One spring, sometime before the civil war, a boy in search of work came to Worthy
Taylor’s prosperous Ohio farm. The farmer knew nothing much about the boy except that his
name was Jim, but he gave him a job. Jim spent the summer cutting stove wood, bringing in the
cows, and making himself generally useful. He ate in the kitchen and slept in the haymow.
Before the summer was over, Jim had fallen in love with Taylor’s daughter. When the
farmer refused to let him marry her — telling him bluntly that he had no money, no name, and
very poor prospects — Jim put his belongings in his old carpet bag, and disappeared.
Thirty-five years passed before Taylor one day pulled down his barn to make way for a
new one. On one of the rafters above the haymow, he discovered that Jim had carved his full
name — James A. Garfield. He was then the President of the United States.
All of us have had mistaken judgments about another person. We think this person can’t
amount to anything, he will never make a contribution or he will never be productive. But the
years pass, the person matures, he is trained and applying his skills, he becomes a success.
Paul said it this way, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.
Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:16-17).
Who could have foreseen that Peter could become the bold proclaimer of Christ after his
denial? Who would have thought that Paul would be so devoted after persecuting Christians?
Who would have predicted that John could become a writer majoring in love after being
nicknamed a “Son of Thunder”?
Take a second look. Follow the advice of Josh Billings, who said, ”I have lived in this
world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things I am the most certain of the
first time”.

~Douglas F. Parson
Church of Christ, Dumas, AR