INTRO.- Quips, quotes and notes
- Most husbands become interested in politics. In fact, many of them are already the minority leader in their house.
- The most difficult arithmetic to master is the art of counting our blessings.
- It’s funny how a bad cold improves enough to let a person accept a party invitation. (yes, but not to go to church)
- The dollar has dropped in value – but there’s no need to worry until some country turns down our foreign aid.
- When a child hears a bad word, it goes in one ear and out his mouth.
- Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
- The way of the transgressor may be hard, but it sure isn’t lonely.
- Nothing is harder to see than the naked truth.
- There are so many credit cards in use today that the only people with cash are kids who just got their allowance.
- Baldheaded people should remember that when God made heads, he covered up the ones He didn’t like.
- Some people suffer in silence louder than others.
- How often have you met a critic of the church who has tried to make it better?
- Unless you are willing to admit your ignorance, you will never be able to acquire knowledge. (True with acquiring God’s wisdom as well)
- The United States is the only country in the world where a man can keep three cars in his garage and not own a single one of them. (or two or even one car)
- These days the only thing that gives you more for your money than it did a year ago is a bathroom scale.
- Adolescence is when you think you’ll live forever. Middle age is when you wonder how you’ve lasted so long.
- Inflation is when you find that your nest egg won’t even make an omelet.
- George Washington had a problem no president since has had to deal with. He had no previous administration to blame for his troubles.
- Biting remarks are often the result of snap judgments.
- It’s often a show of strength not to show strength.
- Most of us could do twice as much if we didn’t spend half the time explaining why we don’t.
- The older generation thought nothing of getting up at 5 a.m. The younger generation doesn’t think much of it either.
- Some politicians campaign for the FUNDS of it.
Now to the book of Proverbs.
I. FRIENDS AND BROTHERS
17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
ILL.- A little boy asked his mother if he could go out and play with Timmie. “You know you don’t like Timmie,” his mother said. “All right,” replied the youngster, “then can I go out and fight with him?”
ILL.- Rodney Dangerfield said, “Once I told my old man, ‘Nobody likes me.’ He said, ‘Don’t say that—everybody hasn’t met you yet.’”
ILL.- Two men were out hunting in the northern U.S. Suddenly one yelled and the other looked up to see a grizzly charging them. The first started to frantically put on his tennis shoes and his friend anxiously asked, “What are you doing? Don’t you know you can’t outrun a grizzly bear?”
“I don’t have to outrun a grizzly. I just have to outrun you!”
That is not the kind of friend to have. A true friend stands beside you, even in tough times. A friend loves at all times.
ILL.- Here is an example of true friendship. Jackie Robinson was the first black to play major league baseball. Breaking baseball’s color barrier, he faced jeering crowds in every stadium. While playing one day in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error. The fans began to ridicule him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. Then, shortstop Pee Wee Reese came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd. The fans grew quiet.
Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved his career. And that’s true friendship.
ILL.- Someone said, “You can always tell a real friend: when you’ve made a fool of yourself he doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job.” Yes, that’s a friend who loves at all times.
ILL.- Someone said, “Friends are people with whom you dare to be yourself. Your soul can be naked with them. They ask you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. They do not want you to be better or worse. When you are with them, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard. You can say what you think, as long as it is genuinely you. Friends understand those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you. With them you breathe freely.”
Isn’t it great to be able to be yourself around people? These kinds of people are your true friends. They love you for whom you are, not what they expect you to be.
ILL.- A man by the name of H.K. Downie told about a large newspaper that offered a cash prize for the best answer to the question, “What is the shortest way to London?” The entry that won the prize read: “The shortest way to London is good company!” That’s friendship.
Friendship is when you delight to spend time with that person, at home or away on a trip. Does this remind you of anyone?
ILL.- Here is a story of true friendship. For tae kwon do star Esther Kim, age 20, going to the Olympics has been a long-time dream. She came very close to embracing that dream at the Olympic trials, where she was scheduled to fight her best friend, Kay Poe, who was ranked number one in the world.
But Poe had injured her knee in the semi-finals match and could barely stand up. Obviously Kim could have easily defeated Poe. But she believed such a match-up would hardly be fair. In an instant, she decided to forfeit, automatically sending Poe to the Olympics.
