Just sharing.

She hired a plumber to help her restore an old farmhouse, and he had just finished a rough first day on the job: a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit, and his ancient one ton truck refused to start. While she drove him home, he sat in stony silence.

On arriving, he invited her in to meet his family. As they walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.
When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles, and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward, he walked back to the car. They passed the tree, and her curiosity got the better of her. She asked him about what she had seen him do earlier. "Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure; those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So, I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them.

Then in the morning, I pick them up again. Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

The U In Jesus


Before U were thought of or time had begun,
God had stuck U in the name of His Son.
And each time U pray, you'll see it's true,
You can't spell out JesUs and not include U.

You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name,
For U, he was born; that's why He came.

And His great love for U is the reason that he died,
It even takes U to spell crUcified.

Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand,
He rose from the dead with U in His plan.

The stones split away, the gold trUmpet blew,
and this word ressUrection is spelled with a U.

When Jesus left the earth at His upward ascension,
He felt there was one thing He just had to mention.

"Go into the world and tell them it's true,
That I love them all-Just like I love U.

So many great people are spelled with a U,
Don't they have the right to know JesUs too?

It all depends now on what U will do,
He'd like them to know, but it all starts with U.

Will U pass it on?
JesUs Loves U!!!

57 Cents.

A story from Pastor Russell H. Conwell on December 1, 1912:

A little over twenty years ago, Little Hattie May Wiatt lived in a house near the church in which we then worshipped. It was a small church and was crowded; tickets of admission were obtained sometimes weeks in advance for every service. One day when I came down to the church, I found a number of children outside.

They were greatly disturbed because they could not get in due to the crowd of children already in the Sunday school rooms of the church, and little Hattie May Wiatt, who lived near by, had brought her books and a contribution and was standing by the gate, hesitating whether to go back home or wait and try to get in later.

I took her up in my arms, lifted her to my shoulder, and then as she held on to my head - an embrace I never can forget - I carried her through the crowd in the hall, into the Sunday school room, and seated her in a chair away back in a dark corner. The next morning as I came down to the church from my home, I came by their house, and she was going up the street to school.

As we met, I said: "Hattie, we are going to have a larger Sunday school room soon," and she said: "I hope you will. It is so crowded that I am afraid to go there alone." "Well," I replied, "when we get the money with which to erect a school building, we are going to construct one large enough to get all the little children in, and we are going to begin very soon to raise the money for it." It was only in my mind as a kind of imaginary vision, but I wished to make conversation with the child.

Within the next couple years, Hattie became very sick, and they asked me to come in and see the child, which I did. I prayed with her. I walked up the street, praying for the little girl's recovery, and yet all the time, with the conviction that it was not to be. Hattie May Wiatt died. She had gathered 57 cents, which was left as her contribution towards securing another building for the children. After the funeral, her mother handed me the little bag with the gathered 57 cents. I took it to the church and stated that we had the first gift toward the new Sunday school building -- that little Hattie May Wiatt, who had gone on into the Shining World, had left behind her this gift towards it. I then changed all the money into pennies and offered them for sale. I received about $250 for the 57 pennies, and 54 of those cents were returned to me by the people who bought them.

I then had them put in a frame where they could be seen and exhibited them, and by a sale of the $250 changed into pennies, we received enough money to buy the next house north of the church. That house was bought by the Wiatt Mite Society, which was organized for the purpose of taking the 57 cents and enlarging them sufficiently to buy the property for the Primary Department of the Sunday school.

Then when the crowd became so great we could no longer get in there, the thought impressed itself upon our congregation, "We ought to have a larger church and a larger Sunday school room." Faith in God was the characteristic of this people, and they said, "We can do it," notwithstanding the fact that we had no money in advance. Yet the conviction was strong that we ought to build a larger church, and some ventured so far, though then it seemed absurd, to say that we might "build on Broad Street somewhere".

