{"id":19947,"date":"2008-02-13T21:47:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-14T03:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=19947"},"modified":"2020-02-13T21:51:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T03:51:59","slug":"where-would-you-be-if-_____-never-happened-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-would-you-be-if-_____-never-happened-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Would You Be If _____ Never Happened to You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\tby Steve Klein<br \/>\nThe Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia,<br \/>\nApril 1, 2007\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Janitor.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"350\" \/>Somerset Maugham, the English writer, once wrote a story about a janitor at St. Peter&#8217;s Church in London. One day a young vicar discovered that the janitor was illiterate and fired him. Jobless, the man invested his meager savings in a tiny shop, where he prospered, bought another, expanded, and ended up with a chain of stores worth several hundred thousand dollars. One day the man&#8217;s banker said, &#8220;You&#8217;ve done well for an illiterate, but where would you be if you could read and write?&#8221; &#8220;Well,&#8221; replied the man, &#8220;I&#8217;d be the janitor of St. Peter&#8217;s Church in Neville Square&#8221; (From Bits and Pieces, June 24, 1993, p. 23).<\/p>\n<p>Many times in life the things that appear at first to be misfortune wind up bringing us success or blessing in our lives. This is illustrated many times in the Bible.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If Joseph had never been sold into slavery, falsely accused and then imprisoned, would he ever have been elevated to a position in Egypt that allowed him to preserve his family?<\/li>\n<li>Where would Daniel have been if he hadn&#8217;t been taken into Babylonian captivity? Would he have had the opportunity to bring honor to the God of heaven before foreign kings?<\/li>\n<li>Where would Zaccheus have been if he were taller?<\/li>\n<li>Would the blind man in John 9 ever have become a believer in Jesus if he had not been &#8220;born blind&#8221;?<\/li>\n<li>What if the woman who touched the hem of Jesus&#8217; garment to be healed had not suffered a &#8220;flow of blood&#8221; for 12 years? Would her faith have been as strong?<\/li>\n<li>Would the centurion have come to Jesus if his son were not paralyzed and dreadfully tormented? (Matthew 8:6).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he was in Roman prison. But he was able to see the good that had come from his circumstances. &#8220;<em>But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ<\/em>&#8221; (Philippians 1:12-13).<\/p>\n<p>If we will but take the time to look at our lives, we&#8217;ll often find what Paul found. Misfortune and adversity have resulted in positive outcomes. &#8220;<em>Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass<\/em>&#8221; (Psalms 37:5).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Steve Klein The Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia, April 1, 2007 Somerset Maugham, the English writer, once wrote a story about a janitor at St. Peter&#8217;s Church in London. One day a young vicar discovered that the janitor was illiterate and fired him. Jobless, the man invested his meager savings&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-19947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53640,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-preachers-struggle-with-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":19947,"position":0},"title":"Do preachers struggle with sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Jeffrey, I know as a Christian, we are to do our best to abstain from sin at all costs. I also realize no man, except Jesus, is perfect. I have befriended my preacher, and he speaks as if he and his family are living in a glass house,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/on-supporting-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":19947,"position":1},"title":"On Supporting Women","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Sentry Magazine, December 1999 I have not seen much discussion on the question of whether or not the church can have a part in supporting women who may go into a mission field to teach women or children's classes, or assist in individual and private teaching.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58076,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/martignoni-thrasher-debate-on-the-pope\/","url_meta":{"origin":19947,"position":2},"title":"Martignoni &#8211; Thrasher Debate on the Pope","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"John Martignoni, Catholic, and Thomas N. Thrasher, Christian via\u00a0Meditate on These Things, April 2012 Proposition \"The apostle Peter was the first Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.\" Affirm: John Martignoni Deny: Thomas N. Thrasher Martignoni's First Affirmative My task is to argue the affirmative of the proposition: \"The apostle Peter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92915,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-their-fruits-ye-shall-know-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":19947,"position":3},"title":"By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeff Kingrey via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 19 No. 3, September 1993 \"Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good treecannot bring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21623,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-social-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":19947,"position":4},"title":"What is the Social Gospel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Richard Thetford Have you ever asked yourself \"what is the social gospel?\" Most individuals that have been raised in the Lord's church have come to know and understand what the social gospel is. There are many, many individuals in churches of Christ around the country today that are actively\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/Street_Arabs_and_gutter_snipes._The_pathetic_and_humorous_side_of_young_vagabond_life_in_the_great_cities_with_records_of_work_for_their_reclamation_1884_14579159707-193x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23652,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-peter-the-rock-of-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":19947,"position":5},"title":"Is Peter the rock of the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Matthew\u00a016:18 Jesus said to Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. Does Jesus give any guidelines as to how and when his followers or Christians should worship God? Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}