The moment she made her decision, Kim knew it was right. "I thought, It’s not like I’m going to be throwing my dream away. I’m just going to be handing it over to Kay."
Though some people were critical of her decision, Kim knows she made the right decision. She says, "Even though I didn’t have the gold medal around me, for the first time in my life, I felt like a real champion." That’s called sacrifice. It’s called love and it’s also called true friendship. A friend loves at all times.
Sometimes people complain about not having many friends.
Prov. 18:24 KJV “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
A man must show himself friendly.
ILL.- I went out to find a friend, but could not find one there; I went out to be a friend, And friends were everywhere!
ILL.- Dale Carnegie, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in more people, than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
A brother is born for adversity. What is the meaning?
The Message reads: “Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.”
CEV “A friend is always a friend, and relatives are born to share our troubles.”
Hopefully, families will stick together through all kinds of trouble.
ILL.- As I mentioned recently, Elaine’s younger, confirmed bachelor brother, Jim is a good example. After Brad’s colon cancer surgery, Jim came by the house every night to check on him and ask what he could do for him. Elaine has a brother who is born for adversity or is there through adverse times.
I have known of some family members, however, that would not stick together and be supportive and loving.
ILL.- I had a secretary one time who has an older sister. My former secretaries’ parents are now getting older and having more health problems. In fact, her father has Alzheimer’s. He’s had it for the last six years, but the older sister is nowhere to be found! She hasn’t contacted her parents for 10 years. She just doesn’t have time for her aging and ill parents. HOW SAD!
Don’t be a family member like that. Be there for your family members. Be patient. Be loving. Be sympathetic. Love at all times and you’ll never regret it.
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
II. MEDICINE AND BONES
17:22 “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Medicine, medicine. We all need medicine. We all have medicine. And the older we get the more medicine we have, or so it seems.
ILL.- You go see a doctor for the first time, as I did in the case of one Dr. Shane Smith last Friday morning. The receptionist says, “Please fill out these papers and one of the questions is this: please list all of your medications…” It’s a shame how much medicine we have to take to try to stay healthy. So I began listing all my meds: Excedrin, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Lipitor, Prilosec, and now Aciphex and a steroid. Why a steroid? Because I have a pain in my neck! I did not say I am a pain in the neck!
It’s a shame how much medicine we have to take to stay well. And it’s even more of a shame as to how much they cost.
ILL.- My mother contracted Parkinson’s disease when she was 70 years old. She lived to be 82. Her medicine was costing her around $900 a month in the nursing home and while at home, it was around $600. THAT’S A CRYING SHAME! It shouldn’t have to be that expensive, but it is. Healthcare costs are a concern to us all as we age.
What can we do? Keep living. Take care of ourselves, take care of our health as best we can and trust God for provision.
Of course, there is also another way to look at it. Thank God for these good medicines. They have prolonged our lives and in some ways made us healthier!
ILL.- How old is aspirin? A 100 years old? Actually, it goes way back. 400 BC Greek physician Hippocrates prescribed the bark and leaves of the willow tree (rich in a substance called salicin) to relieve pain and fever.
1897 Chemist, Felix Hoffmann, at Bayer® in Germany, chemically synthesizes a stable form of ASA powder that relieves his father’s rheumatism. The compound later becomes the active ingredient in aspirin named.
1899 Bayer distributes aspirin powder to physicians to give to their patients. Aspirin is soon the number one drug worldwide.
1900 Bayer introduces the first aspirin in water-soluble tablets - the first medication to be sold in this form. This new product cut costs in half.
1915 Aspirin becomes available without a prescription. Manufactured in tablet form.
Thank God for medicine like aspirin. I had a doctor in southern Illinois tell me that if aspirin had been invented in our time it would be extremely expensive because it is such a good medicine. It is proven to help prevent heart attacks, fight against colon cancer, and it’s great for pain relief, that is, if your stomach can stand it.
THANK GOD FOR GOOD MEDICINE! However, sometimes in our search for good medicines many people (including doctors) overlook one of the best medicines of all: LAUGHTER.
ILL.- Rodney Dangerfield, the bug-eyed comic whose self-deprecating one-liners brought him stardom in clubs, television and movies and made his lament "I don’t get no respect" a catchphrase, died last Tuesday.