I walked over to see Mr. Baird and asked him what he wanted for this lot on which the Temple now stands. He said that he wanted $30,000. I told him that we had only 54 cents toward the $30,000 but that we were foolish enough to think that some time we would yet own that lot.

Encouraged by what he said and with no opposition on the part of the Board of Deacons, I went around again to talk with him and asked him if he would not hold the lot for five years. Mr. Baird said: "I have been thinking this matter over and have made up my mind that I will sell you that lot for $25,000, taking $5,000 less than I think it is worth, I will take the 54 cents as the first payment, and you may give me a mortgage for the rest at 5%.

I went back and reported to the church, and they said: "Well, we can raise more money than 54 cents." But I went over and left the 54 cents with Mr. Baird and took a receipt for it as a part payment on the lot. Mr. Baird afterwards returned the 54 cents as another gift. Thus we bought the lot, and thus encouraged of God step by step, we went on constructing this building.

We could hardly have dreamed then that in the number of years that followed, this people without wealth, each giving only as he could afford from his earnings, could have paid off so great a debt. I must state also that in the house purchased by the sale of the 57 cents was organized The Temple University.

Hattie May Wiatt was a school girl living in one of the homes of the industrious, honorable, upright and saving classes of society, not of the wealthy and great, yet think how her life was used; think what God did with her and the 57 cents that was used of hers. A glance at it would put many to shame. Think of this large church; think of the membership added to it - over 5,600 - since that time.

Think of the influence of its membership going out and spreading over the world. Think of the influence of the Sabbath school carried on in this great building for more than twenty years. Then think of the institutions this church founded.

Think of the Samaritan Hospital and the thousands of sick people that have been cured there and the thousands of poor that are ministered to every year. I received the report of the Samaritan Hospital for October last Saturday and find that during the month, 2,540 had visited the dispensary.

By multiplying that by twelve to get the average for a year, we find that over 30,000 people every year go to the dispensary of that one hospital, and that does not include the inner wards for the poor or the private rooms. Then there is the other hopital, the Garrestson, also taken up by the people of this church. Without this church, it could never have been started.

There they ministered in one single year to over 14,000 workmen, wounded, broken, and dying. When we think of the ministrations of these hospitals that were started by the influence of this church and supported in the beginning by members of this church, what a long roll it is of the deeds of Christian kindness.

Think of how in that Wiatt house were begun the very first classes of the Temple College. The Wiatt Mite Society provided the seats, the books and the teachers. Thus it began as an evening school, and it has gone on growing and developing through the years. That house, bought for 54 cents in the first place, was sold, and the proceeds were given to the Temple College in order that it might open on Park avenue.

We moved out of the original church too and gave it to the Temple College, and the college sold it to another church and used the money to erect a building next door to us on Broad Street. Think of the influence of that 57 cents just for a moment.

Almost 80,000 young people have gone through the classes of the Temple University, and think where they are. A year ago, we estimated that there were 500 young men and women in the business department who earned nothing before they went there and who, after six months' instruction, were earning a decent wage.

Think of the added income, of the added comforts, which even the smallest departments had given, and then think of the Departments of Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Theology, Household Arts, the Normal School and the Teachers' College - nearly 4,000 are now going in and out its various doors in various parts of the city.

Just estimate how they will go and teach thousands more and how those thousands will in turn teach many thousands more in their lifetime; think how it sweeps the world in a century with one techer, multiplying himself or herself a hundred times, perhaps, nearly every year.

Two years ago, the smallest year of that work, we took statistics of the Temple University students. We ascertained that 504 young men were studying for the Gospel ministry in a single year.

Now, if we graduate - and certainly we do - at least a hundred a year into the ministry, think what must have come to pass in twenty years since Hattie May's donation. Think of it - two thousand people preaching the Gospel because Hattie May Wiatt invested her 57 cents, because she laid the foundations.

