THE ONE YEAR ILLUSTRATIONS CLUB

   During World War II, a military governor met with General George Patton in Sicily. When he praised Patton highly for his courage and bravery, the general replied, "Sir, I am not a brave man. . . The truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn't so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands." Years later, when Patton's autobiography was published, it contained this significant statement by the general: "I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears."

   Black Bart was a professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line. From San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier. Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach crews. Amazingly, Bart did it all without firing a shot. Because a hood hid his face, no victim ever saw his face. He never took a hostage and was never trailed by a sheriff. Instead, Black Bart used fear to paralyze his victims. His sinister presence was enough to overwhelm the toughest stagecoach guard. How true this is, while we may not deal with Black Bart on a day to day basis, we do deal with mean people on mean streets, that God expects us to reach. It's interesting that when dealing with young Jeremiah and his future ministry God knew this was going to be an issue! Jeremiah 1:8 "Fear not their faces..."

   W.A. Criswell tells of an ambitious young man who told his pastor he'd promised God a tithe of his income. They prayed for God to bless his career. At that time he was making $40.00 per week and tithing $4.00. In a few years his income increased and he was tithing $500.00 per week. He called on the pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, it was too costly now. The pastor replied, "I don't see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income to $40.00 a week, then you'd have no problem tithing $4.00."

   Stories told of a clever salesman who closed hundreds of sales with this one line, that never failed him: "Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn't afford."

  WHEN George Gordon Liddy, Watergate conspirator was released from prison he was quick to write an Autobiography in it he was quoted as saying, "I have found within myself all I need and all I ever shall need. I am a man of great faith, but my faith is in George Gordon Liddy. I have never failed me."

   Nothing, it seems, is sacred anymore, including the baby Jesus. A rendering of the infant has been stolen from a creche in set up in the public square And in the days leading up to the theft, all the fingers on its right hand were broken off, except for the middle finger. Michel Beauregard, the curator of the large nativity scene ~arrived on Sunday morning only to discover that the figure had been pinched. "I know there are problems in society, but to steal baby Jesus is a cheap shot," he said "We put up the creche on Wednesday and the very next morning - it was gone. The life-size Mary, Joseph, Magi and animals have been vandalized repeatedly since the creche was put up last week. Joseph has a dent in his right forearm and his left hand is damaged. Mary had a stop sign placed in her hands. The donkey's left ear has been broken off. Blue spruce trees surrounding the figures have been knocked down, and people have been tramping on the light fixtures that illuminate...