Con Man

He had sinewy arms, greasy long hair framing a scruffy beard, a tattoo on the left forearm of a skull impaled on a dagger, and a right arm tattoo of flames that he plans to extend up his biceps and onto his back where a Phoenix will rise from the flames. When the cops came to get him for breaking his girlfriend’s jaw, his claim of hallucinations and suicide intent earned him commitment to a psychiatric hospital instead of a trip to the jailhouse. He said he was going to hang himself from the tree where his father hung himself.

            “Your father hung himself? I thought you told the admitting clerk that you didn’t know who your father was.”

            “Well, this man was like my father. He was the brother of my step-father, but he was more like my father than my step-father so I call him my father.”

            “Tell me again about your plan to hang yourself.”

            “I was going to tie a rope to a cinderblock, wrap the rope around my neck two times, then jump off the tree, and decapitate myself.

            “Sounds gory.”

             “Yes, but I want to make certain that I kill myself this time. The last time I tried it the rope broke.”

            “The rope broke? It’s amazing to me how many patients I have had who have tried to hang themselves and the rope breaks. Rope makers must put out a lot of inferior product.”

            “Yea, the rope that broke on me was 400-pound test rope. Brand new. Right off the shelf and it broke.”

            “Did you think about shooting yourself? That would be more of a sure shot thing and a little less messy than a decapitation.”

            “Well, the last time I tried to shoot myself I got some federal explosives, some federal bullets. You know those federal bullets are the best bullets made. They never misfire, being federal bullets and all. Well, I put that gun to my head with those federal bullets in it and pulled the trigger six times and the gun misfired every time. That’s why I’m using the cinder block this time.”

            “If the rope broke with just the weight of your body, how is the rope going to withstand the extra weight of a cinderblock?”

            “I’m going to get a 800-pound test rope this time.”

            “You told the nurse that you murdered two people in prison.”           

            “Yeh. I threw one off a three-story building. Splattered his brains all over the exercise yard. The other wanted a sexual favor and I cut off his most favored asset with a razor. He bled to death right there in front of me.”

            “Why didn’t he get a longer prison term for killing your fellow inmates?”

             “The guards saw me do it and they knew the men deserved to die so they didn’t turn me in. They wanted to give me a medal, but I wouldn’t take it”           

            “Why no teardrop tattoos? You know those little tear drop tattoos that prison murderers have burned in the corner of the eye. Why don’t you have any?

            “I didn’t want them. Girls might get the wrong impression about me.”           

            “Have you every heard the statement, ‘Don’t try to con a con?’”

            “Yea, I’ve heard that.”

            “Since we have that straight, let me tell you a story. My son and I were driving into the College Station Wal-Mart the other day and we saw a guy with long hair and a scruffy beard. My son laughed and said that that man must be the token College Station hippy. I wonder if that was you?”

            “Was that man driving a rusted out wreck of a car?”

            “I think he was.”

            “Yep. That was probably me.”

            “Well, you know College Station is a conservative town. If you drive around here with long hair, you might get beat up by some of the Aggie Corps. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. Have you thought about moving to Austin? They accept longhaired people better there.”

            “That’s a good idea, but I like the idea of moving to Graceful Grove, Wisconsin. They have a lot of long-hair Pentecostals up there.”

            “Pentecostals? Did you grow-up in the Pentecostal Church?”

            “Sure did. Spoke in tongues and all that until the snake bit me.”

            “A snake bit you?”

            “Sure. We was all shoutin and hollowerin and speaking in tongues and people was holdin’ these snakes in the air. They was writhing around and a big ol’ Cobra lashed out and bit me right on the hand. But as quick as flash I pulled out my knife, made a couple of deep cuts and sucked that poison right out of there.”

            “A cobra? That must have left some terrific scars.”

            “Nope. Those elders put some oil on it, laid on their hands, and prayed all the cuts away. See. Look here. You can’t see any evidence of that snake biting me. If you ever get snake bit you sure can count on those Pentecostals.”

            “The Pentecostals—what a blessing when you were in Graceful Grove. How’s your spiritual life now?”

            “I read the Bible every _______ time I get into trouble. As the Bible says ‘A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.’”