Men may have powers of eloquence; they may sing with all the sweetness of angelic voices, and yet they may not speak as Hattie May Wiatt speaks, as she will speak through your life as you go out and do differently from what you would have done if you had not heard this story.

Hattie May Wiatt is speaking in tones of eloquence, sweet, divine and powerful, moving on upon the ages. Many men are counted great; many men are given credit for that which they do not do, but here is a life filled with motive power that sweeps on for all time.

[video=youtube_share;sQeIGbKqiw8]https://youtu.be/sQeIGbKqiw8[/video]

God's Smell

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.

That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.
At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature.

Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one"

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.

But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love.

All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.

At last, when Dana turned two months old. her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing.

As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"

Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"

Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain." Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along.

During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

Highway 109

A drunk man in an Oldsmobile,
They said, had run the light
That caused the six-car pileup
On 109 that night.
When broken bodies lay about
And blood was everywhere,
The sirens screamed out elegies,
For death was in the air.

A mother, trapped inside her car,
Was heard above the noise;
Her plaintive plea near split the air:
"Oh, God, please spare my boys!"

She fought to loose her pinned hands;
She struggled to get free,
But mangled metal held her fast
In grim captivity.

Her frightened eyes then focused
On where the back seat once had been,
But all she saw was broken glass and
Two children's seats crushed in.

Her twins were nowhere to be seen;
She did not hear them cry,
And then she prayed they'd been thrown free,
"Oh, God, don't let them die!"

Then firemen came and cut her loose,
But when they searched the back,
They found therein no little boys,
But the seat belts were intact.

They thought the woman had gone mad
And was traveling alone,
But when they turned to question her,
They discovered she was gone.

Policemen saw her running wild
And screaming above the noise
In beseeching supplication,
"Please help me find my boys!

They're four years old and wear blue shirts;
Their jeans are blue to match."
One cop spoke up, "They're in my car,
And they don't have a scratch.

They said their daddy put them there
And gave them each a cone
Then told them both to wait for Mom
To come and take them home.

I've searched the area high and low,
But I can't find their dad.
He must have fled the scene,
I guess, and that is very bad."

The mother hugged the twins and said,
While wiping at a tear,
"He could not flee the scene, you see,
For he's been dead a year."

The cop just looked confused and asked,
"Now, how can that be true?"
The boys said, "Mommy, Daddy came
And left a kiss for you.

He told us not to worry
And that you would be all right,
And then he put us in this car with
The pretty, flashing light.

We wanted him to stay with us,
Because we miss him so,
But Mommy, he just hugged us tight
And said he had to go.

He said someday we'd understand
And told us not to fuss,
And he said to tell you, Mommy,
He's watching over us."

The mother knew without a doubt
That what they spoke was true,
For she recalled their dad's last words,
"I will watch over you."

The firemen's notes could not explain
The twisted, mangled car
And how the three of them escaped
Without a single scar.

But on the cop's report was scribed,
In print so very fine,
An angel walked the beat tonight
On Highway 109.

Ice Cream

Last week, I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads, he said, "God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!"

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!"

Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?" As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table.

He winked at my son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer." "Really?" my son asked. "Cross my heart." Then, in a theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and, without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman.

With a big smile, he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Sally jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said, "How is my little boy? Is he going to be all right? When can I see him?"
The surgeon said, "I'm sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn't make it."

Sally said, "Why do little children get cancer? Doesn't God care any more? Where were you, God, when my son needed you?"

The surgeon asked, "Would you like some time alone with your son? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes before he's transported to the university."

Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good-bye to her son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair.

"Would you like a lock of his hair?" the nurse asked.

Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of the boy's hair, put it in a plastic bag, and handed it to Sally. The mother said, "It was Jimmy's idea to donate his body to the university for study. He said it might help somebody else. I said no at first, but Jimmy said, 'Mom, I won't be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom.'

She went on, "My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could."

Sally walked out of Children's Mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy's belongings on the seat beside her in the car. The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy's belongings and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son's room. She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them. She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.

