Foolhardy behavior

[A la prochaine]

OM,

"All such acts would only be covered if one had revelation to do so... "

watch me as i try to insert my finger down my throat and hurl.

[likeaneagle]

well rascal, I will put it into other words for you..we recklessly took chances of not breaking down cause of bad mufflers, so the gang and i always prayed...for safety and the driver....It was reckless thing,of course we prayed for the driver to stay awake, and that was reckless. Oh, and forgot to mention how we stuffed 6 people into a car......it was very hot and often very uncomfortbul..as I got older and had children, we stopped all that nonsence and cruised on our own..

[A la prochaine]

Tom StrangeBoy,

You forgot to mention that the devil was interceding at every twist and turn to prevent you from reaching your destination...but YOU were believing...You pressed on toward the MARK of the High Calling...

It's actually amazing what we'd do to avoid a screaming match from leadership isn't it?

You made my day....I laughed so hard I could hardly breath.

: ) .... if felt good.

Edited July 27, 2006 by A la prochaine

[skyrider]

well rascal, I will put it into other words for you..we recklessly took chances of not breaking down cause of bad mufflers, so the gang and i always prayed...for safety and the driver....It was reckless thing,of course we prayed for the driver to stay awake, and that was reckless. Oh, and forgot to mention how we stuffed 6 people into a car......it was very hot and often very uncomfortbul..as I got older and had children, we stopped all that nonsence and cruised on our own..

Oh.....the memories keep flooding back.

After WOW training in 1976 (?).....I was full of trepidation upon learning that five adults (and one child) would be crammed into one semi-dependable car for our 450 mile ride to our WOW destination. Of course, with five adults......and packing the trunk and back window area with all our stuff.....we took a trek like modern-day beverly hillbillies.

The back bumper was about three inches from dragging foot........no spare tire.......and down the road we went. Guess what happened? A big chunk of tread fell off the back tire on the passenger side......and we thumped, thumped, thumped for about seven miles to the nearest exit. After another ordeal, we bought a used tire....and off again.

Another hour down the road.....and everyone was hungry. So, we pulled off again.....and enroute to a fast-food place, we came across a slightly elevated railroad crossing. Well, we bottomed OUT. And, everyone but the driver exited the car to push it over the tracks. Some laughed, some were stunned.

On thru the night we traveled. Got lost.....the 6th corps guy wasn't too good at reading maps. We arrived around dawn......groggy, sweaty, irritated, etc......ready to bless the new city with our presence.

:)

[bliss]

wow OM

You musta had the best twig ever!! What a great leader you had!

Unfortunately, many of us did not.

So, although one "heard" not to tempt God, how it was shown and spoken often times was to "believe".

I was told by my leadership ............

"TO NOT SAVE FOR A RAINY DAY!"

so, for many of us blind followers, it didn't matter what JESUS said, what mattered is what LEADERSHIP SAID.

I read that verse a bizillion times, and all it told me was to "not jump off a 10 story building".

That is tempting God.

Not, "drive to Ohio with no money or food".

or

"drive through snow and ice and hail to make it to class". These were "believing" endevours!

[A la prochaine]

Bliss,

Thank you thank you thank you thank you ...

You said EXACTLY what I was trying to convey with my little 'fingers down throat' thingy.

put a smile on my face.

: )

sky...wonderful story! it's a wonder (hey... maybe that's the phenomena that OM talked about???) we all lived to tell them!

Reminds me of the time in 1977 we drove to a Heartbeat Festival in Albany. Six or eight of us in a car... with very bald tires because we didn't have money to buy new ones.

We drove thru' the worst storm possible, icy conditions...and the road was a snowy blurr. I can't remember how long it actually took us to get there, but the trip would be a good 10 hrs. on a good day.

So we arrive, only after loosing control on the road and landing in the ditch twice. We had to get a tow truck to pull us out each time. My sister, who was driving, was a complete wreck by the first, off in the ditch, incident. I remember driving in another car that we were caravaning with after the first off in the ditch fiasco. This car was also very old, and the lights on the car were always dimming as we were driving down the road. At one point, I looked at the driver... a very sweet 6th corps person and they said, "The car is overloading...the battery can't handle the load".... we had the lights, wipers, heater to the max, defroster fans ... you name it.. going at full blast and I guess the car just wasn't moving fast enough to keep up with the demands on the alternator??? (I'm no mechanic...and I'm sure it shows right about now). But, that is the only time I ever saw a car do this.

There was this middle aged woman with us... a very boistrous type, who always spoke her mind. She hadn't yet taken the class yet (ya...you can figure that one out...she didn't last long in TWI). Well, we arrive at the place where we were staying...and this woman is at her wits end. We're all being so 'positive' and thanking God for all his wonderful works,... and she's non-stop ... OH MY GOD... that was the ride from he!! Then, this 6th corps woman who had been travelling with us... walks up to her and slaps her in the face. She never said another word.

weird stuff for a 17 yr. old to witness!!!

