Hi Shalom, Glad you like the aphorism; it should make anyone stop and
think about the issue.
Yes, I was away and got behind on the SI reading. Maybe can catch up this
weekend..... Daniel 12:4(b)
Yes, Shalom, I agree that the witness of someone with a handicap has a
lot of impact -if they are sincerely cheerful, not "down" about their
handicap. One of the strongest witnesses I can think of in that
respect is Joni Earicson Tada, the quadriplegic. She's been that way
for years, but has written a few books, painted pictures with a brush
held in her teeth, has a radio program, has recorded songs, and has
even gotten married ( a few years ago) to a guy who is not physically
handicapped himself, but seems a bit like an angel in disguise. She
has plenty to gripe about but doesn't indulge. She has several ministries, one of which is cheering and encouraging others who have
handicaps. A lesson for all of us.
So, did you get the knack for copying and pasting internet links,
Shalom?
A strange thing happened this evening after I arrived in town. Another train pulled into the yard on an adjacent track, and I walked over to talk to the crew on that train while we all waited for the relief crews to arrive. While standing near the front of the head locomotive on the other train, I heard a fluttering, like a bird's wings flapping, from somewhere out of sight behind the metal plate in
front of the engine which is called a "cowcatcher". I saw a few little bits of feathers on the outside of a square hole in the cowcatcher, and deduced that there must be an injured bird inside that area, which is just a place for three air hoses to dangle when they aren't being used. I teased the other engineer, saying, "Dale, did you kill a defenseless pigeon?" (as if he could have done anything to prevent it) Then I leaned over and peeked inside, and saw a dove's head. I reached in and moved my hand around carefully, feeling for it. It fluttered again, and jumped over my hand, getting caught in the other corner of the area, behind the hoses. I groped over their, put my hand under it, and it stopped stuggling. I lifted my hand out, and it was a young whitewing dove, which flew away, quite vigourously, as soon as it saw the open sky. We were all amazed that it survived somehow getting caught in there when it flew in front of a moving train, without any apparent injury. We watched it until it finally turned to a speck and then vanished from sight in the eastern sky.
Psalm 55:6
John |
