Story

Motorist removed unconscious from his wrecked car and carried to a nearby gas station.

Then he came to.  Opened his eyes and began to struggle violently.  Eventually he was subdued and removed to a hospital.

Asked later why he had struggled to get away from his rescuers – he explained…
They’d  taken me to a SHELL station. 

And somebody was standing in front of the “S”.

Our for What It’s Worth Department  overhears an exchange of words on an airliner between Chicago and Las Vegas.

Muhammad Ali was a passenger.

Confronted by a flight attendant who said he would have to fasten his seat belt…

Muhammad Ali replied, “Superman don’t need no seat belt."

To which she, the flight attendant, replied, sweetly – “Superman don’t need no airplane.” 

Our For What It’s Worth Department understands that actor, Robert Redford was in Santa Fe, New Mexico making a movie…

In and around town between takes…But the lady who encountered him in an ice-cream parlor on Canyon Street was determined to stay cool…

She pretended to ignore the presence of the movie star…But after leaving the shop she realized that she did not have the ice-cream cone she’d bought and paid for.

She returned to the shop…to ask for her ice-cream cone.  

Overhearing, Robert Redford said, “Madame, you'll probably find it where you put it – in your purse.”   

The revelation…The explanation…for why football’s John Madden is afraid of flying.  Madden confided it was something that happened years ago…

At an airport…

NIGHT AND DAY

(from Mary Manin Morrissey)

 A rabbi was giving instructions to some children, and he posed this question:  "How do you know the night is over and the day has come?"

  One child ventured, "At dawn, you look at a tree and you can tell

whether it is an apple or pear tree."

  The rabbi acknowledged this response but repeated the question.

  A second student offered, "When you see an animal in the distance and you can tell whether it is a donkey or a horse."

  The rabbi acknowledged this response, too, then gave his answer: "You know the night is over and the day has come when you look into the eyes of any human being, and you see there your brother or your sister."

Our For What Its Worth Department hears from Jackson, Mississippi – where Lucille Goodyear reports all kinds of trouble driving to and from work.

She says it used to be easy…  

No traffic problems…

No mad rat race…

But now, WOW, cars coming from all directions.  

She says it’s been that way ever since she got her new glasses

7/27/00

I sell radio pagers, and once was explaining a ‘beeper’ to a minister in our town.  As we talked, I realized that he already knew a lot about radios and receivers.  He explained that he used to be an electrical engineer.  I asked him how he had managed to switch from a highly technical field to theology.

11/27/00

Last Judgment

 Saint Peter was at the gates of Heaven interviewing this man. He said, "You haven't done anything bad, but you haven't done anything good either. If you tell me just one good thing that you've done, I'll let you in."

"Well," the man replied, "I was traveling on the road when I saw a group of thugs robbing a woman. So I went up to them and shouted for them to stop. Unfortunately, things got a little out of hand and I ended up punching out their leader. Then I challenged everyone else of the group to fight me."

"Wow," Saint Peter said, "That is good. When did it happen?"

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.

At the time when the slaves in America were without any excuse for hope and they could see nothing before them but the long interminable cotton rows and the fierce sun and the lash of the overseer, what did they do? They declared that God was not through. They said, "We cannot be prisoners of this event. We must not scale down the horizon of our hopes and our dreams and our yearnings to the level of the event of our lives . . ."
So long as you recognize that no event of your life, whatever its character, can imprison you, you will not scale down your aspirations to the level of the facts in your present situation. you will let what rides on the horizon constantly inform the event with which you are wrestling, until at last the event itself begins to open up, to yield, to break down, to disintegrate, under the relentless pressure of some force which transcends the event and tutors and informs.

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Harry Emerson Fosdick, on the lessons of an oyster:
The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this. Irritations get into his shell. But when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritation to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has the chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription:  make a pearl. It may have to be a pearl of patience, but, anyhow, make a pearl. And it takes faith and love to do it.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

The cheetah is the swiftest of all animals. It has been clocked running at a speed of 70 miles an hour. One of the most interesting things about the cheetah is this. At mealtime, the cheetah singles out one animal among the grazing herd. Then the chase begins! Along the chase may be other animals which the cheetah could easily seize. Nothing, however, can detract or turn the cheetah from his one fixed purpose--the catching of the unfortunate victim he had singled out.

