A dear friend,

Jeff Green, serving as a Department of the Army civil servant, sent this

to me. It is worth reading.

"Sometimes

we are privileged to get a real glimpse of ourselves, usually through

the unobstructed vision others have of us. What we see can help us to

redirect the way we live.

"If we're

fortunate enough to see this portrait painted by our past choices and

decisions, we might choose to repaint the canvas of our lives in brush

strokes that highlight the divine colors of charity, hope and faith.

"The following

story illustrates this: An obituary had mistakenly confused the inventor

of dynamite with his deceased brother, Ludwig, who had just died while

in France. It read, the 'Merchant of Death is DEAD' and the man had a

glimpse of the way history would remember him, a man painted in the blackened

hues of selfish, uncaring ambition, the person who invented and exported

dynamite to the armies of the world while profiting through the violence

of battle and death.

"The Bible

tells us that life is brief, that a 'man knows not the time of his death'

and instructs us to pray that God 'teach us to number our days' and 'establish

the work of our hands.' We are all afforded the grace, and sometimes painful,

mercy of God, who sees us as we really are while telling us what we could

really become.

"Through

faith in God, we can look on the canvas of our own lives and sketch a

picture of what we desire to become while allowing the Lord to fill in

the colors. With God's help we can paint ourselves in the bright colors

of love, hope, truth, mercy and kindness to reflect heaven's image to

a blind and dying world."

That's what

the "Merchant of Death" did. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite,

a powerful technology which could be used for good or evil. Nobel realized

dynamite's potential for good or evil and consciously chose to paint a

colorful picture of hope we now call the Nobel Peace Prize.

What are the

colors of your life? What picture of you will be painted in your obituary?

A good summer reading book with this theme is "The Picture of Dorian

Grey."

The Rev.

Dr. Knox Herndon is pastor of His House Community Church (SBC). The Rev.

Greg Mausz is senior associate pastor. The Rev. Dr. Lydia Herndon is the

Sunday School superintendent, Bible study coordinator and teacher. The

church is just below Fayetteville, on Ga. Highway 85, a mile south of

Ga. Highway 16, just below the fire station. Visitors welcome. Church

office and prayer line 770-719-2365; e-mail [email protected] .

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