Thought for Today

  1879: Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" premiers 1903: Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago kills 602 1922: Formation of the USSR 1924: Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies 1944: Corrie Ten Boom released from a concentration camp. Her father and sister had died in the camp. Corrie said, "You can never learn that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have." 1968: Frank Sinatra first records "My Way" 1978: Woody Hayes fired by Ohio State 2002: Three Christian missionaries are shot and killed in a Baptist Hospital in Yemen. Born: Titus [the Roman general who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD], Asa Candler [bought the recipe for Coca Cola from John Pemberton for $238.98 and founded the company known by that name], Rudyard Kipling, Simon Guggenheim, Bert Parks, Jack Lord, Bo Diddley, Skeeter Davis, Sandy Koufax, John Hartford ["Gentle on My Mind"], Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Tiger Woods, LeBron James Died: Grigor...

  1065: Westminster Abbey consecrated [unfinished] 1612: First observation of Neptune--Galileo thought is was a star 1849: Dry cleaning discovered when lamp containing turpentine and oil spills on clothing 1869: Chewing gum patented 1905: Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States founded [became NCAA in 1910] 1945: Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance 1948: Jacob DeShazzar, one of Doolittle's raiders captured and tortured by the Japanese, returns to Japan as an evangelist. Read "Wounded Tiger" 1958: First sudden-death game in NFL--Colts beat Giants. 17 future Hall of Famers on the field 1973: Nixon signs the Endangered Species Act 1973: Solzhenitsyn publishes "The Gulag Archipelago" 1975: First time a pass is called a Hail Mary--Staubach to Pearson with 32 seconds left 2012: Putin bars adoption of Russian children by Americans Born: Calixa LaVallee [composed "O Canada"], Woodrow Wilson, Stan Lee, Maggie Smith, Denzel ...

 1845: Ether first used in childbirth by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson GA. Jan was born in the Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens in NYC 1939: 20,000+ die in a magnitude 8 earthquake in Turkey 1945: International Monetary Fund established 1947: First telecast of "Howdy Doody Show" 1979: Soviets complete invasion of Afghanistan by killing its President Born: Johannes Kepler, Louis Pasteur, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Smart Died: Stephen F Austin, Gustave Eiffel, Norman Schwarzkopf, Carrie Fisher Thought: Look at the words of 2 Corinthians 11:3 this morning. Paul tells the church that Satan's goal is the same as the one he had in the garden--deceive me so that I am led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. What a simple way to state the ultimate struggle. Devotion to Christ is simple and pure. The gospel is not complex, intricate, convoluted. The gospel is simple. God made a perfect world. We disobeyed His simple comm...

 1606: First known performance of "King Lear" 1776: George Washington wins battle of Trenton 1799: Henry Lee eulogizes Washington with "first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen" 1865: First coffee percolator patented 1931: Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing" premiers 1933: FM radio patented 1946: Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas opens 1951: "The African Queen" premiers 1954: "The Shadow” airs for the first time 1963: The Beatles release "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and “I Saw Her Standing There" 2004: Tsunami kills 230,000 in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia Born: Charles Babbage, Henry Miller, Mao Zedong, Rosemary Woods, Steve Allen, Frank Broyles, Phil Spector, Carlton Fisk Died: Harry Truman, Jack Benny, Dian Fossey, Reggie White, Gerald Ford Thought: Reading 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 this morning. What a powerful four verses. We walk in the flesh. As humans, we must walk in the flesh. Here Paul...

  MERRY CHRISTMAS! 336: First recorded incidence of Jesus' birth celebrated on December 25. Found in the calendar of  Filocalus.  800: Charlemagne crowned Roman Emperor 1066: William the Conqueror crowned King of England ending the Norman Conquest 1621: William Bradford forbids game playing on Christmas in Plymouth Colony. Puritans in America and England objected to celebrating Christmas on December 25 since there was no evidence that it was the date on which Christ was born and there was no Biblical authority for the celebration. Some newly arrived colonist asked for the day off to celebrqate and Baradford allowed until he saw them playing games rather than worshipping.  1741: Anders Celsius introduces the centigrade temperature scale 1776: Washington crosses the Delaware 1818: Handel's "Messiah" premiers in the U.S.  1821: "Angels from the Realms of Glory" first used in a public service. 1868: Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all who participa...

  1223: Francis of Assisi assembles the first nativity scene. He invited his peasant neighbors to mass on Christmas Eve. They came singing Christmas hymns and found a manger in a cave with a doll depicting Jesus, two people dressed as Mary and Joseph, a donkey and an ox. Francis chanted the story of Christ's birth from the gospels and preached a sermon. 1777: Christmas Island discovered by James Cook 1814: Treaty of Ghent signed ending the War of 1812 1818: "Silent Night" written by Peter Morh and composed by Franz Gruber 1851: Fire destroys 35,000 volumes in the Library of Congress 1895: George Vanderbilt opens the Biltmore House 1906: First broadcast of music over the radio 1920: Last public performance by Enrico Caruso 1943: Eisenhower named Supreme Allied Commander 1968: Apollo 8 astronauts read from the Book of Genesis 1982: Chaminade [850 students] an NAIA school beats #1 Virginia and Ralph Sampson 77-72 Born: Kit Carson, Howard Hughes, Ava Gardner, Anthony Fauci, P...