THE ONE YEAR ILLUSTRATIONS CLUB

                  “Why Little Boys Don’t Get Sick In The Land Of Compassion”     There Was A Magnificent Being Who Was Omnipotent,  Omniscient, Omnipresent.  He Was Everywhere And New Everything, Everything That Ever Was He’d Seen And Existed In From The Past To The Present To The Distant Future. Then He Decided To Create Man. Man Was Unpredictable And Was Also  Vulnerable Creature, Subject To Hurt, Sick, Fall, Break & Disease.   And So Man Was Created And All Went Well For Quite A Bit Of Time.   Then One Day Man Got Sick, Deathly Sick…   By Now The Earth Was Quite Heavily Populated And  This Man Raised A Question Nobody Could Answer.   That Question Was , “ Why Him? ”  Of All The People    It Was Not Fair!   In A Way It Did Make Sense , I Mean Of All The People, Why Him?   So The Council Convened, They Decided To Meet With The Man.    They Told Him “We H...

        In the spring of 1977, Anwar Sadat, Egyptian President was in Washington D.C. meeting with reporters… one reporter in back of room stood up and asked him, “You seem like you are very sincere about peace in the Middle East; why don’t you go to Israel and talk with them…”      He gave the standard political answer – I’d love too, nothing would make me happier; but (you know)… skirting around it and basically dismissed the question, but later, by his own account, stated that that question germinated in his mind for months… and it was from that question – that he made his historic visit to Israel. Speaking before Israel’s government; and where he signed the first peace treaty with Israel here in the U.S.  And where it made Egypt the first Muslim county in the Middle East to recognize Israel as a sovereign country; and therefore their right to exist. To think…all this stemmed from a question that was asked.

  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."

  A strikingly beautiful Swiss socialite, Jocelyn was introduced to art heir Billionaire Alec Wildenstein by Adnan Khashoggi on his 60,000 acre Kenyan ranch. During their marriage, she began a multi-million dollar plastic surgery campaign, transforming her features into those of a big cat to please her husband.  The horrifying result apparently did little to please Alec, and Jocelyn caught him in bed with a 19 year old Russian model in 1997. Jocelyn received one of the biggest divorce settlements in history; $2.5 billion with an allowance of $100 million a year for 13 years. Perhaps out of basic human decency, the judge ruled that she could not use any of this money for further surgery.

  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 adult...

  In the original fairy tale version of~The Wizard of Oz, the Tin Woodman had once been a real man who was in love with a beautiful maiden and dreamed of marrying her. The witch hated their love, so she cast a spell on him so that one by one his limbs had to be replaced with artificial tin limbs. The tin limbs allowed him to work like a machine. So with a heart of love for his maiden and arms that never tired, he seemed destined to win over the witch's spell. But the Tin Man said, "I thought I had beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than ever; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be." The Wicked Witch made Tin Man's axe slip and cut himself in half, and though a tinner was able to fasten him back together again, alas, he had no heart so that I lost all my love for the girl, and did not care whether I married her or not." Most of you know the rest of the story: caught in a rainstorm, the Tin Man began to rust, remaining in that spot until Dorot...

   One of the comeback songs of the year was a song first written by a group called Passenger.  It was originally a hit in 2014. Perhaps more people are familiar with the cover done by Jasmine Thompson, here are the lyrics: well you only need the light when it's burning low only miss the sun when it starts to snow   only know you love her when you let her go only know you've been high when you're feeling low only hate the road when you're missing home only know you love her when you let her go ….and you let her go…. Some of the stats:  #1 for 44 weeks #5 for 43 weeks # 8 21 weeks   1.7 billion Views on you tube! The reason this song was such a success was because it struck a chord in the hearts of millions of people because 1 in 2 listening to the song have felt the deep and great regret, of realizing they have let someone go…that they probably should not have!

 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 calculation. Th...

 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, ab...