It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Laying beside her on the bed was a folded letter. The letter said:

"Dear Mom,

I know you're going to miss me, but don't think that I will ever forget you or stop loving you just 'cause I'm not around to say I LOVE YOU. I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday, we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, that's okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things us boys do. You'll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know.

Don't be sad thinking about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn't look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see GOD!

And guess what, Mom? I got to sit on God's knee and talk to Him like I was somebody important. That's when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter to tell you goodbye and everything. I was sure that wasn't allowed, but you know what Mom? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him 'Where was He when I needed him?' God said He was in the same place with me as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.

Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I've written except you. To everyone else, this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn't that cool? I have to give God His pen back now. He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight, I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I'm sure the food will be great.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don't hurt anymore. The cancer is all gone. I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain anymore.


Signed with Love,
God, Jesus & Me"

Smile

A little girl walked to and from school daily. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school. As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up along with thunder and lightning.

The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school, and she herself feared that the electrical storm might harm her child.
Following the roar of thunder, lightning, like a flaming sword, would cut through the sky. Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did so, she saw her little girl walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up and smile. Another and another were to follow quickly, and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.

When the mother's car drove up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her.

"What are you doing? Why do you keep stopping?"

The child answered, "I am trying to look pretty; God keeps taking my picture."

May God bless you today as you face the storms that come your way.

A few years ago, a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner.
In their rush, with tickets and briefcases in hand, moving quickly through the airport terminal, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.

All but one! He paused, took a deep breath, quickly assessed the situation -- and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then, he returned to the terminal where the apples were still all over the terminal floor.

The man was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl running the stand, he discovered, was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, all the while helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the rushing crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one caring for her plight.

No one else, that is. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised. These he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly," he said.

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister..." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?"

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered, stunned by the words. Then slowly, he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"

A Baby's Hug

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly seated and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, "Hi there." He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes we crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.

I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy whose toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard, and his nose was so varicose that it looked like a road map.

We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. "Hi there, baby; Hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster," the man said to Erik. My husband and I exchanged looks, "What do we do?" Erik continued to laugh and answer, "Hi, hi there." Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby.

Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, "Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo." Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk. My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence but not Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skidrow bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. "Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik," I prayed.

As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back, trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's "pick-me-up" position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man's. Suddenly, a very smelly old man and a baby expressed their love and kinship.

Erik, in an act of total trust, love, and submission, laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood, awestruck.

The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, "You take care of this baby." Somehow I managed, "I will," from a throat that contained a stone. He pried Erik from his chest lovingly, as though he were in pain.

I received my baby, and the man said, "God bless you, ma'am; you've given me my Christmas gift." I said nothing more than a muttered thanks.

With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly and why I was saying, "My God, my God, forgive me."

I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment. The child saw a soul, and his mother saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind holding a child who was not.

I felt it was God asking, "Are you willing to share your son for a moment?" when He shared His for all eternity. The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3

In times of discouragement, it can seem like God doesn't know what He's doing. However, the real question is whether we know what we're doing.


Better

One day, I did something very unusual. I sat in a cafeteria while 5th and 6th grade students were eating lunch and cried. I didn't care who saw. I was upset about something, but it took more than that to make me cry. In fact, I did exactly what I always advise other people not to do.

I thought about one problem and let it remind me of a lot of other problems, things in the past. I sat there and thought about every person I'd ever known who went through some traumatic thing that I thought there was some possibility I could have prevented if only I had done something a little differently.


There was dropping out of school, becoming drug addicts, getting evicted from houses, shooting up, getting pregnant before finishing high school, getting diseases, quitting church, getting involved in prostitution, suffering physical abuse, and going to prison for selling crack. All these things have happened to people I've known, people I had a chance to influence.

