A strong, broad-shouldered young man at the construction site was bragging that he could out do anyone in a feat of strength. He especially made fun of one of the older workmen.
After several minutes, the older worker had had enough. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is," he said. "I will bet a week's wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow over to that out building that you won't be able to wheel back."
"You're on, old man," the braggart replied. "Let's see what you got."
The old man reached out and grabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, nodding to the young man, he said, "All right, get in."

IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN - poem

Some of our most painful regrets are for opportunities lost. As John Greenleaf Whittier

said:

QUOTE: You can’t do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about its depth and width. Bits & Pieces 1/7/93

Knute Rockne was a motivator. At the halftime of one game, his Notre Dame Fighting Irish were playing poorly. The team walked dejectedly to the locker room where they braced themselves. They knew Rockne would tear into them. They sat & sat, but Rockne did not appear. Finally as the team began to head toward the door for the beginning of the 2nd half, Rockne came walking in. He looked around & started to walk back out again. Then he said simply, "Oh, sorry, I was looking for the Notre Dame football team." Notre Dame won the game.

QUOTE: He’s open to suggestions – he just never follows them. (From Bits and Pieces 11/12/92)

Poem: ONE MINUTE Anonymous

I have just a little minute,

Only 60 seconds in it.

Forced upon me, can’t refuse it.

Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it.

But it’s up to me to use it.

I must suffer if I abuse it;

Just a tiny, little minute,

But eternity is in it.

GOD OF THE ORDINARY
"For many are called, but few are chosen."- Jesus (Matthew 22:14) "There are many reasons why God wouldn't want to use many of us, but don't worry. We're in good company!
"Moses stuttered.
David's armor didn't fit.
John Mark was rejected by Paul.
Hosea's wife was a prostitute.
Amos' only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning.
Jacob was a liar.
David had an affair.
Solomon was too rich.
Abraham was too old.
David was too young.
Timothy had ulcers.
Peter was afraid of death.
Lazarus was dead.
John was self-righteous.
Jesus was too poor.
Naomi was a widow.
Paul was a murderer. So was Moses.
Jonah ran from God.
Miriam was a bigot and a gossip.
Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
Elijah was burned out.
John the Baptist was a loudmouth.
Martha was a worrywart.
Samson had long hair.
Noah got drunk.
Did I mention that Moses had a short fuse?
So did Peter, Paul-well, lots of folks did" (author unknown).

QUOTE: If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. – Betty Reese

BEETHOVEN’S GIFT (NOT) David Sacks of Bryn Mawr, PN in Leadership

He wanted to conduct. His conducting style however, was idiosyncratic. During soft passages he’d crouch extremely low. For loud sections, he’d often leap into the air, even shouting to the orchestra.

His memory was poor. Once he forgot that he had instructed the orchestra not to repeat a section of music. During the performance, when he went back tot repeat that section, they went forward, so he stopped the piece, hollering, "Stop! Wrong! That will not do! Again! Again!"

For his own piano concerto, he tried conducting from the piano. At one point he jumped from the bench, bumping the candles off the piano. At another concert, he knocked over a choir boy.

During one long, delicate passage, he jumped high to cue a loud entrance, but nothing happened because he had lost count and signaled the orchestra too soon.

Finally the musicians pled with him to go home and give up conducting, which he did.

He was Ludwig van Beethoven.

As the man whom many consider the greatest composer of all time learned, no one is genius of all trades.

LEWIS AND CLARK'S EXPEDITION A FAILURE Newsweek 2/19/96 p. 70

Strictly speaking, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was a flop. Like Columbus, they set out find something and failed As Stephen E. Ambrose writes in "Undaunted Courage" his absorbing new history of that fabled journey, "the real headline news from the Lewis and Clark Expedition was that there was no all water route across the continent." In hindsight, that ostensible failure looks like a footnote. It's what Meriwether Lewis and William Clark found, not what they failed to find, that we consider important.

Exploring the new Louisiana Purchase, forging to the Pacific and back in three years (1804-06), they were the first Americans to see the entire sweep of the continent. Carefully mapping a journey of more than 4000 miles, these explorers gave America its first true sense of the epic reach of the United States.

Napoleon was number 42 in his class.

Sir Isaac Newton was next to the lowest in his class. He failed because he didn't do his problems according to the book.

Thomas Alva Edison was sent home from school at age 6 with a note suggesting that he was "Too stupid to learn."

Wernher von Braun, the missile and satellite expert, flunked math & physics in his early teens.

Michael A. Guido of Metter, Georgia, columnist of several newspapers writes:

"An artist in Mexico lost his right hand while working on a statue. But he did not give up his work. He learned to carve with his left hand His beautifully finished masterpiece was called 'In Spite Of.'

