyed, shy eight year old ask if they could stop the race for a minute, because he wanted to pray. The race stopped.

Gilbert hit his knees clutching his funny looking block of wood between his hands. With a wrinkled brow he set to converse with his Father. He prayed in earnest for a very long minute and a half. Then he stood, smile on his face and announced, 'Okay, I am ready."

As the crowd cheered, a boy named Tommy stood with his father as their car sped down the ramp. Gilbert stood with his Father within his heart and watched his block of wood wobble down the ramp with surprisingly great speed and rushed over the finish line a fraction of a second before Tommy's car.

Gilbert leaped into the air with a loud "Thank you" as the crowd roared in approval. The Scout Master came up to Gilbert with microphone in hand and asked the obvious question, "So you prayed to win, huh, Gilbert?" To which the young boy answered, "Oh, no sir. That wouldn't be fair to ask God to help you beat someone else. I just asked Him to make it so I don't cry when I lose."

Children seem to have a wisdom far beyond us. Gilbert didn't ask God to win the race, he didn't ask God to fix the out come, Gilbert asked God to give him strength in the outcome. When Gilbert first saw the other cars he didn't cry out to God, "No fair, they had a fathers help".

No, he went to his Father for strength. Perhaps we spend too much of our prayer time asking God to rig the race, to make us number one, or too much time asking God to remove us from the struggle, when we should be seeking God's strength to get through the struggle. Gilbert didn't pray to win, thus hurt someone else, he prayed that God supply the grace to lose with dignity. Gilbert, by his stopping the race to speak to his Father also showed the crowd that he wasn't there without a "dad", but His Father was most definitely there with him. Yes, Gilbert walked away a winner that night, with his Father at his side.

Eric

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