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WITandWISDOM(tm) - August 20, 1999 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "We see things not the way they are but the way we are." - Ben Weininger and Henry Rabin (E-zine: WEEKEND ENCOUNTER http://www.gospelcom.net/actsi/weekly/) ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Four years after the "Titanic" disaster, a young Scotsman stood up in a meeting in Hamilton, Ontario, and said: "I am a survivor of the "Titanic." When I was drifting alone on a spar on that awful night, the tide brought Mr. John Harper (an evangelist) of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. 'Man,' he said, 'are you saved?' "'No,' I said, 'I am not.' "He replied, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' The waves bore him away; but, strange to say, brought him back a little later, and he said: 'Are you saved now?' "'No,' I said, 'I cannot honestly say that I am.' "He said again, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,' and shortly after went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper's last convert." By Jesse C. Stevens, Signs of the Times, August 19, 1941 (Dale Galusha ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: The Pope was traveling to a much anticipated, historic meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations. Preparations for the meeting had begun months earlier, and the Pope, now restless from his long journey, eagerly anticipated his arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City. As the pilot started his approach, he was instructed to land at Newark Airport in New Jersey rather than JFK Airport as planned. Then because of unsafe wind conditions, the aircraft was forced into a holding pattern, further delaying the arrival by more than an hour. When the plane finally touched down at Newark Airport, the Pope, now a bit agitated, was whisked away in a limousine to his conference with the Secretary General at the U.N. building in Midtown Manhattan. With only minutes to go before the meeting was scheduled to begin, the Pope sat anxiously in the back seat of the limousine. "Can you drive a bit faster my son?" the Pope gently asked the chauffeur. "I have a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations. There are more than two hundred dignitaries awaiting my arrival, and the outcome of this meeting could have a dramatic effect on world events. I must not be late." "I'm terribly sorry Your Holiness," the limousine driver begged, "but I can't afford another speeding ticket. I already have been warned that if I receive one more violation I will lose my license. Surely you understand. I have a wife and three children at home. I'm very, very sorry." The Pope responded sympathetically to the worried driver, then asked him to stop the car. To the chauffeur's astonishment, the Pope got out of the limousine, tapped on the driver's door and told him that he would drive the rest of the way. The driver moved to the back seat and the Pope got behind the wheel and sped off toward his appointment. Driving much faster than the chauffeur would have dared, the Pope darted in and out of traffic, narrowly missing several parked cars. Observing the speeding limousine, a New York City police officer promptly chased the vehicle and signaled it to pull over. "Let me handle this one," the notoriously tough officer announced to his partner. "These big shots think they can order their chauffeurs to speed around my city in their big limousines. Well they're not going to get away with it as long as I'm around. Before I'm through with this guy he'll have at least five tickets to pay! I'll make sure this is the sorriest day of his life." After only a minute, the visibly shaken officer returned to his squad car with his ticket book still unopened. "You didn't write him a single ticket?" his partner protested. "What happened?" "I couldn't write him a ticket," the first officer said sheepishly. "This guy is big, I mean really big." "Who was it?" his partner asked. "The Mayor of New York City?" "No, bigger than that," the first officer assured him. "Well was it the Governor of New York State?" "No, bigger than that." "Don't tell me," the policeman cried, "you didn't pull over the President of the United States?" "No, he's even bigger than that!" the first officer insisted. "Bigger than the President of the United States? Who in the world is bigger than the President of The United States?" "Well I'm not exactly sure who he is," said the first officer, "but the Pope is his chauffeur!" (Linda M Keeney) ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: The preacher was growing concerned about sparse attendance, so he published this item in the church bulletin: This . . . is . . . the . . . way . . . the . . . church . . . sometimes . . . looks . . . to . . . the . . . preacher . . . when . . . he . . . goes . . . into . . . the . . . pulpit. "Itwouldlooklikethisifeverybodybroughtsomebodyelsetochurch." SERMON FODDER http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Sermon_Fodder ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Why is someone famous "in the limelight"? . . . . There are a lot of benefits to being famous, but getting your daily dose of vitamin C via a bright light isn't one of them. Limelight has nothing to do with citrus fruit, and it's not even green. Being in the limelight means the same thing as being in the spotlight. Limelight is what theaters used to light the stage with before modern lights were invented. It was called limelight because the source of the brightness was calcium oxide, the corrosive substance also known as lime. When burned, lime gave off an intense white light that fully exposed actors to the public gaze. So if you're in the limelight the spotlight is yours and all eyes are upon you. Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS http://mailbits.com/Trivia/Source/73.htm (E-zine: MAILBITS.COM http://www.MailBits.com/Trivia) |