A Thousand Marbles

Contributed by: Jason Lee
Author: unknown

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial to the phone-frequency portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning conversation. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles."

I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say. "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well, but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."

He continued, "Let me tell you something, Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.

"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.

"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. 73 Old Man, this is K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

My Best Friend

By Andrew Galanopulos
Contributor: Jason Lee

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~ Henry David Thoreau

The agony of the final round set in off the first tee. It wasn't Sunday. There was no tournament. It was just me and Matt, my golf partner of three years, not to mention my best friend since the third grade.

We had entered the world of golf as two youngsters with cheap clubs, inspired by our fathers' stories of birdies, three-hundred-yard drives, and near-holes-in-one. For some reason these tales failed to hold true when we played with them.

Expecting to go out and conquer the game, Matt and I were quite surprised (not to mention angry) when we found ourselves humbled by a little white ball. Over time though, our swings became more controlled, good shots became more frequent, scores lower and our friendship stronger.

That summer, we entered a junior golf tour. We soon realized how much we had to learn, and how much we wanted to win. We had been in the game for two years already, and we figured all we needed was some fine-tuning to give our game the extra edge.

We played almost every day after school that year with the hope that the hard work would pay off with victory on the tour next summer. Then we got the news.

"Andrew, my dad's being transferred to Charlotte right after school," Matt said when he broke the news to me. He was moving away following our freshman year and right before the golf season would start. We had only a month left together, so we decided to make the most of it. Golf was the only way we knew how to enjoy ourselves without facing the sorrow of separation. No matter what is going on, golf helps you forget by making you concentrate on the task at hand―beating the guy you're playing with―and that was good enough for us.

We played and the time flew, and soon we found ourselves in what we realized was our final round together. We had tried to ignore it for so long, but now it hung over us. The only way to shake it was to continue the eighteen.

When all was said and done, we finished the game. Our scores were average. He beat me by three strokes.

Matt had to be home so he could wake up early in the morning and head out. We stood at the practice green waiting for his mother to come get him. Finally, she arrived.

"It was a pleasure playing with you." I held out my hand. He shook, and then I half-hugged him, like boys do when they want to be men. I saw him off the next morning.

He played on a tour at his new home, and I competed also. One day, I received a letter in the mail. It was a scorecard and a picture of the leader board. Matt was atop it. He finally won.

Over the years, I received many scorecards from Matt (unfortunately more than I sent him). I keep them in my golf bag for good luck.

I guess the magic of golf isn't the course, or the swing, or the sound you hear when you hit a solid 3-iron. It's the feeling you get when you beat your best friend, or lose to him, for that matter.

And sooner or later you realize that you didn't play every week because you were golfers; you played because you were friends.

The Moment My Life Began

By Michelle McCormick
Contributor: Jason Lee

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.~ Maori Proverb

Monday morning, 8:15 A.M. is when it happened. I lost my job. Not just any job, my first real job. This was my first professional experience outside of graduate school. I worked almost two years before my vice president called me into her office to relay the life-altering news.

It didn't take long. In fact, I kind of knew it was coming. I just sat there listening to the sad tone of my boss' voice and the other vice president who accompanied her as they talked about how much they'd miss me, how sad they were, what my severance options were and how they knew whatever I did, I would succeed. The more they spoke, the more I started to drift into a moment of complete surrender to my faith.

Just a week prior to the news, I was in Hawaii enjoying a vacation with my close girlfriends. During our weeklong getaway, we decided to skydive. I had always been a planner―a control freak―and yearned to let go of that characteristic. As I fell from the plane, I let go of all my worries and just lived in the moment. I didn't worry about deadlines, relationships, the things of this world. Instead, I took in the beauty of the sea, the mountainside and the unexplainable peace that comes from just floating and having no clue what the next moment will hold or feel like.

It was in my boss' office that morning that I reverted to the feeling I had as I took a step of faith and fell. Fell and let go of all things in my control, and trusted that life isn't about me and my plans. Instead it's about following what I believe to be true and trusting the one I believe created me.

That day was the first day of the rest of my life. I often tell my old co-workers that the day I lost my job was the best day of my life. It's the day I stopped living in a nine-to-five box and started living life as it was meant to be lived: adventurously.

The next couple of weeks were trying. But I couldn't let circumstances get me down. I was a woman who yearned to enjoy life, and no matter what my income now was, I was determined to make that dream a reality.

Two weeks after I was let go, I found myself surrounded by middle school students on a bus heading to North Carolina. I had always wanted to volunteer with youth, but never had the time due to my job and prior commitments. But since I was no longer constrained, I went on a weeklong trip as a chaperone. I was blessed to get to know some amazing girls as we shared a hotel room, and even more blessed as I watched these kids perform for various non-profits throughout the city.

Next, I went to camp as a leader. Again, I developed relationships that would benefit the middle and high school students. I was in fellowship with them, along with growing internally myself. But even more exciting things were on the horizon.

I had always wanted to go overseas on a mission trip, and in fact there was one I was very interested in. We would set up a sports camp for orphans in a desert town clear across the world. The kicker? The trip was scheduled for the same week as my biggest event at work. I could never have gone.

I applied for a passport and started to prepare for the trip. My new passport showed up in July, just days before I was asked to accompany a group of teenagers to the Dominican Republic on another mission trip. The trip would be free, since I would go as a leader and there was nothing holding me back.

My life only continued to get better. I travelled across the country. I visited London for the first time. I learned about culture, others, and myself. I had made a commitment to myself in the beginning of 2008 to make it a year of no fear, and for the first time in my life I had a free schedule to play with. I had no classes, no meetings, no work.

I had gone to school to be a writer, I was born to be a writer, and for the first time I could take the time to be a writer. My job interviews focused on writing. Continuing my education was also a big dream of mine, and I enrolled in online courses for another graduate degree. I was chasing my dreams at a time when the world was telling me to be depressed and settle for whatever I could get. The loss of my job opened doors I never would have foreseen or even attempted to venture through.

Worry vs Prayer & Praise

Worry! Why worry? What can worry do?
It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.
It gives you indigestion & woeful hours at night,
And fills with gloom the passing days, however fair & bright.
It puts a frown upon your face & sharpness in your tone;
You're unfit to live with others & unfit to live alone.
Worry! Why worry? What can worry do?
It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.

Pray! Why pray? What can praying do?
Praying really changes things, arranges life anew.
It's good for digestion, gives peaceful hours at night,
And fills the grayest, gloomiest days with rays of glowing light.
It puts a smile upon your face, & the love-note in your tone,
Makes you fit to live with others & fit to live alone.
Pray! Why pray? What can praying do?
It brings God's Love & power from Heaven to live & work with you.

Praise! Why praise? What does praising do?
Praise satisfies the heart of God & brings new joy to you,
Provides a tonic for the soul, & keeps you always bright
With memories of blessings sent, & joyful songs at night.
And when there's "Thank you" on your face, & the praise-note's in your tone,
Folks all will want to live with you: you'll never be alone.
Praise! Why praise? What does praising do?
Praise always says that God is good: Experience proves it true.
(Phi.4:6-7)

Author: Unknown

Have A Blessed Day

Have a Blessed Day ! ...
A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.
He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.



A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat.
He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.
He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.


Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.
That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.
The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?
What did you write?"



The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."
What he had written was: "Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it."

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind.
The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.
Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story:

Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

Invite others towards good with wisdom. Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

Great men say, "Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness…. In the journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a good conscience."

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling…
And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

Author: Unknown