As if that wasn't enough, I didn't stop there. Then, I thought about people I don't even know. Starving kids in foreign countries, people who get murdered, abused, raped. People whose loved ones die. Persecuted Christians. Little kids who get cancer. All the ugly things that happen to people in the world. And so yeah, I was crying, and I didn't care who saw.

I was crying for everything and everybody, even the kids in that cafeteria, knowing some of their stories were sad or would be. Yeah, this world's really messed up. So I asked, "God...can't You...do better than this?"

His answer was this. First, He reminded me that all those people I know, His love for them is infinitely greater than mine could ever be, so His heart is infinitely more broken than mine for them... Then, He reminded me that all those people I don't even know, His love for them is that great as well. (How can He handle so much heartbreak...?) Next, He gave us all a wonderful world to live in. Everything in this world that's wonderful, every happy memory we've ever had...it's all from Him.

Not only that, but He gave us everything we need to know to keep our lives happy and everything we need to know so that after this life, we can live a perfect life with Him forever. It's all right here (in the Bible). If only we'd read it, if only we'd listen...

If we ever doubted that anything He told us to do or anything He told us to NOT do was in our best interest, if we ever thought that maybe He just wanted to waste our time or ruin our fun, He proved He loved us too much to ever do that to us.

HE DIED FOR US. He is smarter than all of us put together. He has more love for us than all of us put together. Everything He tells us to do is for our benefit, our peace, our joy, our fulfillment.

Everything He tells us not to do will only bring us sorrow and pain.

Yet, so many ignore His loving commands, choosing instead to follow our own ideas, the world's ideas about what will make us happy... So many people doing that, each of us doing that sometimes, that's what makes this world messed up. So God's question back to me, back to everyone: "Can't you...do better than this?"

"But I'm only one person. What can I do?"

That's the question that we each need to ask ourselves.

Here's what I can came up with. In a world of great darkness, I can be a small light when I reflect His light. Jesus said, I am the Light. When I feel discouraged, I can push forward, relying on Him, so that somehow, in my own unique way, I can bring God's love to a world that so desperately needs it.

"To all the ones I've wanted to save from sorrow but couldn't: I'm thinking of you tonight. I still love you, and I'm sorry. By trying to help, I have taken your burdens into my heart, and now a portion of them weighs on my shoulders as well as your own, but I don't regret trying..."

Scripture References:

God's Love:

Psalm 34:18 - The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Jeremiah 31:3 - The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."

Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Isaiah 40:11 - He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Good Things:

Genesis 1:31 - God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day.
James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Matthew 6:31-33 - So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

God's Law:

Psalm 119:165 - Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
1 John 5:3 - In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.

Died for Us:

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God Smarter:

Isaiah 55:9 - As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

World's Ideas/Darkness:

Galations 3:22 - But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
1 John 5:19 - We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

Jesus is the Light:

John 9:5 - While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
PS. Some may wonder what I mean when I say that "God answered". Though I believe it is possible, I am not claiming in this instance that God spoke out loud to me. I do think it's possible that He acted to answer me by directly putting the answer in my mind, but I can't be sure of that.

However, God did answer me one way or another. If He did not directly put the answer in my mind, it is still the answer that He gave long before I inquired of Him, the answer from His Word. This can be seen by how easily I was able to collect the scriptures to support the answer.

Because of this, the importance of being familiar with the Bible should not be underestimated. When you are familiar with His Word, God will answer you even when He does not choose to speak out loud to you or put an answer into your mind directly.

You Can’t Do This Alone


You can’t do this alone.

You are in a crowd, yet by yourself for where you want to go.
You struggle, do a little better, then backslide to where you
were before and feel guilty about it.

Realize that you can’t be or do what you are destined to alone.

You need God, but God sends guidance in a physical form.
In a human.

God did that with His son, but He also does that by sending
people into your life to teach, guide, direct and correct you.

You need to go to church. There is usually one within walking
distance of every home in any American city.

