{"id":8886,"date":"2022-08-10T13:39:31","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T19:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theclarion.org\/?p=8886"},"modified":"2022-08-10T13:39:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T19:39:31","slug":"thoughts-from-the-bible-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/?p=8886","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts from The Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Who\u2019ll take the son?<\/strong><br \/>\nA wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael.<!--more--> They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.<\/p>\n<p>About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, \u201cSir, you don\u2019t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.\u201d The young man held out this package. \u201cI know this isn\u2019t much. I\u2019m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.\u201d The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. \u201cOh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It\u2019s a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected. The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. \u201cWe will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?\u201d There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, \u201cWe want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.\u201d But the auctioneer persisted. \u201cWill somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?\u201d Another voice said angrily. \u201cWe didn\u2019t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!\u201d But still the auctioneer continued. \u201cThe son! The son! Who\u2019ll take the son?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. \u201cI\u2019ll give $10 for the painting.\u201d Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. We have $10, who will bid $20?\u201d Others shouted \u201cGive it to him for $10. Let\u2019s see the masters.\u201d \u201c$10 is the bid, won\u2019t someone bid $20?\u201d The crowd was becoming angry. They didn\u2019t want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. \u201cGoing once, twice, SOLD for $10.!\u201d A man sitting on the second row shouted, \u201cNow let\u2019s get on with the collection!\u201d The auctioneer laid down his gavel. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, the auction is over.\u201d \u201cWhat about the paintings?\u201d \u201cI am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the Will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!\u201d God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: \u201cThe son, the son, who\u2019ll take the son?\u201d Because, you see, Whoever Takes the Son Gets Everything.<\/p>\n<p>Fannie Crosby wrote these beautiful words in our hymn book:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTake the world, but give me Jesus, all its joys are but a name; but His love abides forever, through eternal years the same.<br \/>\n\u201cOh, the height and depth of mercy! Oh, the length and breadth of love! Oh, the fullness of redemption, pledge of endless life above!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The author can be reached for comments at 256-574-2489.<\/p>\n<p>-Terry Broome<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who\u2019ll take the son? A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8887,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8886\/revisions\/8887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}