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WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 31, 2002 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Not everybody could be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service. - Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968) Civil rights leader, Cited in BITS & PIECES Source: Bits & Pieces: Home Delivery http://your.dailyinbox.com/bp/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: One of the great preachers of our time is Dr. Fred Craddock. Craddock tells a story about vacationing with his wife one summer in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. One night they found a quiet little restaurant, where they looked forward to a private meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. Craddock leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn't come over here." He didn't want anyone intruding on their privacy. But sure enough, the man did come over to their table. "Where you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice. "Oklahoma," Craddock answered. "Splendid state, I hear, although I've never been there," the stranger said. "What do you do for a living?" "I teach homiletics at the graduate seminary of Phillips University," Craddock replied. "Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a story to tell you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with Craddock and his wife. Dr. Craddock said he groaned inwardly and thought to himself, "Oh, no! Here comes another preacher story! It seems like everybody has at least one." The man stuck out his hand. "I'm Ben Hooper," he said. "I was born not far from here across the mountains. My mother wasn't married when I was born, so I had a pretty hard time. When I started to school, my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn't a very nice name. I used to go off by myself at recess and lunch time because the things they said to me cut me so deep. What was worse was going to town on Saturday afternoons and feeling like every eye was burning a hole through me, wondering just who my father was. "When I was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in the church on me. Just about the time I got to the door I felt a big hand on my shoulder. I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me. 'Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?' he asked. I felt this big weight coming down on me. It was like a big black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down. But as he looked down at me, studying my face, he began to smile a big smile of recognition. 'Wait a minute!' he said. 'I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.' With that he slapped me across the rump and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.' The old man looked across the table at Fred Craddock and said, "Those were the most important words anybody ever said to me, and I've never forgotten them." With that, he smiled shook hands with Craddock and his wife, and moved on to another table to greet old friends. And as he walked away, Craddock - a native Tennessean himself - remembered from his studies of Tennessee history that on two occasions the people of Tennessee had elected to the office of governor men who had been born out of wedlock. One of them was a man named Ben Hooper. Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: INTERESTING SONG TITLES Does The Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight? I Changed Her Oil, She Changed My Life I Fell In A Pile Of You And Got Love All Over Me I Keep Forgettin' I Forgot About You I'm Just A Bug On The Windshield Of Life If Love Were Oil, I'd Be A Quart Low If The Phone Don't Ring, Baby, You'll Know It's Me Mama Get The Hammer (There's A Fly On Papa's Head) My Every Day Silver Is Plastic She Made Toothpicks Out Of The Timber Of My Heart Source: Gentle Humor, mailto:words@netcarrier .com?subject=GHSubscribe ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: This older Jewish man was on the operating table awaiting surgery and he insisted that his son, a renowned surgeon, perform the operation. As he was about to receive the anesthesia he asked to speak to his son. "Yes Dad, what is it?" "Don't be nervous, do your best and just remember, if it doesn't go well, if something happens to me.. your mother is going to come and live with you and your wife . . . Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: The Exercise Factor A new study has found that women who exercise vigorously while participating in a smoking-cessation program are twice as likely to kick the habit as smokers who take part in a program but don't work out regularly. The report, which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, also offers encouraging news to female smokers who fear that giving up tobacco and nicotine will lead to substantial weight gain. Research found that women who exercised as they tried to quit gained only about six pounds on average, while non-exercisers gained 12 pounds. Study author Bess Marcus, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, comments: "There seems to be a new drug every day to help you quit smoking. But this study suggests that there's a drug-free alternative." By Bennie M. Currie, Associated Press Source: Reader's Digest, Copyright (c) October 1999, http://www.readersd |