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WIT & WISDOM - December 4, 1998

~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS:

The purpose of life is to matter - to count, to stand for something, to have it make some difference that we lived at all. - Leo Rosten [1]

~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS:

"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." 2 Timothy 2:12

We must not imagine that we are suffering for Christ, and with Christ, if we are not in Christ. Beloved friend, are you trusting to Jesus only? If not, whatever you may have to mourn over on earth, you are not "suffering with Christ," and have no hope of reigning with him in heaven. Neither are we to conclude that all a Christian's sufferings are sufferings with Christ, for it is essential that he be called by God to suffer. If we are rash and imprudent, and run into positions for which neither providence nor grace has fitted us, we ought to question whether we are not rather sinning than communing with Jesus. If we let passion take the place of judgment, and self-will reign instead of Scriptural authority, we shall fight the Lord's battles with the devil's weapons, and if we cut our own fingers we must not be surprised. Again, in troubles which come upon us as the result of sin, we must not dream that we are suffering with Christ. When Miriam spoke evil of Moses, and the leprosy polluted her, she was not suffering for God. Moreover, suffering which God accepts must have God's glory as its end. If I suffer that I may earn a name, or win applause, I shall get no other reward than that of the Pharisee. It is requisite also that love to Jesus, and love to his elect, be ever the mainspring of all our patience. We must manifest the Spirit of Christ in meekness, gentleness, and forgiveness. Let us search and see if we truly suffer with Jesus. And if we do thus suffer, what is our "light affliction" compared with reigning with him? Oh it is so blessed to be in the furnace with Christ, and such an honor to stand in the pillory with him, that if there were no future reward, we might count ourselves happy in present honor; but when the recompense is so eternal, so infinitely more than we had any right to expect, shall we not take up the cross with alacrity, and go on our way rejoicing? - Charles Spurgeon, "Morning and Evening Daily Readings"

~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT:

YOU MIGHT BE A FARMER IF:

+ Your dog rides in your truck more than your wife does.

+ You wave at every vehicle whether you know them or not.

+ You always look when a vehicle passes your house, even after dark.

+ You have convinced your wife that an overnight, out-of-state trip after equipment parts is a vacation.

+ You have specific hats worn to: farms sales, livestock auctions, customer appreciation suppers and vacation.

+ You have ever had to wash off in the back yard with a garden hose before your wife would let you in the house.

+ You have never willingly thrown away an empty 5-gallon bucket.

+ You have used baling wire to attach a license plate to a vehicle.

+ You have used a chain saw to remodel your house.

+ You can remember the fertilizer rate, seeding rate, herbicide rate, and final yields on a farm you rented 10 years ago, but cannot recall your wife's birthday or dress size.

+ You have driven off the road while examining your neighbors' crops.

+ You have buried a dog and cried like a baby.

+ You have used a tractor front-end loader as scaffolding for roof repairs.

+ And finally, if given $1,000,000 you would keep right on farming. You'd farm differently, but you'd keep farming because that is who and what you are! [2]

~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING:

Junior had just received his brand new drivers license. The family trooped out to the driveway, and climbed into the car, where he was about to take them for a ride for the first time. Dad immediately headed for the back seat, directly behind the newly minted driver. "I'll bet you're back there to get a change of scenery after all those months of sitting in the front passenger seat teaching me how to drive," said the beaming boy to the ol' man. "Nope," came dad's reply, "I'm gonna sit here and kick the back of your seat as you drive, just like you've been doing to me all these years." [3]

~~~~~~~ TRIVIA:

The surface of the ocean has hills and valleys almost 500 feet high! Using a satellite called TOPEX/Poseidon, scientists have measured these shapes and made maps of them.

The water humps up over undersea mountains and lies lower where there are no big undersea masses. The wind and the currents also have their effects, as does the water temperature (warm water is less dense and bulges up more as it experiences a smaller gravitational pull toward the earth).

Of course, there are also the lunar tides, which cause a moving bulge that circles the whole planet every 24 hours!

More about the TOPEX/Poseidon project:
http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/tutorial1.html

Another interesting satellite ocean measurement page:
http://www.oce.orst.edu/po/satellite.html [4]

~~~~~~~ CONTRIBUTORS:

[1] (DAILY QUOTATION'S LIST )
[2] (Humor )
[3] (Big Al via Fast Eddie's Funnies )
[4] (The Learning Kingdom )


WITandWISDOM™ Copyright © 1998-2001 by Richard G. Wimer - All Rights Reserved
Any questions, comments or suggestions may be sent to Richard G. Wimer.