THE ONE YEAR ILLUSTRATIONS CLUB

   In the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) it states: Desertion is punishable under art. 317 of Law 2306 by imprisonment for from 61 days to 5 years. If the desertion is in some way aggravated or occurs in wartime, punishment may be up to life imprisonment. The Code of Military Justice does not prescribe capital punishment, but in wartime deserters may be considered traitors and get sentenced to death by a war tribunal. [1] [4] In other words, this type of cowardice behavior, is reprehensible…… Nobody likes a coward, but even more surprisingly, we find that god, the all loving god, does not like cowards either. Rev 21:8 But the cowardly, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers and all liars--their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. Many of us wouldn’t be caught dead committing any of those reprehensible sins, but the cowardly???  What is the coward doing in there?

  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 ...

  There’s this add that runs on the internet, during Christmas Season. It's an add for a cute pair of socks. The feet are propped up and on the soles of the feet you can read: “If you can read this, leave me alone, I’m watching Hallmark movies” Well, it’s Christmas time and nobody has more movies on Christmas, than Hallmark. But the question is…..are they really Christmas movies? And the answer is “no”. They are not Christmas movies; they are love stories, merely based around Christmas season. And if you’re not falling in love at Christmas, they are downright depressing. The argument if you want to try to put one up, “well they’re about love, and God is love, so, there, they are Christmas movies‼! Well, there’s different types of Love, just to name a couple, there’s "Agape Love" (Unconditional Love) which is definitely God, but there is also Eros Love, from which we get the word “erotica” this is a Love of Romance & Intimacy, need I say more. We are saturated all year...

  Thomas g. Stemberg After 13 hours of site visits and meetings in four different states, you think Thomas G. Stemberg would be peaked. Indeed, the 54 year old founder of the staples office supply chain lets out a quiet grunt as he carries his suitcase up a flight of stairs to a Gaithersburg, MD. Hotel suite. But tuckered out? Stemberg, his shirt only half tucked in, is just getting started. He apologizes for his tardiness to two executives from oll y shoes, a children's shoe chain Stemberg co-founded in 2001. Still chairman of staples, Stemberg cut his workweek there in half, to 50 hours, after finally anointing a chief executive in February 2002. But he's still making good on his vow to visit every store around the world (1,200 down, 300 to go). We can criticize a man for what he has sold himself out for (Office supplies & shoes?), but the question to ask, before we criticize is...."what do I believe in?" and once you have that answer then you can answer the 2nd...

 "Ever heard of Shipwreck Kelly?" Ever heard of flagpole sitting? Well, at the height of his fame in 1930, the greatest flagpole-sitter of all, "Shipwreck Kelly", claimed he had spent a total of 20,613 hours "in cloudland". History records that he sat perched atop flagpoles on tall buildings he endured 14,000 hours of rain and sleet, 210 hours in temperatures below freezing, 47 hours in snowstorms. He climbed poles for more than 20 years. What are you doing with your life? Are you just "sitting around" or are you living it; doing something purposeful with it?!

 The Nixon Watergate scandal that had Richard Nixon impeached from office was based off of a number of illegal activities the Nixon administration was involved in, primarily one of an attempted break in, by five men, all of them caught, to try to steal some incriminating tapes the DNC had on Richard Nixon. Some of us, at the end of our lives are going to be wanting to attempt our own break in, to Heaven Central, to try stealing incriminating tapes on us, which have been recorded. Words we wished had not left our mouth!Matthew 12:37 “for we will give an account of every careless word that proceeds out of our mouths”      Where are those tapes?  Safely in God's hands! And if 5 professional burglars couldn't pull off a simple heist, I can tell you you're not getting your hands on those tapes from God. So you'd better start watching what you say. Especially when you're mad, tired and upset. The verse goes on to say, "for by your words you will be acquitted or conde...

