MY LEGS DIDN'T HEAR Marguerite Provost, Georgia. Today's Christian Woman, "Small Talk."
One day my three-year-old granddaughter, Beverly, was playing with her toys. Her mother, who was folding laundry across the room, noticed Beverly's shirt was dirty and needed to be changed. After calling two times with no response, her mother gave her the full three-name call: "Beverly Elizabeth Provost, did you hear me?" Beverly answered, "Yes, Mama. My ears did, but my legs didn't."

YIELD TO ONE ANOTHER Mark Hensley

A man named Steve Beck relates the following story: "Driving down a country road, I came to a very narrow bridge. In front of the bridge, a sign was posted: "YIELD." Seeing no oncoming cars, I continued across the bridge and to my destination. On my way back, I came to the same one-lane bridge, now from the other direction. To my surprise, I saw another YIELD sign posted.
Curious, I thought, "I'm sure there was one posted on the other side." When I reached the other side of the bridge I looked back. Sure enough, yield signs had been placed at both ends of the bridge. Drivers from both directions were requested to give right of way. It was a reasonable and
gracious way of preventing a head-on collision. Beck concludes: "When the Bible commands Christians to "be subject to one another" (Ephesians 5:21) it is simply a reasonable and gracious command to let the other have the right of way and avoid interpersonal head-on collisions."

"On the night of September 20, 1996, author Bertil Torekul gave a lecture to an audience of 300 in the Stifts-och Landsbibliotek Library in Linkoping, Sweden. He spoke about . . . book burning. The fire alarm sounded about a minute after he finished his speech. The Linkoping library burned to the ground." (Fortean Times)

A middle aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience. Seeing God, she asked, "Is my time up?" God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live."
Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a facelift, liposuction, and tummy tuck. She even had someone come and change the color of her hair. Since she had so much time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it.
After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance. Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I thought you said I had another 40+ years? Why didn't you pull me from the path of the ambulance?"
God replied, "I didn't recognize you."

QUOTE: There are 2 things to do about the Gospel: Believe it and Behave it. – Susannah Wesley

HE HEARD THE MESSAGE

Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator.

Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background.

A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man filled out his form and sat down with seven other applicant’s in the waiting area. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, walked right in. Naturally the other applicant’s perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons yet. They assumed that the young man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified.

Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the out of the office and said to the other applicant’s "Gentlemen thank you very much for coming, but the job has just been filled."

The other applicant’s began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, "Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair."

The employer said, " I’m sorry, but the last several minutes while you have been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following messages in Morse Cod: "If you understand this message, then come right in. the job is yours." None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his."

In the 11^th century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressure of being a monarch. He made application to Friar Richard of a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a monk and spend the rest of his life in the monastery.

"Your Majesty," said Friar Richard, "Do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king."

"I understand," said Henry. "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you."

"Then I will tell you what to do," replied the Friar. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you."

When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient."

When we tire of our roles and responsibilities, it helps to remember God has planted us in a certain place and told us to be a good accountant or teacher or mother or father. Christ expects us to be faithful where He puts us.

QUOTE: Why is the practice called "fasting" when time passes so slowly when you're doing it?

A minister was talking to a professing Christian and asked him if he was active in his local Church. The man responded, "No, but the dying thief wasn't active in a local Church and he was still accepted". The minister then asked if the man had been baptized. He said, "No, but the dying thief wasn't baptized, and still went to Heaven". The minister then asked if the man had partaken of the Lord's Table. The man said, "No, but the dying thief never took of the Lord's Table, and still went to Heaven". The minister said, "The difference between the dying thief and you is that the thief was dying in his belief, and you are dead in yours".

WHO DO I SHOOT FIRST? Bits & Pieces

A young sentry, on guard duty for the 1^st time, had orders not to admit any car unless it had a special identification seal. The first unmarked car the sentry stopped contained a general. When the officer told his driver to go right on through, the sentry politely said, "I’m new at this sir. Who do I shoot first, you or the driver?"

QUOTE: The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. - Chinese Proverb

THE WEAKNESS OF LAWSUITS Time 1/18/99 p. 76

A Civil Action (a current movie starring John Travolta) is a compelling tale of how the federal courts chewed up and spat out the cocky lawyer and the working-class families he represented in a suit that charged large industrial polluters with contaminating the water supply of Woburn, Mass.. Expenses mounted so fast that Schlichtmann (the lawyer for the families) lost his Porsche and condo and filed for personal bankruptcy. The judge in a questionable ruling, barred the parents of the leukemia-stricken children from testifying at trial. And the jury, its hands tied by the judge’s instructions and denied access to important evidence, ended up ruling against the families on key parts of their suit. (The Environmental Protection Agency later found the companies liable for improper disposal of toxic chemicals and ordered them to help pay a $70 million cleanup.)