Edited July 28, 2006 by A la prochaine

[lindyhopper]

D0nn@ M@rtind@le told a few of us teens around a campfire a story of when she and another young lady were in a big city, maybe NYC. They sat down somewhere and started talking to a guy about believing and God. The guy pulled a gun on them and theatened to shoot them. They said "go ahead, God will protect us." The guy apparently thought it was funny and left.

[waysider]

I sold an old gold telecaster vintage 196x for $50 so I could make the rent at the boarding house where I was staying. Iwas staying in the boarding house because I was sent into this area by myself. I had to prove myself worthy,I suppose, of the next program I would enter. I probably could buy the whole stinckin' house for what that axe is worth today. I guess I can be thankful at least that even though that decision was "muy stupido", it never endangered my or anyone elses safety or life. Maybe this really belongs on the guitar thread.

[A la prochaine]

waysider....

ouchhhh....

[sprawled out]

waysider, THAT'S a horror story!

[nowgrown]

It never ceases to amaze me when I think of how many times my entire family traveled from California to Ohio and back and Iniana to Cailifornia and back and California to North Carolina and back in our tiny 1980 Honda hatchback.

[Sunnyfla]

And don't forget for those of us who went out Light Bearers. We HAD to hitch rides to our desitinations. I

thought that was ludacris. Believe God for your rides. :blink: Our corps had to go out twice too. We

met some real wierdos :o

Edited July 28, 2006 by Sunnyfla

[topoftheworld]

Of the many stupid things we were required to operate believing for, the hitchhiking was the stupidist and most dangerous, IMO.

In the Corps-you had no choice. It's how you got to LEAD, how you got back and forth from Emporia, Indiana and Hdqt's, and on and on....

Some of you know my story-and there are many others.

BTW, OM, is it tempting God to put yourself in a dangerous or comprising position when it was the POLICY OF THE CORPS PROGRAM??????

[act2]

Of the many stupid things we were required to operate believing for, the hitchhiking was the stupidist and most dangerous, IMO.

In the Corps-you had no choice. It's how you got to LEAD, how you got back and forth from Emporia, Indiana and Hdqt's, and on and on....

Some of you know my story-and there are many others.

BTW, OM, is it tempting God to put yourself in a dangerous or comprising position when it was the POLICY OF THE CORPS PROGRAM??????

AMEN, topoftheworld!!!!!!!!!! OMG, the hitchhiking was the MAIN reason that I did not go WC. I had heard 'praise stories' though they werent called that (heehee) and I was scared to death.

I am so sorry for all the horrible things that so many of you endured because you signed up for a program. There is a day coming that will right those that were wronged, and I cant wait.

Hubby is calling me to come watch a movie. Will try to post some tomorrow about some of my 'close calls'.

[johniam]

In March of '78 I was privileged to drive a Gremlin with 5 other people in it from Emporia to Columbia, MO all night. Several times I fell asleep for a moment. One time I fell asleep for a few moments. That time when I woke back up I was still on the road but close to the median. It gave me a good shot of adrenaline. The rest of the way I ran Rolling Stones songs through my head (anti retemorizing...?). It worked.

In July of '75 (before TWI) I got off work at 5PM in Harrison, MI, drove 175 miles to Ypsilanti, MI, where an all day rock festival would take place the next day. I got 2 hours of "sleep" waiting with the others. After the show I had to drive back to Harrison and be at work at 8AM the following day. I took 8 NO-DOZ, picked up several hitchhikers who became concerned about my behavior yet stayed, and made it back to Harrison at 3AM. I reported to work as a summer park ranger at Wilson State Park at 8AM beaming and cheerful.

Each of these recollections feel pretty much the same: just doin' what I had to do. I honestly don't think foolhardy behavior originated with TWI.

[Oakspear]

I honestly don't think foolhardy behavior originated with TWI.

Good, then you're in agreement with everyone else on this thread who hasn't said that it did :P

[Tom Strange]

Each of these recollections feel pretty much the same: just doin' what I had to do. I honestly don't think foolhardy behavior originated with TWI.

Is there a difference in the motivation/purpose/reason? Were you told that you had to do one and wanted to do the other? Regardless, the instances of craziness that folks are sharing about were times they were "told to" do something or "expected" to do something.

Like Oak said, we all agree that it didn't originate with TWI, but at least for me... they were the only times in my life that I was "expected" to do things like that...

[topoftheworld]

....as in the case of the hitchhiking......

[YIdon'tgotochurch]

I've got just 3 words to add to this post that I think will concur with all that's been said already.

