Bad Driving

A truck driver is sitting in a crowded roadside diner ready to eat his lunch. It’s not  just any diner and any lunch. It’s his favorite diner on the road and his favorite lunch. Just as the waitress brings the truck driver’s meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans to his table, a motorcycle gang swaggers in the door.

 Most of them seat themselves at the table next to the truck driver but there’s not  room at that table for all of them. The gang members left standing turn to the truck driver and bark, “Move! We want that table!”

 The truck driver calmly says, “I haven’t finished my meal.” One of the motorcycle  toughs takes his dirty finger, swipes it through the mashed potatoes and gravy, sticks his finger in his mouth and says, “Hey, not bad grub.”

Another gang member takes the trucker’s cup of coffee and slowly pours it over the remaining food on the plate and snarls, “You’re finished now!”

 The trucker stands, takes his napkin, wipes his mouth, walks to the cash register,  pays for his meal, and silently walks out the door. All the bikers are laughing now. One of them says, “Ain’t much of a man, is he?”

The waitress says, “And he’s not much of a truck driver, either. He just backed his rig over your motorcycles.”

Don't Miss The Main Event

There once was a little boy who had heard about the circus, but had never been to one. He had read stories about the circus—all the animals and acrobats and clowns, and he really, really wanted to see one. The boy was walking through town one day and saw a poster in a store window that said that the circus was coming to town. Tickets were five dollars, and this boy didn’t have five dollars.

The little boy asked his father for the money. The father said that he wouldn’t give the boy five dollars, but if he cleaned his room and organized all of his toys, the boy could earn the money. So the boy cleaned, tidied, organized, and put everything exactly where it should go. He told his father he’d finished the work, and his father paid him five dollars.

When the day of the circus arrived, the boy ran into town and saw people lining the streets waiting for the circus parade. The boy found a good place to stand, and the parade began—elephants and clowns, horses and acrobats, dogs wearing little hats, jumping through hoops—it was magical. Just like he’d read about. The boy was thrilled!

Bringing up the rear of the parade was the ringmaster in his wonderful costume and top hat. He looked exactly like the ring master in his favorite circus book at home. As the ringmaster passed by, the boy ran up to him and proudly handed over his five dollars. “Thanks, Mister!” the boy said. “What a great circus!” And the boy turned around and ran home.

He never even saw the circus—only the parade! The boy missed the main event!

The Bible As A Guide For Life

Something amazing and unexpected had happened in the little village of Shimmabuko on the Island of Okinawa. An American missionary on his way to Japan had stopped there and had given a Bible to Shosei and his brother Mojon. He had told them about a loving heavenly Father who cared for them and who had sent them his Son, Jesus Christ, to help them.

“Here is a book which will tell you more about Jesus,” he had said before he continued on his way.

Now Shosei and Mojon held this strange book in their hands. Mojon turned the pages to the story of Jesus which the missionary had marked. He read aloud.

“This is amazing,” he said. “This book will show us how to live. Look, here it says that we are to love and serve one another.”

A crippled man came down the dirty village street. The brothers knew that he had a hard time making a living. He could go fishing only if someone helped him.

“Let us take Crooked Leg with us when we go fishing,” suggested Shosei. “That would be helping others as the book says.”

Crooked Leg was amazed at being asked. Usually he had to beg to go along. The brothers even shared their lunch with him.

When they came back, Crooked Leg asked the brothers, “Why have you done this for me?”

It is because of a new teaching we have received,” said Shosei. “We have heard there is a loving God who is like a father to us. He wishes us to do good and not evil. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to save us from our sins. Would you like to learn more about him, too?”

“Oh, yes!” said Crooked Leg. Day after day he and several others came to sit about the door of the hut where Shosei lived. They listened to the reading from the Bible.

More and more people came to listen. More and more decided to follow Christ and try to live according to his teaching.

That brought about many changes in the village. The people suddenly saw that the roof of the house where a widow lived with her children was leading badly. They fixed it for her. But now the new roof made the others look shabby so one after another the roofs on the other houses were fixed too.

Mojon studied the Bible more than anyone else and so the people came to him for advice. When someone was angry with his brother, Mojon said, “Forgive him. That is what Jesus said we should do.” To the one who had offended, he said, “Do not make your brother angry anymore. Be kind to him.”