            “It says that in the Bible? I didn’t know that. Where in the Bible?”

            “I don’t know exactly because when ever I get in trouble I pull out my Bible, and I just put my finger between the pages and read whatever pops up.”

            “Must be a great comfort to you.”

            “You bet your _____________it is.”

            “I notice that you cuss quite a bit. I don’t believe the Bible ever mentions that Jesus cussed.”

            “He didn’t have all the troubles life has dealt me nuther. With all my worldly woes and sorrows and burdens, I’m praying all the time. That’s what fills my life prayin’ and movin.’ I keep movin’ around lookin’ for that pot of Gold. I get considerable encouragement from what God told Noah—‘There’s a pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow.’”

            “I’m glad your spiritual life is sound and your searchin’ keeps you movin’ on. I don’t think we have the funds for a bus ticket to Graceful Grove or even Austin for that matter. Nonetheless, I don’t think you need any psychiatric care right now do you?”

            “No. Can I call my girlfriend and have her pick me up?”

From the Insight Guide to Israel:

"If the heartbeat of the nation's culture lies in the written word, then Israel has a problem because, despite the revival of Hebrew, there are no more than 4 or 5 million people world-wide who can speak and understand it, and certainly no more than 3 million who can comfortably read it."

Hidden Meanings in Numbers

Finding hidden meanings in numbers is called gematria. For example, the four consonants of God's name (Y-H-W-H) have numerical values as follows: 10, 5, 6, 5. The sum of the squares is 186, which is the numerical value of M-Q-W-M, which means "place." This reminds the rabbis that God is omnipresent (in every place). Or, the numerical value of both the words wine and secret is 70 which lead to the saying "when wine enters, secrets are out."Gematria sounds more like a parlor game rather than true scholarship, but I would be interested to know if you discuss this in future courses. 

A HARVARD MAN WITH A SIMPLE PLAN

 

            When I was older and about to retire, I moved to a medium sized town. The hospital had a family practice residency, but no medical school to back it up. It was a small time program and, from time to time, the hospital had difficulty filling all their residency slots. The family practice residence rotated through the psychiatric unit where I would teach them, the best I could, about psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. I enjoyed teaching them, but the residents were average doctors, not as smart, nor as driven as the residents I had at Duke when I taught there.

            There was one exception—a young man who asked to do more than expected. “I would like to dictate the psychiatric admitting and discharge notes and I would like you to read them and tell me how I can improve,” he said. Then he wrote out his number and asked me to call him if I had any consults in the hospital. “I would like to see those patients first and then you can come by and see them and we can discuss the case and you can tell me how I did on my evaluations.” He did extra reading and kept up with the current literature. He was smart and eager. I quickly became impressed with the breadth and depth of his knowledge.

            “Where did you get your training?” I asked.

            “I went to Harvard as an undergraduate and Johns Hopkins for medical school,” he said.

            “My gosh, what are you doing here? You could write your own ticket. You could get into any top notch family practice program.”

            “When I finish my residency, I am going back to my home town in Alabama. I want to work in the rural areas. That’s where I grew up and where my folks live. That’s where doctors are needed the most. I figured if I was going to practice in a rural area, I should get my training in a smaller program. You practice medicine differently down here. You are practical. You are more interested in talking to patients and examining them, than you are in fancy diagnostic tests. When you hear hoof beats, you look for horses, not zebras. Stanford, Yale, Columbia—they are great programs, but I think I will learn more about being a real doctor here.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S CATAFALQUE DREAM

A few days prior to his assassination Lincoln recounted the following dream:

About ten days ago I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a death­like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invis­ible. I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the sounds of distress met me as I passed along. It was light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I anived at the East Room, which r entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of others weeping pitifully. 'Who is dead in the White House?' I demanded of one of the soldiers. 'The President,' was his answer; 'he was killed by an assassin!' Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd.

Source: Oates, Stephen B: With Malice Toward None-The Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Harper and Row, 1977, pp. 425-426.

A Physician's Prayer

A Physician's Prayer

 

Lord, Thou Great Physician, I kneel before Thee.

Since every good and perfect gift must come from Thee

I pray give skill to my hand, clear vision to my mind,

Kindness and sympathy to my heart.

