Illustration: Peace, Escape

Wilmer McLean owned a home near Bull Run. His house was seriously damaged during the opening battle of the Civil War, and so, falsely believing he would be safer from future conflicts, he rebuilt his home -- only to have it destroyed during the second battle of Bull Run.

Illustration: Timing

The orthopedic surgeon was moving to a new office across town, and decided to carry the display skeleton in the front seat of his car.

Illustration: Advice, Death

A man once told his son that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his cornflakes every morning. The son did this religiously, and lived to be 93.

Illustration: Prosperity, Affluence

In his Jan. 11, 2004, column, George Will points out that despite the hand-wringing found in much of the media, life in America continues to improve on a material basis. He draws on date from Gregg Easterbrook's new book The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse.

Illustration: Judgment, Urgency

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts."One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

Illustration: Service, Leadership

Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, tells about the aqueduct built by the Romans in Segovia in 109 A.D. For 1800 years, that aqueduct carried cool water from the mountains down to the hot, thirsty city. Nearly 60 generations drank from the water that flowed through that aqueduct.

Illustration: Imagination

Several weeks after a young man had been hired, he was called into the personnel director's office. "What is the meaning of this?" the director asked. "When you applied for this job, you told us you had five years experience. Now we've discovered this is the first job you've ever held."

Illustration: Communication, Understanding

A woman was visiting a relative who was stationed in Germany. She assumed that most Germans would speak English, but found that many people spoke only their native tongue, including the ticket inspector on the train.

Illustration: Blaming God

In his Church & Culture blog, James Emery White shares this: "If all else fails in passing blame, there's always God."