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My friend and I were on a sight-seeing tour in Miami.
As we passed 'millionaire's row," the guide pointed out a huge,
boarded-up bleak looking mansion.
"That's the old James Deering mansion," said our guide. "Cost $15,000,000. After Deering died none of his heirs wanted to live there. The upkeep on the place was tremendous, so the executors opened it to the public for sightseeing at $1.85 admission. But even then they couldn't break even. So they finally just boarded it up and there it sits."
The guide continued his spiel, but my friend seemed suddenly to have lost all interest in the tour. He was quiet for a long time, bey at least he turned to me.
"I've just been trying to figure out what James Deering could have done with that $15,000,000," he said. "Let's see - he could have sent 1,000 missionaries into the foreign field for 15 years. He could have placed 20 surgeons in a like number of hospitals for more than 150 years. Or he could, perhaps, have endowed a half-dozen research foundations to discover cures for diseases like cancer and tuberculosis. Yes, James Deering's $15,000,000 could have lived on instead of crumbling away."
The guides persistent chatter as he described the skyline couldn't entirely drown out my friend's conclusion: "What we give away lasts longer than what we keep for ourselves."
~by Roscue Brown Fisher
This story reminded me today to give of myself to others but especially to my Family.
I want to live in light of the Gospel and give of myself.
boarded-up bleak looking mansion.
"That's the old James Deering mansion," said our guide. "Cost $15,000,000. After Deering died none of his heirs wanted to live there. The upkeep on the place was tremendous, so the executors opened it to the public for sightseeing at $1.85 admission. But even then they couldn't break even. So they finally just boarded it up and there it sits."
The guide continued his spiel, but my friend seemed suddenly to have lost all interest in the tour. He was quiet for a long time, bey at least he turned to me.
"I've just been trying to figure out what James Deering could have done with that $15,000,000," he said. "Let's see - he could have sent 1,000 missionaries into the foreign field for 15 years. He could have placed 20 surgeons in a like number of hospitals for more than 150 years. Or he could, perhaps, have endowed a half-dozen research foundations to discover cures for diseases like cancer and tuberculosis. Yes, James Deering's $15,000,000 could have lived on instead of crumbling away."
The guides persistent chatter as he described the skyline couldn't entirely drown out my friend's conclusion: "What we give away lasts longer than what we keep for ourselves."
~by Roscue Brown Fisher
This story reminded me today to give of myself to others but especially to my Family.
I want to live in light of the Gospel and give of myself.
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