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Unprecedented, Tragic, Cowardly, Terror…
On September
11, 2001 the United States of America again felt the force of terrorists.
It was not the
first time, but it may well be the worst. As I
sat preparing sermon material, Bible Class material,
writing the final few lines of the poem appearing in
this issue of the Enon Endeavor, and working on
material for the ISOP James class, I received a note
via email instructing me to turn on the TV. I was
appalled at what I saw - one of the World Trade Center
Towers was burning and just then the other took a
direct hit from a hijacked Jet airplane. Shortly
thereafter, reports came in of an attack on the
Pentagon, and there followed many (thankfully) false
reports of bombs in various locations. The President
addressed the nation from Florida. Reports continued
to come in. The Twin Towers collapsed. For the first
time in my life, it seemed as if the United States of
America was in danger of dissolution.
Our hearts
are saddened by the events of 9-11-01, and as the various reporters and
officials have said, our
nation will never be the same again. I know that
I thought about things that morning that I had never
considered in just the same way before. I considered
the prospect of living in a nation that did not offer
the same freedoms we have enjoyed in ours. I thought
of the horrors of war, the loss, and the terror… My
prayers went up to God on behalf of our safety, and they
have not stopped. Faithful Christians, keep the
nation and its leaders in your prayers. Pray that
those who wish us harm will change their minds, and if
they will not, pray that they will fail in their attempts
to do us harm.
"The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). "For
the eyes of the
Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto
their prayers: but the face of the Lord is
against them that do evil" (I Peter 3:12).
Tim Smith
1272 Enon Road
Webb, AL 36376
(334) 899-8131 (334) 790-0137
[email protected]
Good Morning: It's Thursday September 13, 2001!
BIRTHDAYS: Walter Reed, 1851; Milton Hershey (founder of the Hershey candy empire), 1857; John Pershing, 1860; Claudette Colbert, 1905; Roald Dahl (British children's author), 1916; Mel Torme, 1925; Ernest Boyer, 1928; artist Robert Indiana, 1928; Fred Silverman, 1937; Judith "Miss Manners" Martin, 1938; Jacqueline Bisset, 1944; Nell Carter, 1948.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1759 the Battle of Quebec, between the
British and the French, was fought. It was a tie...
On this date in 1788 New York was selected as the capital
of the United States.
On this date in 1788 the first U.S. national election
was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
On this date in 1826 a rhinoceros was first exhibited
in the United States.
On this date in 1845 the Knickerbocker Club of New York
set down the first baseball rules.
On this date in 1880 the steamship DESSOUG arrived in
Alexandria, Egypt, to transport a priceless gift from the Khedive Ismail
to New York City. With some difficulty (and the cutting of a hole
in the ship's starboard bow) the 69 1/2-foot-high, 224-ton gift was put
safely aboard and brought to New York. In a year the 3,500-year-old
obelisk, known as CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE, was erected in Central Park.
On this date in 1922 Al-'Azizyah, Libya, recorded an
all-time high of 136.4 degrees F (no doubt in the shade too...)
On this date in 1948 Margaret Chase Smith was elected
to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in both houses of
Congress.
On this date in 1971 a 30-year old U.S. Marine captain,
Wayne Rollings, stationed in Hawaii, did 17,000 sit-ups in 7 hours, 27
minutes.
On this date in 1983 George McGovern, who amassed a grand
total of 17 electoral votes in 1972, announced his candidacy for the Democratic
presidential nomination. He said, "You have to do what you have to
do, and I have to do this."
On this date in 1984, while campaigning at the Grand
Ole Opry, President Reagan said, "The other side's promises are a little
like Minnie Pearl's hat. They both have big price tags hanging from
them."
On this date in 1987 Fred Rogers of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood"
departed for Moscow to appear on a Soviet children's TV program.
As you may have noticed, Mr. Rogers recently taped the last episode of
his long-running program. He is now retired.
On this date in 1993 Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Yasser
Arafat, PLO chairman, signed the Middle East peace accord. Maybe
it will take effect someday...
