War Orphan<\/b><\/p>\n
Inge Kraus doesn\u2019t know who she really is; she only knows that people call her by that name. She was just four years old in April, 1945, when Russian troops attacked Konigsberg, the capital of what was then East Prussia. Inge remembers a strong man lifting her onto a wagon filled with people as Soviet artillery rained down upon the city she knew as home. She survived but was separated from her family and placed in an orphanage in Germany. Inge recently attended a gathering of war exiles from her city, tearfully hoping that someone might recognize her\u2014but to no avail.<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, November 8, 1997<\/p>\n
Famous Violinist<\/b><\/p>\n
Setting out from Hamburg, Germany, one day to give a concert in London, violinist Fritz Kreisler had an hour before his boat sailed. He wandered into a music shop, where the proprietor asked if he might look at the violin Kreisler was carrying. He then vanished and returned with two policemen, one of whom told the violinist, \u201cYou are under arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat for?\u201d asked Kreisler.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have Fritz Kreisler\u2019s violin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am Fritz Kreisler,\u201d protested the musician.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t put that on us. Come along to the station.,\u201d<\/p>\n
As Kreisler\u2019s boat was sailing soon, there was no time for prolonged explanations. Kreisler asked for his violin and played a piece he was well known for. \u201cNow are you satisfied? he asked. The policemen let the musician go because he had done what only Fritz Kreisler could do.<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, July 1995, p. 14<\/p>\n
The Tattoo<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Wayne Black.\u201d The words were tattooed across the forehead of Wayne Black, a suspected thief in Lincoln, England. When confronted by police, Black insisted he wasn\u2019t Wayne Black.<\/p>\n
From The People, a London Newspaper, quoted in Parade, December 31, 1995, p. 11<\/p>\n
The Bell Ringer<\/b><\/p>\n
The 200-year-old church was being readied for an anniversary celebration when calamity struck: the bell ringer was called out of town. The sexton immediately advertised for another.<\/p>\n
When the replacement arrived, the sexton took him to the steps leading to the bell tower, some 150 feet above them. Round and round they went, huffing and puffing all the way. Just as they reached the landing, the bell ringer tripped and fell face-first into the biggest bell of all. Bo-o-o-o-ong!<\/p>\n
Dazed by the blow, the bell ringer stumbled backward onto the landing. The railing broke loose and he fell to the ground. Miraculously, he was unhurt\u2014only stunned\u2014but the sexton thought it best to call an ambulance.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know this man\u2019s name?\u201d asked the doctor when he arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d the sexton replied, \u201cbut his face sure rings a bell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerry Zenk, quoted by Alex Thien in Milwaukee Sentinel<\/p>\n
Be Somebody<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 I\u2019ve always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific. – Lily TOmlin<\/p>\n
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, by Jane Wagner.<\/p>\n
The Mask<\/b><\/p>\n
In The Mask Behind the Mask, biographer Peter Evans says that actor Peter Sellers played so many roles he sometimes was not sure of his own identity. Approached once by a fan who asked him, \u201cAre you Peter Sellers?\u201d Sellers answered briskly, \u201cNot today,\u201d and walked on.<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, July 24, 1993<\/p>\n
Effort Not Result<\/b><\/p>\n
Suffering from terminal spinal cancer at the age or 47, former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano spoke with a reporter earlier this year. He looked back on his life and told a story about himself as a 23-year-old coach of a small college team. \u201cWhy is winning so important to you?\u201d the players asked Valvano.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the final score defines you,\u201d he said, \u201cYou lose, ergo, you\u2019re a loser. You win, ergo, you\u2019re a winner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d the players insisted. \u201cParticipation is what matters. Trying your best, regardless of whether you win or lose\u2014that\u2019s what defines you.\u201d<\/p>\n
It took 24 more years of living. It took the coach bolting up from the mattress three or four times a night with his T-shirt soaked with sweat and his teeth rattling from the fever chill of chemotherapy and the terror of seeing himself die repeatedly in his dreams. It took all that for him to say it: \u201cThose kids were right. It\u2019s effort, not result. It\u2019s trying. God, what a great human being I could have been if I\u2019d had this awareness back then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gary Smith in Sports Illustrated, quoted in Reader\u2019s Digest<\/p>\n
You Are an Eagle<\/b><\/p>\n
While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill it has the heart of an eagle,\u201d replied the naturalist, \u201cand can surely be taught to fly.\u201d He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, \u201cYou belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.<\/p>\n
