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WITandWISDOM(tm) - April 11, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Strong people make as many and as ghastly mistakes as weak people. The difference is that strong people admit them, laugh at them, learn form them. This is how they become strong. - Richard Needham Source: Quote Lady's Quote of the Day, mailto:quote-a-day-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: The novelist, A. J. Cronin, tells a story from his own experience as a doctor that catches the wonder of the gift of grace. Cronin was a friend of the Adams family who lived in the Connecticut suburbs. At the close of the Second World War, Mr. and Mrs. Adams decided to open their home to a little refugee boy from Italy with the outlandish name of Paul Piotrostanalsi. The Adams had two daughters and a six-year old son named Sammy. Sammy and Paul became inseparable friends, but little Paul was a difficult child, and often disobeyed Mr. and Mrs. Adams. One day, little Paul went swimming in some contaminated water. He became very ill with a high fever, and the doctor suggested he sleep in an attic bedroom. But little Sammy missed his friend Paul so much that one night he crept up the attic stairs and into bed with Paul. Paul's contagious breath fell on Sammy's neck all night. In the morning, Sammy, never a strong child, became deathly ill. Paul recovered his health, but Sammy died within three days. It was a terrible tragedy for the Adams family. A year later Dr. Cronin decided to pay a call on the Adams family. But as he pulled into their driveway, he was amazed and then angry as he saw Paul, the refugee boy, working in the garden with Mr. Adams. He got out of his car and angrily approached Mr. Adams. "What's this Paul Pio... whatever his name is, doing here after what he did to your family?" Mr. Adams looked at the doctor and then said quietly, "Dr. Cronin, you won't have any more trouble with Paul's name. You see, he's Paul Adams now. We've adopted him." God has more than forgiven us, He as adopted us. By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2005, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN MARK mailto:pkennedy6@yahoo.com Source: Illustrator, http://www.answers2prayer.org ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: A 75-year-old Romanian woman laid out a burglar with karate moves she had learned from television. Anica D, from Popeni village in Vaslui county, told police she was sleeping when a 30-year-old man broke into her house and attacked her. She said she cried for help but nobody came so she tried some karate she had picked up from a self-defense TV show. Anica managed to "immobilize" her attacker and then called police who arrested the man, reports the Ziarul newspaper. Source: Ananova http://www.ananova.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: When I was inducted into the Coast Guard, I had to go to the base barbershop for my first military haircut. The barber walked over to me, electric razor in hand, and shaved right down the middle of my head. Smiling broadly, he asked, "Now what would you like me to do?" Contributed to "Humor In Uniform" by Richard Howe Source: America In Uniform, http://www.beliefnet.com/user/newsletter_choose.asp ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: At the recent 2006 Winter Olympics, a Norwegian coach was standing beside the snowy racecourse, cheering on his nation's team in the women's cross-country relay, when Canadian skier Sara Renner broke a pole in front of him. This meant that her team was likely doomed. But without hesitation, the Norwegian coach handed a replacement pole to the Canadian skier. Had he not done so, his team might have a won a medal. As it happened, however, Sara Renner and her teammate, Beckie Scott, skied on to win a silver medal, while the Norwegian team finished fourth. From The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 25-26, 2006, p. A8 Source: Preaching Now, http://www.preaching.com/newsletter/subscribe.html