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WITandWISDOM(tm) - August 25, 2005 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Our patience will achieve more than our force. - Edmund Burke Source: Inspire, http://www.inspirelist.com/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Martin couldn't understand how God could be a friend to him. Each night as he climbed into bed and huddled in terror under the heavy quilts, he thought about how he'd sinned again that day. How was God looking at him? God must be very angry, because Martin never seemed able to get through a day without doing wrong. Shivering under the covers, Martin pictured what God must be like. Probably a harsh, cruel judge banging His gavel as He shouted, "Aha, you've slipped again!" Day after day Martin tried to do better. He tried to be careful about his words, but almost every day his strong temper got him into trouble again. Then he felt so guilty that he hated to go to bed. Martin Luther was a grown man before he learned that God loves to forgive sinners who are sorry for their sins. Then Martin's attitude changed, and he could think of God as his friend. Until Martin came to understand God's love and forgiveness, he thought that in order to have peace in his mind he must try very hard to be good and not sin. When he became a monk and lived in a monastery, he went without food for days at a time. He whipped himself to drive away evil thoughts. He gave away all he owned. But nothing took away his guilty feelings.' Finally another monk told him what he was doing wrong. He was looking at himself when he should be looking at Jesus. "Instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins, throw yourself into the Redeemer's arms," his friend said. When Martin began reading Bible promises such as the one in our text today, he finally came to understand that God could forgive him. For the first time in his life the guilty feelings were gone, and he could sleep peacefully at night. Source: Climbing Jacob's Ladder, by Jeanne Larson & Ruth McLin, © Copyright 1979 by Review and Herald Publishing Association ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: EQUAL OPPORTUNITY...... HELP WANTED........ A local business was looking for office help. They put a sign in the window, stating the following: "HELP WANTED. Must be able to type, must be good with a computer and must be bilingual. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer." A short time afterwards, a dog trotted up to the window, saw the sign and went inside. He looked at the receptionist and wagged his tail, then walked over to the sign, looked at it and whined. Getting the idea, the receptionist got the office manager. The office manager looked at the dog and was surprised, to say the least. However, the dog looked determined, so he lead him into the office. Inside, the dog jumped up on the chair and stared at the manager. The manager said "I can't hire you. The sign says you have to be able to type." The dog jumped down, went to the typewriter and proceeded to type out a perfect letter. He took out the page and trotted over to the manager and gave it to him, then jumped back on the chair. The manager was stunned, but then told the dog "the sign says you have to be good with a computer." The dog jumped down again and went to the computer. The dog proceeded to enter and execute a perfect program, that worked flawlessly the first time. By this time the manager was totally dumb founded! He looked at the dog and said "I realize that you are a very intelligent dog and have some interesting abilities. However, I still can't give you the job." The dog jumped down and went to a copy of the sign and put his paw on the sentences that told about being an Equal Opportunity Employer. The manager said "yes, but the sign also says that you have to be bilingual". The dog looked at the manager calmly and said "Meow". Submitted by Jay Graham ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Never eat more than you can lift. - Miss Piggy Source: Quotes of the Day, http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: The San Francisco Post some time ago carried the story of a bookkeeper in a wholesale house in that city who for three weeks had spent sleepless nights in a vain attempt to balance his books. There was an apparent shortage of $900 that could not be accounted for. He added up columns again and again, until he was almost out of his mind. Finally, he consulted the business manager, and together they went over the books; but alas, the $900 deficit was still there. In desperation the owner was called in, and the work of overhauling the accounts started again. The men had not gone far before they came to an entry of $1,900. "Why, that should be $1,000!" declared the owner. "How did it happen to be entered $1,900?" A careful examination followed, revealing that a fly had been crushed between the pages of the book, and that one of its legs had made a tail on the first zero of the $1,000 entry, making it look like a 9. A small fly's leg is very small. Yet, in this case it was a very important little thing. Source: Adventist Review, ISSN 0161-1119, (c) November 2004, http://www.adventistreview.org/ Submitted by Mary Thayne