HITCHIKING TO LEAD !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[WordWolf]

BTW, OM, is it tempting God to put yourself in a dangerous or comprising position when it was the POLICY OF THE CORPS PROGRAM??????

Johniam,

since you joined the discussion (kinda, since your reminiscances weren't of twi),

you're free to answer this one as well.

"IS IT TEMPTING GOD TO PUT YOURSELF IN A DANGEROUS OR COMPROMISING POSITION WHEN IT WAS

THE POLICY OF THE CORPS PROGRAM?"

I believe TOTW is entitled to a simple or direct answer-one that actually addresses

the question. (Something like a 'yes' or 'no', for example.)

From either of you, whichever checks in first.

Alternately,

you may try the following answers.

A) "I don't think hitchhiking qualifies as 'dangerous or compromising'."

or

B) "I think the dangerous hitchhiking was not vpw's idea, so don't blame him!"

or

C) "I think vpw decided upon the dangerous hitchhiking,

but he was unaware it was dangerous, so don't blame him!"

Or you can pretend you didn't see the question.

Or you can admit you saw it but refuse to answer it.

Or you can obfuscate then pretend you answered it.

You have plenty of options, there.

Edited July 30, 2006 by WordWolf

[johniam]

Today I think hitching is dangerous, but back then I hitched all over the country way before TWI. So did Evan, George, and probably several other GSers. By the way, the first recollection I posted was a TWI deal. I wasn't "ordered" to drive but c'mon. Emporia to someplace? That was while in TWI.

So NO, I don't think hitchhiking was "tempting God". Some of you are just wusses.

[rascal]

Wusses?? WUSSES?? OMG John one of our posters here was abducted and raped repeatedly before she got away ...WHILE hitch hiking to lead.

I know of at least one corpes person who freaking DIED while hitchhiking to lead.

and those are just incidences that I have heard about...no doubt there were others :(

Good lord almighty ....what an ignorant thing to say about the people who suffered so grievously for following twi orders.

Edited July 30, 2006 by rascal

[WordWolf]

Today I think hitching is dangerous, but back then I hitched all over the country way before TWI. So did Evan, George, and probably several other GSers. By the way, the first recollection I posted was a TWI deal. I wasn't "ordered" to drive but c'mon. Emporia to someplace? That was while in TWI.

So NO, I don't think hitchhiking was "tempting God". Some of you are just wusses.

I admire the way you jumped in and directly addressed the question,

with no hint of evasion, nor attempt to confuse, deceive, or otherwise obfuscate the issue.

That having been said, I wanted to make sure there was a record of the post,

in case you had a second thought and edited.

NOT that you known for doing this sort of thing-quite the opposite, IIRC.

However, I wanted to eliminate any later possibility of "he said, she said".

Having said that, I'll be leaving this alone for now.

(Partly to allow others to speak first,

partly because I like to encourage people being candid.)

[johniam]

Y'know, this brings up a whole topic, WW. I started a thread few years back called Hitching stories. Evan and Geo Aar were about the only ones who had anything to contribute besides myself. There were a few others.

But while I personally wasn't ever afraid of it, others had trouble. Once my 2 wow sisters and I hitched 100 miles from Rolla, MO (our wow town) to Columbia, MO (limb HQ). We get on the state hwy to begin and the family coordo is conflicted. Not scared, just stuck. She was the "leader" and supposed to be willing and able to do anything for God, yet she was clearly out of her element hitching.

So we're on the road and there's a RR overpass about 100 ft away. She ripes up and says, "OK, let's believe to get a ride before we get out of town (2 miles away)." I countered with "why not believe to get a ride before we get to that bridge"? A car screeched to a halt before my sentence was ended which took us about half way there.

In all my experience hitching I conclude there are 4 things that will increase the chances of getting a ride: 1) a pet, 2) a musical instrument, 3) a girl, and 4) the appearance that you might have pot with you. So I really don't know how much "believing" it took to get a ride hitching with 2 girls, both good looking.

Last time I hitched was to the '84 ROA. Got picked up by a pimp in E STL. Told him where I was going. He was actually nice about it. Poor girl. But I've owned a car for the last 20 yrs and I've heard it's just too dangerous now. Too many nut cases out there. I do NOT pick up hitchhikers. So, did I answer your question?

[johniam]

quote: That having been said, I wanted to make sure there was a record of the post,

in case you had a second thought and edited.

NOT that you known for doing this sort of thing-quite the opposite, IIRC.

However, I wanted to eliminate any later possibility of "he said, she said".

Having said that, I'll be leaving this alone for now.

(Partly to allow others to speak first,

partly because I like to encourage people being candid.)

"Their logic ties you up and rapes you." - Sting