In a big breakfast of milk, eggs and bacon the cow and chicken participate. The pig is committed.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

A man lay trapped inside the cab of a smoldering 14 wheel trailer truck, which had rammed into a tree on the outskirts of Fairbanks, Texas. His truck had been forced off the road by a drunken driver. The Deputy Sheriff, responding to a radio SOS, raced to the scene. A wrecker pulled up. But even after tow lines had been attached to the cab door, the crushed metal refused to budge. Someone screamed, "Look Fire!" Flames began to flicker from the bottom of the cab. In a few minutes, the truck would be aflame. Then out of the night strode a towering figure. "Can I be of any help?" he spoke softly. "We've done all we can," replied the Sheriff. "They've gone for cutting torches. It's our last hope." The stranger paused only a second, then walked up to the cab and slowly wrenched off the jammed door with his bare hands. "You could hear the metal rip," said the Sheriff later. "I saw the big man's shirt sleeves slip open as his tremendous muscle bulged." The man was unconscious when the Sheriff hauled him to safety. But when he looked for the giant rescuer, he had disappeared into the night. "Who was the mysterious Samson? the local newspapers asked the next morning. For days the question went unanswered. Then the foreman of a local transport company noticed that a 33 year old man, named Charles Jones, had strange cuts on his hands and moved away from crowds that talked about the accident. Jones, it turned out, was the modern Samson. "God gives one strength to do anything in an emergency," he said when questioned.
What Jones did not say was that for the past 14 months he had been terribly afraid of fire ever since his own child died in the flames of their burning home.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

One spring in Tampa, Florida, a teenaged youth jacked up his automobile and crawled beneath it to work on the car. Suddenly the jack slipped and the car fell on him. He yelled for help and his parents came running. The father reasoned that no human being could cope with a 3,500 pound car, so he reached for the jack. The mother, who had been ill and weighed only 123 pounds, reached for the rear bumper and lifted the car straight into the air. Later she said, "I only knew that I had to save my boy."

Harry Emerson Fosdick: No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined

.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Dr. William H. Prescott, noted historian and author of the classic books "The Conquest of Mexico," "The Conquest of Peru," and many others, had to work under great disability. As a Harvard student his left eye was destroyed when a fellow student hit his eye by hurling a hard crust of stale bread. This so injured the other eye that he became all but blind.
He had to write with movable screens at his window to dim the light. His writing was done on a special instrument called a noctograph, a framed device with wires for lines, and he used a stylus to make words on carbon paper. For many years he could write only one hour a day, often only in half-hour periods, sometimes in only ten-minute periods. With painful discipline he trained his memory to retain all that was read to him until his brain had marshaled a tremendous amount of vast historical material. At only a snail's pace he plodded on courageously with unremitting perseverance. "I must make my brain serve for my eyes," he said. When he died at age 63 he left the world 16 voluminous books of classic historical significance, and he was acclaimed a historian without peer.

A frog is in a deep rut in the middle of the road. He desperately wants to get out and begs all his friends as they pass by to help him; but no one does. He just complains and is afraid. Pretty soon a car comes along and he gets out. Friends as him how he did it. "Well I had to or I would have gotten run over!"

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Henry Ford once said that the ability to encourage others is one of life's finest assets. The auto inventor an manufacturer knew the power of encouragement. He had learned of it as a young man.

Memorable to him was the time, at the beginning of his career, when he made a drawing of his newly built engine for Thomas A. Edison. Young Ford had endured criticism and ridicule. Most mechanical experts of that day were convinced the electric carriages would be the popular passenger cars of the future.

But attending a dinner one evening at which Edison was present, Ford began explaining his engine to men nearest him at the table. He noticed that Edison, seated several chairs away, was listening. Finally the great man moved closer and asked the young inventor to make a drawing.

When the crude sketch was complete, Edison studied it intently, then suddenly banged his fist on the table. "Young man," he said, "that's the thing! You have it!"

Years later, Ford recalled "the thump of that fist upon the table was worth worlds to me."