Give me singleness of purpose, strength to lift at least

A part of the burden of my suffering fellow men,

And true realizations of the rare privilege that is mine.

 

Take from my heart all guile and worldliness,

That with the simple faith of a child I may rely on Thee

Joy Stealers

·      Joy is a choice we have to make every day.

·      Life throws a lot of stuff at us.  And some of that stuff has a way of stealing us of the joy Jesus is talking about.

·      Some Joy Stealers

o     worry

o     unresolved guilt

o     negative self-esteem

·      How quickly we forget that we are all created in the image of God.

·      Some will point out that the reason they have no joy in their lives is because they don’t have a reason to be joyful.

·      It’s hard to be joyful when you’re struggling with troubles, or overwhelmed by pain, or unsure of your future.

·      Jesus told us that “… In this world you will have trouble...”

·      God doesn’t want us to be under our circumstances.  God wants us to be overcomers.

·      Karl Barth once defined joy as “A defiant nevertheless.” 

·      God’s kind of Joy is not an emotion that happens to you.  God’s Joy is His tool for you to use to take control of your life.

Thoughts on Mystical Experiences

 Recently I have been thinking of ways to express mystical encounters that I experience from time to time--usually when I am studying, writing, listening to music, or helping others. Sometimes I have these experiences when I am praying or when I am with a group studying the Bible or when I am reading the Bible. 

The “naïve” Christian considers God as a being from whose care one hopes to benefit and whose punishment one fears. A profounder sort of Christianity takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of the universe that reveals to us an incomprehensible being whose systematic superiority makes human contribution utterly insignificant and yet—at the same time—in a counterintuitive way that remains unexplained, makes human contribution a vital part of the great cosmic ocean of thought. This conviction of a supreme, holy, unexplainable being produces an intoxicated joy at the beauty and grandeur of the world that seems more like a feeling or emotion than a thought. This mystical experience that only can originate outside the brain is a thought-feeling from God that is best expressed through music and poetry. We might call this process “grasping cosmic loving-intelligence.” This cosmic loving-intelligence came in human form as Jesus Christ. Most of the time we are unaware of this cosmic loving-intelligence. On rare occasions, some “spiritual puff” may stimulate a sudden, brief rapture that impresses the mind and heart with an unwavering conviction—“I have just encountered the divine.” This mystical experience fills one with the desire to act toward others with kindnesses, warmth, good-cheer and generosity not to receive a reward but as a way of expressing a cosmic encounter.

WHAT THE BEAUTY WANTS FROM THE BEAST

Four Erroneous Propositions 

Men don’t know how to keep their promises

Men don’t know how to be spiritual leaders

Men don’t know how to talk to their wives

Men don’t know how to raise their children

THE NICE GUY MYTH

The main goal of a man is to be a nice guy

This is the reason there are so many tired and lonely women

…so many fatherless children

…so few men around

Every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, a beauty to rescue

Deceptions

The devil is not around

Don’t hang on to the truth

We let the enemy intimidate us

God is not with us

We make a deal with the devil

We have no weapons against the devil

We won’t be wounded by the devil

A Beauty to Rescue

I am lonely, will you rescue me?

Will you give me your strength?

Will you use me?

Will you fight for me?

Will you stay with me?

iChat on the iMac

No Chat or Losers Lament

 

A cyber sent signal sang signing offline. 

He'd stopped what twas writing and gone out to dine. 

Before I could tell him I had no time to chat. 

He had turned off the 'puter and fled like a rat. 

When I see him I’ll squeeze him, I'll Smee’s him, I’ll sneeze him with cheeses,

Cause I can’t cater a snorting, snot-snake son who signs on and off as he pleases

 

Didn't know the orbit he’d sent,

Couldn't ‘pect the shape he’d bent

'Till that cad, not that gent,

Turned off the 'puter and went

He had interrupted my brilliant thought.

My mind had fried. I was overwrought.

He had stopped me from thinking.

He’d started me drinking.

 

Drink taught me thus to philosophate,

Chatters online therefore to contemplate:

If every talk message brings cause to ruminate

Chatter- interruptus will bring life to ruinate.

