breaking bread
Several years ago, a friend and I were dining in a restaurant’s outdoor seating area. As we neared the end of our dinner, we noticed a man watching us from the sidewalk. His clothes were dirty, his face haggard. He walked up to us and with a cracked voice said, “When you finish your meal, if you have any leftovers, would you mind if I ate them?” We invited him to sit down, and we asked the waitress to bring him a grilled chicken and butter pasta entrée. For the next half hour, he told us bits of his story.
use what you have
In 2008, economists confirmed that the UK was in recession. Sure enough, in time, as many as one in ten people lost their jobs, and the normally bustling “high streets” fell silent as many well-known companies became insolvent.
ready or not
Recently, a thief propped a metal ladder against the back of a restaurant early one morning. He scaled the ladder, reached the roof, and entered the eatery hoping to plunder the place. He couldn’t have known, however, that the restaurant’s owner was waiting inside. The restaurant had been burglarized three times in previous weeks, and the owner refused to become a victim again.
give what you have
Last year, a few foreign exchange college students from Saudi Arabia celebrated Christmas with our family. When they arrived, they told us they had never experienced a Christmas in the US and were looking forward to it with great anticipation.
difficult opportunities
I was driving to my friend’s memorial service when rows of taillights began braking in front of me. I flipped on the radio and learned that traffic was backed up because of an accident miles ahead. I lurched and stopped for 10 minutes . . . then 20. Now I was late. I thought about turning around and going home. But then it occurred to me that sticking it out would be the best way to show that I cared. I didn’t know if I would make it to the service, but every minute of my forced waiting would express my devotion to my friend.
Christmas kindness
My son spent his first decade of life in a warm East Africa climate. For his 10th birthday, I used frequent flier miles and took him to the western part of the US to experience snow.
anchor of hope
When we think of retirement, it may be that visiting exotic islands, lying in hammocks, and enjoying endless days of leisure come to mind. Well, that’s not Estella Pyfrom’s idea of retirement. Pyfrom, a retired teacher and daughter of migrant farm workers, spent all of her retirement funds ($900,000) to serve others. She bought a bus, decked it out with computers and desks, and now drives throughout the district where she taught, providing a place for underprivileged children to do homework and learn technology. Struggling students flock to what she’s labeled the “Brilliant Bus”—and find hope.
strangers and foreigners
Last summer, my son and I were heading to a connecting flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. As we walked briskly from one terminal to another, my son said, “Look, Mommy, a Dinka!”
blameless
Many people trust their pharmacists more than their pastors! According to a 2012 Gallup poll, respondents were asked to rate the “honesty and ethical standards” of 22 different professions. Seventy-five percent ranked pharmacists as high/very high. Car salesmen and members of Congress were trusted least. Sadly, church leaders ranked eighth, and only one in two said the ones they know are men of integrity.
measuring ourselves
We have a tendency to overestimate ourselves and inflate our positive qualities. Recently, researchers asked nearly a million high school seniors to assess their leadership skills. Seventy percent rated themselves as above average, while only 2 percent rated their leadership skills below average. In another study, 94 percent of college professors rated their work above average. Psychologists call this the “illusionary superiority” effect—where we think we’re better than we really are.
unlikely gifts
The 166 female inmates at Davao City Jail in Mindanao didn’t have much. But as they saw it, others had even less. Typhoon Pablo had just swept over the southern Philippines, killing more than 1,000 human beings, splintering houses, annihilating crops, and leaving nearly a million people homeless.
guilty as charged
I recently read of the acquittal of a teenage girl who had been accused of blasphemy under her country’s strict blasphemy laws. If she had been convicted, she would have been imprisoned for life. It was found, however, that a religious teacher had promoted false evidence to frame her.
guard these well
Japanese-born baseball player Ichiro Suzuki, having led professional leagues in Japan and the US in hitting, is arguably one of the best hitters to ever play the game. One could say he has a special bat—literally. The Mizuno sports equipment company custom-makes bats for Ichiro by hand. They use Tamo wood grown on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and Ichiro cares for them like Stradivarius violins. He even uses a custom-made suitcase that’s shockproof and moisture-free to protect them.
actions and adventure
On a recent visit home to the United States, I got my first taste of D-BOX—motion theater seats that pitch you forward and backward, side to side, and up and down in sync with the action depicted on the screen.