Following the events depicted in A Civil Action a devastated Schlichtmann moved to Hawaii, opened a lighting business and vowed to give up the practice of law. (He has since returned to Massachusetts to help other victims of pollution). After the tortures of the Woburn case, which wiped out 9 years of his life… he claims to have become an apostle of a completely different approach to environmental law. "We have to come up with another way," he says.

Schlichtmann found another way in Lowell, Mass. He represented 8 families whose homes were built on land where toxic wastes had been dumped by the Colonial Gas Co. The residents were already suffering from heart and lung trouble caused by cyanide and other chemicals, according to a state public health study, and they were worried about more serious health effects from long term exposure. The old Schlichtmann would have rushed to file a multimillion dollar lawsuit, commissioning elaborate expert studies and taking scores of depositions. But the battle scarred Schlichtmann instead entered into a 3 way mediation with Colonial Gas and state regulators. After only 6 months of negotiation, the parties worked out a $2.75 million settlement in which Colonial, without admitting liability, agreed to buy the families’ homes, pay damages and clean up the site.

Schlichtmann is hoping to apply similar techniques – lawyers call it "alternative dispute resolution" – in the area around the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y…. When Schlichtmann was brought in, he advised the community to work with Brookhaven. "He steered us away from the aggressive litigation model from the beginning and urged us to open a dialogue," says Scott Cullen, a lawyer for Standing for Truth About Litigation (STAR) an East Hampton – based environmental group that has been leading the charge against Brookhaven. "He taught us that the result of all the litigation in Woburn was that more money was spent on the lawsuit than on resolving the problem."

…Settlement is usually simpler, less costly and certainly far more predictable than taking an environmental law case to a jury.

QUOTE: Whenever we place a higher priority on solving our problems than on pursuing God, we are immoral. – Larry Crabb

In the Encourager, Charles Mylander writes: "Sunrise was dawning when Los Angeles motorcycle police officer Bob Vernon saw a red pickup truck speed through a stop sign. This guy must to late to work, he thought to himself. He turned on his emergency lights and radioed that he was in pursuit. The pickup pulled over, and the officer approached.

"Meanwhile in the truck, the driver thought, The cops already know! He was scared. He rested his hand on the same gun he had used a few moments before to rob a twenty-four hour market. The sack of stolen money was beside him on the seat.

The officer said, "Good morning, sir, may I see your -"

He never finished the sentence. The driver shoved his gun toward the policeman’s chest and fired from just inches away. The cop was knocked flat seven feet away.

A few seconds later, to the shock of the criminal, the officer stood up, pulled his service revolver, and fired twice. The first bullet went through the open window and smashed the windshield. The second tore through the door and ripped into the driver’s left leg.

"Don’t shoot!" the thief screamed, throwing the gun and sack of money out the pickup window.

What saved the policeman’s life was dozens of layers of Kevlarä , the super strong fabric used for bulletproof vests. Only three-eighths of an inch thick, Kevlar can stop bullets cold.

In Ephesians 6, the Bible instructs every Christian to put on the full armor of God. Simple qualities like righteousness and faith can deflect what the Enemy of souls may fire at us.

Dec. 6th, 1941 "a day that will go down in infamy" observed FDR. In that attack, Japan sunk or damaged 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, and 4 auxiliary vessels; 177 aircraft were destroyed and 2400 Americans were killed. It was a tragic Sunday morning and what made it all the more tragic was that it could have been avoided. Our military had the information necessary to avert this catastrophe, but because of in service rivalries and conflicts, much of the important knowledge was kept even from the President and the Secretary of State. Ladislas Farago was a part of the Office of Naval Intelligence shortly after Pearl Harbor and in 1967, working from his own personal knowledge and interviews and from documents within the Library of Congress he wrote "The Broken Seal."