Because the losers in life are really quite sad,

Everything they do turns from worse to real bad.

The mail in their box is nothing but junk.

When the project's 'most finished the computer goes clunk.

But the worst loser of all, I've heard it's been said

Sends a chat message to buddies that have fled.

 

 

 

Decided, then, to forget that dork.

Forget chat.  Get back to work.

Stop my drinking

And restart my thinking.

 

Had just put on my wisdom-washed wonder-filled face,

When all of a sudden out of the blue cyber space

Came a nanosecond zap zipping through that cyber zone.

In a mamosecond zac that throttled the thinking tone.

He on his Mac, me, on mine

We talked smack, online

My son’s iMac, so fine.

My iMac, quick time.

We had TV in space, face to face.

We could see each other in cyber space.

We could do some info sharing,

Some bond-like father-son caring,

Some picture looking and family talking,

We could even watch each of us walking.

An amazing thing is this cyber chat,

But don’t interrupt me you silly rat.

 

Dear friends ‘tis a moral to this story.

And all know there’s a path to every glory.

No matter then the chipper chatters that shatters my mind

When he crudely, lewdly, rudely signs on and offline

I’ll lose page and verse; I’ll give chapter and book

Just to capture time, to have a chat, to take a cyber look.

Daily Prayer of a Physician--Attributed to Maimonides

"Almighty God, Thou have created the human body with infinite wisdom. Ten thousand times ten thousand organs hast Thou combined in it that act unceasingly and harmoniously to preserve the whole in all its beauty the body which is the envelope of the immortal soul. They are ever acting in perfect order, agreement, and accord. Yet, when the frailty of matter or the unbridling of passions deranges this order or interrupts this accord, then forces clash and the body crumbles into the primal dust from which it came. Thou send to man diseases as beneficent messengers to foretell approaching danger and to urge him to avert it.

"Thou has blest Thine earth, Thy rivers and Thy mountains with healing substances; they enable Thy creatures to alleviate their sufferings and to heal their illnesses. Thou hast endowed man with the wisdom to relieve the suffering of his brother, to recognize his disorders, to extract the healing substances, to discover their powers and to prepare and to apply them to suit every ill. In Thine Eternal Providence Thou hast chosen me to watch over the life and health of Thy creatures. I am now about to apply myself to the duties of my profession. Support me, Almighty God, in these great labors that they may benefit mankind, for without Thy help not even the least thing will succeed.

"Inspire me with love for my art and for Thy creatures. Do not allow thirst for profit, ambition for renown and admiration, to interfere with my profession, for these are the enemies of truth and of love for mankind and they can lead astray in the great task of attending to the welfare of Thy creatures. Preserve the strength of my body and of my soul that they ever be ready to cheerfully help and support rich and poor, good and bad, enemy as well as friend. In the sufferer let me see only the human being. Illumine my mind that it recognize what presents itself and that it may comprehend what is absent or hidden. Let it not fail to see what is visible, but do not permit it to arrogate to itself the power to see what cannot be seen, for delicate and indefinite are the bounds of the great art of caring for the lives and health of Thy creatures. Let me never be absent- minded. May no strange thoughts divert my attention at the bedside of the sick, or disturb my mind in its silent labors, for great and sacred are the thoughtful deliberations required to preserve the lives and health of Thy creatures.

"Grant that my patients have confidence in me and my art and follow my directions and my counsel. Remove from their midst all charlatans and the whole host of officious relatives and know-all nurses, cruel people who arrogantly frustrate the wisest purposes of our art and often lead Thy creatures to their death.

"Should those who are wiser than I wish to improve and instruct me, let my soul gratefully follow their guidance; for vast is the extent of our art. Should conceited fools, however, censure me, then let love for my profession steel me against them, so that I remain steadfast without regard for age, for reputation, or for honor, because surrender would bring to Thy creatures sickness and death.

"Imbue my soul with gentleness and calmness when older colleagues, proud of their age, wish to displace me or to scorn me or disdainfully to teach me. May even this be of advantage to me, for they know many things of which I am ignorant, but let not their arrogance give me pain. For they are old and old age is not master of the passions. I also hope to attain old age upon this earth, before Thee, Almighty God!

