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WITandWISDOM(tm) - February 10, 2000 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Love is the beginning, love is the middle, and love is the end. -Oswald Chambers (E-zine: SERMON FODDER Mailto:Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@onelist.com) ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Greg Brown is the pastor of Western Heights Baptist Church, LaGrange, Georgia. In an article entitled "Encounters at the Grocery Store," Brown shares of his church's attempts to reach unsaved people had produced no measurable result. So he spends some time in the parking lot of the Winn-Dixie grocery store, asking people their opinions on certain "religious" topics. He finds himself ministering to people he would otherwise have never met. Listen to him describe one event that reminds us all that we need to be careful not to judge someone by their appearance: "He gets off his black Harley. It's quiet, but the parking lot is still feeling the tremors of its powerful motor. He's about five foot tall with a black T-shirt, jeans, a biker's belt. His face is covered with hair. He wears copper bracelets. "My first thought: 'This guy is not a prospect for my church.' "I ask anyway, 'Excuse me, I'm conducting a religious opinion poll. Could I have about 60 seconds' worth of your opinions?' "The biker turns full face to me and smiles. 'Read it, man!' he says, pointing to his T-shirt. "Big letters, no mistaking, I read, 'Jesus Saves.' "Turns out he is in the Christian Bikers Association, or something like that. As he hands me a business card, he says, 'I'm on your team, man.' "I am stunned. "And before I can collect my next thought, he ends the conversation with a bear hug, saying, 'Hey, guy, thanks, for talking to me. Most people like you don't give me a chance.'" (from "Church Planting & Evangelism Today," Summer 1999) (The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, SwanLC@aol.com, July 19, 1999) (E-zine: MONDAY FODDER Mailto:dgaufaaa@iohk.com?subject=Subscribe_Monday_Fodder) ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: THOUGHTS ON RAISING KIDS . . . If it was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor! The smartest advice on raising children is to enjoy them while they are still on your side. The best way to keep kids at home is to give it a loving atmosphere . . . and hide the keys to the car. The joy of motherhood: What a woman experiences when all the children are finally in bed. Life's golden age is when the kids are too old to need baby-sitters and too young to borrow the family car. Grandparents are similar to a piece of string - handy to have around and easily wrapped around the fingers of grandchildren. There are three ways to get something done: Do it yourself, hire someone to do it, or forbid your children to do it. There are only two things a child will share willing: communicable diseases and his mother's age. Money isn't everything, but it sure keeps the kids in touch. An alarm clock is a device for awakening people who don't have small children. The people hardest to convince that it's time for retirement are children at bedtime. (Sharon Hamel) ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: People who love sausage and respect the law should never watch either of them being made. (E-zine: QUOTES DAILY Mailto:quotesdaily- subscribe@topica.com) ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Cleveland Clinic researchers found that the heart's recovery rate - how much the heartbeat slows after someone exercises to exhaustion and stops - can help doctors spot those patients needing aggressive treatment. Normally, when someone exercises to exhaustion and then stops, the heart rate drops 15 to 25 beats per minute. Lauer and colleagues found that for patients whose heart rate fell less than 12 beats one minute after exercising, the risk of dying within six years was four times greater than for those above the cutoff. - By Linda A. Johnson, The Associated Press, quoted in the Peninsula Daily News 10-28-1999 |