The Story of Sparky

True story. A boy named Charles was born on November 26, 1922. He grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota. At a very young age, an uncle called him Sparky, after the horse Spark Plug in the comic strip Barney Google, which Charles enjoyed reading as a child. The name stuck. As a teenager, Sparky was socially awkward, timid around his peers. Sparky never once asked a girl out on a date in High School because he was too afraid of being turned down. He joined the High School Golf Team in an attempt to fit in, but it backfired because he was terrible in this sport. He wasn’t very good either with academics. He failed every subject in the eighth grade, and in High School he flunked Algebra, English, Physics and Latin.

However, there was one thing Sparky enjoyed and considered himself good at it: Drawing. He was proud of his artwork—though not everyone shared his view of it or appreciated it.

In his Senior Year of High School, Sparky submitted some cartoons to the editors of the Yearbook, but the cartoons were rejected for entry to the publication. Despite this set back, Sparky believed he could succeed as a professional artist.

After High School graduation, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios. He was told to send some samples of his work along with a suggested subject for a cartoon. Sparky spent a great deal of time working on the cartoon idea, along with his drawings, before submitting it to Disney Studios. After a long wait, he heard back and his proposal had been rejected. He viewed this rejection, after a series of failures, to be another loss for a loser. This is what he thought of himself. However, curiously, it was this feeling that gave him the idea of writing his autobiography into his cartoons. He began to describe through the cartoons his childhood self: a little boy loser and chronic underachiever. The cartoon character who personified this self-image soon became famous worldwide.

Sparky, the young boy who faced rejection and losing repeatedly, was none other than Charles Schulz. He created Peanuts and the cartoon character who never succeeded in kicking the football—and is known affectionately worldwide today as Charlie Brown.

I tell this story today to remind us that you never know the potential for success one has in life once a person figures out what God created them to do. Every life has a purpose in God’s design and it is our great discovery to find what God has crafted us to do. Also, it is our great responsibility to help the young ones, who fall within the shadow of our influence, to find their calling and purpose in life. This we do through guidance, patience, encouragement and lots of love.

This Sunday, in our 11:00 am Worship Service, we will celebrate and congratulate our recent graduates. This is our opportunity to acknowledge their accomplishment and affirm their future in God’s design. Who knows the potential of these graduates to impact the world positively and to further God’s Kingdom redemptively? So I hope you will be here and show your enthusiastic support for them all. The plan is this—

·       9:30 am Classic Worship Service—I will share the message: We Have This Ministry (2 Corinthians 4:1-18).
·       11:00 am Contemporary Worship Service—I will share the message (which is for all): If Jesus Addressed Our Graduates Today (Luke 12:48).

See you Sunday at one of these hours (or both if you like).

Devotedly yours,
Pastor Ron