He said such things as: "When I was born, I was so ugly that the doctor slapped my mother,” "When I started in show business, I played one club that was so far out my act was reviewed in Field and Stream"; and "Every time I get in an elevator, the operator says the same thing to me: ’Basement?"’
Rodney Dangerfield is dead at 82 but laughter is not dead.
We all need something for our bones, some strengthening medicine, and laughter just might be that medicine.
ILL.- I have read that lifting weights (or weight bearing exercises) will do the trick, that is, help to strengthen our bones. And certain medications will help, BUT WHAT ABOUT LAUGHTER?
ILL.- Dr. Lee Berk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan of Loma Linda University in California have been studying the effects of laughter on the immune system. To date their published studies have shown that laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, and boosts immune function.
Laughter also triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being.
Hey, I vote for that, don’t you? Anything that helps to kill pain and produce a sense of well-being. Wow!
Laughing is aerobic, providing a workout for the diaphragm and increasing the body’s ability to use oxygen. Many of us can’t run, but we can still laugh.
Laughter brings in positive emotions that can enhance – not replace -- conventional treatments. Experts believe that, when used in addition to conventional care, laughter can reduce pain and aid the healing process. For one thing, laughter offers a powerful distraction from pain.
In a study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing, patients were told one-liners after surgery and before painful medication was administered. Those exposed to humor perceived less pain when compared to patients who didn’t get a dose of humor as part of their therapy.
Perhaps, the biggest benefit of laughter is that it is free and has no known negative side effects.
ILL.- Some 2000 years after this Scripture was written an eminent doctor said, "The arrival of a good clown exercises a more beneficial influence upon the health of a town than 20 asses laden with drugs."
Some quotes about laughter and laughing:
- Martin Luther “If you’re not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.”
- A good laugh is sunshine in the house.
- He who has learned how to laugh at himself shall never cease to be entertained.
- He who laughs, lasts.
- Lincoln, “If I should not laugh, I should die.”
- Victor Borge, “Laughter is the shortest distance between people.”
- Laughter is the sensation of feeling good all over, and showing it principally in one place.
- Laughter is like changing a baby’s diaper. It doesn’t permanently solve any problems, but it makes things more acceptable for awhile.
- If you don’t learn to laugh at troubles, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you grow old.
- We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh.
- Actor Bob Newhart, “Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.”
- The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
- Jay Leno, “You can’t stay mad at somebody who makes you laugh.”
- You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.
ILL.- Someone said, “As young children we were encouraged to humor. We played; we laughed. Too soon, however, we were told to ‘grow up,’ ‘stop kidding’ and ‘act our age’ and the humor inside withered. Life is serious stuff, you see. Now we laugh too little.”
Some want to change that. One such person was the long-time editor of the Saturday Evening Review, Norman Cousins. Cousins has written many books, but his fascinating story on humor and hope is included in his book, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient.
In 1964 Cousins developed a debilitating disease, ankylosing spondylitis. Doctors gave him only one chance in 500 of recovery. Cousins wanted to mobilize the entire resources of his body to fight it. Later he described laughter as the "greatest apothecary available," because it mobilizes the brain to fight disease.
After discussion with his doctor about options, he was told he could increase his vitamin C intake and take aspirin liberally.
He also chose liberal doses of Laurel and Hardy, "Candid Camera," Marx Brothers’ films and numerous other amusing movies. To his delight, Cousins discovered that just 10 minutes of genuine belly laughing had an anesthetic effect that provided him with two hours of pain-free sleep.
"Even if we find that laughter produces no specific biochemical changes," Cousins said, "it does accomplish one essential purpose. It tends to help a person cope with apprehension and even panic that all too frequently accompany serious illness."
Cousins said, “Laughter is a form of internal jogging. It moves your internal organs around. It enhances respiration. It is an igniter of great expectations.”
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Good laughter is good medicine. It lifts the human spirit, both the giver and the receiver. It is a form of ministering to one another. Many people have told me, “I can’t preach and I can’t teach.” BUT WE ALL CAN LAUGH.
As Clint Eastwood said in one of his movies, “Make my day.” I would add to it and say, “MAKE MY DAY. MAKE ME LAUGH.”
