Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

March 26, 2007

Today’s Announcements

Dear Prayer Partners,

Here is an update on Rebecca, the young mother and Kindergarten
teacher, who is battling breast cancer.  She saw her doctor on Friday,
and was told that the cancer is an aggressive type, and that it was
also found in13 lymph nodes.  Rebecca's next doctor's appointment
is with an oncologist to see which treatment will be best for her.

Please continue to pray for Rebecca, and her husband and two
small children, and for the medical team, lifting them up to the Lord
whenever He brings Rebecca to mind.  Thank you so very much for
each one of your prayers and for passing Rebecca's prayer request
on to others, who will pray for her.  Your love and prayers are truly
helping Rebecca and her family.

God bless you and each one of your loved ones.
Thanks again for caring, and especially for your priceless prayers.
In Jesus' amazing love,
Frances

Prayers can be sent directly to me and I will see that Rebecca gets them.
I don't have an e-mail address for her.  Her family has been very
uplifted by the prayers sent to them!  Thanks so very much, Carol,
and please thank the prayer partners for their care and concern.
My e-mail: 
Frances Harper <wharper7@charter.net>
Thanks soooo much, Carol!  You shine!

--------------------------------
Below is a note to you from a member of Rebecca's family:
 Thank you so much, and my brother, Billy (Rebecca's father-in-law)
  asked me to thank you. 
  Love to you,  Ann
=====================================================

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Today’s Stories

~**~**~

ValueSpeak

A Weekly Column

By Joseph Walker

valuespeak@msn.com

THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST . . . OR NOT

Joseph Walker

I don’t think Mr. B actually intended to say that I wasn’t the smartest kid on the high school debate team.  He was just trying to make a point – what it was completely eluded me, but since I wasn’t all that bright, what do you expect?

            It had something to do with effort, now that I think about it.  He was grading a test we had taken and noticed that the person in the class with the highest IQ received the exact same score as the person in the class with the lowest IQ.  He was using that simple irony to make the point that the ultimate achievement of both students had less to do with intellect than exertion.

            It was a good point but it was lost on us, mostly because we couldn’t get past the IQ thing.  During the course of our school years we had undergone a battery of IQ tests, the results of which had been steadfastly kept from us. It was felt that if we actually knew our respective IQ scores we would perform accordingly.  Those with high IQs would confidently achieve noteworthy success in the classroom, while those with lower IQs would . . you know . . . not.

            But we didn’t care about that.  All we knew is that Mr. B had unsuspectingly presented us with a rare opportunity.  If we got together and shared our scores we could probably figure out which of us had the highest IQ in the senior debate class, which in turn would tell us who had the highest IQ in the school (since we more or less assumed that we were the school’s best and brightest – and who was going to argue with a bunch of debaters?).

            So we huddled around a lunch table and made a chart.  All of the scores were different – except two.  Kay got a B+ with her 89 score – the exact same as me.  All eyes around the table were focused on the two of us.  A sudden awkwardness hung heavily in the air along with the mixed fragrances of cafeteria pizza, Clearasil and Hai Karate.

            I don’t remember anyone saying anything at that point.  Nobody had to.  We all knew.  In addition to being gorgeous, with her long brown hair and beautiful big eyes, Kay was one of the smartest kids in the class.  And I was . . . well, I was a good guy.  I got along with everybody (OK, ALMOST everybody – but could I help it if I had to break up with Janet?  I mean, Shelley was on the drill team, for Pete’s sake.  What was a hormonal teenage boy supposed to do?).

But as a debater I was a good orator.  Orators give long, prepared speeches.  Orators tell stories.  They don’t have to mix it up in the intellectual give and take of Lincoln-Douglas debate, which requires practice, preparation and . . . you know . . . thinking and stuff.

At first I was embarrassed by the revelation in front my peers.  In my mind I had finally been exposed.  For years I had struggled to keep pace with my debate partners.  I worked hard at gathering information, and I was pretty good at being the first speaker – the one who gives a planned speech.  But as the debate wore on I would get lost in the rhetoric.  Debate judges want to hear logic, reason and incisive rationale.  I wanted to tell stories, and stories don’t carry much weight when you’re arguing whether or not the judicial system should be significantly changed.

But by the end of school that day it was clear that nobody on the debate team was stunned by the revelation.  They already knew that I wasn’t the most active verb in the debate team lexicon, and they accepted me just the same.  I began to feel relieved.  I didn’t have to pretend anymore.  Mr. B and I decided that the judicial system would be just fine without my input, and I shifted my focus from debate to oratory – where, it turns out, judges like stories.

I understand that Kay went on to a successful career as an attorney.  I haven’t spoken to her in years, but I’m sure she’s still right there among the best and the brightest.

And I’m still telling stories.

            Regardless of what Mr. B intended.

~**~**~

To Value Such a Simple Thing

B.J. Cassady
 
    We take for granted such simple tasks.  To eat, to walk, talk and to
read.  I joined project Read.  To teach adults to read and write.  I thought
they might be foreigners but no, my student was a thirty something male.
He used to be a biker.  His family background was tough.  He got kicked out
by his parents when he was twelve.  He never learned to read and write.
 
     He was a gentle man.  He tearfully explained to me his emotions and how
he wanted to express to his son and his wife his love on paper.  He was
intelligent and wanted to learn so the task was not overly difficult.  By Valentines
day, he wrote out a simple, but loving Valentines card in his own words to his
son and to his wife.  He wrote his words through tears, love and after finishing..
gave me a hug.   This is as far as he went with his skills.  He soon quit coming.
He could read the newspaper, and write.  He could communicate with his loved
ones.  A hole was filled in his life. 
 
BJ Cassady

bj.Cassady@af-group.com

~**~**~

    *Humbling of the Spirit*

Norma Liles

May each day allow me to rejoice in the Love that our Savior

sends our way.  I shall strive to be obedient even unto death just as our Jesus did; unto the cross.  Allow my testimony to be in that others will wish to follow and serve our Master and Creator; Jesus Christ.  I shall pledge my thoughts and speech to magnify the blessings that are showered on me daily as He gives me breath to live.  "Amen"

With a willing heart: 

NormaLee Liles ©

Hoopla214@yahoo.com

Poetry Corner

~**~**~

~ Today Love ~

Tim Kevin
-
With tomorrow's coming dawn ,
This day shall be lost to us forever.
When you awake it shall be gone
But tonight's embrace I hope never
-
Will time erase many a precious thing
The touch, look, feel, an kisses of today
The magic that makes one's heart sing
All the private whispers of love we say
-
Will it all disappear like clouds above
With the passing of this ordinary day
Made so special by our passion and love
One's emotions felt in such a special way
-
Will this night's memory be alive forever Not to be diminished by the
morning sun
Even though we may not even be together
When dawn breaks as a new day is begun
-
IrishWarlock ... Copyright ©

irishwarlock@webtv.net

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