Humor 8/31/98: Thank God

Hey,

I just returned back to New York after about 3 months of traveling in
Asia and a short visit to Boston. It's been great meeting up with many
of you in Asia or teaching with you in China, or meeting you recently.
I really hope that we will continue to keep in touch! I already have my
new address in L.A. Once I get my new phone number, I'll send you an
email with all that information. I'll be driving from New York to L.A.
with my brother starting Sept. 10th. Perhaps I'll see many of you
during my cross-country trek.

Welcome to my weekly humor email. It's a good way for me to keep in
touch with you, let you know what's going on, hear some of your
thoughts, etc. There are three parts to these typical emails: a
thought provoking question (appetizer), the humor (main course) and a
inspirational/touching story (dessert). Hopefully, all three courses
will be enjoyable and wholesome. Please let me know if you are just too
busy to receive these weekly emails. Or, let me know if you have a
different email address you want me to send this to (such as a personal
Internet based email address).

This week's thought provoking question is: "Do you tend to choose your
friends more because of what they can give you or because of what you
can give them? What can you do to be a better friend?" (from Jerry
Jones' "201 Great Questions").

This week's humor email comes to us from Vivian Chiang. The
inspirational story after that comes from the Chicken Soup series.
Enjoy!

-Josh.
_______________________________________

Thank God

There's this guy who had been lost and walking in the desert for about 2
weeks. One hot day, he sees the home of a missionary. Tired and weak,
he crawls up to the house and collapses on the doorstep. The missionary
finds him and nurses him back to health. Feeling better, the man asks
the missionary for directions to the nearest town. On his way out the
backdoor, he sees this horse. He goes back into the house and asks the
missionary, "Could I borrow your horse and give it back when I reach the
town?" The missionary says, "Sure but there is a special thing about
this horse. You have to say 'Thank God' to make it go and 'Amen' to
make it stop."

Not paying much attention, the man says, "Sure, ok." So he gets On the
horse and says, "Thank God" and the horse starts walking. Then he say,
"Thank God, thank God, " and the horse starts trotting. Feeling really
brave, the man say, "Thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God, thank
God" and the horse just takes off.

Pretty soon he sees this cliff coming up and he's doing everything he
can to make the horse stop. "Whoa, stop, hold on!!!!" Finally he
remembers, "Amen!!"

The horse stops 4 inches from the cliff. The man leans back in the
saddle and says, "Thank God".
___________________________________

Cold Hands

I was cleaning out the pockets of my six-year-old's winter coat, when I
found a pair of mittens in each pocket. Thinking
that one pair must not be enough to keep her hands warm, I asked her why
she was carrying two pairs of mittens in her coat. She replied, "I've
been doing that for a long time, Mom. You see, some kids come to school
without mittens and if I carry another pair, I can share with them and
then their hands won't get cold."

By Joyce Andresen
from A 4th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul
Copyright 1997 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Hanoch
McCarty & Meladee McCarty