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In Other Words...

A Research Service Of Facts & Humor For Christian Leaders

February  2025

FAILURE: While teaching college students, David Barman encountered a student with a unique view of failure.  The university had a grading policy that required professors to add a + to grades ending in 8 or 9.  An 89 would be a B+ and a 78 was a C+.  This particular young man failed the class with a 58 but was adamant that a + be added to his final grade.  He complained, “I earned a F+, not an F.”  Barman complied with the strange request and the student felt vindicated.  Adding a plus-sign-spin to failure doesn’t make it a success. Reader’s Digest, September 2021, p.26
 
MARRIAGE: On his podcast, Matt Walsh interviewed New York City divorce attorney James Sexton, who charges $750 an hour.  Sexton isn’t a Christian but has plenty of advice from his extensive experience with parting couples.  Here are three suggestions from the interview that are also included in his book, How To Stay In Love: “Try loving your spouse a quarter as much as you love your cat.”  “Be as polite to your spouse as you are to strangers.”  “If your marriage has gone south, try as a last-ditch effort doing one kind act a day for a month and see what happens.”  Such practices are far easier and less costly than a divorce. World, August 2024, p.119
 
MARRIAGE: The Institute for Family Studies notes that one-third of today’s young adults will never marry, which is a steep increase from previous generations.  The Pew Research Center found that 47% of adults under 50 say it’s unlikely they’ll have children, another big jump from less than a decade earlier.  In 2020, Gallup discovered that just 29% of American adults think it’s important for a couple to marry.  Views of marriage have dramatically changed. Wall Street Journal, 1/4/25, p.C1; Washington Examiner, 2/7/23, p.12
 
MARRIAGE: In the video series for his book Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas talked about a woman who came to him for counseling.  While explaining her frustrations, she said it was a difficult marriage.  Thomas stopped her and replied, “That’s redundant.  Every marriage is difficult.”  Good marriages aren’t easy and it gets easier once we believe that. RightNowMedia.org
 
MONEY: In Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, The Sun Also Rises, the author who would go on to win a Pulitzer and a Nobel Prize created an exchange between two characters about money.  Bill asked, “How did you go bankrupt?”  Mike gave a reply that became classic and has been repeated countless times: “Two ways.  Gradually and then suddenly.”  Unless we manage our money well, it erodes away just like Mike described. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, 1926, p.141
 
PERSPECTIVE: Chip Gaines stated, “Seeing the bad in the world and in people isn’t difficult or wise or insightful…it’s lazy.”  Positive perspectives help us all. Reader’s Digest, July 2019, p.22
 
PURPOSE: Listen to the angst of this young woman who returned to work at her dad’s automotive shop after realizing her dream of a career in broadcast journalism wasn’t what she really wanted.  She’d earned a college degree for that field and interned in New York City, but now it all seem wasted.  She lamented about this new season that seemed so hopeless.  “Time moved in slow motion.  I watched as friends moved on and into careers while my own life felt like a piece of luggage left behind on an airport conveyor belt, going round and round, waiting to be picked up for its grand adventure.  I questioned often – aloud to friends and even more so to myself – what is the purpose of life?  Then I bided time waiting for an answer that never came.”  Roll time forward two decades from that bleak time and you’ll find a very successful, happy woman who is known to millions for being the face of the Magnolia brand.  Joanna and her husband Chip Gaines launched the tv genre of Fixer Upper reality shows and single-handedly transformed Waco, Texas into a tourist destination with nearly a million visitors per year coming to see their Magnolia Market.  Finding our purpose can be painful and slow but it’s worth the effort. Magnolia.com
 
RELATIONSHIPS: Customers at a Circle K in Avon, Ohio got an expensive surprise when fueling their vehicles on January 19, 2025.  The distributors crossed up two storage tanks so those trying to fill up with gas actually got diesel, and vice versa.  Soon after the fill-ups, cars and trucks started sputtering and then stopping in this suburb of Cleveland. Now Circle K is footing the expensive repair bills.  Whether it has to do with transportation or relationships, the wrong fuel leads to bad outcomes so we need to be very attentive to the input. USA Today, 1/28/25, p.A4
 
SELF: In October 2024, Brittney Spears posted an Instagram video of herself in a wedding dress saying, “The day I married myself…I think it’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever done!”  Fame can get twisted, but we all struggle with too much self-love. Beaumont Enterprise, 10/22/24, p.B7
 
SIN:  On January 13, 2025, millions of people began gathering in northern India for Maha Kumbh Mela or Great Pitcher Festival.  It’s known as the world’s largest gathering as over 400 million people will converge over six weeks to dip in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.  Devout Hindus believe these rivers are sacred and will absolve them of sins during this ritual that began 2,000 years ago.  The festival is held every three years and rotates between the four cities where it is believed that nectar of immortality fell – one drop on each of these cities.  The festival takes on greater meaning every twelfth year so the prefix Maha is added, which means great, and attracts far more participants.  In this sea of humanity we’re reminded that Romans 3:23 is something any sane person comprehends.  We do indeed have a horrible problem called sin, but only God has the solution…Jesus (Romans 6:23). USA Today, 1/13/25, p.N3; Wall Street Journal, 1/30/25, p.A9
 

EVERYDAY HUMOR

 
ATTITUDE: When Lucy looked out the window at the pouring rain and howling wind, she exclaimed, “It looks like a good day!”  Linus asked, “What do you mean a good day?  It’s raining, windy and cold!”  Lucy shouted, “It’s a good day to be CRABBY!”  Lucy has plenty of kindred spirits and most don’t even need bad weather to be crabby. Houston Chronicle, 1/30/25, p.A12
 
COMMUNICATION: This social media post doesn’t need any commentary: Prayers for my husband, who, very tragically, didn’t get me anything for our anniversary after I specifically told him I didn’t want him to get me anything for our anniversary. Reader’s Digest, March 2021, p.15
 
DATING: In a coffee shop this guy was overheard telling a young lady, “I’d like to take our relationship to the next level and tell you my real name.” Wall Street Journal, 1/8/25, p.A14
 
MARRIAGE: Bill explained to a friend, “Very few things upset my wife, and it makes me feel special to be one of them.” Houston Chronicle, 2/20/16, p.E5
 
MARRIAGE: Aimee’s little girl found a wedding picture and quickly connected it to her love for Cinderella.  She said, “Mommy got married just like Cinderella.”  She then paused and added, “But Mommy didn’t marry a prince. Mommy married Daddy.” Reader’s Digest, June 2008, p.129
 
MARRIAGE: Gary Smalley (1940-2016) liked to playfully yet truthfully tell couples, “The most difficult years of marriage are those following the wedding.” SmalleyInstitute.com
 
MARRIAGE: Bryan noted, “When my wife gets a little upset, sometimes a simple ‘Calm Down’ in a soothing voice is all it takes to get her a lot upset.” Reader’s Digest, March 2019, p.21

IN OTHER WORDS... began in 1991 and is a research service produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry, Pastor of the Westgate Memorial Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas.  Subscribers receive access to over 7,000 illustrations on our website PLUS one emailed issue per month filled with intriguing facts, quotes, humor, and spiritual illustrations from a wide variety of sources.  All content is copyrighted.  Visit www.iows.net to start a new subscription or send inquiries to: 

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