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WITandWISDOM(tm) - August 27, 2007 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "Golden Rule principles are just as necessary for operating a business profitably as are trucks, typewriters or twine." James Cash Penney Source: Your Achievement Ezine, http://www.yoursuccessstore.com ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: The following prayer was prayed at the opening session of the House of Representatives in Topeka, Kansas on January 23, 1996 . It was prayed by Joe Wright who was guest chaplain that day. He was the senior pastor of the 2,500 member Central Christian Church in Wichita. His prayer was a prayer of repentance that had been written 1995 by Bob Russell, pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Heavenly Father, we come before you to ask your forgiveness. We seek your direction and your guidance. We know your word says, "Woe to those who call evil good,' but that's what we've done. We've lost our spiritual equilibrium. We have inverted our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We've exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We've neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it taxes. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, oh, God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by you to govern this great state. Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of your will. And, as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen, http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/k/kansasprayer.htm http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/wright.asp Submitted by Orvie Jensen ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Random Acts Of Thinking I want to become a vegetarian, but I'm not sure I can quit eating meat cold turkey. I wear glasses. Doesn't that mean that “everything” I see is an optical illusion? I paid my psychiatrist with a reality check. Do fisherman live in the reel world? You want to know a really, really hugely annoyingly bad habit? Overexaggeration. I may not be a great artist, but I am really good at drawing a blank. My wife and I love each other. I rub her back and she massages my ego. You can't stop progress, but you can unplug a good chunk of it. A chrysanthemum by any other name ... would be easier to spell. Some days the best thing about my job is that the chair spins. My life no longer needs an extreme makeover. Now it just needs a complete do over. Yesterday I pushed my luck. It was clearly too weak to move by itself. [Detained, debriefed, declassified, described and delivered from JokeMaster, The Better Half, Joe Heuer's Daffynitions, Hallmark's Maxine, Menards, Shoe, Rhymes with Orange, Ha Life, Terry Pratchett, and de mind of Mark Raymond] Source: Mark Mail, http://mrhumor.net/ ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: As the lone female in our household, I find that certain male habits have really begun to get on my nerves. One day, I emerged from my teenage son's bathroom completely exasperated when I bumped into my husband. "What is it with guys that they won't replace the toiler paper!" I raged. "I know." he said, nodding in agreement. "I noticed that when I was just in there." Submitted by Diana ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: More on Chaplain Joe Wright’s prayer before the House of Representatives in Topeka, Kansas on January 23, 1996. . . According to an article in the Kansas City Star from January 24, 1996, his prayer did stir controversy and one member of the legislative body walked out. Rev. Wright said afterwards: "I certainty did not mean to be offensive to Individuals, but I don't apologize for the truth." His staff stopped counting the telephone calls that came from every state and many foreign countries after the first 6,500. Wright appeared on dozens of radio shows and was the subject of numerous TV and print news reports, and his prayer stirred up controversy all over again when It was read by the chaplain coordinator In the Nebraska legislature the following month. Wright later explained, "I thought I might get a call from an angry Congressman or two, but I was talking to God, not them. The whole point was to say that we all have sins that we need to repent – all of us . . , The problem, I guess, is that you're not supposed to get too specific when you're talking about sin." Others criticized the prayer. The controversy didn't end there. Later that year in the Colorado House, Republican representative Mark Paschall angered lawmakers by using Joe Wright's prayer as the invocation. Some members there also walked out in protest. Paul Harvey did air the story and the prayer. He got such a large response that a phone number was set up to handle the calls. He's aired it a couple more times since. http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/k/kansasprayer.htm http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/wright.asp Submitted by Orvie Jensen