"Let me be contented in everything except in the great science of my profession. Never allow the thought to arise in me that I have attained to sufficient knowledge, but vouchsafe to me the strength, the leisure, and the ambition ever to extend my knowledge. For art is great, but the mind of man is ever expanding.

"Almighty God! Thou hast chosen me in Thy mercy to watch over the life and death of Thy creatures. I now apply myself to my profession. Support me in this great task so that it may benefit mankind, for without Thy help not even the least thing will succeed."

 

Aim and Fire, The Shellachumm Brothers

Indian Lakes (AP). Larry Beaumont, President of the National .22 Shooting Association, was interviewed today regarding the 3-year old boy who shot his grandmother through both arms with a .22-caliber rifle near Orange, Texas yesterday. “The incident was the most remarkable display of gunmanship since the exploits of the brothers Aim and Fire Shellachumm over forty years ago,” Beaumont said.

            “The entire event was just astounding. For a young man to have the sangfroid to fire a gun at his grandmother was in itself amazing enough, but for this 3-year old to have the skill to shoot her in both arms with a single shot was incredible. We have already offered him an honorary membership in our association and have scheduled him to begin snake-shooting training on Monday. After a few days shelling water moccasins in Slide Creek, he will be ready for blasting rear windows of moving vehicles,” Beaumont commented.

            “He reminds me of my cousins Aim and Fire who through a series of unfortunate events are no longer members of the N-.22SA,” Beaumont said.

            Fire was killed when an automobile ran over him near Kountze, Texas 45-years ago. Aim remains on death row after killing the driver with a shot to the eye with a .22 caliber rifle from a distance of 5281 feet. Aim’s case is on appeal. He claims he was shooting at the man’s ear “just to scare him” but failed to take into account the humidity and air temperature when he fired his gun, thus causing the bullet to drift 2-inches to the left penetrating the man’s eye. The man, Chug Houndlicker, a notorious ditch-dog killer, had been suspected of running over Fire.

 

 

 

 

 

********************************************************************************

 

The seat of Hardin County, Kountze describes itself as: "The Big Light in The Big Thicket." The thicket, a vast area of tangled, often impenetrable woods, streams and marshes, is a 50- mile circle of moccasin-infested swampland about 30 miles north of Beaumont. Claustrophobically dark and dank, dripping with vines and Spanish moss, Kountze boasts of hunters who bring their best dogs here trailing razorback hogs, wildcats, and wolves. And if they veer off the trails, the sheriff keeps a pack of bloodhounds to rescue lost souls.

Positive Humor

Have you ever noticed how some golfers shout and act as if they are fighting alli­gators in a swamp? If they aren't having a terrible time, they're certainly making life miserable for everybody around them. Those who enjoy life, play for the fun of play­ing. Paradoxically, when they're playing for the fun, they play better. In addition, humor can be a beneficial antidote against anxiety, stress, tension, and depression that contributes to physical ill­ness.

    Here are some suggestions for playing better golf and living a better life:

v     Decide to be hopeful and fun loving.

v    Every day ask yourself, "Am I having fun yet?"

v    Surround yourself with people who fill you with joy and laughter.

v    Be an inverse paranoid—think the world is out to do you good.

v    When a situation becomes stressful, pretend it's all a Candid Camera episode.

v    Read or listen to humor regularly.

v    Keep a humor scrapbook.

v    Marry someone who thinks everything you say is funny.

v    Understand that few things are absolute or sacred.

v    Think funny.

v    Be a little sillier.

v    Find the absurdity in life.

v    Watch funny movies and DVDs.

v    Don't take yourself so seriously.

v    Remember: He who laughs, lasts.

v    Laugh out loud—laughter is internal jogging.

v    Play golf. Golf is just like life: Difficult and unfair. Par is 18 laughs a round.

GIVING MORE INSTEAD OF GETTING MORE

VERSE FOR TODAY: So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

                                                                                                            2 Corinthians 16: 18

John D. Rockefeller, then the richest man in the world, was asked how much money he wanted. His reply: “Just a little more.”

