~pt.1~DONKEY TRACKS"
~~
from: The White Donkey Society
January
19, 2005
~TRAILS
of
INSPIRATION~
I was
there...
http://www.passionup.com/fun/[EMAIL PROTECTED]&[EMAIL PROTECTED]&h=bb08c6204ace9eec&mp=1&confirm=1
Morning
Prayer
http://www.tulsabutterfly.com/morning.htm
~TRAILS of WISDOM~
"Weakness
of attitude becomes weakness of character." - Albert
Einstein
Impossible is a word to be
found only in the dictionary of fools.
--Unknown
Don't judge each day by the
harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
--Robert Louis
Stevenson
A candle loses nothing
by lighting another candle.
--Erin Majors
The day the Lord
created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.
--Bern Williams
The human heart feels things
the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand. --Robert
Vallett
"Reputation
is what you are in the light; character is what
you are in the dark." --
American Proverb
~TRAILS of
KNOWLEDGE~
Ark of
the Covenant and what is its significance?
![]()
All we knew about the Ark of the Covenant was that
it killed the Nazis but spared Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In
the Biblical book of Exodus, the ark is introduced as the "ark of testimony."
God gives precise instructions to the Israelites for building this small box or
chest out of wood. It was covered in gold, and on the lid were two golden
cherubim with their wings facing each other to form an enclosed area. This
central area was called the "mercy seat," and this is where the high priest
sprinkled goat's blood on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) to appease God's
righteous anger. The mercy seat is where God was supposed to manifest himself as
a cloud or bright light.
The two stone tablets upon which the Ten
Commandments were written were housed inside the ark. These tablets were called
the "law" or "testimony" of God and were tokens of God's covenant with the
people of Israel. Thus, the ark held the most
important relics of Judaism and was considered the visible sign of God's
presence and protection. The ark became a symbol of the incarnate word of God to
many Christians as well.
Great and mysterious powers are attributed to the
ark. Those who transported it could be supposedly lifted into the air, and some
who touched the ark died immediately. The Israelites carried it before them into
war -- sometimes this helped them to victory, but not always. The Philistines
defeated the Israelites and captured the ark, but they soon returned it because
the ark seemed to destroy their own god's idol and made them sick. Perhaps these
are the stories to which the Raiders movie alluded.
The Jews carried the Ark
of the Covenant during their 40 years of wandering. When they finally settled in
Canaan, King David took it to
Jerusalem. His son, Solomon, built the
Temple of Jerusalem and placed the ark inside. In 586 BCE, the
Babylonian emperor Nebuchadrezzar II destroyed the
Temple of Jerusalem, and from that point on, the
location of the ark is unknown.
One popular theory is that the ark was taken
to Ethiopia by the son of the Queen of Sheba and King David.
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians believe that they guard the actual ark in the
Church of Saint Mary of Zion in Axum. Unfortunately, they do not allow any outsiders to
enter their sanctum, so no one can verify these
claims
~TRAILS of
HE-HAWS~
#1
A guy had told all of his friends about the great steak he'd eaten
downtown the day before. A group of them decided to head down and see if
was really as large and delicious as he was making it out to be. The group was seated in the back of the
restaurant. After looking over the menu, they ordered and waited,
hungrily, for their large, delicious pieces of gigantic steaks. To their collective disappointment, the
waiter brought out some of the smallest steaks they'd ever seen. "Now see here," the very embarrassed
guy said to the waiter. "Yesterday when I came down here you served me a
BIG, juicy, steak. Today, though, when I have my friends invited, you
serve small miniature steaks! What is the meaning of this?" "Yes, sir," replied the waiter,
"yesterday you were sitting by the window."
#2
The man looked a little worried when the doctor came in to
administer
his annual physical, so the first thing the doctor did
was to ask whether
anything was troubling him.
"Well, to tell the truth, Doc, yes," answered the
patient. "You
see, I seem to be getting forgetful. No, it's actually worse
than
that. I can never remember where I park my car, where I'm going,
or
what it is I'm going to do once I get there -- if I get there.
So, I really
need your help. What can I do?"
The doctor mused for a moment, then answered
kindly, "Pay me in
advance." #3
I am five feet, three inches tall and pleasingly plump. After I had
a minor accident, my mother accompanied me to the emergency room. The ER nurse
asked for my height and weight, and I blurted out, "Five-foot-eight, 125
pounds." While the nurse pondered over this information, my mother leaned over
to me. "Sweetheart," she gently chided, "this is not the
Internet." #4
The Easterner had always dreamed of owning his own cattle ranch, and
finally made enough money to buy himself the spread of his dreams in
Wyoming. âSo, what did you name the ranch?â asked his best
friend when he flew out to visit.âWe
had a heck of a time,â admitted the new cowboy. âCouldnât agree on
anything. We finally settled on the
Double R Lazy L Triple Horseshoe Bar-7 Lucky Diamond Ranch.â âWow!â his friend was impressed. But looking around he saw no
cattle.
âSoâ..where are all the cows?â
âNone ofâem survived the
branding"
