The Wall

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“What a dear old wall that is that runs along by the river there! I never pass it without feeling better for the sight of it. Such a mellow, bright, sweet old wall; what a charming picture it would make, with the lichen creeping here, and the moss growing there, a shy young vine peeping over the top at this spot, to see what is going on upon the busy river, and the sober old ivy clustering a little farther down! There are fifty shades and tints and hues in every ten yards of that old wall. . . . It looks so peaceful and so quiet, and it is such a dear old place to ramble round in the early morning before many people are about.” Jerome K. Jerome, “Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)” Ch. 6 (1889)

Two Views of Missions and Missionary Work

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There are two ways to view missions and missionary work:

We could be like the old-time shoe salesman who, upon finding that in his new territory no one wore shoes, wrote back to his company and said, "Don't send any shoes because nobody here wears them."

Or . . .

We could be like the other shoe salesman who came to the same territory and wrote the company saying, "Send all the shoes you've got because nobody here has any!"

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