![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/CatOnStove-300x200.jpg\")
Mark Twain once said: “We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it – and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on the hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again – and that is well, but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore” (Following the Equator<\/em>).<\/p>\nI think that we should carefully think about what he said. Have you ever had an unhappy experience with a person close to you and then said, “I will never be friends with anyone again. You just cannot trust people”? If you never formed another friendship in your life, you would not be hurt by a friend. But at the same time, you would never be warmed by the pleasures of friendship. It is true that at times a friend may let you down because he is a human being. However, chances are that he did not intentionally and deliberately set out to harm you. And, by the way, do you suppose that someone ever thought that you treated him in the wrong way? Maybe it is really a matter of communication. But the point is, don’t avoid friendship just because you may have been hurt by a friend of the past.<\/p>\n
Have you ever tried to bring a person to Jesus only to have that one shamefully malign you? Did you say, “I’ll never again try to teach the gospel to a person; I don’t want to be treated like that”? But have you considered the joy you miss in the conversion of a precious soul? More than that, have you thought of the Heaven that that soul might miss without your sharing your treasure with him? Be not like Mark Twain’s cat! Don’t allow an unhappy experience to deter you!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Forrest D. Moyer, 1984 Mark Twain once said: “We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it – and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on the hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again –…<\/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":[233],"class_list":["post-58064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-friends"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36569,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-christian-be-friends-with-an-atheist\/","url_meta":{"origin":58064,"position":0},"title":"Can a Christian be friends with an atheist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day sir, I am a woman. I have a friend who has morals and beliefs similar to mine. She is a focused, good person. I have known her for about six months now and, though it's not long, I feel she is someone I would want to remain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24949,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-do-you-draw-the-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":58064,"position":1},"title":"Where do you draw the line?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Well, I chatted with a friend who is a lesbian. She was drunk, so I'm not sure if what I said really impacted her or not. Anyway, I let go of my fears, told her that she could be forgiven for anything if only she would change, and told\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8717,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-families-with-small-children-sit-in-the-back-pews\/","url_meta":{"origin":58064,"position":2},"title":"Should families with small children sit in the back pews?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently a congregation I am familiar with had an article concerning those who have small children. The preacher stated in the article that it would be best if those that have small children sit on the back pews due to children sometimes being noisy and having to be removed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28726,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-continue-dating-this-guy\/","url_meta":{"origin":58064,"position":3},"title":"Should I continue dating this guy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a guy who came from another town and is my best friend. We worked in the same company. We have been together for almost 2 years. We meet almost every day, and our meetings on Saturdays are regular. We spent the whole day together enjoying ourselves.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2305,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/its-not-fair\/","url_meta":{"origin":58064,"position":4},"title":"It\u2019s Not Fair!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Parents of school-age children soon hear the argument, \u201cBut everyone else gets to. It\u2019s not fair that I\u2019m the only one who can\u2019t.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The topic varies with the age of the child, but it ranges from a purchase of an item that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12161,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-christian-love-demand-a-willingness-to-lay-down-your-life-for-a-friend\/","url_meta":{"origin":58064,"position":5},"title":"Does Christian love demand a willingness to lay down your life for a friend?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: While teaching the adult class I made the statement that a true characteristic of Christian love is that one would be willing to lay down his\/her life for his\/her friends.\u00a0 One lady stated that she could not do that.\u00a0 What are your thoughts?\u00a0 How would you answer this lady's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","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\/58064","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=58064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}