Читать книгу Beyond the Horizon - Harry A. Renfree - Страница 39

February 02

Do you like to shoot for the stars? Here’s a sobering thought. The nearest star is 4.3 light years away. In other words, if you were able to travel at the speed of light, which is approximately 186,000 miles/second, and you went this speed every second of every day, it would take over four years to get there. Yet, I suppose there is nothing wrong with reaching for the stars as long as you realize you won’t get there—not in this life in any event.

A person’s reach should always exceed one’s grasp. How was it the rhyming couplet put it? “Two men looked out from prison bars; one man saw mud . . . the other stars.” It is always better, especially when experiencing difficulty, to look up rather than look down. The Apostle Paul writes to those at Philippi: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.” And he goes on, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Then he reaches out and up: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12–13).

In the same epistle, the Apostle wrote these memorable words after telling of his personal yearnings to be like his Master: “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14).

There’s a man who caught a glimpse of the stars, and by God’s grace he made it. So may you and I.