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No
Partiality
In his autobiography
Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously
and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of
Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the
people of India.
So one Sunday he decided
to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a
Christian. When he entered the sanctuary
however
the usher refused to give
him a seat and suggested that he go worship with his own people. Gandhi left
the church and never returned. "If Christians have caste differences
also
" he said
"I might as well remain a Hindu." That usher's
prejudice not only betrayed Jesus but also turned a person away from trusting
Him as Savior.
Our Daily Bread
March 6
1994.
Two apples up in a tree
were looking down on the world. The first apple said
"Look at all those
people fighting
robbing
rioting -- no one seems willing to get along with his
fellow man. Someday we apples will be the only ones left. Then we'll rule the
world."
Replied the second apple
"Which of us -- the reds or the greens?"
Gene Brown in Danbury
Con.
News-Times.
Elizabeth Blackwell
the
first woman doctor in America
started her practice in New York in 1851. Not
only was she unable to find patients -- no one would even rent her a room once
she mentioned that she was a doctor. After weeks of trudging the streets
she
finally rented rooms from a landlady who asked no questions about what
Elizabeth planned to do with them.
Quaker women
who had
always been receptive to the goal of equal rights
became Elizabeth's first
patients. But no hospital would allow her on its staff. Finally
with financial
help from her Quaker fiends
Elizabeth opened her own clinic in one of New
York's worst slums. The clinic opened in March
1853. Elizabeth hung a sign out
announcing that all patients would be treated free. Yet
for the first few
weeks
no one showed up. Then one day a woman in such agony that she didn't care
who treated her
staggered up the steps and collapsed in Elizabeth's arms.
When the woman was treated
and recovered
she told all her friends about the wonderful woman doctor in
downtown New York. The dispensary was soon doing well. It eventually expanded
moved
and is now a branch of the New York Infirmary on East Fifteenth
Street.
Bits & Pieces
August 22
1991.
For centuries people
believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object
the
faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker
of all time
and surely he would not be wrong.
Anyone
of course
could
have taken two objects
one heavy and one light
and dropped them from a great
height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one did
until nearly 2
000 years after Aristotle's death. In 1589 Galileo summoned
learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then he went to
the top and pushed off a ten- pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the
same instant. The power of belief was so strong
however
that the professors
denied their eyesight. They continued to say Aristotle was right.
Bits & Pieces
January 9
1992
pp. 22-23.
The following story
appeared in the newsletter Our America;
"Dodie Gadient
a
schoolteacher for thirteen years
decided to travel across America and see the
sights she had taught about. Traveling alone in a truck with camper in tow
she
launched out. One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in
rush-hour traffic
a water pump blew on her truck. She was tired
exasperated
scared
and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused
no one seemed
interested in helping.
"Leaning up against
the trailer
she prayed
'Please God
send me an angel . . . preferably one
with mechanical experience.'
Within four minutes
a
huge Harley drove up
ridden by an enormous man sporting long
black hair
a
beard and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence
he jumped off
and
without even glancing at Dodie
went to work on the truck. Within another
few minutes
he flagged down a larger truck
attached a tow chain to the frame
of the disabled Chevy
and whisked the whole 56-foot rig off the freeway onto a
side street
where he calmly continued to work on the water pump.
"The intimidated
schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk. Especially when she read the
paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket: 'Hell's Angels --
California'. As he finished the task
she finally got up the courage to say
'Thanks so much
' and carry on a brief conversation. Noticing her surprise at
the whole ordeal
he looked her straight in the eye and mumbled
'Don't judge a
book by its cover. You may not know who you're talking to.' With that
he
smiled
closed the hood of the truck
and straddled his Harley. With a wave
he
was gone as fast as he had appeared."
Given half a chance
people often crawl out of the boxes into which we've relegated
them."
Larry D. Wright.
A man named La Piere sent
out letters to the managers of 256 hotels and restaurants across the southern
half of the U.S. He told them that he was planning to tour the south with two
Chinese companions and he wanted to know ahead of time whether they would be
served. Ninety-two percent of the businesses replied that they did not serve
Chinese and that La Piere could save himself considerable embarrassment by not
showing up with such undesirables. He wasn't surprised. Racial prejudice was a
part of southern life inthe 1930s
and this was long before a ban was placed on
discrimination in interstate commerce. La Piere ignored the managers' advice
however. Accompanied by a Chinese man and his wife
he visited every one of the
establishments that said they'd refuse service. Surprise! Ninety-nine percent
of the places admitted the oriental couple
and almost all did so without a
hassle...La Piere's study points up something that's a consistent finding in
the field of persuasion--that a person may say he feels one thing
and then
turn right around and do something completely different.
Em Griffin
The
Mindchangers
Tyndale House
1976
p. 179.
Walking through a state
park near Miami
my wife and I saw a Cuban family enjoying a picnic as half a
dozen raccoons begged for handouts. The family responded by tossing them bits
of food and saying repeatedly
"Oye
chico
ven aca." (C'mere
boy.") I later confessed to my wife that my first reaction was: That's
silly. Raccoons don't speak Spanish.
Richard H. Stout
Grove
City
PA.
Glen
one day while I was
visiting with him
remarked about a radio preacher he'd heard earlier.
"That was one of the best messages I've ever heard; he just did a
tremendous job. Too bad you missed it
it was great..." After a pause his
voice dropped and he said in a serious tone
"You know
he said some things
I'd been thinking for a long time." (1985)
There's a wonderful story
about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation on a young
Bostonian being considered for employment. The Boston investment house could
not say enough about the young man. His father
they wrote
was a Cabot; his
mother was a Lowell. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls
Peabodys
and other of Boston's first families. His recommendation was given without
hesitation. Several days later
the Chicago bank sent a note saying the
information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: "We are not
contemplating using the young man for breeding purposes. Just for work."
Neither is God a respecter of persons but accepts those from every family
nation
and race who fear Him and work for His kingdom (Acts 10:34-35).
Kathleen Peterson.