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Let me share with you something that is written on a poster in one of the classrooms here:
Don't be afraid to fail.
You have failed many times although you may not remember.
You fell down the first time you tried to walk.
You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn't you?
Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat?
Even hitters--the ones who hit the most home runs--strike out a lot.
R.H. Macy failed 12 times before his store in New York caught on.
English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.
Babe Ruth struck out 1330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.
Don't worry about failure.
Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try!

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Lord, are you trying to tell me something about the meaning of failure? For …
Failure does not mean I’m a failure:
It does mean that I have not yet succeeded.

Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing;
It does mean I am learning something.

Failure does not mean I have been a fool;
It does mean I had enough faith to experiment.

Failure does not mean I’ve been disgraced;
It does mean I dared to try.

Failure does not mean I don’t have it’
It does mean I have to do something a different way.

Failure does not mean I am inferior;
It does mean I am not perfect.

Failure does not mean I’ve wasted my life;
It does mean I have an excuse to start over again.

Failure does not mean I should give up;
It does mean I must try harder.

Failure does not mean I’ll never make it;
It does mean I need more patience.

Failure does not mean you have abandoned me;
It does mean you must have a better idea.
remember?
Lord, are you trying to tell me something about the meaning of failure? For …
Failure does not mean I’m a failure:
It does mean that I have not yet succeeded.

Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing;
It does mean I have learning something.

Failure does not mean I have been a fool;
It does mean I had enough faith toe experiment.

Failure does not mean I’ve been disgraced;
It does mean I dared to try.

Failure does not mean I don’t have it’
It does mean I have to do something a different way.

Failure does not mean I am inferior;
It does mean I am not perfect.

Failure does not mean I’ve wasted my life;
It does mean I have an excuse to start over again.

Failure does not mean I should give up;
It does mean I must try harder.

Failure does not mean I’ll never make it;
It does mean I need more patience.

Failure does not mean you have abandoned me;
It does mean you must have a better idea.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Lincoln’s road to White House include:
? failed in business in 1831
? defeated for Legislature I 1832
? second failure in business in 1833
? suffered a nervous breakdown in 1836
? defeated for Speaker in 1838
? defeated for Elector in 1840
? defeated for Congress in 1843
? defeated for Congress again in 1848
? defeated for vice-president in 1856
? defeated for Senate in 1858
? elected President in 1860

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

1. Paderewski--the great Polish pianist. When he began to study the piano, his music teacher told him his hands were much too small too master the keyboard

2. Caruso--the great Italian tenor. First applied for instruction and had his teacher tell him his voice sounded like the wind whistling through the window

3. Benjamin Disraeli--the great statesman of Victorian England--attempted to speak in Parliament. The members hissed him into silence and laughed when he said, “Though I sit down now, the time will come when you will hear of me.”

4. Henry Ford--forgot to put a reverse gear in his first car

5. Edison--spent $2,000,000 on an invention which proved to be of little value

6. Charles Carlson--developed the process of photocopying in 1938 but had to persevere for 21 years before the first Xerox copier was made

7. Michael Blake--author of Danes with Wolves had nothing but rejections for 25 years and wrote more than 20 screenplays,, but never gave up

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

In professional baseball, most batters hit for an average of about .250, which means that they get one hit for every four times at bat. This is considered a respectable average, and if a hitter is also a good fielder, he can expect to enjoy a secure career in the major leagues. Anyone who hits .300 three hits out of ten at bats is considered a star. By the end of the season, there are only perhaps a dozen players (out of hundreds in the leagues) that have maintained a .300 average, and these hitters are honored as the great ones. They get the big contracts, the acclaim and the shaving cream commercials. What is the difference between the greats and the ordinaries? One hit out of twenty! A .250 hitter gets five hits out of twenty,and a .300 hitter gets six hits out of twenty. In the world of baseball, one hit out of twenty is the margin of greatness. (Eric Butterworth)

