Just sharing.

[beensetfree]

Warning Light


Today I was driving in my truck up a busy street,
talking out loud to God, as I sometimes do.

I glanced down at my gas gauge for the 10th time only to see
that I was still on empty, and the orange glow of the warning
light was still very much glowing at me.

I had been telling God that I didn't know what to do and that I
was in need of His wisdom.

My car insurance was due yesterday,
my truck payment is 3 months overdue,
my cell phone was turned off,
(I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks so that is a big one
for me).

I am on medical disability for my anxiety, no job and very broke.

I explained to God that something really needed to change,
and that I am at my end and can't do this anymore.

Now, let me explain something to you.

I believe in God. I attend an awesome church but not as
regularly as I should. I have a Bible but don't pick it up to
read it as often as I should. I have so many opportunities to
attend small group studies with my church and even get togethers,
but I don't.

That's when it hit me.

I was running on empty.

My spiritual Warning Light has been glowing orange for months now,
and I have just kept on going; filling up just enough to get
me by, like I do with my gas tank, fill up with just $10.00
worth of gas to get me to the next week.

I didn't get the meaning of it until today. It hit me.

I pulled over and thanked God for showing me what changes I needed
to make, what I had to do to fill myself with spiritual fuel.
It was so simple that I had to laugh about it.

It's amazing how we talk to God, and yet sometimes never really
open ourselves to listen for his reply.

 

[septuagint]

[video=youtube_share;SAhlIHCZw5A]http://youtu.be/SAhlIHCZw5A[/video]

 

[beensetfree]

An Optimist


I'm an optimist,
but I'm an optimist
who takes his raincoat.

~Harold Wilson~

 

[beensetfree]

The Winds of Fate

One ship drives east and another drives west,
While the self-same breezes blow;
It's the set of the sails and not the gales,
That bids them where to go.

Like the winds of the seas are the ways of the fates,
As we voyage through life;
It's the set of the soul that decides the goal,
And not the storms or the strife.

~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

 

[beensetfree]

Do You Know What Day It Is?


Over breakfast one morning, a woman said to her husband,
"I'll bet you don't know what day this is."

"Of course I do,"

he answered as if he was offended, and left for the office.

At 10:00 a.m., the doorbell rang and when the woman opened the
door, she was handed a box of a dozen long stemmed red roses.

At 1:00 p.m., a foil-wrapped, two-pound box of her favorite
chocolates was delivered.

Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress.

The woman couldn't wait for her husband to come home.

"First the flowers, then the chocolates and then the dress!"
she exclaimed.

"I've never had a more wonderful Groundhog Day in my life!

Today is Groundhog Day.

Don't forget the flowers.

 

[beensetfree]

God's wings


An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God's wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.

Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise.

She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast.

Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.

"He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge."
Psalm 91:4

 

[beensetfree]

Discipline

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."

~Jim Rohn~

 

[septuagint]

[video=youtube_share;_yENFkE9T0Q]http://youtu.be/_yENFkE9T0Q[/video]

 

[beensetfree]

Hands

A football in my hands is worth about $20.
A football in Peyton Mannings hands is worth about $15 million.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

A basketball in my hands is worth about $25.
A basketball in Shaquille O'Neal's hands is worth about $30 million.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

A baseball in my hands is worth about $6.
A baseball in Alex Rodriguez's hands is worth more than $20 million.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

A tennis racket is useless in my hands.
A tennis racket in Venus Williams' hands is a championship winning racket.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal.
A rod in Moses' hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

A sling shot in my hands is just a kid's toy.
A sling shot in David's hand was a mighty weapon.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God's hands will feed thousands.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.
Nails in Jesus Christ's hands will produce salvation for the entire world.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

As you see now... it depends on whose hands it's in.

So, put your concerns, your worries, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your families and your relationships in God's hands. Because... It depends on whose hands it's in.

This message is now in your hands. What will YOU do with it?
It Depends on WHOSE Hands it's in!!

 

[septuagint]

[video=youtube_share;ER7FOdosdoo]http://youtu.be/ER7FOdosdoo[/video]

 

[beensetfree]

Sometimes Good Things Fall Apart


Sometimes good things fall apart
so better things can fall together.

 

[septuagint]

[video=youtube_share;TbF1g2zApf0]http://youtu.be/TbF1g2zApf0[/video]

 

[beensetfree]

Life Is Like A Box of Chocolates

A moment in life, which however small, has
a valuable lesson which can be applied to our everyday life.

I would like to share a moment that I recently
experienced.

It was the day after Christmas; my brother and I were visiting
my aunt. It was a happy day, especially as they have five
children, four under the age of six, and I, like many people,
love small children.

There was a box of sweets on the side, and kids being kids,
naturally couldn't take their eyes off it. When my aunt came
into the room, they all clamoured for a sweet, so she opened the
box of Quality Street (a selection of chocolates) and divided
them into so many for each child.

