Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Luke 21:26).

The Ultimate Recall

Manufacturers have regularly recalled such items as automobiles and television sets found to be dangerous or defective. Now General Electric has issued what may well be the ultimate recall: 487 heart pacemakers, almost all of them in the chests of patients.

The defect is not in G.E.’s basic design, but in one of the pacemaker’s parts. A subcontractor for one of the unit’s circuits changed the cement used in its manufacture, unwittingly choosing one that can transmit electric current. This supplies more power from the built-in battery than is needed and affects the governor of the mechanism.

The error is expensive to the manufacturer and inconvenient to some patients. Replacement involves a 15-minute operation and several days of observation in a hospital at a total price of about $1,500 per patient.
~ Time

When the Umpire Fell Dead

Nothing seemed more important to the crowd than the outcome of a hotly-contested championship basketball game being played in O. C. Lewis Gymnasium in Anderson, Indiana. With three minutes to go and the visitors leading by two points, a foul was called on one of the hometown players. Excitement rose as the Anderson boy stepped up to the foul line for his free throw.

Suddenly, the umpire slumped to the floor. In seconds a doctor was at his side. Solemnly, the announcement was made that the umpire was dead. Within moments the game was canceled, the people left the gymnasium as though it were a mortuary. The formerly loud-yelling, sports-minded crowd had become a calm group of sober-faced individuals who unexpectedly had been reminded of the relative unimportance of temporal activities.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.