That sounds like many of us doesn’t it? We all seem to want a little more—money, real estate, and gadgets. Because we want more, we neglect giving more. Because we focus on the temporary benefits of possessions, we neglect the eternal benefits of giving.

Aristotle, advocate of the Golden Mean (a balance between excess and scarcity), believed that not all the things we want turn out to be good for us. Some things if received in excess may interfere with serving others. By focusing on the temporary, we miss the eternal.

We all require enough wealth to obtain food, drink, shelter and clothing but too much wealth and too many gadgets can prevent us from giving to others and may focus our eyes what is seen rather than the unseen benefits of giving.

Perhaps a recent message making the rounds on the Internet sums up Aristotle’s the benefits of giving: 

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough “Hello’s” to get you through the final “Good-bye.”

PRAYER: Lord, please help me to be content with what I have so that I may have enough courage to let go of my cravings. Help me to want to give more instead of wanting to get more.

                                                                                                                                             AMEN

RENEWING OUR LIVES BY GIVING TO OTHERS

VERSE FOR TODAY: Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

                                                                                                                        2 Corinthians 4:16

 

The 3.8 million United States seniors who celebrated their 85^th birthday before the year 2000 constituted the fastest-growing segment of the population. By 2030, this group will number 9 million, and then will swell to 19 million by 2050. Rather than extending our life span, giving to others—putting others first—renews us spiritually and invigorates us.

Studies at Duke University’s Center of Aging and Human Development have clearly shown that people who devote their lives to thinking of others first instead of living for themselves will renew their strength and retard wasting away spiritually and physically. Here are some examples of people whose giving to others first produced a robust life:

v    At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote the play, Farfetched Fables

v    At 90, Pablo Picasso was producing drawings and engravings

v    At 89, Mary Baker Eddy directed the Christian Science Church

v    At 89, Bob Hope finished a world tour for the USO

v    At 89, Albert Schweitzer headed a hospital in Africa

v    At 82, Winston Churchill wrote A History of the English Speaking Peoples

v    At 81, Goethe finished his play, Faust

 

PRAYER: Lord it is easy to lose heart and quit. Our daily problems have caused us to want to think about wasting our talents and becoming self-absorbed. Give us the inner strength to think of others first and to use our talents for your glory.

                                                                                                                                    AMEN            

A GOOD FATHER

            There was a boy who played in the Little League. He played baseball, but he wasn’t very good. He was pretty bad player. He was a bad player actually. He couldn’t hit the ball. Everybody on his team groaned when he came up to bat. They knew he couldn’t hit the ball. He couldn’t hit it at all. If he did hit it, the ball just dribbled off his bat and the short stop could run up and get it and throw it to first baseman. “Out,” the umpire would yell and the boy would be out before he got half-way to first. The boy was happy when he hit the ball. No. Happy is not the right word. He was relieved. “At least I hit the ball,” he said. “I didn’t strike out that time.”

            The boy couldn’t catch the ball and he couldn’t throw it as far as the other kids. They put him in right field. You know—in Little League they put all the bad players in right field. The boys who can’t catch and can’t throw, they put them in right field, because in Little League not many balls get hit out there. The boys who can’t play, they stand out in right field and no ball comes to them. They just stand there and look at the grass and flowers, because no ball gets hit out there.

            This little boy had a father who was an important man. His father traveled a lot, going to meetings and making money. The father didn’t see his boy play much, because the father was out of town, going to meetings, making money.

            One time the father didn’t have any meetings so he went to see his boy play baseball. “Oh, no,” the boy thought. “My father is coming to see me play. I hope they don’t hit the ball to me.” He would be out there in right field, praying. “Please don’t hit the ball to me.”

            The first inning, the other team was batting and the first three boys to bat got on base. The bases were loaded. The boy in right field prayed harder, “Please don’t hit the ball to me.”

            Crack. The ball was hit out in right field. The boy ran in to catch the ball, but he misjudged the ball and as the boy was coming in the ball was going out. Suddenly, the boy saw he made a mistake. “Oh no,” he said. He stuck his glove up but the ball went way over his head and rolled all the way to the back fence. The boy turned and ran after the ball. He picked it up and threw it with all his might, but the ball didn’t go very far. It bounced two or three times and just started rolling and the second baseman had to run out and get the ball. All four runs scored. The boy who hit the ball scored too. He hit a inside the park home run.

