I will return to the subject of money tomorrow...but let 

me finish my story. It illustrates a little of small 

town life and the way people organize themselves around 

hidden protocols.

 

Most of life is governed, not by laws written by 

legislatures, but by these invisible rules of order. 

They are written down nowhere, but respected almost 

universally.

 

I told you about my conversation with Dominique and her 

husband, Yves.

 

Yves gets up to mischief from time to time. Such as the 

time he went looking for the lost puppy.

 

He loaded his son, Jean, in the car and began driving 

around. The little town was almost deserted. It is a 

small town anyway...where people leave their cars 

running in the middle of the street and go in to get a 

loaf of bread...

 

Besides, he was concentrating on looking for the 

dog...so he did not notice that they had changed the 

street signs on one of the tiny little side streets. Nor 

did he notice that the police had stationed themselves 

across the street.

 

So the police stopped him, since he was going in the 

wrong direction.

 

"Did you notice that this is a one way street?" they 

asked him.

 

"No...when did you change it?"

 

"Just last week...Can we see your papers, sir?"

 

"I'm sorry," said Yves, "but I just hopped in the car 

because Jean's puppy ran away. We were just out looking 

for him."

 

"You know you are required to have your papers with you 

at all times when you are in a motor vehicle," the 

police replied officiously...

 

"I know, I know...but my son was upset...I just didn't 

think about it."

 

"What is your name...?"

 

Yves was beginning to get annoyed.

 

"Of all the pettifogging nonsense," he began to say.

 

Surely, the local constabulary had something better to 

do than harass an innocent man...driving around town at 

5 mph looking for a missing puppy.

 

This took place, I should point out, a couple of years 

ago. At the time, a man names Jacques Delire, or 

something like that, was the most wanted man in France -

- a consequence of his habit of kidnapping children and 

murdering them.

 

So Yves replied:

 

"I'm Jacques Delire...and I just kidnapped this boy in 

the back seat!"

 

The police, of course, knew that this wasn't true. They 

may not have known Yves personally, but they probably 

had some idea of who he was. And they certainly knew he 

wasn't Jacques Delire.

 

But they didn't like being trifled with. So they 

arrested him and took him to the local jail.

 

"This is ridiculous," said Yves, informing them of the 

obvious.

 

They were convinced that they should charge him with 

something -- but they couldn't decide just what. So they 

consulted their superiors.

 

But when the chief of the local gendarmes came into the 

guardhouse, a look of recognition quickly passed over 

his face. Yves, too, recognized the policeman. For this 

was one of the men who had been using Yves' driveway as 

a lovers' lane.

 

"What are they doing?" little Jean had asked his father 

when they spotted the car in the driveway. They were 

clearly doing something, because the car was rocking 

gently. Jean didn't know what it was. And Yves had told 

him not to go and look.

 

"They're probably fixing the radio," he had replied.

 

But Yves had a better idea what Mr. Bougeon, the police 

chief, had been up to. And he also knew with whom he had 

been up to it -- a young woman also on the police 

payroll, whose name was not Madame Bougeon.

 

And now the police chief recognized the face before him 

as that of the farmer who had seen them.

 

Suddenly, the look on Mr. Bougeon's visage changed -- 

from one of annoyance to solicitude. The change was so 

abrupt and so complete it startled his subordinates.

 

"I hear you have lost your puppy," he said to Yves. "Can 

we help you find it?" Moments later, Yves was a free 

man...and the two policemen who had brought him into the 

stationhouse were driving around town, looking for a 

lost puppy.

 

Your correspondent,

 

Bill Bonner, The Daily Reckoning

For all you scientists out there and for all the

students who have a hard time convincing these people

regarding the truth of the Bible...here's something

that shows God's awesome creation and shows that He

is still in control. Did you know that the space program

is busy proving that what has been called "myth" in

the Bible is true?

 

Mr. Harold Hill, President of the

Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland and a

consultant in the space program, relates the following

development: I think one of the most amazing things

that God has for us today happened recently to our

astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt,

Maryland. They were checking the position of the sun,

moon, and planets out in space where they would be

100 years and 1000 years from now. We have to know

this so we won't send a satellite, up and have it bump into

something later on its orbits. We have to lie out the

orbits in terms of the life of the satellite, and

where the planets will be so the whole thing will not

bog down.

