Who was Thomas Edison?

From the Ruins

The name of Thomas Edison is often associated with his inventions. He
invented the microphone, the phonograph, a commercially viable incandescent
light bulb, the storage battery, talking movies, and more than 1,000 other
things. But Thomas Edison wasn't always successful in his inventions.

In December of 1914 he had worked for 10 years on a storage battery. This
had greatly strained his finances. One particular evening spontaneous
combustion broke out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing
compounds, celluloid for records and film, and other flammable goods were in
flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived, but the heat
was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the
flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. Edison was 67-years-old at
the time.

With all his assets going up in a whoosh (although the damage exceeded two
million dollars, the buildings were only insured for $238,000 because they
were made of concrete and thought to be fireproof), would his spirit be
broken?

The inventor's 24-year old son, Charles, searched frantically for his
father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in
the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind. "My heart ached for
him," said Charles. "He was 67; no longer a young man; and everything was
going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, 'Charles, where's your
mother?' When I told him I didn't know, he said, 'Find her. Bring her
here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.'"

The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, "There is great value
in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew."
Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph.

Because of our sins, our lives are ruined and doomed to destruction (Romans
3:23; 6:23). But God loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus to die on
the cross for our sins to bring life to our sin-ruined lives. "In Him we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the
riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7).

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust
in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts
17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized into
Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). Then as we walk in the
light as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from
sin (1 John 1:7-9).

Thank God we can start anew.

Won't YOU accept His offer of salvation and life?

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from Charles Swindoll, Hand Me Another Brick, Thomas
Nelson, 1978, pp. 82-83, and Bits and Pieces, November, 1989, p. 12, as
quoted in sermon illustrations from www.sermonsearch.com.