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• Ezekiel 2:2
• Ezekiel was lifted up by the Holy Spirit in a time of crisis, and the same can happen to us today.
• Illustration: When Handel wrote the "Hallelujah Chorus," he was heavily in debt and his health was failing.

• His sign is a clenched fist.
• The oyster could choose to grumble and complain about the unfairness of its suffering.
• All of its grumblings would not adequately deal with the situation, because the grain of sand would still be there.

• His sign is a closed eye.
• The oyster could believe the words of the song that say: "If you wish long enough, wish strong enough, you will come to know that wishing will make it so."
• The oyster might deny that the grain of sand was there at all.
• The oyster might have passed of its pain as an error of the mind, and concentrated on positive thinking.
• All of these solutions would fail, because the grain of sand would still be there.

• His sign is the stiff upper lip.
• As a culture, we respond well to courage and heroism, to those who say, "My head is bloodied, but unbowed."
  Illustration: Marshall compares the band on the Titanic, which played hymns as the ship sank, with sailors in WWII, who sang "The Beer Barrel Polka" as their ship sunk.
• The oyster could say, "I'll never surrender," but the grain of sand would still be there.

• To be effective, a Christian must be both a realist and an idealist.
• In reality, the oyster carefully deposits a milky substance around the grain of sand and produces a pearl—a thing of beauty wrapped around trouble.

• Let us learn from the oyster, for life is a difficult game and these are trying times.
• Only the Spirit of God can lift us to our feet and change us for the better.
• Illustration: We enter heaven through the "pearly gates," which means we emerge triumphant in the midst of our troubles, by the grace of God.