THE ONE YEAR ILLUSTRATIONS CLUB

  In competition, the size, as well as the quality of the muscle will be judged. Good body builders know which exercises build size and which build shape. In addition to the size and quality of each muscle, the judges are looking to see if each of the muscles is in proportion to all of the others. How many times have you seem a guy with huge biceps and tiny legs? He could never compete in bodybuilding because his proportions are wrong. An example of good proportion would be that the neck, biceps and calves should all be the same size. Symmetry is also judged, the left side has to look like the right side. The body builder strives to build the perfect body, not to excel in any one muscle or body part, but to build the whole, in proportion, to perfection. "The body can be beautiful if it is proportioned, symmetrical and harmonious, like a painting or a piece of sculpture, And this Spiritual Life that is beautiful is also one that is well proportioned, symmetrical and harmoni...

A friend of mine took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunch time arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer." Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?" With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer!?"

In Greek Mythology, Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. A notorious consumer of wine, he was usually drunk and had to be supported by satyrs or carried by a donkey. Silenus was described as the oldest, wisest and most drunken of the followers of Dionysus, and was said in Orphic hymns to be the young god's tutor. When intoxicated, Silenus was said to possess special knowledge and the power of prophecy and was known for his pessimism. His prophecy was always quite pessimistic. Interesting that even today, a fortune teller is most likely to be believed when giving ones future, if that future is negative. The hearer is not likely to be glad to receive such a future fortune, but is more likely to believe the fortune teller, than had she or he been given a future that was prosperous and good. Greek mythology states that the god Midas, after hunting, asked his captive Silenus somewhat urgently, what was the most desirable thing...

This story out of South Carolina (of course!) Crossing the center line, running several stop signs and almost crashing twice…all after a Sumter Police Officer reported watching Susie Thomas run a red light. The high speed and dangerous chase came to an end with an abrupt stop and officers with their guns drawn. That’s when police found a crying 4 year old girl in the back seat of her “grandmother’s car”, where she had been for this entire high speed chase-not even buckled in. “Why did you do this?”, the police asked the grandma. The grandma answered,  “because I knew that I had warrants out for my arrest”. Many of us live under this myth that sin is just something that young adolescents go through during their teenage years, they get wild and sinful, but then of course we grow out of our sin, change our ways, become upstanding citizens and are all heaven bound. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The older we get, the more entrenched we become in our sin, harde...

An Oakland , Ca. woman threw her three young sons to their deaths in San Francisco Bay in October 2005. The woman said she thought she heard the voice of God telling her to sacrifice her children. Lashan Harris, the woman that was apprehended was charged with three counts of murder. Clearly this woman is a woman who is very imbalanced in her mind. Unfortunately the church and God get very bad press by these kinds of lunatics. You will be glad to know that Lashan was convicted on January 17, 2007 on three counts of second degree murder. The next day a judge declared her criminally insane and ordered her hospitalized for 25 years of her life. We can all surely rest in the fact that we are not as bad as Lashan Harris, however we must all acknowledge that we are all vulnerable and susceptible to creating in our own minds, a persona of Jesus that really doesn't hold true to His word. While it may not go to the extent of “throwing your kids of a pier” man so called Christians have bee...

Walter Kitchen fought in the countries toughest war; he was heralded as a brave soldier, Purple Heart, Badge of Honor, awarded the Navy Cross twice. He was one of the few that fought; and lived another day to tell others about it.  Walter came home from the war in the summer of June 1945. A highly decorated officer fought and victorious in what many believed one of the toughest wars of the 20 th Century. With the war behind him, Walter as many other young soldiers came back with a rugged enthusiasm that having survived the war, nothing could stop them now in their quest for life. Walter was found dead in his living room apartment floor in August of the same year. The coroner’s report diagnosed the cause of death to “an allergic reaction” to a common bee sting. How ironic it was that Walter would survive the rigors of World War II, bullets flying over his head, bombs exploding beside him; only to come home and die the victim of a Bee, a common insect that kids and adults alike kil...