 An unknown author once said, "As a boy, I thought of heaven as a city with domes, spires, and beautiful streets, inhabited by angels. By and by my little brother died, and I thought of heaven much as before, but with one inhabitant that I knew. Then another died, and then some of my acquaintances, so in time I began to think of heaven as containing several people that I knew. But it was not until one of my own little children died that I began to think I had treasure in heaven myself. Afterward another went, and yet another. By that time I had so many acquaintances and children in heaven that I no more thought of it as a city merely with streets of gold but as a place full of inhabitants. Now there are so many loved ones there I sometimes think I know more people in heaven than I do on earth."  

  One of the great influences on Frederick Handle's life was while he was writing the Messiah in three weeks. in reading the passage in the Gospel of Luke, of the Messiah’s entry into the world. While reading the text, Handle was inspired to sit down and try to compose music to such a great event. When Frederick locked himself up in a room for 23 days and tried to compose music, as close to at least humanely possible, as to what this might have sounded like....something came over him!!! Handle, before writing the messiah, had rented a theater for his own use, and though he had some successes, he had more failures; he was bankrupt twice through his opera business" But when Frederick Handle decided to sit down to write and compose music to the entry of Jesus Christ into the world, he ended up, supernaturally or miraculously, you could say, writing the most brilliant piece of music many say has ever been written. ....in a piece of orchestra, even redone by the great Mozart, the p...

  It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life. Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean...For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five....

  It was the first Sunday for the new preacher that had recently arrived at the eagerly awaiting church. The members greatly anticipated to hear the preacher’s first sermon. After the service many of the parishioners came to the preacher and commended him “well done pastor” “excellent sermon” “wonderful message from the lord reverend, said another. The following Sunday the new preacher preached the same sermon and the congregation just smiled gracefully, wonderful sermon pastor “wonderful word of the lord” The third Sunday, the young preacher preached the same sermon, but this time he received no comments. Being concerned, and knowing the young preacher was young and inexperienced a few concerned people in the church got together and gathered a few sermons together from some books and the internet. Embarrassed for they young and inexperienced pastor they gently told him that they understood he probably did not have more than one sermon so they graciously presented him with a choice...

  Frank had been attending the Assembly of God church in Albany New York for 15 years. Frank was a faithful member but often plagued by financial difficulties, many because of his own bad decisions. When the crisis reached its peak, with the threat of bankruptcy and losing his home looming on the horizon, Frank lost all trust and hope in God, went back to an old contact and made an ungodly alliance, with the mob, to get him out of trouble. The mob was very empathetic to Franks dilemma and quickly lent him the money to bail him out of his financial troubles. "Frank, we never thought we'd see you again, we're glad you're back, we are there for you, anything we can do to help" Frank had wondered why he had not gone to them sooner. However, the situation only got worse as Frank could not keep up on the payments, never did he imagine, what would happen next. Frank got a call from the police at 2am, from the emergency room, informing him his son had been jumped by 4 men...

  In the Islands of the Pacific War the Japanese constantly tried to fool the Marines to lose trust in their comrades that would come back for them. “No man left behind” was their moto and they now had to trust in that. Then they would see U.S. Flags being brought down in battle areas the marines had previously raised; those flags…they would be burning in plain site. Then they cut off a Marines head and raised it high up a flag pole for the ambushed Marines to see. They were trying to convince them, “all is lost here, you've been left alone. You've been abandoned, why don't you just give in, surrender, give up hope.” The Marines had to make a decision, based on circumstantial evidence, it looked like it was true what the Japanese were saying. The choice they had to make…trust in the Marine motto or trust in what they were seeing with their eyes. They chose to trust in the Marine motto and fight for another day. And that extra day of fighting is all they needed because the n...

  Earth gets hotter toward the center. At the bottom of the continental crust, the temperature is about 1800 degrees F (1000 degrees C). The temperature increases about 3 degrees F per mile (1 degree C per kilometer) below the crust. Geologists believe the temperature of Earth's outer core is about 6700 to 7800 degrees F (3700 to 4300 degrees C). The inner core may be as hot as 12,600 degrees F (7000 degrees C)--hotter than the surface of the sun. But, because it is under great pressures, the rock in the center of Earth remains solid.

