DEFLATED

When I was 12 or 13 years old, my sister and I decided that we weren't willing to wait any longer to get noticed. The "associated press" images in the newspaper always intrigued us. We wondered aloud together, "Aw, look at that dog cooling himself down in a kiddie pool in Iowa." Or, "Those kids are having a blast playing jump rope in Atlanta." We couldn't figure out how one gets to enjoy the notoriety of "associated press" image status, and since we knew nothing of the interworkings of a newspaper, we came up with our own plan to get noticed ourselves.

"You call the Chronicle Telegram and tell them there's a kid out walking a rabbit on a leash."
"I don't want to call. You call."
"I can't call. I'll be walking the rabbit."
"Oh. Okay. Heeeeey, wait a minue. Why can't *I* walk the rabbit?"
"Because it's my rabbit, silly. And besides, they'll listen to you better because you're younger and it'll sound cute to them."
"Oh, yeah. That's true. But,...why should I do all the work if you're the one who'll get to be in the paper?"
(Got me there.)
"I'll tell you what. You just call, and then you can join me on my rabbit walk and we'll both get in the paper."

Smiles.
Deal.

And our little plan worked like a charm. We went outside in the chilly rainy weather (yes, we planned this gig on a rainy day) and proceeded to walk my French Lop rabbit on a leash down the sidewalk. Not 15 minutes later, along came the photographer and snap- snap, he took a few shots of us, got our names, and was on his way again. Ah, so proud.

Imagine our sheer delight when our photo ran on the front page of section B a day or two later.

Now imagine our major let down when, on the front page of section A, we saw the neighbor kid from across the street, huge photo I might add, smiling away. Apparently, after the photographer snapped a shot of us, he also got a shot of her playing outside in the rain. How convenient for her that we made the phone call that got HER on "the cover" (hmmmf!) All that plotting and planning and don'tch know it, we were living life on the "B" list in the shadow of the neighbor kid. Clearly, pride does come before a fall.

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Live wise in Him!

~Toni~