{"id":2052,"date":"2011-01-07T15:11:07","date_gmt":"2011-01-07T14:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pender.org.uk\/?p=2052"},"modified":"2011-01-07T15:11:07","modified_gmt":"2011-01-07T14:11:07","slug":"riches-to-rags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2011\/01\/riches-to-rags\/","title":{"rendered":"Riches to Rags"},"content":{"rendered":"

The story of Ted Williams, which has gone viral on YouTube, is the kind that we all like. A down-and-out, begging on the street, is discovered and his voice is wonderful, just perfect for TV and radio. A film of him speaking is posted on the net, and suddenly everyone wants to listen to him, everyone wants to give him a job. He is famous, his life is turned round. He has a great future. He will make millions. A great story of rags to riches!<\/p>\n

\n<\/object>\n<\/p>\n

It’s the sort of story that brings us pleasure. Someone’s life turned round. We feel so good when we hear it, and so pleased for him.<\/p>\n

But listen, Ted Williams himself said it. He has been there already. He had a job on the radio, he had a future. But then drink and drugs got in the way, and he lost it all. They became more important at the time than his future. Yes, he is going from rags to riches now, but he went from riches to rags then. Perhaps it wasn’t so sudden a change then, but I am sure that it was fast enough. I’m sure he didn’t need to work at it either. He didn’t plan it, but neither did he stop it till it was too late. It happened, and it was his decisions, his journey.<\/p>\n

Where are you in your journey? Going up, or going down? Is it time to take stock? Is what’s behind you looking richer than what is in front of you?<\/p>\n

Speak to someone about it. Be honest and get the help you need. Go the right way – follow God’s way!<\/p>\n

O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways.<\/strong> (Proverbs 23:26, NLT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The story of Ted Williams, which has gone viral on YouTube, is the kind that we all like. A down-and-out, begging on the street, is discovered and his voice is wonderful, just perfect for TV and radio. A film of him speaking is posted on the net, and suddenly everyone wants to listen to him, everyone wants to give him a job. He is famous, his life is turned round. He has a great future. He will make millions. A great story of rags to riches!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[10,3,17,38,48,55,73,75,77],"class_list":["post-2052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-general","tag-addiction","tag-bibleblogs","tag-christ","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-lord","tag-suffer","tag-trouble","tag-worry","category-5","category-6","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-x6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3919,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2018\/05\/praying-at-the-right-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":2052,"position":0},"title":"Praying at the right time","author":"Robert Pender","date":"08\/05\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I once went for an interview in London and I was having a lot of trouble finding a parking space. I finally found one in a multi-storey car park and then ran to the place where the interview was being held. I arrived just in time, but after the interview\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2110,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2011\/01\/right-mountain-out-of-the-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":2052,"position":1},"title":"Right, Mountain, out of the way!","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/01\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend of mine will shortly set out on an amazing adventure - to climb Mount Kilimanjaro - to help raise funds for the charity Scottish Spina Bifida. I really admire him for that. It will take courage, strength and endurance. 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Now that we all have our hands up, I thought we would just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4531,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/05\/a-shadow-of-my-future-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":2052,"position":3},"title":"A shadow of my future self","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4532\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text css=\"\"]Many years ago I had a very sore back. It would come and go every few months. First one side would hurt and, just as it was getting better, then the other side would start to hurt. 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