  IN THE TRUE ACCOUNTS OF WORLD HISTORY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, WE HAVE THE STORY OF The citizens in the town of  Feldkirch ,  Austria . The Community did not know what to do. Napoleon's massive army was preparing to attack. Soldiers had been spotted on the heights above the little town, which was situated on the Austrian border. A council of citizens was hastily summoned to decide whether they should try to defend themselves or display the white flag of surrender. It happened to be Easter Sunday, and the people had gathered in the local church. The pastor rose and said, "Friends, we have been counting on our own strength, and apparently that has failed. As this is the day of our Lord's resurrection, let us just ring the bells, have our services as usual, and leave the matter in His hands. We know only our weakness, and not the power of God to defend us." The council accepted his plan and the church bells rang. The enemy, hearing the sudden loud clanging of the bells, c...

  Watch your thoughts; they become words Watch your words; they become actions Watch your actions; they become habits Watch your habits; they become character Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. Frank Outlaw

   The Body Speaks: What Your Symptoms Might Be Saying While symptoms can herald diseases, and should be taken seriously, they can also be our body’s way of trying to communicate important information about what’s going on in our inner world – what’s working and what’s not serving us well. Take for example, a woman who has horrible eczema but only under her wedding ring. It started when she began to suspect her husband was having an affair. Turned out he was. Or another who has terrible arthritis and when I asked her what triggers it she said, “My husband is a constant source of inflammation in my life. I want a divorce but just can’t go there.” Or another who works in a toxic social environment, really wants to quit her job and only gets headaches on weekdays. Or my patient who experienced Takotsubo syndrome, an actual change in her heart mimicking a heart attack, over the grief of her husband’s sudden and unexpected death. Our bodies don’t lie!   In fact, our bodies spe...

  Billie Wilcox WROTE: While my husband Frank and I were living in Pakistan many years ago, our six-month-old baby died. An old Punjabi who heard of our grief came to comfort us. He said, "A tragedy like this is similar to being plunged into boiling water," He went on then to say… "If you are an egg, your affliction will make you hard and unresponsive.” If you are a potato, you will emerge soft and pliable" It may sound funny to God, but there have been times when I have prayed, "O Lord, let me be a potato."

   “THE DAY I TOLD MY HUSBAND I HAD FEELINGS FOR ANOTHER MAN” I remember the moment I felt an unmistakable attraction to a man who wasn’t my husband. It would mark the beginning of an infatuation that waxed and waned for nearly a year. He and I were both active in a local community organization. For at least six months, we had greeted each other and exchanged superficial pleasantries on a weekly basis without anything remarkable transpiring. But on this particular day, we had a long, substantive conversation. Through it, I discovered that we not only shared many of the same perspectives but also clicked well—to the point my heart rate increased and the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up. Looking back, it’s not surprising it happened. I was in the midst of a major identity shift that was changing the way I saw myself and how I fit in the world. After learning previously unknown stories of my family, I had come to embrace my Taiwanese heritage—a development that c...

  Lance Armstrong went on the Today show Thursday to lament how hard life has been since he admitted to being one of the biggest frauds in sports history, whining how unfair it is that other cheats aren’t the pariah he is. “I do think there’s a double standard,” Armstrong said. “But I’m OK with it.” Sure he is. The blind ego and arrogance that seeped through his interview Thursday is exactly why Armstrong remains so reviled. That he doped his way to seven Tour de France titles was bad, of course. Sports is supposed to be about the purity of competition and athleticism. As Armstrong has rightly pointed out, though, he wasn’t some rogue cheater in a pristine sport. Everyone in cycling at the time was pumped full of PEDs and EPO. Had Armstrong only been a cheater, though, he’d have been forgiven long ago. But the cheating was never the worst of his sins He threw Alex Rodriguez under the bus, saying he doesn’t understand why the New York Yankees third baseman has been able to rehabilit...

