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WITandWISDOM(tm) - January 5, 2007 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. - Herbert Spencer Source: Quotes of the Day, http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Martin Wells Knapp was once going through the fires of affliction. His troubles seemed more than he could bear. In his distress he sought relief; alone in his room, he fell on his knees and asked God to remove the trial from him. As he lingered on his knees a vision came before him. He saw a rough piece of marble with a sculptor at work with the hammer and chisel. Through the dust and flying chips of stone he saw the outline of a beautiful figure beginning to take shape in the marble, as it was hammered and chiseled and ground by the master sculptor. Knapp says the Lord spoke to him saying, “Son, you are that rough block of marble. I have a pattern in my mind of what I desire to produce in your character, and will do, if you will stand the grinding. But I will stop now, if you want Me to.” His reply is the answer most of us would give under the same circumstances: “Lord, continue the chiseling and grinding.” Some of us will need a lot more chiseling than others. There is real satisfaction in knowing that the Master Sculptor knows just how much is needed to carve out a beautiful character, and there will be no more chiseling and grinding than are necessary. While none of us covet trials and tribulations, and troubles and difficulties, most of us will endure them joyfully, if we know God’s hand holds the chisel. A little boy and his father were one day unpacking some large boxes out in the front yard. The father was taking items out of a box and piling them one by one on the little boy’s arm. A passer-by remarked to the little fellow that he had quite a load, and asked if it wasn’t too much for the little boy. With a smile the boy replied, “No, it is not too heavy; my daddy knows how much I can carry.” By C. L. Paddock Source: Our Times, Copyright (c) April 1948, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: The Pacific Northwest According To Jeff Foxworthy 1. You know the state flower (Mildew). 2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash. 3. Use the statement "sun break" and know what it means 4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee. 5. You know more people who own boats rather than air conditioners. 6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant. 7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the "Walk" Signal. 8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it is not a real mountain. 9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Veneto's. 10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho and Sockeye salmon. 11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima and Willamette. 12. You consider swimming an indoor sport. 13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food. 14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark while only working eight-hour days. 15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho. 16. You are not fazed by "Today's forecast: showers followed by rain," and "Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers." 17. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation. 18. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind. 19. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through the cloud cover. 20. You notice, "The mountain is out" when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it. 21. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka 22. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on. 23. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain. 24. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists. 25. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones after such a long time. 26. You measure distance in hours. 27. You often switch from "heat" to "a/c" in the same day. 28. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat. 29. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall). 30. You actually understood these jokes and will probably forward them. Submitted by Ron Wise ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: While teaching an adult Sunday school class, I decided, It's time to be up-to-date and innovative. I need to try something new for our class. We were studying one of the Old Testament books. I found an overhead projector and tried to teach myself how to use it. Then I wrote an outline on an overhead transparency to display for the class. When Sunday morning came, I had the projector all set up. At the right moment in the lesson, I flipped on the overhead. The beautiful outline flashed on the wall for all to see. To emphasize a significant spiritual truth in the passage, I grabbed one of the special markers, walked over and started writing in bold letters on the outline. The class burst out laughing. Why are they laughing? I thought to myself. This is the crucial point! Then it hit me. I was writing on the wall. The class wouldn't let me forget it. In fact, for many weeks they -wouldn't allow me to remove my brilliant insight from the wall. Source: Laugh & Lift, http://www.laughandlift.com/list.html ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: In a research at Katie Melua, scientists have discovered that taxi drivers have actually grown more grey matter in the area of the brain associated with memory because of all the knowledge they keep in their heads. They believe that this part of the brain, the mid-posterior hippocampus, is where black-cab drivers store a mental map of London, including up to 25,000 street names and the location of all the major tourist attractions. The research is the first to show that the brains of adults can grow in response to specialist use. It has been known that areas of children's brains can grow when they learn music or a language. In the study, researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL's Institute of Neurology carried out scans on the brains of 35 cabbies and bus drivers, all men. The results of the scans show that the mid-posterior hippocampus of all the cabbies was bigger and that they had more grey matter than the bus drivers. The one big difference between the two is that bus drivers stick to routes, while cabbies have to learn the layout of streets and the locations of thousands of places of interest to get an operating license. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2081652.ece Source: Nybble Bi-Weekly Newsletter, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nybble