A young scribe in the day when Jesus was seen taken in the clouds after his resurrection began thinking deeply upon the question Jesus had asked. "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

His desire to have a view into the future was answered when God sent an angel with a PC hooked to the Internet. The scribe was only allowed 30 minutes for the Friday of April 13, 2001.

His first thought was to check the Top News Stories of the greatest Nation on this day. He had been advised by the angel that it was a Nation whose money held the printed words "In God We TRVST" He quickly read;

~PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) -The 24 crew members of the U.S. spy plane touched down in Hawaii at dawn Thursday after leaving their damaged spy plane behind in China, which has refused to release the aircraft since its collision with a Chinese fighter jet April 1.

The scribe thought: 'That's not good. They trust God but NOT their neighbors!' Reading on;

~OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Timothy McVeigh's execution for the Oklahoma City bombing will be shown on closed-circuit television to the more than 200 survivors and victims' relatives who want to watch him draw his last breath.

The scribe thought: 'They speak of trusting God, but their delight is in seeing vengeance?' Reading on;

~CINCINNATI (AP) - With police in riot gear out in the streets, the mayor declared a state of emergency and imposed a citywide curfew Thursday amid the worst outbreak of racial violence in Cincinnati since the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968.

The scribe questioned: "How can they trust you Lord, whom they can not see and hate another for their skin color they do see?" Reading on;

~ATLANTA (AP) -The CDC reported 30,708 gun-related deaths - 11.4 per 100,000 people - in 1998, the latest year for which statistics are available.

The scribe questioned: "What kind of trust do these people have Lord, that they take the life from another you have given?" Reading on;

~FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura joined crews piling sandbags Thursday as residents of the Red River Valley fought to keep the river from overflowing emergency dikes and swamping homes and businesses. Meanwhile, strong storms and high winds cut electricity to thousands of people in Ohio, Michigan, Nebraska and Colorado, a day after tornadoes damaged buildings and killed two people in Iowa.

The scribe questioned: "It is just as you said Lord. The earth is groaning for your return? I wonder if they see it?"

Reading on to the Top World Headlines;

~UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States has sent a "bad and disappointing" message to the world by rejecting a landmark international treaty to curb global warming, the leader of a bloc of developing nations said Thursday.

"And it's going to get hotter too!" he exclaimed, reading on;

~RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -Israeli military said a Palestinian tried to throw a firebomb at an Israeli civilian bus and soldiers shot at him, setting off an exchange of fire.

"Lord, what's a bus?" he asked, reading on;

~GENEVA (AP) - Iraq told the U.N. human rights organization Thursday that more than 1.5 million Iraqis - most of them women, children and elderly people - have died as a result of the sanctions the United Nations...

"These United Nations....do they have, 'In God we trvst', on their coins too?" he inquired, reading on;

~AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The Dutch won little applause Wednesday from their European neighbors for a new law legalizing mercy killings,....

'How does killing another weigh in the balances of justice? Does murder weigh equally with mercy, or does mercy out weigh it?' He thought, reading on;

~MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's defense minister said Thursday that the killing of a Russian peacekeeper in Kosovo was "confirmation" that the international mission had failed to significantly reduce the arsenal of ethnic Albanian fighters.

"They use many sacred words; Minister; Peacekeeper; Confirmation; Mission; to justify their killing, but they are not excused!- Lord, now I understand your need to question, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

Pausing, he read on to the Sports section;

~BOSTON (AP) - Mike Keenan is out as head coach of the Boston Bruins,

"Poor man! I'm sure he tried so hard!" said the scribe.

"Though the team made progress, there was not enough progress to warrant extending him another two years. But Peter Laviolette looks good as the leading candidate for the job," replied the angel.

Puzzled, but without comment the scribe read on;

~DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Red Wings' Stanley Cup playoff hopes were jolted on Thursday by injuries that will leave the team without forwards Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan.

"And I suppose you've been keeping up with this team too?" the scribe asked the angel.

"Naw. I'm not much of a Red Wings fan!" the angel replied.

The scribe read on to the Entertainment section;

~NEW YORK (AP) - A strike by writers and actors will cause television viewer ship to drop by 9% this fall, according to an independent study...

"Good!" they both replied together. Reading on;

~WASHINGTON (AP) -Nationwide, too many parents are drowning in credit card debt, setting a bad example and failing to adequately teach their children how to manage and save money, according to a survey released Thursday.

"Lord, what is this Nation teaching their children? Are there any righteous leaders at all?" The scribe asked, reading on;

~WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush marked Thomas Jefferson's birthday at the White House Thursday in a ceremony that included descendants of Sally Hemings, the slave with whom Jefferson is said to have fathered six children.

"And this man's face is on the country's currency as a political leader?!" the scribe asked himself. "Oh well. Jefferson was a secular leader so that really doesn't surprise me, but I wonder; are there any moral religious leaders left in this country? Mmmmmm,..." he questioned, reading on;

~SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson renewed his push for increased diversity in the high-tech world Thursday, telling a conference sponsored by his organization that minorities and women still rarely are seen in Silicon Valley boardrooms. "The American dream can only work when everybody is included," Jackson told about 200 women in a hotel ballroom.

No comment.

Sadly the young scribe relinquished the PC back to the angel before the 30 minutes had expired. "I've read enough! Isn't there any good news left in the world?" He asked.

The angel answered,"You've missed the last story of the InfoBeat News for April, Friday the 13th, 2001." And so the scribe read on;

~FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - About 200 demonstrators protested on Thursday outside a country club where actress and activist Jane Fonda was scheduled to speak.

"GREAT" the scribe exclaimed. "FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS!"
====================== Seriously, there was this good news on that day: ~KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP)~ Everest hero Sir Edmund Hillary, who was hospitalized last week with altitude sickness, has recovered and is in good health, a doctor said Thursday. Hillary, 81, was discharged on Tuesday and returned Thursday to inaugurate a new children's ward. After cutting the red ribbon taped across the door of the new building with a surgeon's scissors, Hillary smiled and talked to the hospital staff, but did not speak to the media.

"GOD BLESS THE ELDERS AND THE LITTLE CHILDREN!"

And Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3 ===============

~These were the actual stories in today's news by: http://www.infobeat.com For Friday, April, 13, 2001.

**A note worthy fact from one of my studies: The Gospel of St. John does not contain the word, "faith" at all! No not one time is it mentioned! While the other Gospel accounts do. ...But amazingly, the word "love" is mentioned twice as many times as in both the books, Matthew and Luke, and three times more than in St. Mark!

"Do you think perhaps that the need for faith might have something to do with love?"

~In God We TRVST?? © Copyright 2001 ~ by Chaplain Scott
All rights reserved to www.chaplainscott.com

Written Friday, April, 13, 2001. 6:05AM CST.
Non commercial copies only permitted with copyright notice.