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Cybersalt News
Sunday greetings, everyone!
It snowed at Cybersalt World Headquarters yesterday, for the first time since the middle of January 2024. To celebrate and enjoy, I have changed our front garden LED lights to rotate through Christmassy colours - just because!
Have you ever had the nightmare where you walk across a stage and sit down at a grand piano in front of a huge concert crowd, expecting you to play, and suddenly realize and panic, "I don't know how to play the piano." But then you think that if you start to try it might come to you - and then realize that isn't going to happen and how cooked your goose really is!. Maria Joao Pires, an accomplished pianist, experienced something similar when she showed up to play with an orchestra and heard them start playing a different song than the one she had practiced! Today's video share captures the early moments of what turned out to be an amazing performance.
Click here to listen.
~ Pastor Tim
"Grace"ous Host
A woman invited some people to dinner.
At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?"
"I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied.
"Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"
One-Liner #1896
The secret to a clean kitchen is simple - Don't cook. Ever.
"Be a Billionaire!"
and Help
Refugees and
Persecuted Christians
Ghandi Pun
Mahatma Ghandi walked barefoot everywhere, to the point that the soles of his feet became quite thick and hard.
Being a very spiritual person, he ate very little, and often fasted. As a result, he was quite thin and frail.
Furthermore, due to his diet, he ended up with very bad breath.
He came to be known as a....
"Super callused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis."
Quote #2331
"The colour of springtime is in the flower. The colour of winter is in the imagination."
- Ward Elliot Hour
The Washington DC Metro Station Social Experiment
“In Washington DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
After about four minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.
About four minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
At six minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
At ten minutes, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.
At forty-five minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only six people stopped and listened for a short while. About twenty gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
After one hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.
This experiment raised several questions:
- In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
- If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
- Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?”
- The Love Rabbi - Yisroel Bernat
Featured Illustrations are items well suited for illustrating or inspiring a point in a sermon, speech, or devotional. Funny, moving, or perhaps even graphic, the point of them is the point you make with them.
Rev. James Snyder, God's Penman, writes . . . .
Did I Really Say That?
I was working on my computer when The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage walked in and said, "Are you ready to go?" She caught me by surprise.
I looked up from my computer and, staring at her, said, "What are you talking about?"
Read moreThe Cybersalt Digest is a ministry of Pastor Tim and Cybersalt.