ASSUMING THE WORST A new pastor decided to visit the children's Sunday school. The teacher introduced him and said, "Pastor, this morning we're studying Joshua." "That's wonderful," said the new pastor, "Let's see what you're learning. Who tore down the walls of Jericho?" Little Johnny shyly raised hand and offered, "Pastor, I didn't do it." Taken aback the pastor asked, "Come on, now, who tore down the walls of Jericho?" The teacher, interrupting, said, "Pastor, little Johnny's a good boy. If he says he didn't do it, I believe he didn't do it." Flustered, the pastor went to the Sunday school director and related the story to him. The director, looking worried, explained, "Well, sir, we've had some problems with Johnny before. Let me talk to him and see what we can do." Really bothered now by the answers of the teacher and the director, the new pastor approached the deacons and related the whole story, including the responses of the teacher and the director. A white-haired gentleman thoughtfully stroked his chin and said, "Well, Pastor, I move we just take the money from the general fund to pay for the walls and leave it at that." CITATION: Cregg Puckett, Florence, Mississippi KEYWORDS: Blame; Children; Communication; Confusion; Conscience; Guilt; Leadership; Leadership of the Church; Sunday school SCRIPTURE: Joshua 6:1-20

Celestial navigation is based on the premise that the Earth is the center of the universe. The premise is wrong, but the navigation works. An incorrect model can be a useful tool.

In L.A., there are neighborhoods where it is more dangerous to be a plainclothes officer than a uniformed officer. Being yourself pays off!

After a relaxing, week-long summer vacation in Florida with their 10-year-old son, Robert and Angela Barry of Grove City, Ohio, left for the airport to return home to Ohio. Just before they left, a young girl staying at the Barrys' hotel showed up at their room and gave their son a teddy bear as a gift. As they went through security at Orlando International Airport, the teddy bear went through the x-ray machine like the rest of their luggage, and the Barrys learned that appearances can fool you. A Transportation Security Administration worker noticed the outline of a gun inside the bear. Opening up the bear, airport security workers found a loaded .22 caliber handgun stuffed inside. The Miami Herald later reported that the gun had been reported stolen in 1996 in California. Robert Johnson, a TSA spokesman in Washington, D.C., said the incident "underscores the need to screen everyone and everything no matter how innocent the people or their belongings may appear." Citation: Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois;

It took almost twenty-five years of brooding over observations in the laboratory, Mayan huts, and American homes, as well as reflection on writing in anthropology, philosophy, and history, to release me from the dogma I had been taught at Yale. The ideas indoctrinated during graduate training can limit the conceptions the mature investigator entertains. I used to begin the first meeting of my graduate seminar by telling the dozen or so students that much of what I had been taught at Yale turned out to be mistaken, so they should remain skeptical of everything I said over the next four months.