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, lost his left hand in the battle of Lepanto. Providentially, his right hand was saved for the writing of his great literary works, but he was imprisoned, suffered great poverty, and barely escaped the auto-da-fe'.
Renoir, the French Impressionist, could not walk after age sixty. A paralytic stroke so handicapped him that a servant had to squeeze his paints onto the palette for him. A paintbrush was fastened to his wrist and then fixed on his finger. He was pushed to his canvas in a wheelchair. Yet he painted prodigiously until death claimed him at age 78.
Whitman was half paralyzed, his body clamped to an invalid chair at age 54. Bravely struggling, after 3 years he learned to walk again, only to be hit at the age of 65 by a sunstroke, followed by another seizure which left his arms and legs "turned into gelatin." Then he had spoke of the "grandeur and exquisiteness of old age." On his 69 birthday he could speak of "undiminished faith" and of "the jocund heart yet beating in my breast." Dragging himself from his chair to his window in his small room, he held on to life until age seventy-three.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Dr. George Claghorn tells us of a young man, a friend of his, who became blind and was sent for special training to the seeing eye institute for the blind at Morristown, New Jersey.
He was met by another young man and taken to his room. This young man said, "Now I am putting your suitcase down in this corner of the room. Over on this side of the room is the bureau; there is a drawer for y;our neckties. Here is a drawer for your shirts. Now here on this side of the room is your bed. Over there is the door and stairs where you will come down to dinner.The bell will ring at exactly six o'clock; then you go out of that door, come down these stairs, turn to your right, walk along the corridor, and you will come to the dining room." Then the young man said, "Now I will leave you."But," explained the newcomer, "you can't leave me. I am all in the dark. You forget that I am a blind man and cannot see."
The young stranger, who had been holding on to him, said, "I am blind, too."
At that moment, said Dr. Claghorn, his friend suddenly gained self-confidence. He realized that he was not alone in the world with his experience of darkness and that if others could find their way, surely he could, too.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

For most of his 18 years. Allen Pepke of New Haven, Mich., dreamed of one day flying military air-craft. Since he lacked the college diploma needed to become an Air Force pilot, Allen chose the Army. But soldiers do a lot of marching, and Army doctors didn't like Allen's feet-he has a skin condition on his soles. They rejected him, saying he couldn't walk 20 miles in combat boots.
But last October 13, Allen set out dramatically to prove the Army wrong by walking from his Michigan home all the way to Washington, D.C. With his mom, Noreen, scouting the route in a car to locate overnight campsites and provide support, Allen-toting a 30 pound pack-trudged 535 miles in 13 days. "My feet hurt as anyone's would," he allowed, "but nothing came close to stopping me."
When Allen was 90 miles west of his goal he received good news: the Army, after reviewing various medical records from specialists, had decided to execute an about-face.
Allen reported for basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., on January 9.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Disneyland and Disneyworld provide fantastic entertainment as business enterprises operated for profit. Disneyland confronted a problem when every visitor went home as soon as it got dark. Here was a big loss of revenue. How could they make people stay over and spend their money at night? Their "think tank" came up with the idea of an electric parade--a spectacular pyrotechnical display. Now everyone who goes to Disneyland advises others, "Whatever you do, don't miss the electric parade." It is held at 10:00 pm, so people stay, buy dinners, shop, and spend their money for several hours longer. The problem solved became a great money-maker for Disneyland. Disneyworld in Florida, after the expenditure of millions in building a vast and excitingly new entertainment center, stumbled into a problem also. It was of a different sort from that here in California. In Florida a rainy day cut attendance way down, and profits took a big loss.
Once more leaders were called to bat ideas around until a solution was found. The answer to the problem was "the Rain Paradise." For every rainy day, a marvelous, exciting, colorful, fantastic "Rain Parade" drew the crowd, and profits shot upwards. Now everyone says, "Don't stay home when it rains, or you will miss the most wonderful parade you ever saw." The rain problem was turned into a big profit.
We are "more than conquerors" if we only knew it and turned our problems into challenges for benefits.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

A young Kansas City artist, struggling to realize his dream of drawing cartoons for a living, was turned away from every newspaper he approached for a job. "Forget it," the editors told him, "you have no talent .. Find yourself another career." Rejection followed rejection, until one day he found himself holed up in an old, dilapidated, mice infested garage, penniless, seemingly without hope for success.
Having no shortage of time on his hands, he began to sketch the garage and the mice in it. He became fascinated with the little creatures, and he curiously developed a friendly relationship with them, especially one little fellow.
Little did the man realize at the time just how important this relationship would be for him. The man's name was Walt Disney. The mouse's name turned out to be "Mickey," and Walt and Mickey went on to become two of the most successful entertainers in the world, bringing happiness and joy to countless numbers of children.
If Walt had given up when the editors turned him away, rejected him, he may have taken some other job, and his dream might have faded into a memory. But Walt had enough faith in himself to continue, and in so doing, he made an even greater discovery: God's infinite possibilities are everywhere, and success is always at hand even at what seems to be the end of the road. And even what seems to be rejection.

