Wednesday, February 17, 2010

HOW GOD HELPS YOU OUT
WHEN YOU'RE LUNCHING WITH AN ATHEIST

I have this dear old friend who is an avowed atheist. We hadn't seen each other for close to 10 years, but met for lunch to get started on a new project of mutual interest.

We sat by the window at Panera's in a mid-town location, far from where either of us lives.

He brought up the name of a mutual friend who neither of us had seen for close to 10 years, either. He gave me an update: she had moved away but was back and working here in some capacity. We agreed that one of us should look her up "someday."

BOOM! We saw her walking down the sidewalk . . . and then she came right into Panera's!!!

Both our jaws dropped to our chests. My atheist friend was able to speak:

"What is this? DIVINE INTERVENTION?!?!?"

He laughed at the irony. I smiled at him meaningfully, nodded, and gave him my Christian Goo-Goo Eyes . . . thanking God for one more piece of well-timed "coincidental" ammo of how real He is, to woo him out of atheism and into the light of the Savior's love.

And yes, our mutual friend is interested in learning more about our new project and would be a great asset. So it was a fun "coincidence" all the way around.

Panera's is a great place to encounter the Bread of Life!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

MAYBE THE KID
DOESN'T NEED COACHING

Maddy, 9, was telling how a girl in her fourth-grade classroom has been snipping at her. The girl is a little bossy and it probably comes from low self-esteem. So we were trying to coach Maddy on how to respond with kindness and understanding, while still being assertive enough to stand up for herself.

We told her that the No. 1 no-no in that situation is to be mean BACK. Leadership requires restraint. When you are unfairly criticized, don't ever retaliate, we told her. That's dragging yourself down to the other person's level.

I showed her that old trick, that when you point the finger at someone, three more point back at you, indicating that you're guilty of the same things, triply as much.

Her face brightened immediately into a huge grin.

She pointed her finger at me and exulted:

"YOU'RE AWESOME!!!"

Thursday, February 11, 2010

THE SIMPLE ANSWER
IS ALMOST ALWAYS BEST

The man of the house agreed to answer questions for a telephone poll. Subject: politics. He is a conservative, and a lot of things that have been going on lately in the political world have his ears steaming. He is not afraid to delve into controversy, and speak his mind. So here we go.

Maddy quietly finished her class valentines, and I eavesdropped while preparing to make 4,000 cupcakes for the various Valentine's celebrations coming up.

His answers were terse, rapid-fire, decisive:

"Yes."

"No."

"60%."

"Yes."

"No."

After a long stream of answers, he suddenly paused and said:

"I don't care to answer that."

Both sets of eavesdropping eyebrows shot up.

After he hung up, we asked what the question was that he didn't care to answer.

"They asked me what RACE I am," he said, fuming; the implication was that such a question should be irrelevant.

But Maddy intervened with another dose of that Kid Common Sense:

"Why didn't you just tell him the HUMAN race?!?"

Monday, February 08, 2010

LITTLE BOY SAYS
WHAT MOST OF US SOMETIMES THINK

A friend's 3-year-old son had been in the restroom for quite some time.

Suddenly, the parents heard a little voice declare:

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!"

He sounds like a Republican observing what's going on in D.C.!

Monday, February 01, 2010

THEY WALK AMONG US:
SO FOOTBALL'S NO BIGGIE IN SINGAPORE?

Saw this hilarious TV listing -- albeit from the past -- that appeared in the Sunday Times of Singapore:

10:30
BOWLING:
SUPERBOWL XXXV

If they WANTED the WORLD to KNOW it's about FOOTBALL, they shouldn't have named the championship after another sport. Right? Riiiiiight.