What happens when you strap yourself to a billowy cape and jump off the Eiffel Tower ? Exactly what you think will happen – though nobody warned tailor Franz Reichelt, who dreamed of inventing a fashion accessory that would allow users to float safely from great heights.  Everyone tried telling Franz he was crazy, but undeterred, he planned to demonstrate his “coat parachute” by leaping off the Eiffel Tower in 1912. Four seconds later, the tailor reached a descent velocity of 128ft per second, before splatting to the ground. Luckily for us, Franz’s ludicrous “ I-Fell Tower ” attempt was captured on video, and would presumably have been a huge viral hit, had YouTube been around 95 years ago.

The Starfish I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise, to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the morning dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin. As I approached, I realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back into the sea." As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions beyond eyesight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond cal...

Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in '71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn't call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team. Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."

Ernest Shackleton, in his exploration of the North Pole did not promise that there would be no hardship. But he did promise that he would come back for his men when he had to leave them on Elephant Island in the North Pole. Shackleton traveled 800 miles across the Arctic Ocean in a life boat to get help. On a trip that took him 105 days and tried to return to his men on 3 failed attempts. At the counsel of many good friends, not to try to return to Elephant Island ; that either his men would already be dead or he would die in the process. Shackleton refused to take such counsel, based on the premise that he gave his word and he would die trying if he had too and would not dare just assume his men were dead, though very probable. After months of effort, Shackleton did return to Elephant Island and what’s more important is his men had not given up hope. They kept themselves alive because Ernest Shackleton had given them his word that he would return. For the span of over 3 months...

As the story read in the Police Report…. Suzy was driving her 1998 Ford Taurus when the brakes completely went out, she allowed herself to slow down and then allowed the car to come to a halt by smashing into the curb of the street with no damage done to the vehicle. Suzy, alarmed and frantic called her boyfriend Jimmy. Jimmy said he would be right over to take care of the situation. Jimmy explained in the police report that his plan was to attach straps to Suzy’s car and pull her to his house where he could work on her brakes over the week-end. Jimmy explained in the statement that he had carefully left enough distance between his truck and Suzy’s car in case they had to stop, so that she would not rear end him, he was very cautious and mindful of that. With Rob in his truck and Suzy in her car, they made their way towards Jimmy’s house, everything was going quite well, even picking up a little speed and making quick progress. Jimmy was quite proud of himself on how he had rescued...

In the harrowing account chronicled in the Book, “Into Thin Air”, Beck Weathers describes how he was left for dead not once but twice during the disastrous day in 1996 which left nine climbers dead on Mount Everest . Beck Weathers, barely recognizable stumble into camp they thought they were seeing his ghost. As those at base camp watched a figure descend from the mountain that appalling figure was Beck Weathers, the author of this surprisingly cheerful book. They had left Beck for dead days earlier as they passed him up on the way down to base camp, there lay Beck in the snow, frozen inside like an ice cocoon, they simply passed him up as dead. Yet when Beck was getting ready to die on the mountain, frozen inside that snow and ice cocoon; it was, he says, a vision and the love of his family which roused him to break free of the ice that encased him and stumble back to base camp. Part of one hand was saved, his nose was reconstructed surgically, and his sight came back before he left ...

Christian singer / songwriter Ray Boltz recorded 16 albums during his nearly 20-year recording career. He sold close to 4.5 million copies, won 3 Dove Awards and was a huge name for years in churches and the homes of Christian music fans until his retirement from the industry in the summer of 2004. On September 14, 2008, Boltz again became a big name in Christian circles; but for a much different reason. Ray Boltz officially came out to the world as a gay man through an article in the Washington Post   Though Boltz was married to wife Carol (they are now divorced) for 33 years and he fathered four children (all grown now), he said in the article that he had been attracted to other men since he was a young man. "I'd denied it ever since I was a kid. I became a Christian, I thought that was the way to deal with this and I prayed hard and tried for 30-some years and then at the end, I was just going, 'I'm still gay. I know I am.'" Paul the Apostle wrote, ...