"A sound body, a brilliant mind, a cultural background, a huge amount of money, a wonderful education - none of these guarantees success.

Booker T. Washington was born in slavery. Thomas Edison was deaf. Abraham Lincoln was born of illiterate parents. Lord Byron had a club foot Robert Louis Stevenson had tuberculosis. Alexander Pope was a hunchback. Admiral Nelson had only one eye. Julius Caesar was an epileptic. But these men made history in spite of their handicaps.

"And there was Louis Pasteur, so near-sighted that he had a difficult time finding his way in his laboratory without glasses. There was Helen Keller, who could not hear nor see, but who graduated with honors from a famous college.

"Got a handicap? Call on the Lord. No problem is too big for Him, or too small. He will make everything 'work together for good' - if you trust Him"

Surely, Guido understands the nature of the human spirit to overcome all obstacles, and that by the power of God!

It is important when facing opposition to have sense that you are making progress. Do you know what Christopher Columbus wrote in his diary, on his way to a New World, not yet discovered? Bear in mind, he faced mutiny, many of his men wanted to turn around, and he was in trouble most of the trip. And every day on his log the last entry that he would write was: "Today we moved WESTWARD!"

So in this New Year, keep moving out for God and look for progress along the way.

There is a story told about a faithful old deacon whose oft repeated prayer expression was, "O Lord, touch the unsaved with Thy finger."

One prayer meeting night he was leading in prayer when as he intoned this petition, as he so often did, he abruptly stopped praying. Supposing he had been taken suddenly ill, someone went to him and asked if there was anything wrong, if he were ill.

"No," he replied, "I'm not ill. But something seemed to say to me, 'Thou art the finger'."

It is said that someone asked Michaelangelo how he could take a shapeless block of stone and sculpt from it something as beautiful as his lovely statue of David.

"It is easy," said Michaelangelo. "I just chiseled away what was not needed - and there was the statue.

In AD 400, Telemakus - a monk from the countryside - went to the great city of Rome, believed in that day to be the great Christian city of the day. While in Rome, Telemakus happened upon the Coliseum and attended the games. The games of that day were usually centered around the life and death struggle of gladiators who fought furiously and bloodily to the death while the crowds cheered loudly.

So startled was Telemakus by this display of barbarism that he jumped down into the arena, stood between two of the gladiators and pled with them in the name of God to stop the bloodshed. The crowd howled its displeasure and the two gladiators gently took and put Telemakus to the side. Undeterred, the monk once again placed himself between the warriors. The audience, now incensed, not only filled the Coliseum with jeers but also with a call for the holy man's blood. Drawing their swords, the gladiators slew Telemakus on the spot.

Suddenly, the arena grew deathly quiet. The slaying of an innocent man suddenly filled them with such remorse that they sat in guilty silence. This was the last instance of gladiatorial games ever occurring in the Coliseum. From that day forward, games of death were abandoned. The life of one man - Telemakus - shook the city from its complacency and changed its attitude towards life.

CHOICE by Victor Frankl quoted in R.Digest 5/81 p. 227

We who have lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances - to choose one's own way.

TO LIVE RATHER EXIST Jack London R.Digest 3/83 p.34

I'd rather be ashes than dust. I would rather have my spark burn out in a brilliant blaze than be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and perseverant planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.

TUNNEL VISION R.Digest 5/80 p.78

A young man once found a two-dollar bill on the road. From that time on he never lifted his eyes from the ground while walking. In 40 years, he accumulated 29,516 buttons, 52,172 pins, seven pennies, a bent back and a miserable disposition. He lost the smiles of his friends, the beauties of nature and an opportunity to serve his fellow man.

YOU CAN'T GET ANOTHER ADAM'S APPLE R.Digest 1/84 p.23

Burt Reynolds remembers the day both he and Clint Eastwood got fired from Universal Studios:

I was told I couldn't act, and Clint was told he walked too slow and his Adam's apple was too big. As we were walking to our cars, we were quiet - but then, it's always quiet around Clint. Finally I said, "You're in trouble Clint. I can take acting lessons, but you can't get a new Adam's apple."

TRUE GENIUS R.Digest 10/81 p. 77 William Arthur Ward from Quote Magazine

Genius is recognizing the uniqueness in the unimpressive. It is looking at a homely caterpillar, an ordinary egg and a selfish infant, and seeing a butterfly, an eagle, and a saint.

