Good Morning: It's Monday February
19, 2001!
BIRTHDAYS: Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473; Merle Oberon, 1911; Eddie
Arcaro, 1916; Lee Marvin, 1924; Smokey Robinson, 1940; Mama Cass Elliot,
1941; Prince Andrew, Duke of York, 1960; Justine Bateman, 1966.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1878 the phonograph was patented by Thomas Edison,
and the phrase "turn that down or you're grounded" entered the language.
On this date in 1881 Kansas became the first state to prohibit all
alcoholic beverages.
On this date in 1945 thirty-thousand U.S. Marines landed on the Japanese
island of Iwo Jima.
On this date in 1984 Phil and Steve Mahre took the gold and silver
medals in the slalom, becoming the first brothers to win in the same event
at the Olympics.
On this date in 1986 the U.S.S.R. launched the MIR space station into
earth's orbit.
MEANINGLESS FACTS: The name of the dog shown on a Cracker Jack
box is Bingo. The little sailor boy is, of course, Jack... Since
1912 more than 16 million toys have been given away in Cracker Jack boxes...
The average kid eats 33 quarts of popcorn per year.
TRIVIA: When Absalom slew Amnon for raping Tamar, where did he
flee?
How about a bit of graffiti to get our Monday
up and running: "An optimist invented the boat; a pessimist invented
the life preserver." (Anonymous) A happy Monday to each of
you!
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Thanks to LBS: I loved you enough....
Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that
motivates a parent, I will tell them:
I loved you enough... to ask where you were going, with whom, and what
time you would be home.
I loved you enough... to insist that you save your money and buy a
bike for yourself even though we could afford to buy one for you.
I loved you enough... to be silent and let you discover that your new
best friend was a creep.
I loved you enough... to make you go pay for the bubble gum you had
taken and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."
I loved you enough... to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned
your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.
I loved you enough... to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears
in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.
I loved you enough... to let you assume the responsibility for your
actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough... to say NO when I knew you would
hate me for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad
I won them, because in the end you won, too.
And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic
that motivates parents, you will tell them....
Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the
whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal,
eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had
to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that
was different from what other kids had, too. Mother insisted on knowing
where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She
had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She
insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone
for an hour or less. We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve
to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes,
make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash
and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking
of more things for us to do. She always insisted on us telling the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers,
she could read our minds. Then, life was really tough! Mother wouldn't
let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come
up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when
they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16. Because of our mother
we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us
have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever
arrested for any crime. It was all her fault. Now that we have left
home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our
best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that is what's
wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms.
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From a Friend: WHO AM I?
Who am I? I was born in 1725, and I died 1807. The only godly influence
in my life, as far back as I can remember, was my mother, whom I had for
only seven years. When she left my life through death, I was virtually
an orphan.
My father remarried, sent me to a strict military school, where
the severity of discipline almost broke my back. I couldn't stand
it any longer, and I left in rebellion at age of ten. One year later,
deciding that I would never enter formal education again, I became a seaman
apprentice, hoping somehow to step into my father's trade and learn at
least the ability to skillfully navigate a ship.
By and by, through a process of time, I slowly gave myself over to
the devil. And I determined that I would sin to my fill without restraint,
now that the righteous lamp of my life had gone out.
I did that until my days in the military service, where again discipline
worked hard against me, but I further rebelled. My spirit would not break,
and I became increasingly more and more a rebel. Because of a number of
things that I disagreed with in the military, I finally deserted, only
to be captured like a common criminal and beaten publicly several times.
After enduring the punishment, I again fled. I entertained thoughts
of suicide on my way to Africa, deciding that would be the place I could
get farthest from anyone that knew me. And again I made a pact with
the devil to live for him.
Somehow, through a process of events, I got in touch with a slave trader,
and I lived in his home. His wife, who was brimming with hostility,
took a lot of out on me. She beat me, and I ate like a dog
on the floor of the home. If I refused to do that, she would whip
me with a lash.
I fled penniless, owning only the clothes on my back, to the shoreline
of Africa where I built a fire, hoping to attract a ship that was passing
by.
The skipper thought that I had gold or slaves or ivory to sell and
was surprised because I was a skilled navigator. And it was there
that I virtually lived for a long period of time.