Thomas Costain’s history, THE THREE EDWARDS, described the life of Raynald III, a fourteenth century duke in what is now Belgium . Grossly overweight, Raynald was commonly called by his Latin nickname, Crassus, which means ‘fat.” After a violent quarrel, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room. This would not have been difficult for most people since the room had several windows and a door of near-normal size, and none was locked or barred. The problem was Raynald’s size. To regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight. But Edward knew his older brother, and each day he sent a variety of delicious foods. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: “My brother is n...

Kent Hovind — sentenced to 10 years in prison Jo Hovind clutched the necktie he had been wearing. She kept her eyes on her husband until he was out of sight. A 12-person jury deliberated for 2 1/2 hours on Thursday before finding the couple guilty of all counts in their tax-fraud case. Kent Hovind, founder of Creation Science Evangelism and Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, was found guilty of 58 counts, including failure to pay $845,000 in employee-related taxes. He faces a maximum of 288 years in prison. Testimony, Credibility and years of invested time and ministry all flushed down the toilet by one un-surrendered area in his life, “render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar”. Sometimes as Christians we can feel that we are above the law, or at least certain laws. The entitlement mindset; is not only the down fall of Corporate CEO’s, but Minister Leaders all across the globe. Money is the last great frontier for many Christians to cross and get dominion in. What more app...

Douglas Bader had a dream to fly in the elite British Air Force. When Douglas was 19 years old his flying instructor said, “that young man will either be famous or be killed”. It seemed simply a matter of which would happen first. Well, he was not far off in his prediction. In 1931 Bader crashed his plane in an almost fatal accident. It says of Bader's experience, for days all he felt was pain, as he lay in the hospital bed he knew he was a mess, but not coherent enough to know what was going on. All he knew is he felt excruciating pain, especially in his legs. Read the account, with me of this man’s story from his book, Reach for the Sky .   “ … by nightfall all his eyes were sunken and restless in dark hollows and the face was grey and waxy. Glistening with a film of sweat. For a while he slept under more morphine, but as soon as he awoke, it was more pain. The following morning he drifted into unconsciousness, but now and then revived for brief spells. When his eyes rol...

Steve Irwin, the guy who did all those wild and crazy things with crocodiles and lived to tell about it, met an unexpected end when he was killed by, of all things, a stingray. Irwin was known for getting up close and personal with all sorts of deadly creatures. His forte, of course, was "the croc", but "I've worked with more dangerous snakes than anyone in the world, and I've never been bitten," he often boasted. And then, more humbly, "It's a gift." And yet, his gift didn't work on the stingray that punctured his heart. Irwin's death is a lesson in irony. Irony #1: He was filming a documentary entitled "The Ocean's Deadliest," when the ray got him during an off-camera swim. Irony #2: The stingray is usually non-aggressive. Irony #3: While it's a deadly fish, very few people actually die from its bites. In fact, Irwin was one of only three people in Australia ever to die from a stingray attack. If there’s one les...

TWENTY FOUR AND NO MORE... THANKS, BUT NO THANKS, ITS US TWENTY-FOUR AND NO MORE. DON'T EVEN THINK SOMEONE NEW, WILL EVER WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR. I REALLY DO APPRECIATE YOUR ZEAL, BUT I CAN NO LONGER CONCEAL THAT FACT THAT YOU DON'T KNOW... IT'S JUST US TWENTY-FOUR... AND NO MORE I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOUR FLYERS, OUTREACH AND REVIVALS BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, AND ITS ALL A BORE! DON'T YOU SEE, ITS US TWENTY-FOUR AND NO MORE! THERE ONCE WAS A PREACHER WHO BLAZED THROUGH OUR DOOR HE PREACHED TO US TO REACH THE LOST AND SAVE THE POOR, TO EXPECT A VISITOR, TO WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR TO CONVINCE US WE COULD.... BE TWENTY-FIVE AND MORE! SO AGAIN WE SAID, FLYERS, OUTREACH, REVIVALS AND MORE, BEEN THERE, DONE THAT ITS ALL A BORE! BUT I NEVER KNEW THE TWENTY-FOUR WOULD ONE DAY BE... LESS THAN......FOUR! I NEVER KNEW THAT ONE DAY THEY WOULD COME, AND SHUT OUR DOORS. THE TWENTY FOUR WE ARE NO MORE. FLYERS, OUTREACH, ...