The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, \u201cYou are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, \u201cYou are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens.<\/p>\n
It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.<\/p>\n
From Theology News and Notes, October, 1976, quoted in Multnomah Message, Spring, 1993, p. 1<\/p>\n
Work Confirms Word<\/b><\/p>\n
The renowned artist Paul Gustave Dore (1821\u20131883) lost his passport while traveling in Europe. When he came to a border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not.<\/p>\n
Dore insisted that he was the man he claimed to be. \u201cAll right,\u201d said the official, \u201cwe\u2019ll give you a test, and if you pass it we\u2019ll allow you to go through.\u201d Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he told the artist to sketch several peasants standing nearby. Dore did it so quickly and skillfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed who he claimed to be. His work confirmed his word!<\/p>\n
Our Daily Bread, January 6, 1993<\/p>\n
Burned Cakes<\/b><\/p>\n
Alfred the Great was the ninth-century king who saved England from conquest by the Danish. At one point during his wars with the Danes, Alfred was forced to seek refuge in the hut of a poor Saxon family. Not recognizing her visitor, the woman of the house said she had to leave and asked Alfred to watch some cakes she was baking. But the king had other things on his mind and did not notice that the cakes were burning. Upon her return, the lady unknowingly gave her sovereign a hearty scolding!<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, April 9, 1992<\/p>\n
Resource<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Leadership, IV, 3, p. 94<\/p>\n
Census<\/b><\/p>\n
In \u201cA Portrait of America,\u201d NEWSWEEK (l\/17\/83) poked some fun at the national census:<\/p>\n
\u2018Give your name and age and business. Is your husband working? Do you rent or own the building? Did you ever milk a cow? This is strictly confidential\u2014are you underweight or fat? Does your husband have a bunion? Are his arches good or flat? Did you vote for Herbert Hoover? Are you dry or are you wet? Did you ever use tobacco? Did you ever place a bet?. . . Are you saving any money? Do you ever pay your debt? Are your husband\u2019s old red flannels in the wash or on him yet?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Census Taker,\u201d Scott Wiseman 1940<\/p>\n
Statistics<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cUncle Sam\u2019s armies of statisticians don\u2019t really ask questions about the cleanliness of the old man\u2019s flannels,\u201d writes NEWSWEEK, \u201cBut they do ask about the state of our arches (2.6 million are flat or fallen)\u2026 They can expound on life and its quality and on death and its causes. They can analyze sex and birth, divorce and income, crime and eating habits.\u2026 As a result, America knows more about itself than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
That may be true\u2014yet people are still confused about who they are and the roles they are to fill. Could it be that in the thousands of questions, the census takers have overlooked the most important ones?<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Lost <\/p>\n
In his sermon, \u201cWe All Need Roots,\u201d William P. Tuck tells of a man who stepped onto the platform at an American Legion Convention. As he looked over the large crowd, he asked, \u201cCan anybody tell me who I am?\u201d He had lost his memory, with no record of his past or his identity. His desperate appeal was: \u201cDoes anybody know who I am?\u201d<\/p>\n
William P. Tuck<\/p>\n
Hungry Governor<\/b><\/p>\n
Christian Herter was running hard for reelection as Governor of Massachusetts, and one day he arrived late at a barbecue. He\u2019d had no breakfast or lunch, and he was famished. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate and received one piece of chicken. The governor said to the serving lady, \u201cExcuse me, do you mind if I get another piece of chicken. I\u2019m very hungry.\u201d \u201cSorry, I\u2019m supposed to give one piece to each person,\u201d the woman replied. \u201cBut I\u2019m starved,\u201d he repeated, and again she said: \u201cOnly one to a customer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herter was normally a modest man, but he decided this was the time to use the weight of his office, and said, \u201cMadam, do you know who I am? I am the governor of this state.\u201d \u201cDo you know who I am?\u201d she answered. \u201cI\u2019m the lady in charge of chicken. Move along, mister.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preaching, March-April, 1986<\/p>\n
Modern Thought<\/b><\/p>\n
The dilemma of an unclear sense of personal identity was illustrated by an incident in the life of the famous German philosopher Schleiermacher, who did much to shape the progress of modern thought. The story is told that one day as an old man he was sitting alone on a bench in a city park. A policeman thinking that he was a vagrant came over and shook him and asked, \u201cWho are you?\u201d Schleiermacher replied sadly, \u201cI wish I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
War Orphan Inge Kraus doesn\u2019t know who she really is; she only knows that people call her by that name. She was just four years old in April, 1945, when Russian troops attacked Konigsberg, the capital of what was then East Prussia. Inge remembers a strong man lifting her onto a wagon filled with people … Continue reading “Identity”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}