Yes, you’ve got some problems with the church because it is made
up of people with flaws. Even the preachers, we have flaws.

You won’t find a perfect church or a perfect preacher but you
can find one that’s perfect for you.

You can’t do this alone.

You need guidance, teaching and example in a human form.

You must do three things.

1. Select
You must find the person who is right for you to teach and lead
you where you want to go. I recommend you find someone whose
life is where you want yours to be. No ones life is perfect but
some are certainly better than others. Find someone who has
SUCCESSFULLY gotten their life in order the way you want yours.

2. Submit

Look, if you knew it all or had the right answer, you wouldn’t
be in this mess. Recognize that you need to submit yourself to
the leadership of another.

To truly change you, they may say some things that will make you
mad. Both truth and change often hurts.
Medicine is usually bitter.

Stop your own headstrong independent thinking and realize that
maybe you just need to do things differently and listen and
follow someone else with wisdom for a change.

That’s a key... “for a change.”

3. Sit

It will take time.

You didn’t get in this overnight and you won’t get out overnight.
It will take time.

Don’t get discouraged, hang in there.
It takes 90 days of doing something different to break a habit
and form a new habit.

Hang in there.

You can’t do it alone

...but then you are not alone.

"Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore." Psalm 105:4

Kalee was determined to collect as many tokens as she possibly could. She loved the feel of the tokens in her hands and the thrill it gave her to have yet another one. The entire game, she strategised all she could to get more tokens. Little did she dream the surprise awaiting her at the end of the game.

You see, the goal of the game was not to collect as many tokens as possible. While Kalee had succeeded at her goal, she’d totally missed the point of the game. All her careful planning and work ended up being in vain. She’d been playing for the wrong goal.

*****

“But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5 (NASB)

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 (NASB)

Two Coats


A man said to the crowd...

“If you had two cars in your driveway, would you
a) either sell one and give the money to the poor, or
b) give the car to the poor?"

The crowd shouted, “Why yes! Of course we would.”

Again the man shouted, "And if you had two houses, would you
give one of them to the poor, as you cannot possibly live in two
houses at the same time?”

Again the response from the crowd was overwhelming,
"Yes" they cried.

The man shouted again, "If you had two coats, would you..."
and was interrupted by a man in the crowd who said,
"Hold on a minute, we ALL have two coats."

The man no longer continued.

Everyday in life we are the first to condemn others for having
many things while there are people in the world who have
nothing.

"Why don't the celebs give some of their money, etc., etc.?"

However, when it comes down to it and we are being questioned,
we are the first ones to say, "Hold on, why us?"

Too often in life people don't think before they speak.
They judge others before looking thoroughly through themselves.

Next time... Please THINK

What you do to others... you should do to yourself.
What you say to others... you should say to yourself.
What you think about others... you should think about yourself.
What you see in others... you should see in yourself.

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT!

Worry a litle every bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a
couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train
yourself not to worry: Worry never fixes anything

Philippians 4 : 6 & 7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

A bird's behavior in gathering material for its nest can teach us a lesson

Bird

I once watched a most incredible thing. I watched a small bird trying to gather string, which I presumed would have gone into the building of a nest. It is amazing that this little creature acting on instinct alone would gather this kind of material for building.

You see, a bird cannot reason, "A piece of string would be nice to use for building my nest, so I'll take it." God has given this little bird the natural instinct to function.
You probably are thinking, "What's so incredible about watching a bird do what it naturally does?"

I watched as the bird made several attempts to gather the string. She would pick up one end of the string in her beak and fly upward, but the string would fall, and she would try again. This activity went on for several minutes. What made this so incredible to me was that the other end of the string was attached to a boat sitting on a boat trailer.

I thought of the bird's PERSISTENCE in her efforts. No matter how many times she failed, the bird kept on trying. How often do you and I show this kind of persistence in our endeavors? Even though the odds of getting that particular piece of string were greatly against the bird, I found myself hoping that she would succeed.

