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In Other Words...

A Research Service Of Facts & Humor For Christian Leaders

May  2025

CREATIVITY: Apple was famously started on April 1, 1976 but it’s not the only successful company to launch on April Fool’s Day.  Wrigley’s began on April 1, 1891 after a marketing strategy became more popular than the product itself.  The company started off selling soap and gave a free can of baking powder with every sale.  The baking powder attracted more attention than the soap so they changed their focus.  The new incentive was chewing gum with every purchase of baking powder, but the gum trumped the powder so they switched again.  By 1908, Wrigley’s Spearmint sales topped $1 million a year.  The first-ever national direct-marketing campaign for any company came in 1915 when they mailed sticks of gum to every address listed in U.S. phone books.  Five years later, construction began on the iconic Wrigley skyscraper along the Chicago River’s Magnificent Mile.  Since 1927, the Chicago Cubs have played their home games at the namesake Wrigley Field.  Founder William Wrigley (1861-1932) famously said, “Anyone can make gum.  The trick is to sell it.” Saturday Evening Post, January 2016, p.98
 
EVANGELISM: Kent Hughes wrote of an African woman who became a remarkable witness after her conversion at the age of 70.  She was blind and uneducated with enough hardship to make survival a challenge, but she wanted to tell people about Christ.  She asked the missionary to mark John 3:16 with red ink in her French Bible.  The woman then sat in front of a boys’ school when classes dismissed each day.  When she heard boys near her, she would ask if they could read French, which was an esteemed status.  One or two boys would proudly respond and she’d invite them to read the highlighted verse.  She would then ask if they knew what it meant.  That led to conversations and conversions.  The missionary chronicled two dozen of those boys later became pastors because of that woman’s witness.  God has declared a ripe harvest for those who are willing to let Him bear fruit through them. Preaching The Word: Colossians, Kent Hughes, 2013, p.252
 
FOCUS: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) stated, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important that one’s fear.”  The 32nd U.S. president accurately assessed the need for a focus superior to fear. Wikipedia.com
 
GOD: At the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 20, 1981, President Ronald Reagan quoted Whittaker Chambers: “The crisis of the Western world exists to the degree in which it is indifferent to God.”  Whittaker knew of what he spoke because he’d been an atheist communist spy until his Christian conversion in 1937.  He said he began “like Lazarus, the impossible return.”  In his 1952 autobiography, Witness, Whittaker wrote, “Economics is not the central problem of this century...Faith is the central problem of this age.”  His wisdom is like the north star for any nation or culture. Presidency.ucsb.edu; Witness, Whittaker Chambers, 1952, p.17
 
INFLUENCE: In 1860, a lighthouse was completed several hours south of Sydney, Australia.  It was a dangerous coastline so the proposal for this beacon was made years earlier.  High above the cliffs of Jervis Bay it offered…bad guidance.  Due to an incorrect map, the lighthouse was built 5 miles from the designated site.  By the time it was replaced with a lighthouse on the correct site, two dozen shipwrecks occurred and a number of lives were lost.  Our influence, like a lighthouse, can point people in the right, or wrong, direction. Christ Above All, David Jeremiah, 2022, p.75
 
LOVE: In his best-selling book, Mitch Albom recounted the wisdom gleaned from his friendship with Morrie Schwartz, who was dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Along the way, Schwartz gave Albom this insight about love: “In business, people negotiate to win.  They negotiate to get what they want…Love is different.  Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.” Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom, 1997, p.178
 
MOTHERHOOD: Anne Morrow Lindberg (1906-2001) was married to the fame aviator Charles, was a pilot herself, had six children, and wrote a best-selling book, Gift From The Sea.  In this reflection on life, she wrote, “The life I have chosen as wife and mother entrains a whole caravan of complications.”  She then went on to explain the long list of tasks that those two roles required.  Motherhood is indeed “a whole caravan of complications.” Gift From The Sea, 1955, p.25
 
MOTHERHOOD: Julie Andrews has played roles that might imply she’s the consummate mom, but things aren’t always as they might seem.  In a 2019 interview, the actress confessed, “I’d love to be a good cook, but I’m rotten.  I don’t have the patience for it.”  Whenever a mom doesn’t feel like she measures up to Maria von Trapp, just pull out a skillet. AARP, October 2019, p.20
 
MOTHERHOOD: In a featured article about memorable Mother’s Day moments, Phyllis Haines wrote about a present she gave her mom that was found in the trash.  Phyllis saw an old bracelet lying on top of the trash in her home so she scooped it up and gave it a good cleaning.  She knew her mom would love it and gave it to her with great excitement on Mother’s Day.  Many years later, she found out it was her mom who had originally thrown away the bracelet.  Motherhood often involves receiving trash and treating it like a treasure. Reader’s Digest, May 2020, p.85
 
STRESS: When life seems overwhelming, just think of Wendy Hansen.  In just one day, the Iowa woman lost her home to fire, ruined her motorcycle, and was diagnosed with cancer.  She got a text that her house was on fire and crashed while racing home.  The hospital CT scan revealed broken bones and a tumor on her left kidney, which was caught early enough to treat.  The doctor said, “That motorcycle crash just saved your life.”  Hansen said she’s had many “stressful” days before, but now says, “You don’t know the meaning of the word.” The Week, 8/4/23, p.12
 

EVERYDAY HUMOR

 
EDUCATION: At a dinner-party celebration following graduation, Bill quieted the table and turned to his son.  “Now that you’re a college graduate and your mother & I have invested more than $100,000 on your education, tell us something you’ve learned in school.”  Mark replied, “One of the coolest things I learned in biology is that cows are the fastest animals on the planet.  When the Chick-fil-A cows go skydiving, they move at 120 feet per second in freefall.  Of course, they slow way down once their chute opens.”  Money well-spent! Adapted from DaveBarry.com
 
GRADUATION: During commencement a retiree noted, “College graduates look way too happy for people who’ll never have an entire summer off again.” Reader’s Digest, Sept 2016, p.101
 
MOTHERHOOD: Helen’s older kids tried coaching their toddler sister to say something special on Mother’s Day.  They rehearsed “You are priceless” over and over.  On the big day she burst through the door and declared, “Mommy, you are worthless!” Reader’s Digest, May 2021, p.28
 
MOTHERHOOD: With an entire loaf of bread spread across the kitchen table, Thelma heard her daughter yell out, “There are 22 pieces of bread in a loaf!  Did you know that, Mommy?”  Moms experience a lot of questions and experiences just like that. Houston Chronicle, 3/3/2023, A12
 
MOTHERHOOD: Elizabeth’s kids were driving her crazy so she went to her bedroom closet, closed the door, and let out a blood-curdling scream.  The strategy seemed to relieve her stress so she relaxed and opened the door.  To her chagrin, she was greeted by three terrified kids and one shouted, “Mommy, I told you there was a monster in there!” Reader’s Digest, April 2005, p.48D

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