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June 2002 Table of Contents
Food For Thought
The Plighty Of The Psycheceramic
By Derric Johnson
 The first time I ever heard the word "psychoceramic" was in college. Psychology Professor, Dr. Harold Peters, diagnosed our whole class with the affliction. "If you continue on your present academic course of non-achievement, you are all doomed to get the least out of life as possible! The whole lot of you are psychoceramics. I trust you know what that means. You are all 'cracked-pots'... potentially beautiful vessels with flaws that mar your usefulness."
Up until that point I had not gathered a lot of what I would call practical mental input for my life and career. I thought a
psychologist was someone you see when you're going crazy... and he helps you.
But I began to agree with him (that "cracked-pot" thing caught my imagination) and I started to pay close attention to
his other topics of the mind. He explained that a psychotic is a person who thinks that two and two is five, as distinguished from
a neurotic who knows that two and two is four... but hates it. (I never forgot that.) "Or," he said, "a neurotic builds a
castle in the air. A psychotic lives in it. And a psychologist collects the rent." (I guess that means "mad-money" is a
psychologist's fee!)
So here I am... I'll readily admit it... a cracked-pot. Paul tells us that we carry this great eternal treasure of God in
earthen vessels (II Corinthians 4:7)... or "jars of clay" if you're into newer translations. The problem is that some of us
are more "cracked" than others... which causes disturbance, distraction and defeat in varying degrees. But you must get this
point... no matter how discouraging your "cracks" may be, what is important is not the vessel, but the treasure it carries.
Everything in life seems to have some value. Take antiques (please take them). Personally, I find no value in an object
that is so old that it's worth more than it really is. I'm convinced that an antique is something one generation buys, the
next generation gets rid of... and the following generation buys again.
Yep!! Everything is worth something. But collecting stamps and coins is just too dull for some people. Many of America's
strangest collections are on exhibit each year at the Del Mar Fair in San Diego which awards prizes for hobbyists' best
entries.
One trophy-winning entry was put together by a veterinarian who was honored for 100 gallstones taken from horses... one of
the stones was 10 inches around!
Another man carves avocado pits. His collection includes the faces of Laurel and Hardy, little western faces with cowboy
hats and all the dancing raisins seen in TV commercials. Still another man's hobby is collecting all kinds of boxes. He has a complete collection of FROSTED FLAKES boxes that show Tony the Tiger wearing the jerseys of all the major-league
baseball teams.
Political science professor Jerry Simich of the University of Nevada has a hobby that's a real blast... he's collected over
300 songs that mention the nuclear weapons, including the gospel tune, JESUS HITS LIKE AN ATOM BOMB.
America's bizarre collections also include glass eyeballs, itemized grocery receipts, anything purple, a 7 1/2-mile-long
ball of old string collected an inch at a time... and 20 full-size windmills.
And don't forget the one woman who has accumulated and displays hundreds of different types of bedpans... hospital
bedpans!
Yep!! Everything is worth something. And if you're tired of seeing the same ho-hum attractions on your vacation... check
out these unusual museums around America...
THE NUT MUSEUM, Old Lyme, Connecticut. Inside you'll find all kinds of nuts including the world's largest nut, a 35-pound
double coconut that grows only on two small islands in the Indian Ocean. The museum's admission price is a nut of any kind. One
woman offered her husband.
THE MUSEUM OF INCANDESCENT LIGHTING, Baltimore. This is the place to see lightbulbs... 70,000 of them, most of which still
work. Displays include the largest bulb ever made... a 4-foot-tall, 50,000-watt colossus manufactured to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb. You'll also find the smallest bulb ever made (the size of a pin
prick) used to inspect missile parts. Other luminaries include a cockpit bulb from the ENOLA GAY, the plane that dropped the first
atomic bomb during World War II; a headlight bulb from Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler's staff car, and bulb from the Statue of
Liberty's original torch.
CENTER FOR THE HISTORY OF FOOT CARE AND FOOT WEAR, Philadelphia. Eat your heart out Imelda Marcos... this museum
has 700 shoes with dating back to Egyptian burial sandals made around 2000 B.C. And there are celebrities' shoes there
including Ringo Starr's black-starred white bucks, Billie Jean King's signed Adidas sneakers and Lucille Ball's $1,000 red
pumps.
THE MUTTER MUSEUM, Philadelphia. Look for all sorts of interesting famous-people-body-parts here... including the livers
of 19th century Siamese twins Chang and Eng, a tumor removed from President Grover Cleveland's jaw and a piece of assassin John
Wilkes Booth's thorax. There's also the skeleton of a 7-foot-six-inch Kentucky giant, the tallest on display in North America. He
was purchased in 1877 for $50... no questions asked.
THE GRAND GUITAR, Bristol, Tennessee. It's a three story building, shaped like a guitar with painted frets and real nylon
ropes, stretched to look like strings. Inside is packed with hand-made instruments... including a sitar fashioned from a
toilet seat.
EXOTIC WORLD, THE BURLESQUE HALL OF FAME, Helendale, California. Here is revealed the naked truth about burlesque.
It contains the world's largest collection of feather boas, elbow-length gloves, breakaway jeweled gowns, G-strings and pasties
from a bygone era. You can see Gypsy Rose Lee's dusty black velvet cape, Jayne Mansfield's faded ottoman and an urn
containing the ashes of Jennie Lee, founder of the Exotic Dancers League of America.
If none of these tickles your fancy, you might be interested in:
THE AMERICAN SANITARY PLUMBING MUSEUM, Worcester, Massachusetts< /br>
THE U.S. NATIONAL TICK COLLECTION, Statesboro, Georgia< /br>
MARVIN JOHNSON'S GOURD MUSEUM, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina< /br>
THE BARBED WIRE MUSEUM, LaCrosse, Kansas< /br>
THE POTATO MUSEUM, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Yep!!! Everything is worth something. And if that's the case, how much more value is attached by God to His personal
creations... you and me. We all have value to Him.
A water bearer in India had two large pots... each hung on the end of a pole which he carried across the back of his neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it, and the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the
long walk from the stream to the master's house. But the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For two years this went on daily... with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots of water to his master's
house. Of course, the impeccable pot was proud of its accomplishments... perfection to the end for which it was made.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able accomplish only half
of what it had been intended to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer
one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself and I want to apologize to you."
"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"
"I have been able , for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side lets water to
leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have been doing this work and you don't get full value
from my efforts," the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot. In his compassion the man said, "As we return to the master's house, I
want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side
of the road and this cheered the cracked pot somewhat. But at the end of the trail, the pot still felt bad because it had
leaked out half its load. So, once again, it apologized to the water bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path... but not on the other
pot's side? That is because I have always known about your flaw... and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on
your side of the path and every day as we walk back from the stream, you have watered those buds. For two years I have been
able to pick those lovely flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are... he would not have this
beauty to grace his house.
If it's true that His strength is made perfect in weakness... then you're looking at the strongest man in the
world.
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