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WITandWISDOM(tm) - April 30, 2003 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts. - Edmund Burke ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Alexander Solzhenitsyn had been in the Gulag, a Soviet prison camp. He had been forced to do back-breaking labor until he came to the point of exhaustion. With little food and little rest, he was constantly watched by guards, never allowed to communicate with another human being. Never permitted a newspaper or magazine from the outside, he came to believe that he was forgotten by everyone, even God. In his despair, he decided to commit suicide, but he could not reconcile that act with the teachings of the Bible. Then he decided to end his misery by trying an escape, knowing that he would surely be shot. He rationalized that his death would then be at the hands of another and not his own doing. The appointed day came when he would put his fateful plan into action. Sitting under a tree during a brief respite from work, he glanced at the guards to see where they were positioned. Just as he started to jump and run, a prisoner he had never seen before stood in front of him. Looking into his eyes, Solzhenitsyn said he could see more love than he had ever seen before emanating from the eyes of another human being. The prisoner stooped down with a small twig in his hand and began to draw the symbol of the cross in the soil of Soviet Russia. When Solzhenitsyn saw the cross, he knew God had not forsaken him. He knew God was right there beside him in his deepest pit. Little did he realize that at that very moment, Christians all over the world were praying for his release, and within three days he would be sitting in Geneva, Switzerland, a free man. By Joe Brown, in Battle Fatigue, Published by Broadman & Holman Pub (March 1, 1995) ISBN: 080546154X pp. 136-137, http://isbn.nu/080546154X Source: The Timothy Report, Copyright (c) 2003 Swan Lake Communications, http://www.swanlake.twoffice.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: BUMPER SNICKERS: A squirrel is just a rat with good P.R. Help, I've fallen and I can't....Hey, nice carpet! Toad: what happens to an illegally parked frog. Compost! A rind is a terrible thing to waste! I can see clearly now, the brain is gone... Dijon vu: the feeling you've tasted that mustard before. Submitted by Duane E. Berry ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: An American scientist once visited the offices of the great Nobel Prize winning physicist, Neils Bohr, in Copenhagen, and was amazed to find that over his desk a horseshoe was nailed to the wall. The American said with a nervous laugh, "Surely you don't believe that horseshoe will bring you good luck, do you, Professor Bohr?" Bohr chuckled. "I believe no such thing, my good friend. Not at all. I am scarcely likely to believe in such foolish nonsense. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you good luck whether you believe in it or not!" Source: Colorado Comments, http://coloradocomments.com/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Essen, Germany (Bild): Because Wilibald Schmidt had not had a single accident the local motoring club in Essen, Germany, where he was a member, had invited him to receive an award for his "careful driving and good example to other motorists". He was on his way to collect an award for 25 years of accident free motoring was pulled up by police for driving without a licence. The German pensioner had to admit he did not have a driving licence when he was stopped at the routine roadside check. The 77-year-old had been forced to hand over his licence for driving offences 25 years earlier but had carried on driving illegally without it, reports German daily Bild. Source: White Board News, http://www.joeha.com/whiteboard/ |