It's Sunday morning at  6  AM , and Dutch Hoorenbeek rolls out of bed to check on his strip club and do some renovations to an outside party deck. He then fires several tenants in his mall for not paying rent, signs up four new ones, and transports to his office to spend some time with his wife, Tenaj Jackelope. The thing is, in real life, Dutch Hoorenbeek is actually Ric Hoogestraat, a call-center operator making $14 an hour. He's also married to Sue Hoogestraat, not Tenaj Jackelope.  Confusing? It should be. Turns out that Ric and Sue's marriage is on the rocks. She contends that he spends more time online in Second Life, a virtual universe currently home to 30 million players, with his online wife. Sue spends her days in front of the television, while Ric is in the other room running a virtual night club and consorting with his online wife, sometimes for as long as 14 hours at a time on weekends.  Although Sue Hoogestraat has attended "gaming widow" sup...

A river must have water pouring into it or it becomes stagnant. Not only does new life stop flowing into that river but everything that is in that river begins to die. 

One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and  decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book. Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?" "Reading a book," she replies, (thinking, "Isn't that obvious?") "You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her. "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading." "Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up." "If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman. "But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden. "That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know yo...

I WAS READING ABOUT THESE SILENT KILLER DISEASES AND THOUGHT   THEY WERE A PRETTY INTERESTING PHENOMENA.  THEY CALL THEM SILENT BECAUSE YOU DONT SEE ANY OUTWARD MANIFESTATION. OF THE DAMAGE THEY ARE DOING TO THE ORGANS.  SOME OF THE MAIN SILENT KILLER DISEASES ARE:  MESOTHELIOMA, A LUNG CANCER CAUSED BY PROLONGUED EXPOSURE TO ABESTOS, MAY TAKE UP TO 50'yrs to take effect.  OSTEOPOROSIS-DISEASE CAUSES WEAKENING OF THE BONES,  HEART DISEASE,  TYPE II Diabetes and last but not least,  HEPATITIS B.  THESE SILENT DISEASES WILL KILL YOU JUST AS QUICK AS A VISIBLE DISEASE.  THIS IS JUST LIKE SOME SINS. ~SOME SINS ARE VERY VISIBLE AND SOME SINS ARE INVISIBLE, BUT THEY ALL KILL.  HATRED IS INVISIBLE,  BITTERNESS IS INVISIBLE,  LUST IS INVISIBLE,   BUT LIKE THE SILENT DISEASES THEY DO EVENTUALLY MANIFEST,  BUT THE GREATEST ONE OF ALL.... THE GREAT KILLER, SILENT, DISEASE, OF THE CHURCH…IS UNBELIEF!!

Kelly Rupp, a Tucson grandmother was captured on video tangling with a purse snatcher, she says she was not about to let him get away with her wallet. “ I work really hard for my money and you can’t just let people take things away from you, so I didn't, Rupp said in the interview. A surveillance camera caught the scuffle outside a Subway Restaurant in Tucson , AZ. Showing the grandma yanking “the hoody” from his sweatshirt over his head and dragging him down and then wrestling with him for her purse. The video then shows the would be assailant running away from the scene, being chased by the Grandma. 

