The life of J.C. Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards, is a true rags-to-riches story. Born to poor parents, J.C. was quickly put to work, mostly in sales, to help keep himself and his family afloat. Along with his brothers, he began selling postcards in Norfolk, Nebraska. But the postcard business wasn’t thriving there. So, with little else than a couple of shoe boxes of postcards, he moved to Missouri to start afresh. Full of innovative ideas, he moved on from postcards to greeting cards. When the store from which he operated burned down in 1915, he and his brothers invested in an engraving business and began printing their own cards.

But it wasn’t just the quality of the cards that burgeoned the business. It was Hall’s groundbreaking idea to move the cards from behind the counters, where clerks would pick an “appropriate” card for the customer, out into display cases where customers could see them, handle them, and admire them.

By the time he died in 1982, Hall had turned two shoe boxes of postcards into a multi-billion dollar company.

Says the Hallmark corporate website, “J.C. Hall took greeting cards out of drawers in retail stores, and into displays that let shoppers see all their choices, dramatically changing the way cards were merchandised.”

God did the same thing when He sent Jesus Christ into the world. That’s when the Word of Life was moved from behind the counters of prophecy, out of the drawers of prediction and placed in the display case of the first century for all the world to see, handle and admire. Today we have this wonderful display of our Lord in the New Testament.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us” (1 John 1:1-2). “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).

Think About It!

Have A Great Day!

Tom Moore
Park Heights church of Christ
P. O. Box 107
1300 East Boynton Street
Hamilton, Texas 76531
http://www.parkheightscoc.com
http://harrisandmoore.org
https://fromthepreacherspc.org/
http://www.syfirst.org
http://preachersfiles.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/preacherspc/

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and sings it back to you when you have forgotten how it goes.”