MEANINGLESS FACTS: The soft-hearted Russian Prince Piotr Lopukhin (1793-1827), Attorney General of Russia, was awarded his country's highest decoration for Humanism in 1798 because he prohibited the flogging of people over 70 years of age... A house in Littledean, England is not to be painted -- it was leased by the Kingston Family for a period of 395 years with but one stipulation, for the entire period the occupants can make no improvements or repairs!... Oxygen as a gas occupies 860 times as much space as when it is in liquid form. Believe it, or not.
TRIVIA: With what kind of fruit was the high-priest's garment decorated?
Here is one to think about: "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself" (Anonymous). The best of Thursdays to you!
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Thanks to a friend: Best Things to say if Caught
Sleeping At Your Desk...
"They told me at the blood bank this might happen."
"This is just a 15 minute power-nap as described in that
time management course you sent me."
"Whew! Guess I left the top off the White-Out You probably
got here just in time!"
"I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement
and envisioning a new paradigm."
"I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance."
"I was doing Yoga exercises to relieve work-related stress."
" Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out
a solution to our biggest problem."
"The coffee machine is broken..."
"Someone must've put decaf in the wrong pot..."
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"Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold" (Anonymous).
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Thanks to C. Johnson in the Susquehanna Sentinel (To
subscribe to this good free paper, email brother Johnson at [email protected]
and ask to be added).
I AM A SOLDIER
I am a soldier in the army of my God. The Lord Jesus
Christ is my commanding officer. The Holy Bible is my code of conduct.
Faith, prayer, and the Word are my weapons of warfare. I have been taught
by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by adversity, and tested
by fire. I am a volunteer in this army, and I am enlisted for eternity.
I will either retire in this army at the end of time,
or die in it; but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or pushed
out. I am faithful, reliable, capable, and dependable. If my God needs
me, I am there. If He needs me to teach a class, to teach my neighbor,
to help someone in need, or just to sit and learn, He can use me because
I am there! I am a soldier. I am not a baby. I do not need to be pampered,
petted, primed up, pumped up, picked up, or pepped up.
I am a soldier. No one has to call me, remind me, write
me, visit me, entice me, or lure me. I am not a wimp. I am in place, saluting
my King, obeying His orders, praising His name, and building His kingdom.
No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy, or give me handouts.
I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for, or catered to.
I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough
to turn me around. I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside. I cannot
lose enough to cause me to quit. When Jesus called me into this army, I
had nothing materially. If I end up with nothing, I will still come out
ahead. I will win spiritually. My God has supplied my needs, and will continue
to supply all of my needs.
I am more than a conqueror. I will always triumph. I
can do all things through Christ. Devils cannot defeat me. People cannot
disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles
cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me. Governments cannot silence me, and
hell cannot handle me, because I'm safe in my Savior.
I am a soldier. Even death cannot destroy me. For when
my commander calls me from this battlefield, He will promote me, and then
allow me to rule with Him. I am a soldier in the army, and I'm marching
claiming, victory. I will not give up. I will not turn around. I am a soldier,
and I am heaven bound, and here I stand! Will you stand with me as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ?
1 Tim. 6:12 says, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay
hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed
the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." author unknown,
from Brief Exchanges
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"All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" (Anonymous).
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ANSWER: Pomegranates -- Exodus 28:33 -- "And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the men thereof..."
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Good Morning: It's Friday September 14, 2001!
BIRTHDAYS: Alexander Von Humboldt (German scientist
after whom a Pacific current was named), 1769; Margaret Sanger, 1879; Jack
Hawkins, 1910; William H. Armstrong (children's author), 1914; Clayton
Moore, 1914; author Allan Bloom, 1930; Zoe Caldwell, 1933; Kate Millett,
1934; Joey Heatherton, 1944; John Steptoe (children's author), 1950; Mary
Crosby, 1959.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1321 Dante died. One of my favorite
passages from his work: "Midway on our life's journey, I found myself
in dark woods, the right road lost. To tell about those woods is
hard -- so tangled and rough and savage that thinking of it now, I feel
the old fear stirring: death is hardly more bitter. And yet,
to treat the good I found there as well I'll tell what I saw, though how
I can to enter I cannot well say, being so full of sleep whatever moment
it was I began to blunder off the true path..." (Inferno, Canto 1, lines
1-10; A new verse Translation by Robert Pinsky, 9th printing, 1999; Farrar,
Straus and Giroux).