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

There was a man who left home in search of a gold mine. He went into the hills and discovered a very rich vein of ore. The gold began to flow as easily as water and soon the man had recouped approximately half of what he had spent on mining equipment. Then, without warning, the vein ended. The man worked furiously, but he could not recapture the vein. Finally he gave up, sold the mine and his equipment to a junk dealer for scrap, and returned home, broke. Before scrapping the equipment, the hunk dealer decided to hire a mining expert to study the mine. The expert, upon a detailed survey of the land, revealed that the vein had not dried up but rather shifted three feet to the left due to a fault in the earth. He advised that if the junk dealer were to continue digging in the new direction, he would soon recapture the vein and become fabulously wealthy. The junk dealer went on to retap the vein and quickly became rich. The original miner had to live the rest of his life knowing that he had stopped just three feet short.

Have you ever watched a stonecutter at work? He will hammer away at a rock for perhaps 100 times without a crack showing in it.
Then, at the 101st blow, it will split in two.
It is not that blow alone which accomplished the result, but the 100 others that went before it as well!

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

? R.H. Macy failed several times before his store in New York caught on.
? Novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published the first of his 564 books.
? Thomas Edison was throw out of school in the early grades when the teachers decided he could not do the work.
? Harry S. Truman failed as a haberdasher.
? When Bob Dylan performed at a high school talent show, his classmates booed him off the stage.
? W. Clement Stone, successful insurance company executive and founder of Success magazine, was a high school dropout.
? After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, a 1933 memo from the MGM testing director said, “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.
? An expert said of famous football coach Vince Lombardi, “He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation.”
? Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper for lacking ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland
? Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing is own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher call him hopeless as a composer.

A woman once said to the great violinist, Fritz Dreisler after a recital, "I'd give my life to play as beautifully as you!"
"Madam," Kreisler replied, "I have."

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

Two frogs feel into a can of cream,
Or so I've heard it told;
The sides of the can were shiny and steep,
The cream was deep and cold.
"O, what's the use?" croaked No. 1.
"Tis fate; no help's around.
Good-bye, my friends! Good-bye, sad world!"
And weeping still, he crowned.

But No. 2, of sterner stuff,
Dog-paddled in surprise,
The while he wiped his cream face
And dried his creamy eyes.
"I'll swim awhile, at least," he said--
Or so I've heard he said;
"It really wouldn't help the world
If one more frog were dead."

An hour or two he kicked and swam,
Not once he stopped to mutter,
But kicked and kicked and swam and kicked,
Then hopped out, via butter!
(T.C. Hamlet)

SUCCESS, FAILURE,  ADVERSITY AND PERSEVERANCE

An old farmer plowed around a rock in one of his fields for many years. As a result he grew actually morbid over it, for he had broken a cultivator and two plows, as well as lost a lot of valuable land in its vicinity.
One day he made up his mind that he would dig it out and be done with it. When he put his crowbar under it, he found it was less than a foot think and that he could loosen it with a trifling effort and carry it away in his wagon. He smiled to think how all through the years it had haunted him.

In winter time, when blackbirds get very thirsty but the ponds they frequent in summer are frozen over they have a bit of a challenge. This is how they handle it. The birds disperse. One bird flops on its side and flutters on the ice then it flies off and another comes. The next flutters on the ice. Repeatedly, each bird takes its turn. One bird, however pecks at the ice to test it suddenly a tiny hole is formed, and the water starts to flow.

