Good Morning: It's Thursday April 19,
2001!
BIRTHDAYS: Don (Maxwell Smart) Adams, 1927; Hugh O'Brian, 1930;
Jayne Mansfield, 1932; Dudley Moore, 1935; Frank Viola Jr., 1960.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1775 the American Revolutionary War started with what
was later called "the shot heard round the world." British troops
were met in the village square at Lexington by Captain John Parker and
a prepared group of armed farmers. They were ready to fight because
they had been warned by Paul Revere and WIlliam Dawes the night before
that the British had landed.
On this date in 1897 the first Boston marathon was run.
On this date in 1951 General Douglas MacArthur gave his farewell speech
to a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Removed from his command
by President Harry S Truman, MacArthur's military career ended with a few
memorable words. He recalled the song about old soldiers that never
die, saying: "like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my
military career and just fade away."
On this date in 1956 Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III.
On this date in 1982 Astronauts Sally Rode and Guion Bluford, Jr. became
the first woman and first Black selected for the NASA program.
MEANINGLESS FACTS: Mario Andretti, John Elway, Jerry Falwell,
Jose Canseco and Billy Dee Williams are all twins... Stephen King, Michael
Douglas, Alan Ladd and Johnny Carson were all gas station attendants...
Julio Iglesias is so intensely superstitious that he'll leave a dinner
table if salt is spilled. And if he hears really bad news, he'll
remove all his clothing and dispose of it.
TRIVIA: What is the largest denomination of United States currency
ever minted?
Garrison Keillor, of NPR's Prairie Home Companion,
said, "Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting
what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see
is what you would have wanted had you known." Think about it, it
makes sense. On to the real stuff!
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Thanks to AB: THE LITTLE THINGS
When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are
going to take over my yard.
My kids see flowers for Mom and Dad, and blowing white fluff that you
can wish upon.
When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty
person who probably wants money and I look away.
My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.
When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have
much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen.
My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they
don't know them, they make up their own.
When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing
up my hair and pulling me back when I walk.
My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until
they fall to the ground laughing.
When I pray I say, "thee" and "thou", "grant me this", "give me that."
My kids say, "Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep
the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven yet. I
would miss my Mommy and Daddy."
When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty
carpets.
My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross and worms
to play with.
I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder
God loves the little children!
"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and
realize they were the big things!" ---author unknown
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From a friend:
Dr. Boris P. Dotsenko is a physics and mathematics professor in Canada,
and was once one of the most highly respected physicists in the Soviet
Union. He defected from the Soviet Union in the 1960s, when it became too
difficult to hide his growing Christian faith from prying government officials.
Growing up in an atheistic country, Dotsenko had no formal training in
religion. When he was in his early teens, Dotsenko happened to find fragments
of a Bible hidden in his grandfather's barn. As soon as he read the opening
of the Gospel of John, Boris Dotsenko knew that he had found the truth.
He took the Bible home and studied it in secret, but one day it disappeared
from his room. He never knew who took it. Years later, Dotsenko studied
under one of Russia's most prominent scientist. This brilliant and influential
man had a Bible in his study, and this impressed Dotsenko.Years later,
Dotsenko would learn that the government was becoming suspicious of him
and tracking his every move. Dotsenko's own wife and father were spying
on him and passing along information to the police about his Christian
beliefs. He felt it necessary to hide his beliefs from everyone. Finally,
he broke under the strain and attempted suicide. A few years later, the
Soviet government sent Dotsenko to Canada as a guest lecturer at a Canadian
university. His first night in Canada, he opened the drawer to his hotel
room and found a Gideon Bible. He opened the Bible to John's Gospel, and
began reading the words that had changed his life so many years ago.Soon
after that, Boris Dotsenko committed his life to Christ. He never returned
to the Soviet Union. --[Scientists Who Believe, edited by Eric C. Barrett
and David Fisher (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), 3-9.]. From the personal
collection of inspirational speaker King Duncan, www.goodstories.com.
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Thanks to AB: NOT MY FAULT!!
"Let's see if I understand the state of personal responsibility in
the America of the 1990s.
If a woman burns her thighs on the hot coffee she was holding in her
lap while driving, she blames the restaurant.
If your teen-age son kills himself, you blame the rock 'n' roll musician
he liked.
If you smoke three packs a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer
your family blames the tobacco company.
If your daughter gets pregnant by the football captain you blame the
school for poor sex education.
If your neighbor crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, you
blame the bartender.
If your cousin gets AIDS because the needle he used to shoot heroin
was dirty, you blame the government for not providing clean ones.
If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television.
And, if your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun
manufacturer.
God bless America, land of the free, home of the blame.
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Here's a Gradowith Poem: Come Back
'Tis sweet to think of heaven,
Where free from this worlds leaven,
We shall dwell with the Lord forever.
No teardrops shall dim the eye,
And no one shall ever die:
O! The fellowship none can sever.
The saints in white robes arrayed,
With no need to be afraid,
Nothing to it down here will compare;
All the faithful shall abide
Safely by the Savior's side,
Heav'n awaits all those who will prepare.
Why do you wait, my brother?
There is hope in no other,
Come to Jesus and live evermore;
On the cruel cross He died,
For you He was crucified,
O! Prepare to meet Him on that shore!
Tomorrow you may not see,
Come from your sins be set free,
There's no hope in procrastination.
O brother, do not delay,
Come back to Jesus today:
He's your only hope for salvation!
H. L. Gradowith
September 2, 2000
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ANSWER: A $100,000 bill which bore a portrait of Woodrow Wilson
was the largest denomination of U.S. currency minted.
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