 

 

They ran the computer measurement back and forth

over the centuries and it came to a halt. The

computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that

there was something wrong either with the information

fed into it or with the results as compared to the

standards. They called in the service department to

check it out and they said, "What's wrong?" Well,

they found there is a day missing in space in elapsed

time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair. There

was no answer.

 

 

Finally, a Christian man on the team said, "You

know, one time I was in Sunday school and they talked

about the sun standing still." While they didn't

believe him, they didn't have an answer either, so

they said, "Show us". He got a Bible and went back to

the book of Joshua where they found a pretty

ridiculous statement for any one with 'common sense.'

There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, "Fear

them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall

not a man of them stand before thee." Joshua was

concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy and

if darkness fell they would overpower them. So Joshua

asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That's

right-"The sun stood still and the moon stayed---and

hasted not to go down about a whole day!"

 

 

The astronauts and scientists said, "There is the

missing day!" They checked the computers going back

into the time it was written and found it was close

but not close enough. The elapsed time that was

missing back in Joshua's day was 23 hours and 20

minutes-not a whole day. They read the Bible and

there it was "about (approximately) a day". These

little words in the Bible are important, but they were

still in trouble because if you cannot account for 40

minutes you'll still be in trouble 1,000 years from

now. Forty minutes had to be found because it can be

multiplied many times over in orbits.

 

 

As the Christian employee thought about it, he

remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the

sun went BACKWARDS. The scientists told him he was

out of his mind, but they got out the Book and read

these words in 2 Kings. Hezekiah, on his death-bed,

was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that

he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as

proof. Isaiah said, "Do you want the sun to go ahead

10 degrees?" Hezekiah said "It is nothing for the sun

to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the Shadow return

backward 10 degrees." Isaiah spoke to the Lord and

the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees BACKWARD!

Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty-three

hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in

Second Kings make the missing day in the universe!

 

 

Isn't it amazing? Our God is rubbing their noses in

His Truth! References: Joshua 10:8 and 12,13; 2 Kings

20:9-11

On July 22nd I was in route to Washington, DC for a business trip. It was all so very ordinary, until we landed in Denver for a plane change. As I collected my belongings from the overhead bin, an announcement was made for Mr. Lloyd Glenn to see the United Customer Service Representative immediately. I thought nothing of it until I reached the door to leave the plane and I heard a gentleman asking every male if they were Mr. Glenn. At this point I knew something was wrong and my heart sunk. When I got off the plane a solemn-faced young man came toward me and said, "Mr. Glenn, there is an emergency at your home. I do not know what the emergency is, or who is involved, but I will take you to the phone so you can call the hospital."

 

My heart was now pounding, but the will to be calm took over. Woodenly, I followed this stranger to the distant telephone where I called the number they gave me for the Mission Hospital. My call was put through to the trauma center where I learned that my three-year-old son had been trapped underneath the automatic garage door for several minutes, and that when my wife had found him, he was dead. CPR had been performed by a neighbor, who is a doctor, and the paramedics had continued the treatment as Brian was transported to the hospital. By the time of my call, Brian was revived and they believed he would live, but they did not know how much damage had been done to his brain, nor to his heart. They explained that the door had completely closed on his little sternum right over his heart. He had been severely crushed. After speaking with the medical staff, my wife sounded worried but not hysterical, and I took comfort in her calmness.

 

The return flight seemed to last forever, but finally I arrived at the hospital six hours after the garage door had come down. When I walked into the intensive care unit, nothing could have prepared me to see my little son laying so still on a great big bed with tubes and monitors everywhere. He was on a respirator. I glanced at my wife who stood and tried to give me a reassuring smile. It all seemed like a terrible dream. I was filled in with the details and given a guarded prognosis. Brian was going to live, and the preliminary tests indicated that his heart was ok, two miracles in and of themselves. But only time would tell if his brain received any damage. Throughout the seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm. She felt that Brian would eventually be all right. I hung on to her words and faith like a lifeline.

 

All that night and the next day Brian remained unconscious. It seemed like forever since I had left for my business trip the day before. Finally at two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained consciousness and sat up uttering the most beautiful words I have ever heard spoken. He said, "Daddy hold me" and he reached for me with his little arms. By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological or physical deficits, and the story of his miraculous survival spread throughout the hospital. You cannot imagine our gratitude and joy. As we took Brian home we felt a unique reverence for the life and love of our Heavenly Father that comes to those who brush death so closely.