BUTT PRINTS IN THE SAND

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there were seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore,
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And, I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat,
"But, Lord, they are too big for feet."
"My child," he said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."
"You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know.
So, I got tired, I got fed up, and there
I dropped you on your butt."
"Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb.
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or, leave their butt prints in the sand."
From Barbara Clevenger, Church of Today West, MI

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids
that we made them worse.
For my grandchildren, I'd like better. I'd really
like for them to know about hand-me down clothes and
homemade ice cream and leftover meatloaf sandwiches.
I really would.
My cherished grandson, I hope you learn humility by
being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by
being cheated. I hope you learn to make your bed and
mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope
nobody gives you a brand new car when you are
sixteen. I hope you have a job by then. It will be
good if at least one time you can see a baby calf
born and your old dog put to sleep. I hope you get a
black eye fighting for something you believe in. I
hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger
brother. And it's all right if you have to draw a
line down the middle of the room, but when he wants
to crawl under the covers with you because he's
scared, I hope you let him. When you want to see a
Disney movie and your little brother wants to tag
along, I hope you'll let him. I hope you have to
walk uphill to school with your friends and that you
live in a town where you can do it safely. On rainy
days when you have to catch a ride I hope your
driver doesn't have to drop you two blocks away so
you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as
your mom. If you want a slingshot, I hope your dad
teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I
hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.
When you learn to use those newfangled computers, I
hope you also learn to add and subtract in
your head. I hope you get razzed by your friends
when you have your first crush on a girl, and when
you talk back to your mother that you learn what
Ivory soap tastes like. May you skin your knee
climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and
stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. I hope you
get sick when someone blows cigar smoke in your
face. I don't care if you try beer once, but I hope
you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope
or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your
friend. I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch
with your grandpa and go fishing with your uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral and the joy of
holidays. I hope your mother punishes you when you
throw a baseball through a neighbor's window and
that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time
when you give her a plaster of Paris mold of your
hand. These things I wish for you - tough times and
disappointment, hard work and happiness.

From Barbara

One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of
business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget.  As he stood in front of the group of high-powered over achievers, he said, "Okay, time for a quiz."
He then pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth mason jar and set it on
the table in front of him.  Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized
rocks and carefully placed them, one by one, into the jar.  When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"
Everyone in the class said, "Yes."
Then he said, "Really?"  He reached under the table and pulled out =
a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar,
causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks.
Then he asked the group once more.  "Is this jar full?"  By this
time the class was on to him.  "Probably not," one of them answered.
"Good!" he replied.  He reached under the table and brought out a
bucket of sand.  He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.  Once more he asked the question.  "Is this jar full?"
"No!" the class shouted.
Once again, he said, "Good!".  Then he grabbed a pitcher of water
and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim.  Then the
expert in time-management looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?"
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter
how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some
more things in it."
"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point.  The truth this
illustration teaches us is this:  If you don't put the big rocks in
first, you'll never get them in at all.  What are the big rocks in your
life?
Your children.  Your loved ones.  Your education.  Your dreams.  A
worthy cause. Teaching or mentoring others.  Doing things that you love. 
Time for yourself.  Your health.  Your significant other.  Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first, or you'll never get them in at all."
If you sweat the little stuff (i.e. the gravel, the sand) then
you'll fill your life with little things you worry about that don't really
matter, and you'll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff (the big rocks).   So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question:  What are the "big rocks" in my life?  Then, put those in your jar first.

Donna's fourth grade classroom looked like many others I had seen in the past. The teacher's desk was in front and faced the students. The bulletin board featured student work. In most respects it appeared to be a typically traditional elementary classroom. Yet something seemed different that day I entered it for the first time.    

My job was to make classroom visitations and encourage implementation of a training program that focused on language arts ideas that would empower students to feel good about themselves and take charge of their lives. Donna was one of the volunteer teachers who participated in this project.

I took an empty seat in the back of the room and watched. All the students were working on a task, filling a sheet of notebook paper with thoughts and ideas. The ten-year-old student next to me was filling her page with "I Can'ts". "I can't kick the soccer ball past second base." "I can't do long division with more than three numerals." "I can't get Debbie to like me."

Her page was half full and she showed no signs of letting up. She worked on with determination and persistence. I walked down the row glancing at student's papers. Everyone was writing sentences, describing things they couldn't do.

By this time the activity engaged my curiosity, so I decided to check with the teacher to see what was going on but I noticed she too was busy writing. I felt it best not to interrupt. "I can't get John's mother to come for a teacher conference." "I can't get my daughter to put gas in the car." "I can't get Alan to use words instead of fists."