QUOTE: "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." John Wooden in THEY CALL ME COACH

HE HAS A CHANCE... R.Digest 1/83 p.16

For all his circumlocutions, Casey Stengel was a keen judge of baseball talent. "See that fella over there?" he once said of one of his Mets. "He's 20 years old. In ten years he's got a chance to be a star. Now that other fella over there, he's 20 years old. In ten years he's got a chance to be 30."

The parents of the 1st child were somewhat mismatched. His father was unemployed with no formal schooling. His mother was a unemployed with no formal schooling. His mother was a teacher. This child, born in Port Huron, Michigan, was estimated to have an IQ of 81. He was withdrawn from school after 3 months - and was considered backward by school officials.

The child enrolled in school 2 years late due to scarlet fever and respiratory infections. And he was going deaf. His emotional health was poor. He was stubborn, aloof, and showed very little emotion. He liked mechanics. He also like to play with fire and burned down his father's barn. He showed some manual dexterity, but used very poor grammar. But he did want to be a scientist or a railroad mechanic.

The 2nd child showed not much more promise either. This child was born of an alcoholic father. As a child she was sickly, bedridden, and often hospitalized. She was considered erratic and withdrawn. She would bite her nails and had numerous phobias. She wore a backbrace from a spinal defect and would constantly seek attention.

She was a daydreamer with no vocational goals, although she expressed a desire to help the elderly and poor.

Who were these two children? The boy from Port Huron became one of the world's greatest inventors - Thomas A. Edison. And the awkward and sickly young girl became a champion of the oppressed - Eleanor Roosevelt. Would you have voted either one of these children, "most likely to succeed?" Probably not.

Geologists tell us that only 3 percent of the earth's fresh water is on the surface in the form of rivers and lakes. The other 97 percent remains as a subterranean reservoir down below. The potentials of human personality are much the same - one 3 percent on the surface and 97 percent below.

HOW DOES YOUR LIFE ADD UP?

Someone has calculated how a typical life-span of 70 years is spent. Here is the estimate:

Sleep.............23 years....32.9%

Work............16..............22.8%

TV..................8..............11.4%

Eating..............6................8.6%

Travel..............6................8.6%

Leisure............4.5..............6.5%

Illness..............4.................5.7%

Dressing..........2.................2.8%

Religion...........0.5..............0.7%

----------------------------------------

TOTAL.............70 Years.....100%

When our lives come to an end, what kind of story will it tell? Will it reflect God-honoring priorities? Or would we be wise to make adjustments right now in the way we spend our time? (see Titus 2:11-12 & Ps. 90:12).

DIZZY DEAN AND BASES LOADED R.Digest 8/79 p.111

There may never have been another baseball con man like Dizzy Dean, the great St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, who often used the sport for his own amusement. One day the New York Giants put runners on first and second with 2 out, and Dean intentionally walked Hughie Critz to load the bases. It seemed like a dumb move as the dreaded Bill Terry, the last National Leaguer to ever hit .400 was next up.

But Dean walked down from the mound and confronted Terry at the plate. "Bill," he said, "I'm sorry to do this to you, but I promised a girl I'd strike you out with the bases loaded." And he did on 3 pitches.

SUPER SALESMAN r.digest September 1972

A Maine real-estate dealer was showing a piece of property to some summer people. They noticed a flock of large seabirds circling an area just over a hill. "Isn't that pretty?" remarked the summer folk, as they watched the graceful, soaring flight of the gulls. "Ayuh," replied the real-estate man. "That's our bird sanctuary." Which is how the summer people ended up owners of a lovely piece of land just a wing flap from the town dump.

If you live to be seventy years old, the average person will spend:

* 20 years sleeping

* 16 years working

* 7 years playing

* 6 years eating

* 5 years dressing (4 1\2 years for bald men!)

* 3 years waiting for somebody

* 1 1\2 years in church

* 1 year on the telephone (this varies greatly for ladies)

* 5 months tying shoes

THE ROCK TO BE MOVED R.Digest 3/94 pp.91-92 Janet H. Fithian

When I came to the farm as a bride, the rock was there, just around the corner of the house. It was an ugly dull orange, about a foot in diameter, and stuck up a couple of inches through the back lawn, waiting to trip me.

"Can't we dig it out?" I asked my husband after I hit it full speed with the lawn mower, breaking it's blade.

"No, it's always been there," he replied, and his father agreed. "It goes down pretty deep, I reckon," my father-in-law added. "My wife's family lived here since the Civil War. No one's ever got it out."

So it stayed. My children were born, grew up and moved away. My father-in-law died. Some time later, my husband died.

