PURITY

A farmer went each week to the Farmers' Market to sell, among other things, the cottage cheese and apple butter made on his farm. He carried these in two large tubs, from which he ladled the cottage cheese or apple butter into smaller containers the customers brought.

One day he got to market and discovered he'd forgotten one ladle. He felt he had no choice but to use the one he had for both products.

Before long he couldn't tell which was which.

That's the way it is when we try to dispense the good news of Christ using hearts, minds, and tongues too recently immersed in the coarseness and one-upmanship of the world. Nobody gets any nourishment.

- Beth Landers

Waterloo, Ontario

PSEUDO-CONCERN

A lady answered the knock on her door to find a man with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," he said, "but I'm collecting money for an unfortunate family in the neighborhood. The husband is out of work, the kids are hungry, the utilities will soon be cut off, and worse, they're going to be ...