In his book, Farago revealed that years prior to the war, the military had broken the code that Japan used for its military messages. It was called TYPE NO. 97 machine - christened the PURPLE machine. It decoded messages were called magics and they had a high level of clearance - even the President and Sect. of State had no clearance for them - but were only allowed occasional insights thru rare briefings. In spite of this fact, there was an alert sounded by Rufus Bratton, a custodian of the War Dept. magics who refused to keep quiet about his suspicions until someone would listen to him. But even then, he was shunned, especially when the attack failed to come on Nov. 25th as he had warned.

When queried about the Naval status at Pearl, Admiral Stark assured the President that all the ships were safely at sea... when they were instead docked in pairs in a shooting gallery of crowded harbor. Security had been so lax that Japanese spies had only to take tourist picture and purchase postcards of the harbor that were sent back to Japan and given to pilots with specific targets marked.

Farago's observation was that he "found no villains and no knaves - but a lot of fools. Basically, Pearl Harbor was caused by bureaucratic incompetence."

What caused the tragedy at Pearl? It came to pass, because the military forgot who they were fighting against, and who they were fighting for.

MARINES WILL LIKE THE CHILDREN R.Digest 11/96 p.14

Our new elementary school was raising the American flag for the first time. To make the day special, we invited a marine Corps color guard to come out and perform the duty for us. The day before the ceremony, the Marine in charge of the unit called to confirm directions to the school. After doing so, he was asked by our secretary whether he was sending marines who like children.

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line before the man replied, "Ma'am, if I tell them to like children, they will like children."

FATHER WAS UNDER THE HAY STACK R.Digest 11/96 p.60

A clergyman walking down a country lane saw a young farmer struggling to lad hay back onto a cart after it had fallen off.

"You look hot, my son," said the cleric. "Why don't you rest a moment, and I'll give you a hand."

"No thanks," said the young man. "My father wouldn't like it."

"Don't be silly," the minister said. "Everyone is entitled to a break. Come and have a drink of water."

Again the young man protested that his father would be upset. Losing his patience, the clergyman said, "Your father must be a real slave driver. Tell me where I can find him and I'll give him a piece of my mind."

"Well," replied the farmer, "he's under the load of hay."

QUOTE: The question should never be who is right, but what is right. - Glenn Gardiner

BOBBED BOBBIES US News and World Report 2/12/96 p. 10

London bobbies had better double check their bobs. Police officers sporting trendy supershort haircuts have been warned to grow them out or face desk duty. "Whilst many regard such haircuts as bizarre or mildly ridiculous," Superintendent Bill Troke-Thomas noted in an internal memo, "some members of the public view them as intimidating or even thuggish."

Sometimes we feel that God doesn't answer our prayers and we wonder why.

The reasons could be many:

1) He has answered but not in a manner in which we thought or in which we would like.

2) He hasn't answered but He will. (In other words, God is waiting and testing His child's patience before He grants that request).

3) He hasn't answered because we asked Him in the wrong way. (James says: "When you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives." James 4:3)

But I wonder how many times God denies a request because our life isn't right. We are not living as He wants and thus we approach Him as wayward children. If it is the "effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man that avails much," (James 5:16) then maybe God denies requests because we are not right often with Him.

This is very clearly illustrated by Norman Vincent Peale. When Peale was a boy he found a big black cigar, slipped into an alley and lit up. It didn't taste good but it made him feel very grown up . . . until he saw his father coming. Quickly he put the cigar behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his father's attention Norman pointed to a billboard advertising the circus. "Can I go, Dad? Please let's go when it comes to town." His father's reply taught Norman a lesson he never forgot. "Son," he answered firmly, "never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience."

I wonder, I really do, how many times our Heavenly Father hears requests in the middle of our disobedience! Do you suppose that might be why our prayers don't get an answer?

WINE TURNED INTO WATER Acts of Antioch

A village in Greece learned that the king would pay them a visit! How honored the village officials were. They decided to hold a feast. So that every villager could offer the king something, everyone was to bring a pitcher of the finest wine and pour it into a vat from which the king would be served.

Behold the king arrived! The moment came for him to taste the rich wine from the vat. However, when one of the officials turned the spigot, out came water! How embarrassing! Each villager assumed that all the others would pour in their best and the one pitcher of water would not make any difference! The result was dishonoring for the king.

In a growing church, it is easy to assume everyone else is supporting the cause of Christ, so they put little in when the offering plate comes, or do not volunteer for some needed service. The results can be destructive, but more importantly, dishonoring to our King "Jesus".

