GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY

"It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project." - Napoleon Hill 

When Nigel and Karen Farrow welcomed their first child, their plan was to move to where they'd grown in South Australia. Upon arriving, they received a call from their doctor: there was a problem. Their ten-week-old daughter had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
“Immediately the world as we knew it was gone, ripped out from under us,” Dr. Farrow said. Within days of the news, Ella’s lungs collapsed and was rushed to intensive care. “It was all getting too hard, very quickly,” he recalls. “We didn’t know if she was going to make it, and if she did, we didn’t know what kind of life she was going to have.”
It's important to note here that, Nigel Farrow, at the time of this interview, is referred to as "Dr. Farrow." That's not who he was when this story began. Nigel was a musician when their daughter was first diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. But he was compelled to do whatever he had to, for his daughter. That’s when he and his wife decided to do the most amazing thing. “My instincts were telling me that it was my role to fix this for Ella,” said Nigel, “So I did what I thought had to be done, and became a scientist.”

He says, “I’m not one to sit back and wait for others to do things.” So nine years and three

PREACH WHAT YOU PRACTICE

"While all deception requires secrecy, all secrecy is not meant to deceive." - Sissela Bok

On p. 91 of Moody's Anecdotes, it reads, "I have noticed that people are satisfied when you preach about the sins of the patriarchs, but they don't like it when you touch upon the sins of today." This is why some people, will threaten to leave or even leave church after they "correct" their pastor for preaching in a certain way that didn't warm their hearts - a subject, that convicts them. Leonardo da Vinci said, "The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions."

During the time of slavery, a slave was preaching with great power. His master heard of it, and sent for him, and said: "I understand you are preaching?" "Yes," said the slave. "Well, now," said the master, "I will give you all the time you need, and I want you to prepare a

WE ALL NEED IT!

"To the proud, the applause of the world rings in their ears; to the humble, the applause of heaven warms their hearts." - Ezra Taft Benson

Someone noted, "Recently my wife and I sat charmed at an outdoor performance by young Suzuki violin students. After the concert, an instructor spoke briefly on how children as young as two, three and four years old are taught to play violin. The first thing the children learn, he said, is a proper stance. And the second thing the children learn--even before they pick up the violin--is how to take a bow. "If the children just play the violin and stop, people may forget to show their appreciation," the instructor said. "But when the children bow, the audience invariably applauds. And applause is the best motivator we've found to make children feel good about performing and want to do it

APPEARANCES II

"Beware, so long as you live, of judging men by their outward appearance." - Jean de La Fontaine 

Appearances can be deceptive, and whilst it is true that many people misjudge others, or situations from afar: without a first hand opportunity to really know that person or thing. Yet such conclusions could be really flawed. Things - circumstances, people or situations - AREN'T ALWAYS how they appear at first sight. Most, are just illusions.

When architect Sir Christopher Wren designed the interior of Windsor Town Hall near London in 1689, he built a ceiling supported by pillars. After city fathers had inspected the finished building, they decided the ceiling would not stay up and ordered Wren to put in some more pillars. England's greatest architect didn't think the ceiling needed any more support, so he pulled a fast one. He

APPEARANCES 1

"A mule dressed in a tuxedo is still a mule." - Traditional

God works in mysterious ways, if not why would the King of kings be born in a manger? How can anyone explain the crucifixion of 'The Creator' by 'the created'? It doesn't make any human sense: these are mysteries. Appearances can really be deceptive.

In 1884 a young man died, and after the funeral his grieving parents decided to establish a memorial to him. With that in mind they met with Charles Eliot, president of Harvard University. Eliot received the unpretentious couple into his office and asked what he could do. After they expressed their desire to fund a memorial, Eliot impatiently said, "Perhaps you have in mind a scholarship." "We were thinking of something more substantial than that... perhaps a building," the woman replied. In a patronizing tone, Eliot brushed aside the idea as being too expensive and the couple departed. The next year, Eliot learned that this plain pair had gone elsewhere and established a $26 million memorial named Leland Stanford Junior University,