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WITandWISDOM(tm) - August 18, 2005 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. - Carlos Casteneda Source: Carol's Thought for Today, http://users.adelphia.net/~mrs.carol ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: I crept into the tiny rented room they used as their church sanctuary and sat down in the back row. Alone and broken, with fresh bleeding wounds, I pulled my shell around me to keep my real self from being seen. I'd lost one mate to cancer, and now another to divorce. I felt like a failure and was in total despair. But if I wanted to be invisible, I had picked the wrong church. "Hi, I am the pastor here. Glad you can be with us," he said as he introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Barbara," another member greeted me. "I'm so glad you came today." Even before the service began, every member had introduced himself or herself and had welcomed me. Many asked me to come again. I can't recall the sermon; I only know that it touched me in a way that made tears course down my cheeks. It may have been because of my delicate emotional state, but I could not check the flow. I felt ugly and embarrassed. When the benediction was over, I shot out the back door and past the pastor without a word. I noted his quizzical look, but I didn't pause to explain. I don't know how I had courage enough to return the following week, but I did. I guess it was because of my limited choices: I could stay home and nurse my hurts, return to my former church where my new ex and his family would be, or go back to the little church that I had attended the past week. The little church seemed the least of the three stressors. This time I was greeted as an old friend. Most of the women bugged me, and the men all shook my hand. At first I was turned off by their overfriendliness. I had never been a hugger, and those people were invading my space! But with each hug my shell slipped a little. Week after week the warm smiles and friendly hugs and handshakes began to win me over. With the security of that love I began to heal. The healing didn't happen all at once. It took a long, long time. Sometimes the process was painful. But I am loved - God loves me, and so does my church family. By Sherian Atkins Wills, Moneta, Virginia Source: Adventist Review, ISSN 0161-1119, (c) November 25, 2004, http://www.adventistreview.org/ Submitted by Mary Thayne ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: CARNAC THE MAGNIFICENT (Johnny Carson) . . . ANSWER: Gatorade. QUESTION: What does an alligator get on welfare? ANSWER: Bible belt. QUESTION: What holds up Oral Roberts' pants? ANSWER: Milk and honey. QUESTION: What do you get from a bee that has an udder? ANSWER: Black and white and twenty feet tall. QUESTION: Describe Sister Mary Kong. ANSWER: An unmarried woman. QUESTION: What was Elizabeth Taylor between 3 and 5 pm on June 1, 1952? ANSWER: Old wives tale. QUESTION: What do cannibals find hard to digest? ANSWER: Skalliwags. QUESTION: What does your skalli do when it's happy? ANSWER: "Rose Bowl." QUESTION: What do you say when it's Rose's turn at the bowling alley? ANSWER: That darn cat. QUESTION: Who ruined that darn rug? ANSWER: Grape Nuts. QUESTION: What are Ernest and Julio Gallo? ANSWER: Supervisor. QUESTION: What does Clark Kent wear to keep the sun out of his eyes? ANSWER: Shake-N-Bake. QUESTION: Describe a double feature with Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. Source: Top Greetings ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: One day a couple of rabbits found themselves chased by a pack of wolves. They dashed into a thicket and stood there for a moment, panting. "Well," one said to the other, "do you think we should keep running, or stay here till we outnumber them?" Submitted by Sarah Castle Source: Copyright © July 2002, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved., http://www.readersdigest.com/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Newspaper columnist Neil Steinberg, author of “If at All Possible, Involve a Cow: The Book of College Pranks (1992), reports on a 19th-century classic: Before a football game against Georgia Tech in 1896, Auburn University students greased the tracks at their town’s railway station. When the Georgia Tech team arrived, it took their train 10 miles to come to a stop, and the players had to hike all that distance back to the field. Georgia Tech lost 45-0. Source: Peninsula Daily News, April 25, 2005, http://peninsuladailynews.com