"A parable often related in the eastern countries indicates how destructive selfishness can be. It concerns a selfish man who was bequeathed a rice field. The first season the irrigation water ran through his field and made it productive and fruitful, then overflowed into the neighbor's field and gave him blessings as well. His field, too, was greatly aided by the flowing waters.

When the next season arrived, the selfish fool said to himself, 'Why should I permit all the waters to flow through my field into his? Water is wealth, and I must keep it all for myself.' He then built a dam which prevented the water from flowing into his neighbor's fields. The result was that he had no crop that year. The irrigation water brought blessing only as it flowed. When it became stagnant it bred marsh and a swamp."

THE GREATEST ABILITY

There are great abilities that people acquire, cultivate and demonstrate. In the service of God there is one ability that is the greatest ability of all. What is it? Is it sociability, compatibility, accountability, adaptability or reliability? The greatest ability is availability . If we are not available to God, no matter what other kind of ability we have, it is no good. Ability without availability is a liability.

What does availability mean? It means to place one's self totally, absolutely, completely at God's disposal for Him to do anything and everything he wants to do in us, through us, with us, for us, when He chooses. Anything less than that is putting restrictions on God and writing fine print in your commitment contract to Jesus Christ.

Availability means that there is a sense of preparedness and readiness. There are people who are prepared, but they are not available.

Sometimes people assume that God cannot use them because they do not have special talents or aptitudes. They feel they are just ordinary and do not have anything special at all for God. God never asks about our ability, only about our availability.

When a person is willing to be used, there is no limit to what God can do and accomplish through that person. He can do a whole lot with a little, providing He has all of that little there is. We need only to make it available to God.

There are times when doing nothing is better than doing something. The Psalmist had learned that there are many times when only God can do what needs to be done, and in those instances, we do best to do nothing but center our faith in God. The Israelites of old, trapped between the pursuing Egyptians and the Red Sea, heard the voice of Moses saying: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord .... The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace".

Or again when Judah was threatened by the Moabites and Ammonites, King Jehoshaphat encouraged them by saying, "Be not afraid nor fear this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's .... Ye shall not need

to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord" (II Chron. 20:15, 17).

Do you have a problem which seems impossible to solve? Do you have a burden which seems to be crushing you, and there is no relief! When God alone can win the victory, faith lets God do it all. Have patience, and let your soul wait upon God. No eloquence in all the world is as meaningful as the patient silence of the child of God. True faith trusts God, and God alone, to do the miracle that needs to be done.

DALLAS COWBOY PREMATURE TRIUMPH R.Digest

Dallas Cowboys lineman Leon Lett a defensive tackle, had not scored a touchdown since he was a ten-year-old. But in the 1993 Super Bowl, he got his chance when the Buffalo Bills' quarterback fumbled right in front of him. Lett scooped up the ball and headed for the goal line, 64 yards away. There was no one between him and a sure six points. Crossing the ten-yard line, Lett threw out his arms in jubilation, the ball in one outstretched paw. He never heard the pursuing footsteps of Bills wide receiver Don Beebe. At the one-yard line, Beebe reached out and knocked the ball from Lett's grasp, ending the lineman's premature triumph.

FEELING GOOD EVEN WHEN BAD R.Digest 6/95 p. 97

My boss finally quit smoking. When I asked if he felt better after he stopped, he replied, "Definitely. I feel better now when I feel bad than I used to feel when I felt good."

LESSON OF THE RUSTY BOLT by Daniel Schantz - Guidepost Jan. 94, p. 29

I was riding my bicycle, gliding carefree down the street, following a local political parade, stopping occasionally to pick up fliers and buttons the candidate had tossed to the crowd. My fender rattled against the steering yoke, one small rusty bolt holding it on. My father had warned me about it, but I dismissed his advice. "I'll fix it later," I had promised.

Miles from home, I turned back, taking a shortcut, even though I had to cross a four-lane road that I wasn't supposed to go near. I waited for a break in the traffic, then stood up and threw my weight into the pedals. The heavy Monark groaned, shuddered and rattled. I saw the next wave of cars and trucks coming up fast on my right.

I strained at the pedals, leaning forward frantically. Just as I was about to make it across, the front fender broke loose and slid down over the tire, jamming it like a doorstop under a door. The bike stood on its nose and I went flying over the handlebars.

My body slammed onto the rough pavement and slid about six feet. The palms of my hands throbbed with pain and the skin on my belly burned. I rolled over to see the cars and trucks thundering toward me. Tires squealed and skidded and I dragged myself to the edge of the road.