I thought of the bird's FOCUS on the string. She was oblivious to the fact that the string was attached to an immovable object. All she saw was the string, and she went after it. How often do we keep a singular focus on a particular goal? Too often we allow our focus to scatter to several objectives, and then we wonder why we don't succeed in achieving any of them.

I thought the bird had great CONFIDENCE. Her intention was to get that string. The bird was not deterred by the fact that a large boat was in her way. Watching the scene unfold as time and again the bird would try to fly away with that string, I almost expected to see the boat lift off the ground.

We need to be PERSISTENT, FOCUSED, and CONFIDENT in our efforts as we serve the Lord. I am sure we will find more success in our endeavors.

The Company That You Keep


It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In The Wrong Company


Tell me who your best friends are, and I will tell you who you are.
If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl.
But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar
to great heights.

"A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is
shown by the kind of friends he chooses." The simple but true
fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely
associate - for the good and the bad.

The less you associate with some people, the more your life will
improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases
your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people
is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting
people.

As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends
will not want you to go on. They will want you to stay where
they are. Friends who don't help you climb will want you to crawl.

Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream.

Those who don't increase you will eventually decrease you.

Consider this:

Never receive counsel from unproductive people.

Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of
contributing to the solution because those who never succeed
themselves are always first to tell you how.

Not everyone has a right to speak into your life.
You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you
exchange ideas with the wrong person.

Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.
With some people you spend an evening, with others you invest it.

Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the
road of life.

Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right
friendships.

20,000


Years ago I watched the famous basketball star Wilt Chamberlain
on a television talk show.

Wilt was one of the original old-time big basketball stars.

In the days before Michael Jordan, Shaq, Rodman and the other
household basketball names, there was Wilt Chamberlain.

Wilt broke all kinds of basketball records.
He had a 100-point game among the other records he established.

I was counseling a man who stated that he wished that he had a
harem of several women to end his romantic problems.

I thought of Wilt and that television interview.

Although Wilt held numerous basketball records, the record that
Wilt is most famous (or infamous) for is the statement he made
concerning his personal life.

Wilt claimed that by age 55, he had slept with 20,000 women.
That statement shocked the sports world.

Wilt started at 15; that's 500 new women per year.
That's 10 per week.

How did one man have an average of ten new women in his life
each week for 40 years?

I couldn't fathom that yet I knew many men secretly wished they
had such a life.

The world focused on the 20,000. I am sure many men imagined
those were 20,000 rather attractive women as Wilt was a sports
icon the world over. Wilt said, "The average Joe would have
proposed to any of those 20,000 on the first date."

Yes, Wilt appeared to be living the "life."

What the world missed was Wilt's other statement.
It's the "other" statement that always stayed with me.

Wilt Chamberlain in essence said, "I would rather have had one
woman that I truly loved, than 20,000 that I didn't."

Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines and he reached a
similar conclusion.

"...all is vanity."

While scoring over 30,000 points on the court, Wilt Chamberlain
never fouled out. Off the court, he never truly scored.

Wilt died in 1999.

The score

20,000 to 0


Learn the lesson of Wilt's "other" statement.

Christians have both discontentment and contentment, but they are in different areas, and both are positive.

I heard a sermon at church about God's promise of strength for daily living. The main verses the message was based on were Phillipians 4:10-13. Christians have a contentment so long as they hold to Christ for everything. Knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God gives us the ability to not be discontented by our circumstances. I am reminded of Romans 8:38-39.

However, in a way, we should never be content. We sell ourselves short if we become complacent; we should always be longing to have a closer relationship with God and eager to do more good for others in the name of Jesus Christ. This opportunity is a privilege.

The sort of discontentment that motivates us to not miss this opportunity is different from discontentment that results from negative circumstances. It is a source of joy because though we were the lowest of the low, God has chosen us to be His children and called us to be involved in His holy work (Ephesians 2:10).