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Suspicion
Kissed the Back of His Hand
Lord Halifax, a former foreign secretary of Great Britain, once shared a railway compartment with two prim-looking spinsters. A few moments before reaching his destination the train passed through a tunnel. In the utter darkness Halifax kissed the back of his hand noisily several times. When the train drew into the station, he rose, lifted his hat, and in a gentlemanly way said:
“May I thank whichever one of you two ladies I am indebted to for the charming incident in the tunnel.” He then beat a hasty retreat, leaving the two ladies glaring at each other.
Bits & Pieces, May 27, 1993, p. 22
Killed Those He Was Suspicious Of
And from secular history comes the example of Constantine, whom historian Will Durant rates as generally an efficient and good ruler. Yet after he secured the position of Roman Emperor, Constantine became envious and cruel. In A.D. 326 he was so troubled by the success of his son Crispus, so disturbed by the popularity of his wife Fausta, and so suspicious of his talented nephew Licenianus, that he had all three of them executed.
Our Daily Bread
Thought it Was a Bomb
TIME magazine carried the following news item: “When the post office in Troy, Michigan, summoned Michael Achorn to pick up a 2-foot-long, 40 pound package, his wife, Margaret, cheerfully went to accept it. But as she drove it back to her office in Detroit, she began to worry. The box was from Montgomery Ward, but the sender, Edward Achorn, was unknown to Margaret and her husband, despite the identical last name. “What if the thing was a bomb? She telephoned postal authorities . . .
“The bomb squad soon arrived with eight squad cars and an armored truck. They took the suspected bomb in the armored truck to a remote tip of Belle Isle in the middle of the Detroit River. There they wrapped detonating cord around the package and, as they say in the bomb business, ‘opened it remotely.’ “When the debris settled, all that was left intact was the factory warranty for the contents: a $450 stereo AM-FM receiver and a tape deck console. Now the only mystery is who is Edward Achorn and why did he send Michael and Margaret such a nice Christmas present?”
We gasp with shock at the thought of a costly stereo in pieces, yet many reject the far more costly gift of God’s Son. Eventually they will regret what they discover they have scorned.
Robert T. Wenz
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