BITS and PIECES
280th Edition – February 1, 2026
A random collection of news and views compiled by Frank McClelland for the Toronto Free Presbyterian Church.
WILL THE GRASS BE GREENER?
An interesting little story appeared in ‘Golf Digest’ some time ago. It concerned two men, both English, famous and deceased.
The first man was a fighter pilot in World War II. He was an ace flier and shot down thirty enemy aircraft in the Battle of Britain. That in itself was remarkable, but it is made more amazing by the fact that he had no legs. He lost them in a crash in 1931. He was the famous Sir Douglas Bader.
The second man was famous for a different reason. Educated at Cambridge, he became a Member of Parliament in the 1940’s. Then he turned to journalism and became a golf commentator, simply the best, for BBC. His name was Henry Longhurst.
In his seventies, Longhurst was found to have cancer. He had to retire and spend his last days in his English home. His friend, Douglas Bader, visited him every week, and the two would talk politics and sport.
One day, when Longhurst was sensing his demise, he asked Bader, “Will the grass be greener on the other side?” Longhurst died a few days later. The answer to that question cannot come from anyone now living because they have not visited ‘the other side.’ Only One has been there and came back to tell us what lies beyond the grave. That One is Jesus Christ.
The columnist who told this story ended his article by repeating Longhurst’s question, and then added, “We can only wait and see.” That is an unwise comment. It means we sail through life not knowing what our destination may be.
The Bible teaches that “the grass is greener” for the Christian. Make sure you will be there to enjoy it by coming to Christ. When the writer was a boy, the local bus company ran ‘mystery tours’ on a summer evening. You paid your fare and off you went, not knowing where you were going.
Sadly, there are many who treat life as a ‘mystery tour.’ They have no idea where they are going when they die.
THE MEMORY OF TIME
The past does not exist except in memory. Every movement we make, every action we take, is gone into the past, never to be recovered. That is why there is such a
preoccupation with photographs and videos that record past events. We like to hang onto the past, but the fact is, it does not exist. The moments are gone and gone forever.
Our eyes look forward and cannot see the past being swallowed up behind us, as the waters of the Red Sea closed behind Israel. Because the past is forever gone, we cannot change any action or deed we have done, whether good or bad. Many a time we have all said, ‘if I could only turn the clock back.’ But we cannot.
That raises the obvious question, ‘How do we deal with the sinful things we have done?’ We cannot bring them back to modify or obliterate them. They exist only as records in the book of God.
Our memories are imperfect, but God’s memory is infinite. Each ‘tiny’ transgression is seen. How can we obliterate them from the mind of God? The answer is, we cannot, without the help of God Himself.
Here we are brought face to face with the amazing mercy of the Lord. God says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” [Isaiah 1:18].
Our sins, past events in time that we cannot amend or correct, can be totally obliterated. This can happen only through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
When we accept Christ as our Saviour, He says, “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” [Isaiah 43:25]. What a monumental blessing!
TIME
When as a child I laughed and wept,
TIME CREPT
When as a youth I dreamed and talked,
TIME WALKED
When I became a full-grown man,
TIME RAN
Later as I older grew,
TIME FLEW
Soon I shall find while travelling on,
TIME GONE
Will Christ have saved my soul by then?
[From a clock in Chester Cathedral, UK]