  Sharon Tendler met Cindy 15 years ago. She said it was love at first sight. This week she finally took the plunge and proposed. The lucky "bride" plunged right back. In a modest ceremony at dolphin reef in the southern Israeli port of Eilat, Tendler, a 41-year-old British citizen, apparently became the world's first person to "marry" a dolphin. Dressed in a white dress, a veil and pink flowers in her hair, Tendler got down on one knee on the dock and gave Cindy a kiss and a piece of Herring.

  Pali, this bull has killed me." So said Jose Cubero, one of Spain's most brilliant matadors, before he lost consciousness and died. Only 21 years old, he had been enjoying a spectacular career. However, in this l958 bullfight, Jose made a tragic mistake. He thrust his sword a final time into a bleeding, delirious bull, which then collapsed. Considering the struggle finished, Jose turned to the crowd to acknowledge the applause. The bull, however, was not dead. It rose and lunged at the unsuspecting matador, its horn piercing his back and puncturing his heart. Just when we think we've finished off pride, just when we turn to accept the Congratulations of the crowd, pride stabs us in the back. We should never consider pride dead before we are.

  For months the man felt called to be the 1st missionary to Malaysia. He wrestled over this for months in prayer. After much thought in prayer he and his wife decided to go, however they had two children they could not bring because of the dangers involved in the brush. They left their children behind. Only every six months would they be able to see the children that they loved so much and as time went on and the resources diminished it became once a year. While out in the bush the wife of the missionary gave birth to another child. They labored and labored to no avail. They lived by whatever they could get their hands on, what in America would be considered worse than abject poverty, all to no avail, no fruit, that the missionary believed awaited them as he answered the call of god other than this 8 year old boy Tumba, that faithfully showed up to do Sunday school with the missionaries wife. 3 years into their efforts his wife and newborn son contracted malaria. He prayed and pra...

  Former heavyweight boxer James (Quick) Tillis is a cowboy from Oklahoma who fought out of Chicago in the early 1980s. He still remembers his first day in the Windy City after his arrival from Tulsa. "I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under by arms in downtown Chicago and stopped in front of the Sears Tower. I put my suitcases down, and I looked up at the Tower and I said to myself, 'I'm going to conquer Chicago.' "When I looked down, the suitcases were gone."

  So here you have the Atheist who says, "Sorry, I don't believe, I will not pray to a God I don't believe in!" You have the Christian who argues back, "what's wrong with you, how can you not believe!" However it is only the Pastor, who counsels congregation members, that understands, the one characteristic the Atheist and Christian has in common, is in all actuality, neither of them believes; merely one proclaims to not believe and the other proclaims to believe.   The sad truth is, at the end of the day, neither of them lives their lives much different than the other.  Richard P Swift

  BOSTON — The 2012 New England Patriots were an offensive force, setting a record for first downs in an N.F.L. season while scoring 557 points. Tight end Aaron Hernandez was a big part of that offense. On Thursday, a grand jury indicted Hernandez in a double murder that occurred less than two months before that season began, and about a month before he signed a five-year, $40 million contract extension with the Patriots. Hernandez, 24, already in custody after being charged in the June 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, is now charged with two additional first-degree murders in the shooting deaths of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado on July 16, 2012. District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said Hernandez followed the two after an encounter at a bar in Boston’s Theater District. After Abreu and Furtado left the bar, the indictment charged, Hernandez followed them and pulled his vehicle next to theirs at a stop light not far from the bar. Conley said Hernandez then fired several rounds from a .38...

  Douglas Maurer, 15, of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. His temperature was ranging between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering from severe flu-like symptoms. Finally, his mother took him to the hospital in St. Louis. Douglas Maurer was diagnosed as having leukemia. The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They didn't sugarcoat the side effects. They told Douglas he would go bald and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression. His aunt called a floral shop to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the clerk that it was for her teenage nephew who has leukemia. When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful. Douglas read the card from his aunt. Then he saw a second card. It said: "Douglas--I took your order. I work at Brix florist. I had leukemia when I was 7 years old. I'm 2...