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WITandWISDOM(tm) - June 23, 2003 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "If you treat people right they will treat you right ... ninety percent of the time." - Franklin D. Roosevelt Source: Quotes of the Day, mailto:rheamo@centurytel.net?subject=Subscribe_Quotes_of_the_Day ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: God's under the Bed By Kelly Adkins My brother Kevin thinks God lives under his bed. At least that's what I heard him say one night. He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped outside his closed door to listen. "Are you there, God?" he said. "Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed." I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin's unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world in which Kevin lives. He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult. He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas, and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them. I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life? Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, returning to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed. The only variation in the entire scheme are laundry days, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child. He does not seem dissatisfied. He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work. He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day's laundry chores. And Saturdays--oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger. "That one's goin' to Chi-car-go!" Kevin shouts as he claps his hands. His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights. I don't think Kevin knows anything exists outside his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips He doesn't know what it means to be discontent. His life is simple. He will never know the entanglements of wealth or power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. He recognizes no differences in people, treating each person as an equal and a friend. His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be. His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it. He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax. He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure. He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue. Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God. Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to Christ, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God-- to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an "educated" person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion. In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith. It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions. It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap -- I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances -- they all become disabilities when I do not submit them to Christ. Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of the Lord. And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I'll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed. Kevin won't be surprised at all.... By Kelly Adkins mailto:kellyadkins@earthlink.net This story was originally published in Campus Life in 1993. Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Nun But The Brave A Warwickshire, England, man has begun dressing as a nun when he drives because he was fed up with aggressive drivers. Shane Ryan, 40, says other drivers are much nicer when he's wearing his habit, giving up parking spaces for him and waving him through intersections first. Ryan says it all started when he went to a costume party dressed as a nun and noticed how polite motorists were to him. "The habit's the answer to my prayers," he said, "I might look ridiculous but driving is bliss." From: Ananova http://ananova.com Source: The Oregonian, Copyright (c) January 11, 2003, http://www.oregonian.com/ Submitted by Barbara Henry ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: In our pediatric office, I answered the phone to hear a frantic parent say she was at a Chinese restaurant, and her son had gotten a piece of paper lodged in his nostril. They came over, and the doctor examined the boy. When the exam room door opened, the doctor was holding the fortune from the child's cookie. It read "You will prosper in medical research." Contributed by Kerri Pace Jackson Source: Reader's Digest, Copyright (c) March 2000, http://www.readersdigest.com/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Some black skimmers (black-and-white gull-like water birds) decided to set up housekeeping on one of the parking lots of a large chemical plant on the Texas coast. The lot was covered with crushed sea shells, and apparently the skimmers thought that it was a beach and established a colony there. Years went by, and the company ran national ads showing how the skimmers could live in the midst of the smoke and smells of a large chemical-producing complex. Then one day an executive had the shells graded off. The lot produced a nice stand of goose grass. The skimmers, which don't nest in goose grass, went elsewhere, and the company was in for some bad publicity for not continuing to take care of its skimmers. The board of managers ordered that the lot be returned to the proper condition for skimmers. This was done, but the skimmers would not return. A wildlife expert was hired to get the skimmers back. His technique was simple. He had a pair of plastic models made to look exactly like the skimmers. He placed the decoys on the new shell lot and waited. His plan worked. When real skimmers saw what appeared to be a pair of their own kind sitting on the lot, they stopped by for a visit. Soon the lot was again covered with nesting skimmers. Additional experiments with the decoys showed that if the decoys were facing a certain direction, arriving birds would position themselves to face in the same direction, even when they would be facing into the wind - something that no skimmer would do naturally. When they wanted the skimmers to start nesting, they put the decoys off to themselves and very close together; the next day all of the skimmers began their nesting rituals. Source: Glimpses of God's Love by James A. Tucker and Priscilla Tucker, Copyright (c) 1983 by Review and Herald Publishing Association, http://isbn.nu/0828002169 Submitted by Nancy Simpson |