In time the people of the little village chose Shosei as the new headman. Shosei was careful to make each decision according to the teachings he found in the Bible.

Gradually the old ways of doing things were left behind. Christian ways took their place. Laughter rang out in the village streets, and poverty disappeared when people were fair to each other and lived for the good of all.

The houses were made neat and clean, and the rubbish disappeared from the village streets. Sickness was less common. Rules were made so people could live in peace. The village was happy and prosperous.

Thirty years went slowly by. Shosei and Mojon became old men and were much respected in their villages.

Then another unexpected happening shook the village. A terrible war came ot the Pacific. American troops stormed ashore on Okinawa. They forced their way across the island. The village of Shimmabuko lay right in their path. The American troops advanced toward it, bayonets ready, guns leveled. Shosei and Mojon knew they must do something to explain that they were not enemies.

The two little old men stepped forward into plain sight. They smiled and bowed low in front of the soldiers. They spoke words of welcome.

The soldiers halted in amazement. An interpreter rushed forward to hear what Shosei and Mojon had to say.

When he came back, he scratched his head in puzzlement. He told the soldiers, “They are welcoming you as fellow Christians! They say their missionary was an American, and they are overjoyed to see you!”

This was very strange. The officers asked whether they could walk through the village.

The two old men bowed and led the way. The people came out of their houses smiling as if to greet their new friends.

The officers could hardly believe their eyes.

Here was a shinging, clean village instead of the dirty, hopeless ones they had seen before. The people were intelligent, healthy, and friendly.

“Tell us,” asked one of the men, “how did it happen that you have this kind of a village?”

Mojon told them about the missionary and the Bible he had left with them. He described how the people had studied it and found in its pages a pattern for living.

The officers were silent. They did not know what to say. Before they left the village, Shosei and Mojon showed them the old, old Bible that had made such a difference in their lives.

Then the Americans strode off to their camp. “Maybe,” muttered one tough army sergeant, “we have been using the wrong kind of weapons to change the world!”

$77,615 Bottle Of 224-Year-Old Cognac Shattered By Clumsy Customer

$77,615 Bottle Of 224-Year-Old Cognac Shattered By Clumsy Customer

The highlights.

A regular customer destroys a bottle of Cognac from the year 1788.

$77,615 of liquid runs onto the bar floor.

"Unfortunately for all, the bottle of Clos de Griffier Vieux wasn't insured because it had already been open. But, it seems the clumsy customer, a club regular, has been forgiven. "Accidents happen," Calabrese told The Evening Standard."

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

During the California gold rush, a wagon train was traveling through Death Valley. During the summer Death Valley averages 116 degrees. Right outside of Death Valley, in the middle of Owens Valley is Owens Lake. Or I should say, was Owens Lake. It was there until 1924, from that time it has mostly dried up. So this family was thirsty. Really thirsty. And they were hot. As this particular wagon train trudged through Death Valley, they looked ahead and saw a sheet of water they all believed was Owen’s Lake. But it was just a mirage created by the intense heat, and the harder they pressed on to make it to the water, the more frustrated they became. The water they were seeking and thought they were traveling to wasn’t there.

The headline reads Houston permit rule stops couple's effort to feed homeless.

Bobby and Amanda Herring spent more than a year providing food to homeless people in downtown Houston every day. They fed them, left behind no trash and doled out warm meals peacefully without a single crime being committed, Bobby Herring said.

That ended two weeks ago when the city shut down their "Feed a Friend" effort for lack of a permit. And city officials say the couple most likely will not be able to obtain one.

Losing With Dignity

The headline reads Butler Goes Down Its Way.

Vanzant thought it was his fault. Howard felt no better.

And that’s when Ronald Nored, eyes red and tear-filled as well, noticed his teammates, got up, crossed the locker room and reminded everyone what this entire pursuit is about.

He pulled Shawn Vanzant up off his stool and hugged his friend, physically and emotionally attempting to lift him out of his depression.

After a few seconds, Nored stepped over to Howard and did the same. And soon enough, his teammates followed. One after the other, from the freshmen to the managers, from the benchwarmers to the starters, every last Butler Bulldog was taking a moment to remind each other, particularly those bottomed-out seniors, that this was about a lot more than some basketball game.