A GOOD DESTINY IS OPPORTUNITY WITH A SMILE ON ITS FACE

(These thoughts are changed three times a week and cover a gamut of subjects, approaches and insights) (STARTING TODAY JULY 7TH (a new blog) ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS)http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
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In the year 1880, a homeless little Chinese boy wandered the docks of Shanghai. When no one was looking he smuggled himself aboard an American vessel loading cargo. For days he hid in a drain where garbage and rubbish were daily dumped. For days he fought the rats for the stinking scraps that were thrown through the opening above him.

Finally, however, it became too much even for his determination so he climbed out of his hiding place and was discovered. It was the custom in those days to throw stowaways overboard with neither sympathy nor ceremony. But the captain of the ship, a man by the name of Charles Jones, was strangely drawn to this indomitable spirit.

So he kept the boy with him for the remainder of the voyage and fed him back to some semblance of health. When the boat docked at Wilmington, North Carolina, he turned the boy over to the minister of the church he attended when in port.

The minister befriended this tiny package of humanity and named him Charlie, after the captain who had saved him. Raised in the minister's home, when Charlie grew older he went away to Trinity College (now Duke University). Then he entered a theological seminary from which he graduated and was ordained.

Returning to China, he married a Chinese girl and set up a home out of which came six children. One daughter became the wife of the Minister of Finance; another daughter became the wife of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Republic; and the third daughter became the wife of Chiang Kai-shek. One son became the founder of the Bank of China; another son became the Collector of customs of Chinese ports; and the third son became the manager of the export-import business of China. So the Soong dynasty was founded.

If there is a lesson here it can be learned from a sea captain who when he first went to sea never knew how a simple act of love and kindness would change the world.

And, yes what opportunity awaits each of us around the next bend in the road. And will we take it or pass it by, never to know what might have been.