On this date in 1741 one of my favorite composers, George
Friedrich Handel, completed THE MESSIAH after 23 days of work.
On this date in 1778 Benjamin Franklin was appointed
American minister to France.
On this date in 1814 Francis Scott Key wrote the words
of the national Anthem as the British shelled Fort McHenry. The melody
of "The Star-Spangled Banner" came from an old English drinking song, "Anachreon
in Heaven".
On this date in 1847 General Winfield Scott invaded the
Halls of Montezuma and took possession of Mexico City. In the peace
treaty that followed, the U.S. acquired more than a half-million square
miles of territory in California and the Southwest, the recognition of
the U.S. annexation of Texas, and the establishment of the Rio Grande as
a boundary. Mexico received $15 million.
On this date in 1860 Niagara Falls was illuminated for
the first time.
On this date in 1886 George Anderson patented the typewriter
ribbon.
On this date in 1901 Theodore Roosevelt bacame the 26th
President of the United States.
On this date in 1940 Congress passed the Selective Service
and Training Act, providing for the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
On this date in 1981 ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT premiered
on television.
On this date in 1982 Princess Grace of Monaco died of
injuries sustained when the car she was riding in with her 17-year old
daughter Stephanie plunged down a 45-foot embankment.
MEANINGLESS FACTS: William Lilly (1602-1681), celebrated
English astrologer, served as an official fortune teller in the British
Army -- to improve morale by predictions of victory... Drum Castle in Scotland
has been occupied by the Irvine family continuously for over 635 years...
In Oregon in 1852 salt and gold had the same value. Believe it, or
not.
TRIVIA: What man (in the Bible) wore bracelets?
Elie Wiesel said, "Peace is
our gift to each other." May that gift be given soon.
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From Gradowith Poems...
……….When I Have A Problem……….
When I have a problem, don't know what to do,
When I need someone to help me make it through:
I kneel in my closet and ask Him to lead,
And He gives the strength that I so badly need.
That's the best place to start; I think so, don't you?
Then I get my Bible, God's blest Holy Word,
Given through the Spirit by Jesus, the Lord;
All things that pertain unto life are revealed,
And in it not one thing I need is concealed!
I wield it in faith, that mighty Spirit's Sword.
Precept upon precept and line upon line
Remind me that my life is not really mine:
In Him I live and move and have my being,
And, Oh! The great comfort I find in seeing
That come Judgment Morning all things will be fine.
Sometimes to the faithful of God I may turn,
Knowing that they will understand how I yearn...
I ask for the counsel of those who have trod
The road I now walk in the service of God,
Great comfort I find in seeing their concern.
I'm thankful to God for the wonderful plan
That comforts and guides and directs poor, lost man!
Thank God for the One who paid in full the price,
Whose power and strength will forever suffice!
Thank God that even when I cannot -- He can.
02-09-01
..........H. L. Gradowith..........
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Thanks to AB: This is from a Canadian newspaper.
AMERICA : THE GOOD NEIGHBOR
Widespread, but only partial news coverage was given
recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair,
a Canadian television commentator.
What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks
as printed in the Congressional record:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the
Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people
on all the Earth. Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent, Britain
and Italy were lifted out of the debris of War by the Americans who poured
in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None
of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts
to the United States.
When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was
the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and
swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When the earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United
States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities
were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.
The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions
of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries
are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd like
to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of
the United States dollar build its own airplane.
Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal
the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC-10?
If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines
except Russia fly American Planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting
a man or woman on the moon? You talk about the Japanese technocracy,
and you get radios. You talk about the German technocracy, and you
get automobiles.
You talk about the American technocracy, and you find
men on the moon. Not once, but several times and safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs in the store window
for everybody to look at.
Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded.
They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking
Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend
here.
When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking
down through age, it was Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania
and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose.
Both are still broke.
I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to
the help other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when
someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there
was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I am one Canadian
who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will
come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they
are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their
present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of those."
Stand Proud America!
Makes you proud to live here doesn't it??
THANKS,
ANTHONY VELEZIS
SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT
(204) -6639
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ANSWER: Saul -- II Samuel 1:10 -- "...and I took
the crown that was upon his (Saul's) head, and the bracelet that was on
his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord."
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Gradowiths
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