Humor 2/13/00: Gas Reader & Girl's Prayer

Hi everyone,

Happy Valentine's Day! The young adults from my church will be getting
together for a hotpot dinner at someone's house. I'm looking forward to
it. Kind of reminds me of when my small group in Boston went to the
really fancy restaurant in Boston called "Spinnaker" for Valentine's
Day. The restaurant spins 360 degrees slowly, so you can see the Boston
skyline. We all got dressed up for that occasion and it was a great
deal of fun. That must have been about 5 years ago.

Do any of you MIT alums know Joe Tang, class of 1990? I went to visit
the Internet incubator he co-founded called Guidance Solutions. I'm
very impressed with how he and his two partners are very humble and have
created a great culture for their company. The company is growing very
quickly. He also used to DJ while at MIT and I think I hired him once
or twice to DJ our Harvard AAA dances!

I'll be in Boston from 2/24 to 2/27 and will be staying with my former
roommate Richard Sahara. If you want to reach me, his phone number is:
617-923-8259. Hope to see you in Boston!

Once in a while I'll recommend a website. This week's recommendation is
Imandi. They are kind of like Priceline in that you specify what you
are looking to buy. Then various vendors will send you their bids. I
haven't actually used their service. I'm more interested in seeing how
their viral marketing campaign works. You get $5 for every person that
signs up through your referral. You can check out their site at:
http://www.imandi.com/go/run.dll?Rewards&ref=joshli.

This week's thought provoking question is: "If you had to eat the same
meal for the rest of your life, morning, noon, and night, without
worrying about nutrition, what would you eat?"

This week's humor was forwarded by Anna Man, followed by a truly
inspirational story forwarded by someone on the IVGCF distribution list.

Enjoy!

-Josh.
_________________________________________

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young
trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood.

They parked their truck at one end of the alley and worked their way to
the other end. At the last house an older woman was looking out her
kitchen window watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.

Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger
coworker to a foot race down the alley and back to the truck to prove
that an older guy could outrun a younger one.

As they came running up to the truck, they realized the lady from that
last house was huffing and puffing right behind them.

They stopped and asked her what was wrong.

Gasping for breath, she replied, "When I see two gas men running as hard
as you two were, I figure I'd better run too!"
____________________________

A Little Girl's Prayer
(As told by Helen Roseveare, a doctor missionary from England to Zaire,
Africa)

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in
spite of all we could do she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby
and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping
the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an
incubator) and no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with
treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for
such babies and the cotton wool the baby would be wrapped in. Another
went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back
shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had
burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. "And it is our
last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed.

As in the West it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central
Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles.
They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest
pathways.

"All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can;
sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your
job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any
of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the
youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them
about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby
warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily
die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister,
crying because her mother had died.

During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the
usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God," she
prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the
baby'll be dead, so please send it this afternoon." While I gasped
inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of corollary,
"And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the
little girl so she'll know You really love her?"

As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I
honestly say, "Amen"? I just did not believe that God could do this.
Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything. The Bible says so. But
there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this
particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I
had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never,
ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a
parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses'
training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front
door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the
verandah, was a large twenty-two pound parcel! I felt tears pricking my
eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage
children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each
knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly.
Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were
focused on the large cardboard box.

>From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes
sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for
the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came
a box of mixed raisins and sultanas -- that would make a nice batch of
buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the . . .
could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out -- yes! A brand-new,
rubber hot water bottle! I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had
not truly believed that He could.

Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying
out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!"

Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small,
beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!

Looking up at me, she asked, "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give
this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves
her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months! Packed up by my
former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's
prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of
the girls had put in a dolly for an African child -- five months before
-- in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that
afternoon."

"Before they call, I will answer!" Isaiah 65:24

*Helen Roseveare, a doctor missionary from England to Zaire, Africa,
told this as it happened to her in Africa. She told it in her testimony
on a Wednesday night at Thomas Road Baptist Church.
--
_____________________________________

Joshua Li
President, High Tech Business Association
14400 Addison Ave. #119
Sherman Oaks CA 91423
(818) 461-8930
Permanent Email: joshli@post.harvard.edu
http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/joshua.li/