CREATIVE IMAGINATION The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science. Albert Einstein
FAITH TRIUMPHS Writing about the tragedy in Oklahoma, James Wall writes, “Religious faith at its best has never offered easy explanations of evil or simple solutions to it. But as the people of Oklahoma have testified, religious faith does allow us to confront evil and to prevail against it.”
GOOD SCARE GONE WILD Hitting on the novel idea that he could end his wife’s incessant nagging by giving her a good scare, Hungarian Jake Fen built an elaborate harness to make it look as if he had hanged himself. When his wife came home and saw him she fainted. Hearing a disturbance a neighbor …
REPLACEMENT INSURANCE A farmer’s barn burned down and his wife called the insurance company. She told the insurance company, “We had that barn insured for fifty-thousand dollars, and I want my money.” The agent replied, “Whoa there, just a minute, insurance doesn’t work quite like that. First we will ascertain the value of what was …
Humor | Insurance | Marriage | Money | Protection | Solutions | Value Read More »
EASIER PLACE TO LOOK There is an old story about a drunk who is trying to find his car keys under a streetlight. “Where did you lose your keys?” asks a sympathetic passerby. “Back in the alley,” the drunk replies. “Then why are you looking here under the light?” the stranger asks in some bewilderment. …
SOLVING THE PROBLEM Taxiing down the tarmac, the jetliner abruptly stopped, turned around and returned to the gate. After an hour-long wait, the plane finally took off. A concerned passenger asked the flight attendant, “What was the problem?” “The pilot was bothered by a noise he heard in the engine,” the flight attendant explained. The …
GUM SOLUTION An elderly man was taking his first flight on an airplane. He was much more relaxed than he had expected — but there was one problem. His ears would not stop popping. He mentioned this to the airline steward. The steward returned momentarily and explained that chewing gum would keep his ears from …
SHE’S OUT OF SIGHT Uncle Arky tells about the couple up the road who got into a fight a while back, the husband didn’t see his wife for more than a week — then he got so he could see her just a little out of one eye. From “The Way I Heer’d It” by …
Conflict | Control | Fighting | Humor | Marriage | Power | Solutions | Story Read More »
WHO MADE THE HOLE? K. Menninger shares the image of a dozen people in a lifeboat who discover a leak near the place where one person is sitting. There can be no doubt on anyone’s mind concerning their responsibility, whether they made the puncture or not.
MOVE THE ROCK A woman told the following parable at the end of what one suspects was a long day of meetings: Now all of you nice ladies just imagine that you lived in a house by a road on the top of a mountain. And there’s a big rock slide and a big boulder …
SOLVING OUR PROBLEMS The best way to forget your own problem is to help others solve theirs. Submitted Michael W. Malone.
BOTH PRAYERS ANSWERED A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find …
THE VALUE OF DEBATE It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it. By the French essayist Joseph Joubert
GIVE A LITTLE WHISTLE Whenever my teenage boys find themselves in an uncomfortable situation they no longer want to be part of, they call home and nonchalantly whistle into the phone. I ask where they are and tell them how long it will take me to get there. No questions are asked, so their friends …
SMART HORSE A cowboy with a broken leg was explaining his injury to his friend. “I was riding my horse up in the hills when I fell. We were quite a ways from the ranch, so my horse took hold of my belt and carried me over to the shade of a tree. He then …
WHEN CROSSING THE RIVER On the way to his inauguration, Abraham Lincoln stopped in New York. He spoke with Horace Greeley. Greeley asked Lincoln, “Will the nation be plunged into a civil war?” Lincoln replied with this story. “Back in Illinois, some lawyers followed a judge from town to town to argue cases. While traveling …
Anxiety | Guidance | Leadership | Perspective | Solutions | Story | Worry Read More »
WHAT JESUS WOULD DO Six-year-old Tommy entered the kitchen with two pieces of candy in his hand. “Look Mom, I found two pieces of candy in the drawer.” His mother saw his younger brother following him. “Are you going to share your candy with your brother?” Tommy answered, “I can’t share with him; I only …
THE EYES HAVE IT Bill and Fred were in a mental institution. This place had an annual contest, picking two of the best patients and giving them two questions. If they got them correct, they were deemed cured and free to go. Bill was called into the doctor’s office first and asked if he understood …
CURE FROM WITHOUT It is vain, O men, that you seek within yourselves the cure for your miseries. All your insight only leads you to the knowledge that it is not in yourselves that you will discover the true and the good. From Loving God, by Charles Colson, pg. 11
ONE RUNS OUR LIVES A man explained how he and his wife learned to resolve their differences: “My wife and I have a perfect understanding. I don’t try to run her life, and I don’t try to run mine!”