 "Are you a good person?" Morality experts say this is how you find out: At the end of each year, we take stock of who we are. We think about our diets and exercise routines. We wonder if we’re frugal enough, ambitious enough, whether we've read enough books or spent enough of our time wisely. We question if we’re in the right job or the right relationship. We try to imagine how we can better enjoy our lives, but in the last couple of years particularly, many are thinking less about waistlines and paychecks and more about how the things we do matter in the wider world. A survey out last week found "being a better person" is the most popular new year's resolution. It was also the no. 1 resolution last year, marking a shift from the previous decade in which “losing weight” topped the list 80% of the time (it tied this year). But what does it actually mean to be “good?” social psychologists, ethicists and religious leaders say we see eye-to-eye on the big stuff...

 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 Jimmy 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 resc...

 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 le...

      Ahhh New Year’s Resolutions. They’re a great opportunity to really set ourselves up for some magnificent failures and disappointments. Well, there comes a time when you just have to acknowledge that your New Year’s Resolutions were unreasonable and unrealistic, and that time is a fortnight into the New Year! Rejoice in your new found freedom from torturous diets and horrible exercise regimes, pick up that pack of smokes and down another glass of wine. January 17th is officially our National "Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day" which sets you free from your first mistakes of the New Year....setting them in the 1st place!      The History of Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day is as old as New Year’s Resolutions. In the inebriated, hopeful light of the dawn of the New Year, we all believe that the next year is going to be different, that we won’t go back to our old habits, and we won’t let things continue as they are. What a terrible shame that, year after y...

 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, "I b...

   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 br...

 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 appropr...

   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 brie...

   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, REVIVALS,... OH HOW I WISH WE HAD DONE M...

   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 "gamin...

   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 you could start at ...

  I was reading about these silent killer diseases and thought they were a pretty interesting phenomena. They call them silent because you don’t 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 prolonged exposure to asbestos; 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 ...

  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 swol...

  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 Islami...

  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 a...

   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...

       Zig Ziglar tells of a thief, a man named Emmanuel Nenger. The year is 1887. The scene is a small neighborhood grocery store. Mr. Nenger is buying some turnip greens. He gives the clerk a $20 bill. As the clerk begins to put the money in the cash drawer to give Nr. Nenger his change, she notices some of the ink from the $20 bill is coming off on her fingers which are damp from the turnip greens. She looks at Mr. Nenger, a man she has known for years. She looks at the smudged bill. This man is a trusted friend; she has known him all her life; he can't be a counterfeiter. She gives Mr. Nenger his change, and he leaves the store. But $20 is a lot of money in 1887, and eventually the clerk calls the police. They verify the bill as counterfeit and get a search warrant to look through Mr. Nenger's home. In the attic they find where he is reproducing money. He is a master artist and is painting $20 bills with brushes and paint! But also in the attic they find thr...

  Former president Ronald Reagan once had an aunt who took him to a cobbler for a pair of new shoes. The cobbler asked young Reagan, "Do you want square toes or round toes?" Unable to decide, Reagan didn't answer, so the cobbler gave him a few days. Several days later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes. Reagan still couldn't decide, so the shoemaker replied, "Well, come by in a couple of days. Your shoes will be ready." When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! "This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you," the cobbler said to his indecisive customer. "I learned right then and there," Reagan said later, "if you don't make your own decisions, someone else will."

   On March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and stabbed to death outside her apartment in Queens, with 38 people allegedly ignoring her screams. The gruesome circumstances of the crime itself made Genovese’s death the kind of urban tragedy that would have garnered headlines anywhere. A pretty and well-liked brunette living in the city, she worked as a bar manager at a local watering hole—making it all the more tragic when, walking home from her car past 3 a.m. one night, she was attacked and stabbed in the back in front of her own Kew Gardens apartment by a knife-wielding stranger. An injured Genovese screamed for help, then staggered around the corner to the back entrance of the building. There, her attacker, who had briefly run off, came back to finish the job. He stabbed her again and raped her, robbing her of $49 in cash.  Many of her neighbors witnessed part of the attacks, or heard her screams. At least two of them seemingly knew she had been stabbed and did not ...