20th June 2011 The Son (By courtesy of Vartkes)

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art ... 

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son. 
About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands... He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly ... He often talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out this package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture... '

'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift...
The father hung the portrait on the mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel... 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?'
There was silence... 

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.'

  
But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?' 

  
Another voiced angrily. 'We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh'S, the Rembrandts. Get on with the Real bids!'

But still the auctioneer continued.. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'  
Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting...' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford...
'We have $10, who will bid $20?'  

'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'

The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son...They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel.. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!' 

A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!' 

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over...'
'What about the paintings?'
'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will... I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.

The man who took the son gets everything!'

God gave His son over 2,000 years ago to die on the Cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The Son, the Son, who'll take the Son?' Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything!
For God so loved the world He gave his only begotten son, who so ever believeth, shall have eternal life ... That's Love.

 

 

Tags: thefather, theson

Prev: 20th June 2011 Cow Falling From The Sky - Film

20th June 2011 Cow Falling From The Sky - Film

It sounds like a joke, but the story told in the film 'A Chinese Take-Away', about a cow falling from the sky and killed a girl, the new bride of a Russian young man, is inspired by a true life story. The fiction, outlandish though it might be, continues imitating the reality, and the reality reconstructed says that a Chinese young man (Russian in the true story) saw his new bride killed in the way most like a hallucination. A cow fell from the sky, literally, and landed on the girl while the two of them were murmuring love to each other.

 

The Argentinian producer, Sebastian Borensztein, turned a big round converting it into a comedy between tenderness (almost too sugary) and surrealism, and left the interpretation to Darin, the actor that plays the grouchy ironmonger who made friends with the unfortunate, crestfallen man who is now a widow.  

 

The strange 'true' story about a falling cow from the sky happened in 1996. In fact there were several versions, here is one of them:

 

The dazed crew of a Japanese trawler were plucked off the sea of Japan clinging to the wreckage of their sunken ship. Their rescue however, was followed by immediate imprisonment once the authorities questioned the sailors on their ships' loss. They claimed that a cow, falling out of a clear blue sky, had struck the trawler amidships, shattering it's hull and sinking the vessel within minutes.

 

They remained in prison for several weeks, until the Russian Air Force reluctantly informed the Japanese authorities that the crew of one of it's cargo planes had apparently stolen a cow wandering at the edge of a Siberian airfield, forced the cow into the plane's hold and hastily taken off for home. Unprepared for live cargo, the Russian crew was ill equipped to manage a now rampaging cow in it's hold. To save the aircraft and themselves, they shovelled the animal out of the cargo hold as they crossed the Sea of Japan at an altitude of 30,000 feet.

 

Tags: cow, chinesestory

Prev: 19th June 2011 A Magnificent Ride To The Outer Space