Thwarted in my efforts to determine why students and teacher were dwelling on the negative instead of writing the more positive "I Can" statements, I returned to my seat and continued my observations.

Students wrote for another ten minutes. They were then instructed to fold the papers in half and bring them to the front. They placed their "I Can't" statements into an empty shoe box. Then Donna added hers. She put the lid on the box, tucked it under her arm and headed out the door and down the hall.

Students followed the teacher. I followed the students. Halfway down the hallway Donna entered the custodian's room, rummaged around and came out with a shovel. Shovel in one hand, shoe box in the other, Donna marched the students out to the school to the farthest corner of the playground. There they began to dig. They were going to bury their "I Can'ts"!

The digging took over ten minutes because most of the fourth graders wanted a turn. The box of "I Can'ts" was placed in a position at the bottom of the hole and then quickly covered with dirt. Thirty-one 10 and 11 year-olds stood around the freshly dug grave site. At this point Donna announced, "Boys and girls, please join hands and bow your heads." They quickly formed a circle around the grave, creating a bond with their hands.

They lowered their heads and waited. Donna delivered the eulogy.

"Friends, we gathered here today to honor the memory of 'I Can't.' While he was with us here on earth, he touched the lives or everyone, some more than others. We have provided 'I Can't' with a final resting place and a headstone that contains his epitaph. His is survived by his brothers and sisters, 'I Can,' 'I Will,' and 'I'm Going to Right Away.' They are not as well known as their famous relative and are certainly not as strong and powerful yet.

“Perhaps someday, with your help, they will make an even bigger mark on the world. May 'I Can't' rest in peace and may everyone present pick up their lives and move forward in his absence. Amen."

As I listened I realized that these students would never forget this day. Writing "I Can'ts," burying them and hearing the eulogy. That was a major effort on this part of the teacher. And she wasn't done yet.

She turned the students around, marched them back into the classroom and held a wake. They celebrated the passing of "I Can't" with cookies, popcorn and fruit juices. As part of the celebration, Donna cut a large tombstone from butcher paper. She wrote the words "I Can't" at the top and put RIP in the middle. The date was added at the bottom. The paper tombstone hung in Donna's classroom for the remainder of the year.

On those rare occasions when a student forgot and said, "I Can't," Donna simply pointed to the RIP sign. The student then remembered that "I Can't" was dead and chose to rephrase the statement. I wasn't one of Donna's students. She was one of mine. Yet that day I learned an enduring lesson from her as years later, I still envision that fourth grade class laying to rest,  "I Can't".

In a high-performance racing car, the driver is constantly in touch with what is happening through the four tire patches that are the machine’s only contact with the road. The driver relies on highly sensitive signals to attack the course.

            In a road vehicle, the opposite occurs. Detroit designs its cars to insulate drivers from bumps in the road.

            So it is with a society that is designed for “comfortable living” and isolates and desensitizes us from the bumps that are essential for “high-performance living.” Most people accept these “comfort levels.” High achievers go for performance and are willing to forsake immediate pleasures to attain long-term goals From John R. Noe, Pack Performance Principles for High Achievers

If you don’t make a total commitment to whatever you’re doing, then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It’s tough enough getting that boat to shore with everybody rowing, let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his life jacket on. Lou Holtz, football coach

A little boy was overheard talking to himself as he strutted
through the backyard, wearing his baseball cap and toting a
ball and bat.
"I'm the greatest hitter in the world!" he announced.  Then, he
tossed the ball into the air, swung at it, and missed. "Strike
One!" he yelled.
Undaunted, he picked up the ball and said again, "I'm the
greatest hitter in the world!"  He tossed the ball into the air.
When it came down, he swung again and missed.  "Strike
Two!" he cried.
The boy then paused a moment to examine his bat and ball
carefully.  He spit on his hands and rubbed them together.  He
straightened his cap and said once more, "I'm the greatest
hitter in the world!"  Again, he tossed the ball up in the air
and swung at it.  He missed.  "Strike Three!"
"Wow!" he explained. "I'm the greatest pitcher in the world!"

The Butterfly

Don't Help the Butterfly!