It was a slave ship. It was not uncommon for as many as six hundred
blacks from Africa to be in the hold of the ship, down below, being taken
to America. I went through all sorts of narrow escapes with death
only a hairbreadth away on a number of occasions. One time I opened some
crates of rum and got everybody on the crew drunk. The skipper, incensed
with my actions, beat me, threw me down below, and I lived on stale bread
and sour vegetables for an unendurable amount of time. He brought
me above to beat me again, and I fell overboard. Because I couldn't swim,
he harpooned me to get me back on the ship. And I lived with the
scar in my side, big enough for me to put my fist into, until the day of
my death.
On board, I was inflamed with fever. I was enraged with the humiliation.
A storm broke out, and I wound up again in the hold of the ship, down among
the pumps. To keep the ship afloat, I worked along as a servant of
the slaves. There, bruised and confused, bleeding, diseased, I was the
epitome of the degenerate man.
I remembered the words of my mother. I cried out to God, the
only way I knew, calling upon His grace and His mercy to deliver me, and
upon His Son to save me.
The only glimmer of light I would find was in a crack in the ship in
the floor above me, and I looked up to it and screamed for help.
God heard me.
Thirty-one years passed, and I married a childhood sweetheart.
Then I entered the ministry.
In every place that I served, rooms had to be added to the building
to handle the crowds that came to hear the gospel that was presented and
the story of God's grace in my life. The tombstone above my head
reads, "Born 1725, died 1807. A clerk, once an infidel and libertine,
a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed
to preach the faith he once long labored to destroy." I decided before
my death to put my life's story in verse. And that verse has become a hymn.
My name? John Newton. The hymn? "Amazing Grace."
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ANSWER: He went to Geshur and stayed 3 years with Talmai, the
son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. II Samuel 13:1-39.
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Good Morning: It's Tuesday February 20, 2001!
BIRTHDAYS: Voltaire, 1694; Ansel Adams, 1902; John Daly, 1914;
Gloria Vanderbilt, 1924; Robert Altman, 1925; Sidney Poitier, 1927; Bobby
Unser, 1934; Sandy Duncan, 1946; Peter Strauss, 1947; Jennifer O'Neill,
1949; Edward Albert, 1951; Charles Barkley, 1963.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1437 Scotland's King James I was murdered. He
had ruled with more than an iron fist throughout his thirteen-year reign.
He treated his nobles harshly; and he approved some very unpopular laws.
He forbade drinking after 9 P.M.; he banned his subjects from playing football;
he ordered his people to wear clothes appropriate to their social status;
and he imprisoned any unemployed person who failed to seek a new job.
His reforms didn't garner praise or support. While he was visiting
a priory at Perth, his cousin Sir Robert Stewart, Sir Robert Graham, and
eight soldiers murdered the unpopular monarch.
On this date in 1792 George Washington signed an act that created the
U.S. Postal Service.
On this date in 1938 Great Britain's Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
resigned in protest of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement
policy toward Nazi Germany. It would serve as an inspiration to the
nation in the years to come.
On this date in 1946 the Council of Economic Advisers to the President
of the United States was established. That's why we haven't had any
economic trouble since then...
On this date in 1962 Lt. Colonel John Glenn became the first American
in orbit as he circled the earth three times in Friendship 7.
On this date in 1971 Radio and Television stations nationwide left
the air for a national emergency... well, at least that's what they thought
was happening. When the momentary panic subsided it was realized
that a false alarm had been sounded.
MEANINGLESS FACTS: Mickey Mouse's nephews are Morty and Ferdy...
The original voice of Mickey Mouse was Walt Disney... Mussolini's favorite
cartoon character was Donald Duck.
TRIVIA: What was Donald Duck's middle name?
Here is a quote from birthday-boy Voltaire:
"Work banishes those three great evils -- boredom, vice and poverty."
Makes sense...
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Thanks to LBS: The Eagle Flys
Did you know that an eagle knows that a storm is approaching long before
it breaks? The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the
winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind
will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below,
the eagle is soaring above it. It rises on the winds that bring the
storm.
When the storms of life come upon us -and all of us experience them-we
can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God.
The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God's power to
lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm
that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives.
We can soar above the storm. Remember, it is not the burdens of life
that weigh us down, it is how we handle them! The Bible says, "Those
who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on
wings like eagles." Isaiah 40:31.
