Have you ever regretted letting a great opportunity pass you by? If so, you can relate to this true story.
Art Linkletter, a television pioneer of the early 1950s, was approached by a friend who tried to convince him to buy some land. His buddy, a movie executive who had been a close family friend for years, drove him out into the country to look at the property. After driving for more than twenty-five miles, they turned off the main road and drove through fields and groves of trees, mostly orange trees. There wasn’t a person for miles. They saw grazing horses and an occasional abandoned shed. Art’s friend began explaining his next bold venture, an amusement park unlike anything the world had ever seen. It would be its own little world.
Linkletter thought his friend was crazy. “Who in the world is going to drive 25 miles to ride a roller coaster?” he wondered. Linkletter later wrote, “I had such admiration for his business acumen (insight) and his show-business savvy that I hardly knew how to tell him I thought he was making the biggest, most ruinous mistake of his entire life.”
After painting a verbal picture of his vision, the friend said to Linkletter, “Art, financially I can handle only (this project). It will take everything I have as it is. But the land bordering on it, where we’re standing now, will be jammed with hotels and motels and restaurants and convenient halls to accommodate the people who will come to spend their entire vacations here at my park in just a couple of years. I’ve bought all I can afford. And I want you to have an opportunity to get some of the surrounding acreage because it will increase in value several hundred times in the next five years.” The friend had no agenda for Linkletter; he just wanted to share an opportunity.
But Linkletter just could not see it. He made excuses and said he would look into it later.
“Later will be too late,” said his friend. “You had better move in it right now.” Art’s friend was right of course. And Linkletter never forgot his walk back to the car, because he later figured that it probably cost him about a million dollars per step.
The friend that Art declined was none other than Walt Disney. And the property would become one of the most popular family destinations in the world: Disneyland!
Note: According to Wikipedia, “Disneyland has a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme park in the world, with 757 million visits since it opened (as of December 2021). In 2022, the park had approximately 16.9 million visits, making it the second most visited amusement park in the world that year, behind only Magic Kingdom (at Disneyworld), the very park it inspired.”
What are you doing with the opportunities that the Lord is making available to you? We either use or lose our opportunities. We either invest in them for Christ’s Kingdom, or we miss out on them; they pass us by. We must have eyes to see the opportunities, and faith and courage to step up and, empowered by the Holy Spirit, help make them happen. Let’s not be like Art Linkletter and live with the regret of Missed Opportunity.
This Sunday, June 23, our emphasis will be on our “Windows of Opportunity” based on 2 Kings 13:14-19. Please invite someone to join you at 10:35am in the building or online for the Live broadcast on either Facebook (HonoluluAG) or our YouTube channel (Honolulu Assembly of God). We livestream every Sunday to both locations and would love to have you join us.
Coming Up: Our “Celebration of Freedom” will be Sunday, June 30. A BBQ potluck lunch will take place right after the service and everyone is invited. (Teri-burgers and hot dogs will be provided. Please bring your favorite picnic foods to add to the table.)
Some have expressed interest in being baptized in water. If you would like to join them in this essential step of obedience to Jesus, please let me know.
Men, the all-islands “360 Man Summit” of the Hawaii District Men’s Department will take place July 19-21 at First Assembly (Red Hill). Cost is $20 now or $30 at the door. Interested in attending? We had a powerful time last year.
Aloha ke Akua!
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