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.  One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to
force its body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress.  It appeared as if it had
gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly.  He took a pair of scissors
and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily.  But it had a swollen body and
small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at
any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the
body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened!  In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.  It never was
able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that
the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get
through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body
of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once
it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives.  If God
allowed us to go through our lives without any  obstacles, it would cripple us.   We would not be as strong as what we could have been.  We could never fly!

I asked for Strength.........And God gave me Difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for Wisdom.........And God gave me Problems to solve.
I asked for Prosperity.........And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.
I asked for Courage.........And God gave me Danger to overcome.
I asked for Love.........And God gave me Troubled people to help.
I asked for Favors.........And God gave me Opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted ........I received everything I needed!

TAKE THIS QUIZ:

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and

actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

HOW DID YOU DO?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

HERE'S ANOTHER QUIZ.  SEE HOW YOU DO ON THIS ONE:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Easier? The lesson?

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the
most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.  

Neil Armstrong and his Walk On The Moon

Interesting what we remember from being a kid and how it
threads into the rest of our lives....

On July 20, 1969, as commander of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module,
Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon. His
first words after stepping on the moon, "That's one small step for
a man, one giant leap for mankind," were televised to Earth and heard by
millions.

But just before he re-entered the lander, he made the
enigmatic remark:  "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky."

Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning
some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no
Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the
years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the "Good luck Mr.
Gorsky" statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.

On July 5, 1995, in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answering
questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old
question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had
died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.

In 1938 when he was a kid in a small mid-west town, he was
playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly
ball,which landed in his neighbor's yard by the bedroom windows.
His neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky.

As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard
Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. "Sex! You want sex?! You'll get
sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"

True story. 

04/05/01

Rolf Benirschke, former place-kicker for the San Diego Chargers, remembers a time in his football career when he desperately needed encouragement.  One day, in his third season with the Chargers, Benirschke suffered a complete physical collapse.  In the hospital, he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.  He went through two operations, spent weeks in intensive care, lost over 60 pounds.  Doctors weren't sure he'd pull through. 

04/09/01

        The next day she decided that the manuscript should be seen by at least one more publisher. When she arrived at that publisher's office she pulled out the most unusual looking package that the publisher's office had ever received as a manuscript. Underneath a wrapping of brown paper was a wastepaper basket still holding the clergyman's manuscript. This way it was not necessary for the wife to go against the wishes of her husband that she not remove the manuscript from the waste paper basket. The publisher did it for her. That manuscript was Norman Vincent Peale's

04/09/01

04/12/01

    Ted Frederick in RUNNING THE RACE (Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Book House, 1979) tells us that when Bruce Jenner was preparing to win his Olympic gold medal for excellence in ten track and field events, he even had a set of hurdles in his living room. 

This descendant of the British physician who discovered the smallpox vaccine and later introduced vaccination to medicine, was showing the same type of dedication as his famous forebear. The ten running, throwing, and jumping events in which Jenner excelled constitute the most comprehensive test of strength, skill, speed, and endurance an athlete could ever face. "I just wanted to excel in something and I wanted it to be something I could do on my own," the decathlon winner said when being interviewed by "Newsweek." 

Though he was hampered by back trouble and a broken
foot during the several years of training for the Olympics, he had set his face toward achieving the highest accolade in the sporting world and would not let anything deter him from achieving his reward. 

Jenner purposely trained with world-class athletes so he could imbibe the spirit of success and benefit from the challenge of the superior records of his colleagues. He was so single-minded in his determination to achieve his goal that he placed a hurdle in his own living room so he would be forced to step over it twenty-five or thirty times a day.

04/18/01

04/18/01

05/13/01

06/24/01

George Frideric Handel's great musical genius was discovered when he was just a child. He composed operas, toured Europe, and directed the Royal Academy of Music. All of England revered him.

But slowly, Handel's music fell out of style. Handel was physically crippled by palsied fingers and emotionally crippled by a growing depression. But one day in 1741, a friend sent Handel various Bible passages about Jesus. He was so inspired by the words that he shut himself up in his room and began to compose music again. Twenty-three days after receiving the Bible passages, Handel emerged from his house with a new composition. It was called simply Messiah, and it is known the world over as Handel's greatest masterpiece. -- Robert J. Morgan. Real Stories for the Soul (Nash