For a long time I lay in the gravel. My palms were shredded, and my belly was oozing blood. But the worst pain was to my conscience. All these years later I remembered my father's words: "Better fix that before it gets too bad to fix" Small problems grew into big ones if they weren't attended to. Good relationships could unravel if conflicts weren't addressed. But as the Bible says, "The prudent man looketh well to his going" (Proverbs 14:15).

A wise teacher was once trying to explain to a physician the meaning and importance of consecration, but the physician seemed unable to understand. Finally she said to him, "Suppose a patient asked you to take charge of her case but refused to tell you all her symptoms, or to take all your prescriptions. She might say to you, 'I am willing to follow your directions when they seem sensible to me; but if they don't, I will use my own judgment.' What would you do in such a case?" "Do!" was the indignant reply. "I would refuse to accept her as a patient. I could do nothing for her unless she put her whole case into my hands and obeyed my directions implicitly."

"Then obedience to the doctor's orders is essential if the patient wants to be cured!"

"Absolutely!"

"And that is consecration. God must have the whole life put into his hands without any reservations and his directions must be implicitly followed."

I smiled recently when I read about an angry church member who blustered up to his minister, saying, "I phoned you Monday, but I couldn't get you." The preacher explained that it was his day off. "What? A day off? The devil never takes a day off!" exclaimed the member with holier-than-thou indignation. "That's right, " said the minister, "and if I didn't take any 'time out,' I would be just like him!"

Yes, we do need to rest. As Vance Havner used to say: "if we don't come apart, we'll come apart!"

In early 1988 Charles and Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales, and some friends took a skiing trip to Switzerland. The shocking news came one afternoon of a terrible accident caused by an avalanche in which one of the prince's lifelong friends was killed and another seriously injured. It seemed sheer chance that the prince himself was not killed or hurt.

How did it happen? A day or two later the press reported that the prince's group had chosen to ski out on slopes that were closed to the public. The avalanche warnings had been posted, but they had chosen to go beyond the fences because, as one of them observed, that's where the optimum fun and excitement were to be found. Most likely, they found a brand of pleasure that was indeed more than attractive. But it went beyond the margins of what was wise and prudent. And the avalanche exacted its price among those who went beyond the fences. The result? Several broken worlds.

Like the prince and his party who could not stay inside the fences, all of us become curious enough at times to edge out to the fences and see what's on the other side. Perhaps we become curious to see how far we can sneak away from God and not suffer the consequences.

-- Gordon MacDonald, "Rebuilding Your Broken World"

FOLLOWING HER WHEREVER R.Digest 5/78 p. 63

Students in the elementary school where I'm a library aide recently made their annual trip to the symphony. Each class had been reminded to remain with their teacher at all times.

After the house lights went down, one of the teachers quietly left her aisle seat and made her way to the ladies' room. As she her hand on the handle, she heard a noise behind her and turned around. Her entire class, obeying instructions exactly, had followed her all the way to the rest room.

FASTING R.Digest 4/71 p.55

Fast from criticism, and feast on praise.

Fast from self-pity and feast on joy.

Fast from ill temper and feast on peace.

Fast from resentment, and feast on contentment.

Fast from jealousy, and feast on love.

Fast from pride, and feast on humility.

Fast from selfishness, and feast on service.

Fast from fear and feast on faith.

QUOTE: Think Metric: Observe the Ten Commandments - Church sign.

FAITHFUL PAPER DOG r.digest February 1994

One morning I opened the door to get the newspaper and was surprised to see a strange little dog with our paper in his mouth. Delighted with this unexpected "delivery service" I fed him some treats. The following morning I was horrified to see the same dog sitting in front of our door, wagging his tail, surrounded by eight newspapers.

I spent the rest of that morning returning newspapers to their owners.

GOLDEN RULE -- "Lifestyles", Oregon State University Extension Services

1. If you open it, close it.

2. If you turn it on, turn it off.

3. If you unlock it, lock it.

4. If you break it, fix it.

5. If you can't fix it, call in someone who can.

6. If you borrow it, return it.

7. If you use it, take care of it.

8. If you make a mess, clean it up.

9. If you move it, put it back.

10. If it belongs to somebody else and you want to use, get permission.

11. If you don't know how to operate it, leave it alone.

12. If it doesn't concern you, don't mess with it!