AUDIO: What the world needs now

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Saturday This and That

Things that caught my eye this past week.

Minnesota's last one-room school house...
...and the woman who's been through a lot who keeps it going. Be sure to read the article and watch the accompanying video.

They may or may not be "tragic" reasons as the article is titled...
...but this lengthy piece gives five plausible explanations as to why the world's largest theme park is abandoned.

The silencing of the American college...
...is free speech taking a hit on America's campuses?

And a self-described "liberal professor"...
...identifies similar concerns.

How a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist built a Facebook community...
...from Cleveland.

Art is created in many ways...
I remember reading Charlie Chaplin's autobiography many years ago. Included was a picture of him dressed as his famous Tramp character, standing on an incomplete movie set, with a caption that said something like, "Building a set without an idea in my head." Chaplin improvised his way through what became a classic.

Chaplin didn't always create like this, as the meticulous scripts for some of his talkies show.

The fact that Chaplin was capable both of improvising like a jazz musician or meticulously planning his work testifies to his greatness as an artist. He could do it all, including musical composition.



This article from Open Culture shows us the elaborate outlines of J.K, Rowling for a portion of her fifth Harry Potter book.

The moral: Compelling art is the result of careful planning. Except when it isn't.

(You can click to enlarge the image below.)

$8.5-trillion isn't chump change...
...and that's how much of our money that the Defense Department can't account for since 1996. With Murray Blum, it makes you wonder, "Who does these books?"

Kindness Should Be the Christian's MO

My wife and I ate at a place called Jimmy's Pizza in Litchfield, Minnesota the other day. One server was working the dining room, taking incoming phone calls for delivery orders, and checking customers out at the register. The place wasn't packed, but it was a Friday and, judging by the numbers of times new phone calls came in, business was steady.

Our server was amazing, though! She kept up with everything and did so with a smile, an occasional kind comment, and efficiency.

Toward the end of our visit, after we'd told her that we would take our check any time she could get to it, I said to her, "It would be great to bottle up your energy and good attitude and sell them!" She smiled, then moved to clear away the dishes of a party that had just left. With what seemed like a single motion, she put the dishes in one hand, swept the tip from the table, and wiped the table clean.

But then, she whirled around, fixed me with a smile, and said, "Just for the record, that may be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!"

It's amazing the impact a simple expression of kindness and appreciation can have on people!

My friend Steve Sjogren likes to riff off an observation once made by Mother Teresa. Steve says, "Small things done with great love will change the world."

The Bible says that it's the kindness of God that leads people to repentance. (Repentance is changing our minds about God, His Son Jesus Christ, our sins and exchanging our selfish views for God's views about what's right and wrong, useful and useless.)

When people repent, they're open to trusting in Christ, the one Who came into the world to bring new, everlasting life to those who dare to trust in Him.

Jesus says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16). 

God has been incredibly kind to me, granting me forgiveness and new life I don't deserve. He's also commissioned me and every person who believes in Him to help others believe in Him. That's why there may be no more important things for Christians, as ambassadors for Christ, representatives of the One revealed to be God in the flesh, to do than to be kind to others.

UPDATE (6/7/2012): See here.