One of Wycliffe’s followers, John Hus, actively promoted Wycliffe’s ideas: that people should be permitted to read the Bible in their own language, and they should oppose the tyranny of the Roman church that threatened anyone possessing a non-Latin Bible with execution. Hus was burned at the stake in~1415, with Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles used as kindling for the fire. The last words of John Hus were that, “ in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed. ” Almost exactly 100 years later, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention (a list of 95 issues of heretical theology and crimes of the Roman Catholic Church) into the church door at Wittenberg . The prophecy of Hus had come true! Martin Luther went on to be the first person to translate and publish the Bible in the commonly-spoken dialect of the German people; a translation more appealing than previous German Biblical translations. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs records that in tha...

64-year-old woman swims from Cuba to Florida without shark cage. KEY WEST, Fla. —Looking dazed and sunburned, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad walked ashore Monday, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage. Nyad, 64 years old, swam up to the beach just before 2 p.m. ET, about 53 hours after starting her journey from Havana on Saturday. As she approached, spectators waded into waist-high water and surrounded her, taking pictures and cheering her on. Diana Nyad is the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the assistance of a shark cage. "I have three messages. One is, we should never, ever give up. Two is, you're never too old to chase your dream. Three is, it looks like a solitary sport, but it is a team," she said on the beach. "I have to say, I'm a little bit out of it right now," Nyad said. She gestured toward her swollen lips, and simply said "seawater." Her team said she had b...

DERIKE, Syria — Like many Americans, Jordan Matson is outraged by the brutality of the Islamic State. But unlike virtually every other American, he decided to take on the militants head-on. Now, the 28-year-old Racine , Wisconsin man is recovering in a hospital in northeastern Syria from a shrapnel wound in his foot, the result of a mortar attack by Islamic State fighters in Jaza, along the Iraqi border. Tall with slightly graying hair, Matson conceded that people back home might call him crazy for joining Kurdish forces to help end the Islamic State's reign of terror. "I couldn't just sit and watch Christians being slaughtered anymore," he said in an interview with USA TODAY. "I got sick of giving online sympathy. Five minutes of lip service does nothing. These people are fighting for their homes, for everything they have." Matson was critical of the United States for being slow to launch air attacks on the Islamic State militants, who have been f...

Imagine all the obstacles a person might have to overcome if he were to walk from New York City to San Francisco . One man who accomplished this rare achievement mentioned a rather surprising difficulty when asked to tell of his biggest hurdle. He said that the toughest part of the trip wasn't traversing the steep slopes of the mountains or crossing hot, dry, barren stretches of desert. Instead, he said, "The thing that came the closest to defeating me was the sand in my shoes."  Often times we are on the outlook for some great sin or event to take us down, it never comes but we find ourselves unraveling regardless and come to realize while we were on the look out, not to be undone by the great big sins or crisis, we were undone by all the little sins, little annoyances and vexations of life. The reality is, as we travel through life, you and I are more likely to be defeated by the sand that is sneaking into our shoe, as apposed to the big boulder that we are looking o...

Fortuneteller, gazing into crystal ball, to frog:  "You are going to meet a beautiful young woman. From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you--you'll fascinate her." Frog : "Where am I? At a singles club?" Fortuneteller : "Biology class!"

Steve Irwin, the guy who did all those wild and crazy things with crocodiles and lived to tell about it, met an unexpected end when he was killed by, of all things, a stingray. Irwin was known for getting up close and personal with all sorts of deadly creatures. His forte, of course, was the croc, but "I've worked with more dangerous snakes than anyone in the world, and I've never been bitten," he often boasted. And then, more humbly, "It's a gift." And yet, his gift didn't work on the stingray that punctured his heart. Irwin's death is a lesson in irony. Irony No. 1: He was filming a documentary entitled "The Ocean's Deadliest," when the ray got him during an off-camera swim. Irony No. 2: The stingray is usually non-aggressive. Irony No. 3: While it's a deadly fish, very few people actually die from its bites. In fact, Irwin was one of only three people in Australia ever to die from a stingray attack.  As a Christian, you m...