            The boy in right field, just put his head down and he thought, “Oh, no. I goofed up. My dad came to see me play and I missed the ball.”

            When it was time for the boy to hit, he didn’t do any better. One. Two. Three. He struck out. In the fourth inning he struck out again and in the sixth inner he struck out. That was the last inning. In Little League, they only play six innings.

            The boy walked to the car with his dad. The boy got in the car and the dad was driving home. The father said, “I saw the ball that was hit in right field. The one that was hit over your head. You ran in and the ball went over your head.”

            “Yeh, it went over my head,” the boy said.

            “You know what I noticed,” the father said. “When the ball went over your head, you stuck your glove way up in the air as high as you could stick it. You did your best to catch that ball, but it went over your head.”

            “And then you ran after the ball and got it and threw it back toward the infield as hard as you could. You put everything, you had into that throw. You threw it with all your might.”

            “When you came to bat, you struck out three times didn’t you?” the father asked.

            “Yes, I struck out three times,” the boy said.

            “You know what you did, every time you came to bat?” the father said.

            “No,” the boy said.

            “Every time you came to bat, you swung three times. Every time you batted, you swung three times. You did your best every time you batted you swung. Nine times you swung. You gave your best. You swung nine times. That’s as good as anybody can do. You didn’t just leave your bat on your shoulder and let the ball go over the plate. You swung—every time.

            There was another boy. His father said, “I’m going to make you a good player. I’m going to make you fearless. You are going to be so fearless and so though you will be the majors, playing baseball with the best.”

            Every time the father threw the ball, he threw it right at the boys head. He threw it right at his head, as hard as he could throw it. Every time. The boy cried, but the father said, “Stand there, don’t be a sissy. You stand there and hit that ball.” And the father would throw another ball—right at the boys head.

            Everyday the father would make the boy go out in the back yard and the father would throw the ball right at the boys head. The boy would cry. And then one day the boy got mad. He got real mad and he started swinging. He swung at the ball with all his might. He was mad and he swung every time harder and harder.

            The first boy grew up. He lived in a little white house. It was a cottage really—just a small little house with two bedrooms and a bath. It was small, but it was very neat and clean around the house. The grass was always mowed. There were flowers in a flower box outside. His wife planted the flowers. People liked to go by the house. They said it looked cozy.

            This man’s wife planted flowers in the flower boxes and she baked oatmeal cookies for the neighbors, and sang in the church choir. The man and his wife had two cute daughters, with blond hair and rosy cheeks. You know they were cute and as sweet as they were cute. The man and his wife and their two little girls did everything together. They were just happy doing the simple, everyday things—living in a simple little house and having fun together doing the simple everyday things. The man became a schoolteacher. He didn’t make much money and no one had ever heard of him except his neighbors and the people at church and his students who loved him. Those students just loved him, because he always encouraged them and found something good the say about everyone. Even the ones who weren’t smart and not very pretty and the boys who couldn’t play ball—he found something good in everyone of them.

            The other boy grew up and became a major leaguer baseball player, just like his father said he would. He was a good player. He hit a bunch of home runs and he made more money in a year than you and I make in a whole lifetime working as hard as we can. He was a famous player. In fact, if I told you his name, you would know who I was talking about. He was on TV and you would read about him in the paper. He was a great player. Nobody liked him. They said he was mean.

Making Life or Death Decisions

Knowledge, knowing what to do in a certain situation, is the wisdom of God put into action.

v    Two types of knowledge

o      The physical, the intellectual, the worldly, the material, the temporal

o      The spiritual, the Godly, the eternal

§       For we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

                                                                                       II Corinthians 4:18

v    Modern medicine—and in particular psychiatric medicine—has the opportunity to bridge the gap between intellectual knowledge and spiritual understanding--and in doing so encourage a dialogue between life and death decisions.

PROLONGING LIFE, NOT DEATH

The 3.8 million United States seniors who celebrated their 85^th birthday before the year 2000 constituted the fastest growing segment of the population. By 2030, this group will number 9 million, and will swell to 19 million by 2050. The new focus on aging must go beyond extending the life span. Rather than delaying death, medical science must work toward prolonging a fully lived life.