 

In the days that followed there was a special spirit about our home. Our two older children were much closer to their little brother. My wife and I were much closer to each other, and all of us were very close as a whole family. Life took on a less stressful pace. Perspective seemed to be more focused, and balance much easier to gain and maintain. We felt deeply blessed. Our gratitude was truly profound.

 

The story is not over (smile)! Almost a month later to the day of the incident, Brian awoke from his afternoon nap and said, "Sit down mommy. I have something to tell you." At this time in his life, Brian usually spoke in small phrases, so to say a large sentence surprised my wife. She sat down with him on his bed and he began his sacred and remarkable story.

 

"Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door? Well, it was so heavy and it hurt really bad. I called to you, but you couldn't hear me. I started to cry, but then it hurt too bad. And then the birdies came."

 

"The birdies?" my wife asked puzzled.

 

"Yes," he replied. "The birdies made a whooshing sound and flew into the garage. They took care of me."

 

"They did?"

 

"Yes" he said. "One of the birdies came and got you. She came to tell you I got stuck under the door."

 

A sweet reverent feeling filled the room. The spirit was so strong and yet lighter than air. My wife realized that a three-year-old had no concept of death and spirits, so he was referring to the beings who came to him from beyond as "birdies" because they were up in the air like birds that fly.

 

"What did the birdies look like?" she asked.

 

Brian answered, "They were so beautiful. They were dressed in white, all white. Some of them had green and white. But some of them had on just white."

 

"Did they say anything?"

 

"Yes" he answered. "They told me the baby would be all right."

 

"The baby?" my wife asked confused.

 

Brian answered, "The baby laying on the garage floor." He went on, "You came out and opened the garage door and ran to the baby. You told the baby to stay and not leave."

 

My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, for she had indeed gone and knelt beside Brain's body and seeing his crushed chest and recognizable features, knowing he was already dead, she looked up around her and whispered, "Don't leave us Brian, please stay if you can." As she listened to Brian telling her the words she had spoken, she realized that the spirit had left his body and was looking down from above on this little lifeless form. "Then what happened?" she asked.

 

"We went on a trip." He said, "far, far away." He grew agitated trying to say the things he didn't seem to have the words for. My wife tried to calm and comfort him, and let him know it would be okay. He struggled with wanting to tell something that obviously was very important to him, but finding the words was difficult. "We flew so fast up in the air. They're so pretty Mommy." he added. "And there is lots and lots of birdies." My wife was stunned. Into her mind the sweet comforting spirit enveloped her more soundly, but with an urgency she had never before known. Brian went on to tell her that the "birdies" had told him that he had to come back and tell everyone about the "birdies". He said they brought him back to the house and that a big fire truck, and an ambulance were there. A man was bringing the baby out on a white bed and he tried to tell the man that the baby would be okay, but the man couldn't hear him. He said the birdies told him he had to go with the ambulance, but they would be near him. He said, they were so pretty and so peaceful, and he didn't want to come back. Then the bright light came. He said that the light was so bright and so warm, and he loved the bright light so much. Someone was in the bright light and put their arms around him, and told him, "I love you but you have to go back. You have to play baseball, and tell everyone about the birdies." Then the person in the bright light kissed him and waved bye-bye. Then whoosh, the big sound came and they went into the clouds.

 

The story went on for an hour. He taught us that "birdies" were always with us, but we don't see them because we look with our eyes and we don't hear them because we listen with our ears. But they are always there, you can only see them in here (he put his hand over his heart). They whisper the things to help us to do what is right because they love us so much.

 

Brian continued, stating, "I have a plan, Mommy. You have a plan. Daddy has a plan. Everyone has a plan. We must all live our plan and keep our promises. The birdies help us to do that cause they love us so much."

 

In the weeks that followed, he often came to us and told all, or part of it again and again. Always the story remained the same. The details were never changed or out of order. A few times he added further bits of information and clarified the message he had already delivered. It never ceased to amaze us how he could tell such detail and speak beyond his ability when he talked about his birdies. Everywhere he went, he told strangers about the "birdies". Surprisingly, no one ever looked at him strangely when he did this. Rather, they always got a softened look on their face and smiled. Needless to say, we have not been the same ever since that day, and I pray we never will be.

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon."

 

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating (by Mr Welch himself):

 

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

 

1. For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn, would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT." But then you would have to buy more seats.

6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five per cent of the roads.

7. The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car default" warning light.

8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.

9. The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off.

10. Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grab hold of the radio antenna.

11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50% or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department.

12. Everytime GM introduced a new model car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

13. You'd press the "start" button to shut off the engine.