In time, I decided it was time to face that rock. I went to the shed

and got my shovel. I was going to dig out the rock. I braced myself for what was to be a long day, perhaps experienced by previous generations who had tried to dislodge the rock. I put on heavy shoes and rolled out my wheelbarrow. If it took the whole day, that rock was going to come out.

Five minutes later the rock was out. It had been about a foot deep, and maybe six inches wider than it looked from the top. I pried it loose with a crowbar and hoisted it into the wheelbarrow.

I was stunned. That rock had persisted there beyond living memory. Each family had taken it on faith that the previous generation had tried and failed to remove it. Because the rock had appeared to be large and deep, it was treated as immovable and strong. I have seen people do this too - and get others to walk carefully around them and assume a depth of character and knowledge solely from demeanor rather than from actual accomplishment.

NO HITS, NO RUNS, NO ERRORS Gary Johnson Spring '94

In a small Midwestern town, the oldest resident of that area, Elvira Jones, had just died. The local newspaper editor wanted to do an article on her, but could find nothing of note in speaking with many of the locals, he went back to the paper in disgust deciding to give the assignment to the 1st reporter he came across, who in this case was the sports writer.

The story has it that if you were to go to the cemetery of that small town today you would find this epitaph on Elvira Jone's tombstone:

"Here lie the bones of Miss Elvira Jones

Whose life held no terrors

She lived an old maid, she died an old maid

No hits, no runs, no errors."

Don't think it strange when you desire to serve God and then seem to encounter a severe time of testing. God's purpose at every juncture of testing is to make the person more valuable. Let me illustrate:

A $5 bar of steel cut into ordinary horseshoes is worth $10.

A $5 bar of steel cut into needles is worth $350.

That same bar of steel cut into delicate springs for watches becomes worth $250,000.

Next time you get discouraged at what God is putting you through, think of that bar of steel!

HOW MUCH IS ONE VOTE WORTH? March Fong Eu the California Secty of State '84
In 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England

In 1649, one vote caused Charles I of England to be executed.

In 1776, one vote gave America the English language instead of German.

In 1845, one vote brought Texas into the Union.

In 1868, one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment.

In 1876, one vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic.

In 1876, one vote gave Rutherford B. Hayes the Presidency of U.S.

In 1933, one vote gave Adolph Hitler leadership of the Nazi Party.

In 1960, one vote change in each precinct in Illinois would have denied

John F. Kennedy the Presidency.

I clipped this interesting item from a local newspaper: "A bus driver became annoyed with his job because he had to wait 7 minutes after every run near an open field which 'litterbugs' had made into an unofficial dump. He often thought that somebody should do something about that unsightly mess. One day he himself decided to get out and pick up some of the tin cans and other debris which were lying all around. This improved things so much that he soon was eager to complete his route and spend all his free moments in cleaning up the area. When spring came, he was so enthusiastic about this project that he decided to sow some flower seeds. By the end of the summer many were riding to the end of the line just to see what the motorman had accomplished by doing what he and others had only talked about before."

The article reminded me of the tremendous gap that often exists in many churches between preaching and practice! Many who know what they believe cause us to wonder if they really believe what they know! An intellectual awareness of the truth is not enough. Belief must take fruit in actions.

Christian psychiatrists Drs. Frank B. Minirth and Paul D. Meier insist that any patient of theirs who is a Christian must be honest and use language that expresses the reality of the situation. In their book "Happiness is a Choice", the authors state, "... we cringe whenever patients use the word 'can't'. They say, for example, 'I just can't get along with my husband.' 'I can't give up the affair I'm having.' 'I can't stop overeating.' 'I can't love my wife'.... If an individual changes all his can'ts to won't's, he stops avoiding the truth, quits deceiving himself, and starts living in reality."

To improve your self-image, learn from the successful failures. Like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.

* Ty Cobb was thrown out more times trying to steal than any other man in baseball history.

* Babe Ruth struck out more times than any man in baseball history.

* Hank Aaron, who broke Babe Ruth's record, has struck out more times than 99% of the players who make it to the major leagues. Nobody -- but nobody -- considers them failures and few people even remember their failures. Virtually everyone remembers their successes.

* Enrico Caruso's voice failed to carry the high notes so many times his voice teacher advised him to quit. He kept singing and was recognized as the greatest tenor in the world.

* Thomas Edison's teacher called him a dunce and he later failed over 14,000 times in his efforts to perfect the incandescent light.

* Abraham Lincoln was well known for his failures but nobody considers him a failure.

* Albert Einstein and Werner von Braun both flunked courses in math.

* Henry Ford was broke at age 40.

* Vince Lombardi became the most revered coach since Knute Rockne, but at age 43 he was a line coach at Fordham University.

QUOTE: "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." - Lou Holtz