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In One Of His Books Leo Tolstoy Tells The Story ... PRO
Contributed by Christian Cheong on Aug 29, 2001 (message contributor)
In one of his books Leo Tolstoy tells the story of a young Russian who inherits his father’s small farm. He immediately starts dreaming of how to expand his property when one morning a well-dressed stranger visits him and makes him an offer that is too good to be true - he could have free of charge all the property he could walk around in one day. The only condition was that he returns to the same spot from which he started, the grave of his father, before the sun went down.
Seeing the rich fields in the distance, he sets out without taking any provisions or saying goodbye to his family. He figured he could cover six square miles in a day. After a short while he decided to make it nine, then twelve and finally fifteen square miles. By noon he makes it to the halfway point. Though hungry with his legs aching he continues.
He was near the point of exhaustion but the obsession to own the land drives him on. With only a few minutes left before the sun went down, he gathers all his strength, stumbles across the line, the new owner of fifteen square miles of land, and then collapses on the ground, dead.
The stranger smiles and said, "I offered him all the land he could...
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A. Dr. Karl Menninger, A World-Famous ... PRO
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A. Dr. Karl Menninger, a world-famous psychiatrist, was answering questions after giving a lecture on mental health when one person asked, “What would you advice someone to do if he felt a nervous breakdown coming on?” Most people expected the doctor to say, “Consult a psychiatrist.” Instead he ...read more
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“THEOLOGY IN THE PEW” “A large share of people who attend Protestant or Catholic churches have adopted beliefs that conflict with the teachings of the Bible and their church, according to the latest release from the Barna Research Group (www.barna.org). There are some fundamental Christian ...read more
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Erich Remarque's Book, All Quiet On The Western ... PRO
Contributed by Eric Peloquin on Jun 23, 2005
Erich Remarque’s book, All Quiet on the Western Front tells of a remarkable encounter between two enemy soldiers during the Second World War. During the confusion of an infantry attack a soldier plunged into an out of the way shell hole. There he found a wounded enemy. The sight of the man moved ...read more
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He Has Called Me, And I Am His Bondslave, His ...
Contributed by Clark Tanner on Apr 26, 2003
“He has called me, and I am His bondslave, His servant, His prisoner, and you are to live as the prisoners of Jesus Christ. ‘Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price’ (I Cor 6:19-20). We have no right to live as we choose and as we please. We were the prisoners of Satan; we are now the ...read more
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Two Old Friends Met One Day After Many Years. ... PRO
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Two old friends met one day after many years. One attended college, and now was very successful. The other had not attended college and never had much ambition. The successful one said, "How has everything been going with you?" "Well, one day I opened the Bible at random, and dropped my ...read more
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