Metaphor in the Wizard of OZ According to 1964 High School History Teacher, Henry Littlefield

Oz = oz., an abbreviation for ounce

Kansas = the hardships of life

Cyclone = the financial panic of 1893

Silver slippers = silver as a monetary standard

Yellow brick road = gold as a monetary standard

Emerald City = the fraudulent world of greenback paper money that only pretends to have value

Dorothy = the naive and simple American people

Tin Woodman = the dehumanized industrial worker

The Scarecrow = the farmer

The Munchkins = the ineffectual ordinary citizens who are controlled by politicians and big money

PONTIFICATING PEOPLE: A short play in two acts.

Act one, scene one: in heaven.

GOD (adjusting the HD TV): Hey, boys, come in here that sitcom from earth, Pontificating People, is about to start.

JOHN THE APOSTLE: Great, I’ll make some popcorn. How about some wine?

MATTHEW: Cool it, John. What a party guy. You’ve never been the same since that wedding in Cana.

LUKE: I left that miracle out of my book. Sorry John, but compared to the other miracles I didn’t consider the water-into-wine miracle worth mentioning.

 JOHN THE APOSTLE (entering carrying a huge bowl of popcorn): Hey, where’s Peter? He loves this show.

GOD: He’s over at the Sea of Faith practicing the water-walking thing.

MARK: And Paul? It would do him some good to laugh a little.

GOD: At the library writing a letter to the Martians. Shh. It’s starting.

Act 2, scene one: on earth at a home Bible study.

JIM: Because I’m an engineer, believing in this spiritual stuff gives me a little trouble at times.

BILL: It’s a heart thing not a mind thing.

LARRY: No. Jim’s predestined to think that way.

ANITA: Stop talking about predestination. If we didn’t have free will, we’d be like puppets.

PHYLLIS: I think you might want to consider a third option. As it says in the Bible, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

A FIRST TIME GUEST AT THE BIBLE STUDY: I didn’t know that was in the Bible, but I haven’t read it that much. As Shakespeare said, “Much study is a weariness to the flesh.”

KAREN: That’s in Ecclesiastes, not Shakespeare.

JOHN W. (interrupting): Phyllis is right. You can have predestination and free will at the same time. Its called antinomy.

GOD: That guy’s such a know-it-all. He makes me laugh.

JOHN W. (droning on): It’s sort of, like Plato wrote in The Republic. There are two horses in the sky pulling a chariot. One horse is named Passion; the other is named Reason. They’re pulling against each other. That’s a metaphor for predestination and free will.

GOD: That guy’s a hoot.

PETER (entering while toweling off): To me he’s just a big bore.

KATHERINE (back at the Bible study): I think it’s all free will. Like the Weegie Board thing. We thought we had set the evil spirits free.

PAULA: I’m kind of leaning toward predestination, because when we got Coach Fran, we weren’t given a choice.

JOHN W. (interrupting again): Dante wrote about free will and predestination too. In The Divine Comedy, he used Rebecca and Rachel to represent faith and reason.

PAUL (entering carrying a huge scroll): That’s a non sequitur. He’s showing off again. He’s so arrogant, he’s funny.

PETER: Yes, but in Heaven he’ll get a little tiresome. Where am I going to put that guy when he comes through the pearly gates?

JESUS: As I said, “My house has many mansions.” You’ll find a place for him.

PETER: I think I’ll have him bunk with Erasmus. They’ll put each other asleep with their pontifications and we won’t have to listen to them.

GOD: All those guys down there think they know all the answers. Haven’t they read Job? Who are they to question me?

THE HOLY SPIRIT: I enjoy trying to influence their thinking…. and their heart.

JESUS: When you are around them a lot you begin to really love them.

GOD: I’m glad you like them boys. It took quite a bit of dust to get them started.

LEON (back at the Bible study): It’s time to stop. We can have it at our house next week.

JOHN THE APOSTLE: They are so funny. I can’t wait until next week’s show. I’ll bring the wine in the new skins.