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Thanks to a friend: It Was in Your Eyes
It was a bitter, cold evening in northern Virginia many years
ago. The old man's beard was glazed by winter's frost while he waited for
a ride across the river. The wait seemed endless. His body became numb
and stiff from the frigid north wind.
He heard the faint, steady rhythm of approaching hooves galloping
along the frozen path. Anxiously, he watched as several horsemen rounded
the bend. He let the first one pass by without an effort to get his attention.
Then another passed by, and another. Finally, the last rider neared the
spot where the old man sat like a snow statue. As this one drew near, the
old man caught the rider's eye and said, "Sir, would you mind giving an
old man a ride to the other side? There doesn't appear to be a passageway
by foot."
Reining his horse, the rider replied, "Sure thing. Hop aboard."
Seeing the old man was unable to lift his half-frozen body from the ground,
the horseman dismounted and helped the old man onto the horse. The horseman
took the old man not just across the river, but to his destination, which
was just a few miles away.
As they neared the tiny but cozy cottage, the horseman's curiosity
caused him to inquire, "Sir, I notice that you let several other riders
pass by without making an effort to secure a ride. Then I came up and you
immediately asked me for a ride. I'm curious why, on such a bitter winter
night, you would wait and ask the last rider. What if I had refused and
left you there?"
The old man lowered himself slowly down from the horse, looked
the rider straight in the eyes, and replied, "I've been around these here
parts for some time. I reckon I know people pretty good." The old-timer
continued, "I looked into the eyes of the other riders and immediately
saw there was no concern for my situation. It would have been useless even
to ask them for a ride. But when I looked into your eyes, kindness and
compassion were evident. I knew, then and there, that your gentle spirit
would welcome the opportunity to give me assistance in my time of need."
Those heartwarming comments touched the horseman deeply. "I'm
most grateful for what you have said," he told the old man. "May I never
get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others
with kindness and compassion."
With that, Thomas Jefferson turned his horse around and made
his way back to the White House.
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Thanks to LBS for this "test". Answers are to appear on the list
tomorrow.
1. The maker doesn't want it; the buyer doesn't use it; and the user
doesn't see it. What is it?
2. A child is born in Boston, Massachusetts to parents who were
both born in Boston, Massachusetts. The child is not a United States citizen.
How is this possible?
3. Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest
mountain on Earth?
4. Clara Clatter was born on December 27th, yet her birthday is always
in the summer. How is this possible?
5. Captain Frank and some of the boys were exchanging old war
stories. Art Bragg offered one about how his grandfather led a battalion
against a German division during World War I. Through brilliant maneuvers
he defeated them and captured valuable territory. After the battle he was
presented with a sword bearing the inscription "To Captain Bragg for Bravery,
Daring and Leadership. World War I. From the Men of Battalion 8." Captain
Frank looked at Art and said, "You really don't expect anyone to believe
that yarn, do you?" What's wrong with the story?
6. What is one thing that all wise men, regardless of their religion
or politics, agree is between heaven and earth?
7. In what year did Christmas and New Year's fall in the same
year?
8. A woman from New York married ten different men from that
city, yet she did not break any laws. None of these men died, and she never
divorced. How was this possible?
9. Why are 1990 American dollar bills worth more than 1989 American
dollar bills?
10. How many times can you subtract the number 5 from 25?
11. How could you rearrange the letters in the words "new door" to
make one word? Note: There is only one correct answer.
12. Even if they are starving, natives living in the Arctic will
never eat a penguin's egg. Why not?
13. Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white"
or "The yolk of the egg is white"?
14. In Okmulgee, Oklahoma, you cannot take a picture of a man
with a wooden leg. Why not?
15. There were an electrician and a plumber waiting in line for
admission to the International Home Show. One of them was the father of
the other's son. How could this be possible?
16. After the new Canon Law that took effect on November 27,
1983, would a Roman Catholic man be allowed to marry his widow's sister?
17. How many outs are there in an inning?
18. How many animals of each sex did Moses take on the Ark?
19. A clerk in the butcher shop is 5' 10" tall. What does
he weigh?
20. A farmer has 17 sheep and all but 9 die. How many are left?
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ANSWER: Fauntleroy.
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