Example
According to the Bergen (N.J.) Record, the zoo in Copenhagen, Denmark, recently put a human couple on display. Henrik Lehmann and Malene Botoft live in a see-through cage, in the primate display, next to the baboons and the monkeys.
Their 320-square-foot habitat has a living room with furniture, a computer, a television, and stereo. The kitchen and bedroom are part of the display. Only the bathroom is excluded from public view.
Unlike their neighbors, who aren’t allowed out, the two humans occasionally leave their fishbowl existence to shop and water the flowers on their porch back at home.
“We don’t notice visitors anymore,” said Lehmann. “If I want to pick my nose or my toes now, I do it.”
We would do well to remember that people are watching the way we live. “In everything set them an example by doing what is good” (Titus 2:7).
—Parade (12/29/96)
Faith
William Plummer and Bonnie Bell wrote in People: “The Northwestern University Wildcats shocked the world of college football in 1995 by making it to the Rose Bowl Tournament. The man behind the team’s turnaround was coach Gary Barnett … (Barnett) was determined to prove that kids at the Big Ten’s smallest and most academically demanding school could play football. He ordered a Tournament of Roses flag for the football building and kept a silk rose on his desk to remind everyone where they were headed.
“At the first meeting,” says kicker Sam Valenzisi, “he told us we needed belief without evidence. He asked, ‘Do you know what that is? That’s faith.'”
—Sherman L. Burford Fairmont, West Virginia
Fatherhood
Greg Norman intimidates most other professional golfers with his ice-cold stoicism. He learned his hard-nosed tactics from his father. “I used to see my father, getting off a plane or something, and I’d want to hug him,” he recalled once. “But he’d only shake my hand.” Commenting on his aloofness going into the 1996 Masters golf tournament, Norman snorted, “Nobody really knows me out here.”
After leading golf’s most prestigious event from the start, Norman blew a six-shot lead in the last round, losing to rival Nick Faldo.
Rick Reilly writes, “Now, as Faldo made one last thrust into Norman’s heart with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole, the two of them came toward each other, Norman trying to smile, looking for a handshake and finding himself in the warmest embrace instead.
“As they held that hug, held it even as both of them cried, Norman changed just a little. ‘I wasn’t crying because I’d lost,’ Norman said the next day. ‘I’ve lost a lot of golf tournaments before. I’ll lose a lot more. I cried because I’d never felt that from another man before. I’ve never had a hug like that in my life.'”
—Sports Illustrated (12/30/96)
Giving
Fortune magazine (1/13/97) reports that the nation’s top twenty-five philanthropists gave away more than $1.5 billion in 1996. The most generous was George Soros, president of Soros Fund Management, who donated $350 million last year.
Of the top twenty-five philanthropists, only four inherited fortunes. Most attributed their generosity in part to religious backgrounds. And most were donors even before they became wealthy.
God’s Nature
Recently, third- and fourth-graders at Wheaton (IL) Christian Grammar School were asked to complete the following sentence: “By faith, I know that God is … “
—”forgiving, because he forgave in the Bible, and he forgave me when I went in the road on my bike without one of my parents” (Amanda).
—”providingful, because he dropped manna for Moses and the people, and he gave my dad a job” (Brandon).
—”caring, because he made the blind man see, and he made me catch a very fast line drive that could have hurt me. He probably sent an angel down” (Paul).
—”merciful, because my brother has been nice to me for a year” (Jeremy).
—”faithful, because the school bill came, and my mom didn’t know how we were going to pay it. Two minutes later, my dad called, and he just got a bonus check. My mom was in tears” (anonymous).
—”sweet, because he gave me a dog. God tells me not to do things that are bad. I need someone like that” (Hannah).
—Cornerstone newsletter
Hardship
No professional football team that plays its home games in a domed stadium with artificial turf has ever won the Super Bowl.
While a climate-controlled stadium protects players (and fans) from the misery of sleet, snow, mud, heat, and wind, players who brave the elements on a regular basis are disciplined to handle hardship wherever it’s found. The Green Bay Packers were the 1996 Super Bowl champions, in part, because of the discipline gained from regularly playing in some of the worst weather in the country.
“Endure hardship as discipline … No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:7,.11).
—Greg Asimakoupoulos
Sanctity of Life
Susan Shelley writes in Marriage Partnership, “I was thrilled when the doctor told me our baby-to-be was a boy. I decided to keep the news a secret because I wanted to see Marshall’s face when our son was delivered.
“In the fifth month, our doctor recommended a Level II ultrasound. As I lay on the examining table, Dr. Silver manipulated the ultrasound, measuring the cranium and the femur and viewing the internal organs. We all watched the embryonic motions.
“‘Is everything okay?’ Marshall asked.
“‘Let me complete the examination and I’ll give you a full report,’ the doctor said. I hoped his evasive answer was merely his standard procedure.
“Moments later, Dr. Silver announced his observations in a matter-of-fact voice. ‘We have some problems. The fetus has a malformed heart—the aorta is attached incorrectly. There are missing portions of the cerebellum. A club foot. A cleft palate and perhaps a cleft lip. Possibly spina bifida. This is probably a case of Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18. In either case, it is a condition incompatible with life.’
“Neither Marshall nor I could say anything. So Dr. Silver continued.
“‘It’s likely the fetus will spontaneously miscarry. If the child is born, it will not survive long outside the womb. You need to decide if you want to try and carry this pregnancy to term.’
“We both knew what he was asking. My soul was shaken by the news, but I knew clearly what I was to do.
“‘God is the giver and taker of life,’ I said. ‘If the only opportunity I have to know this child is in my womb, I don’t want to cut that time short. If the only world he is to know is the womb, I want that world to be as safe as I can make it.'”
Sharing
The Los Angeles Times (12/15/96) reported that David Suna and John Tu sold 80 percent of their company, Kingston Technology Corp., the world’s largest manufacturer of computer memory products, for $1.5 billion dollars.
The two men decided to share their windfall with their employees. The average bonus payment their workers received was just over $75,000. Sun summarized their decision: “To share our success with everybody is the most joy we can have.”
—Scot Snyder Los Angeles, California
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