MAN BURIED WITH HIS MONEY:  There was a man who worked all his life and saved as much as he could. He loved money more than anything. Just before he died, he said to his wife, "When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with me." His wife promised she would.  At his funeral, just before the undertakers closed the casket, his wife put a box in the casket. The undertakers shut the casket and rolled it away. The wife's friend said, " I know you weren't foolish enough to put all that money in there with that man."  She said, "I can't lie. I promised him I would put that money in the casket with him."  "You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him?" her friend asked.  "I sure did," said the wife. "I wrote him a check." 

 

Nupi rin-um:

 

#1. Voi khat cu pa taima zet a thi. A damlaiah sunzan ti loin hna a tuan, nupi fate le amai hrang tla thil a leidah lo, anupi hlawh mi an hmang ringring. A upa thlangih a a nupi hnenah thu a cah ta: “ka thih tikah ka sumpai hmuahhmuah ka thlankhur sungah inken cih aw, mithi khua ah ka hmang duh” ati. Rei lo te ah a thi ngaingai. Mithi ruangah an phumzik thlang tikah anupi cun thing thawn tuah mi box te cu mithi kuang sungah a thlak. Cule, a rualnu in “Ka rual, na pasal cu a sumpa na ken taktak mawhsi, na aa maw si?” ati. Mithi pai nupi cun, “Si e, thuphan ka per thei lo, ka pasal dam laiah thu ka tiamkam zo” a ti. A rualni cun “Na aa maw si?” ati ih mipi pai nupi cun “si ko, zarhte asi ih bank an khar ruangah check in ka ngan” ati.

 

#. Voikhat cu biak inn khawm laiah satan a ra lut an ti. Thum hmumhmo in a awn an theih tikah mipi pawl cu tuksum in an tlan theh. Asinan, mi pakhat cu a tlan lo, a to hmun ah a to ringring. Pastor pa in hitin a sut,” Unau pa, mi hmuahhmuah an tlan theh ih nang hmuah na tlan lo, na tih lo maw si, ziangvek zumnak si na nei, insim hnik aw?” a ti. Cule, cu pa cun, “Kum 25 sung a farnu nupi ah ka nei zo si amah (satan) tla ka hmu cak zet, ka hrangah tihding a um lo” ati.

 

# CONFESSION. Robert Anthony tells of the time when the Viceroy of Naples was visiting in Spain. He visited the harbor and saw a galley ship of convicts used to pull the oars. The Viceroy went aboard and asked the men why they were there. One man said that the judge was bribed to convict him. Another said that his enemies paid people to bear false witness against him. Still another said his best friend had lied to protect himself. Finally one man said, "I'm here because I deserve to be. I wanted money and I stole a purse." With this the Viceroy said to the captain, "Here are all these innocent men and only one wicked man in their midst. Let us release this man lest he infect the others." The man was set free and pardoned.

 

# MARRIAGE. A wife went to the police station with her next-door neighbor to report that her husband was missing. The policeman asked for a description. She said, "He's 45 years old, 6 foot 3, has blue eyes, blond hair, an athletic build, weighs 185 pounds, is soft-spoken, and is good to the children." The next-door neighbor protested, "Your husband is 5 foot 3, chubby, bald, has a big mouth, and is mean to your children." The wife replied, "Who wants him back?"

 

EVANGELISM. In Soulguide Bruce Demarest tells of Dateline NBC's report on Boston oncologist Dr. Jerome Groopman. Dateline followed the doctor for two years as he attempted to save the lives of Gene, who suffered from AIDS and Elizabeth, who suffered from breast cancer. As the patients were treated, Dr. Groopman grew in intimacy with them. After watching them eventually lose their lives to their diseases, he concluded: "'If you care for someone without addressing his or her soul, you're not really caring for them'" (p. 35). Is the same not true for the Christian who walks among the spiritually dead of this world? If we meet material and emotional needs, but never address the spiritual need, then we're not really caring for them.

 

CHANGE: Charles Kettering (1876-1958) was a brilliant inventor and entrepreneur.  In 1909 he founded Dayton Engineering Laboratories (Delco).  He later sold his company to General Motors in 1919, but soon became frustrated with a group of engineers who prevented progress with their seemingly infallible calculations.  At the time, it took over a month to paint a car, but Kettering believed the process could be shortened to just one hour.  The engineers disagreed, so Kettering was determined to prove them wrong.  He soon developed his own quick-drying paint but the engineers insisted a one-hour paint job was impossible.  To prove his point, the eccentric Kettering arranged for a rather convincing lunch with one of his skeptics.  After a leisurely meal with no specific agenda, the two men headed out to the GM parking lot.  Kettering's guest was somewhat embarrassed in that he couldn't find his car.  Motioning to one particular vehicle, Kettering asked, "Isn't that yours?"  The man replied, "It looks like mine, but my car isn't that color."  Kettering then said, "Now it is."  Improvement, progress, and change aren't as impossible as we sometimes think. (Inc., October 1997, p.128)