The 48.8 Million-dollar Elbow

I am sure by now you have heard of the elbow through the Picasso 'Le Reve' (The Dream).

Steve and Elaine Wynn were in a very good mood because he had just sold the Picasso for $139 million. He was showing the painting to some friends when the accident happened. He raised his hand to show them something about the painting -- and at that moment, his elbow crashed backwards right through the canvas. There was a terrible noise.

Wynn stepped away from the painting, and there, smack in the middle of Marie-Therese Walter's plump forearm, was a black hole the size of a silver dollar - or, to be more exactly, the size of the tip of Steve Wynn's elbow -- with two three-inch long rips coming off it in either direction. Steve Wynn has retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that damages peripheral vision, but he could see quite clearly what had happened.

"Oh _," he said. "Look what I've done."

The guests were speechless.

"Thank God it was me," he said.

For sure.

The word "money" was mentioned by someone, or perhaps it was the word "deal." The deal was off obviously.

Wynn said: "This has nothing to do with money. The money means nothing to me. It's that I had this painting in my care and I've damaged it."

The painting wound up in the hands of an art restorer, who has told Wynn that when he’s done with it, in six or eight weeks, you won’t be able to tell that Wynn’s elbow had passed through Marie-Thérèse Walter’s left forearm.

One Friday morning weeks after the accident, when Wynn’s alarm went off, at 7 A.M., his wife turned to him in bed and said, “I consider this whole thing to be a sign of fate. Please don’t sell the picture.” Later that morning, Wynn called and told the purchaser he wanted to keep the painting, after all.

So have I become an art collector extrodinaire; one who is well acquainted with the world of art and have many originals hanging in my modest home? No not at all. So what is the point?

The point is as Pastors, parents, and leaders we have something very precious in our care- it may be our children, or God's children. God forbid that we would damage what we have in our care! Some may be irrepairable!

1 Cor 8:9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. NIV
The reason for not showing the photo is because of the interpretation that some apply to it. I do not want to offend so that you miss the point of my post!