My youngest cousin, age three, is famous for his funny sayings.
Now was no different; he opened each sweet with undisguised
glee, throwing the wrappers on the floor and yelling with more
delight at each one - "Yay! Chocolate again!! Look, chocolate!!"

Straight away, I recognized this as that moment.

Yes, all of the sweets were chocolate, but the lesson here was
that so many things in life we take for granted or expect them
to be what they are so when we experience them we take almost
no delight in them at all.

Learning to be grateful for the "chocolate" of life, even if it
is all "chocolate" is a valuable skill, and something that not
many people know how to do.

It is often in small children that it is found the most, and I
felt that this was reflected in this story.

 

[beensetfree]

Essentials

I was in Chicago on a four-day business trip.

I had unpacked the night before and risen bright and early for a
panel discussion where I was a featured expert.

I was freshly showered. My teeth were brushed and my hair combed.
My skin was even feeling great after applying Miracle Lotion®.

I was ready to dress and go dazzle the audience.

I took my six-button custom suit from the closet and my shirt
monogrammed “NHB.” I picked an especially colorful tie.

My shoes were shined. I was ready.

I stood in my hotel room in my birthday suit and nodded
approvingly at my choice of wardrobe spread neatly on the bed.

I opened the drawer where I had put the rest of my clothes the
night before. I chose a pair of black socks with red spots that
nicely matched the tie.

I rumbled in the drawer getting increasingly agitated.

“Oh no!” I thought. I had left something.

I didn’t have any underwear.

I usually check off my suitcase contents from a standard packing
list that I wrote. I travel so much I figured that I didn’t
need the packing list anymore. I could rely on my memory.

Well, my memory had me in another city with no underwear.

I didn’t have a single pair of underwear save the pair crumpled
on the floor from yesterday.

These moments are not great realizations of what you
have. Some are realizations of what you don’t have and can make
it quite well without.

I didn’t have any clean underwear, and I had four days to go.
I figured I would have difficulty finding a place to buy
underwear in downtown Chicago.

I knew that I had absolutely no choice but to wear the crumpled
pair staring at me from the floor.

So what!

They looked clean even if in my mind they weren’t.

I thought back to my much younger years when mama had to make
sure her kids changed their underwear everyday and force us to
take a bath. Kids don’t naturally gravitate to either baths or
clean underwear and daddy never checked.

I thought of all of the homeless who have to wear the same
clothes each day. I thought of the multitudes who didn’t have
the benefit of a daily shower.

Here I was about to get agitated over a pair of day old
underwear that at least looked and smelled clean.

I thanked God for that pair and the shower and asked forgiveness
for fussing about such petty things.

I sat on the panel and dazzled the audience.
I looked quite professional and dapper on the outside.

Underneath,

I felt very much like a kid.

 

[God my healer]

To Darlene Z as you trust in Him to heal you.

 

[beensetfree]

Wednesday - ICE ICE BABY

It's supposed to ice over in Atlanta today.

Recently snow clogged up the streets and people and students were
stranded for up to 36 hours. Because of the bad call several
school systems made about not letting students out early, this
time school systems were extra cautious.

Schools were closed today and all it did was rain.

Will it ice over today?

I don't know but either way, I'm going to have a ball. No matter
what the weather, I'm still going to have a ball. It's the way I
choose to live life.

So, what's your day going to be like today?

 

[septuagint]

[video=youtube_share;an8Xtm2xVI4]http://youtu.be/an8Xtm2xVI4[/video]

 

[beensetfree]

Have you tasted Jesus?


At the University of Chicago Divinity School, each year, they have what is called "Baptist Day." On this day, each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every "Baptist Day" the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center.

One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr.Tillich spoke for two and one-half hours attempting to prove that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection, the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo... because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any questions.

After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. "Docta Tillich, I got one question," he said as all eyes turned toward him.

He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. "Docta Tillich... CRUNCH, MUNCH... My question is a simple question... CRUNCH, MUNCH... "Now, I ain't never read them books you read... CRUNCH, MUNCH... and I can't recite the Scriptures in the original Greek... CRUNCH, MUNCH... I don't know nothin' bout Niebuhr and Heidegger... CRUNCH, MUNCH..."

He finished the apple... "All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate... was it bitter or sweet?

Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion... "I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven't tasted your apple."

The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich and said calmly, "Neither have you tasted my Jesus."

The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers.

Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left the platform.

Have you tasted Jesus?

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. If you have, rejoice in the hope of the resurrection that your faith in Him brings." -- Psalm 34:8

 

[beensetfree]

The Best Man

A college senior took his new girlfriend to a football game.
The young couple found seats in the crowded stadium and were
watching the action. A substitute was put into the game, and as
he was running onto the field to take his position, the boy said
to his girlfriend,

"Take a good look at that fellow. I expect him to be our best man
next year."

His girlfriend snuggled closer to him and said, "That's the
strangest way I ever heard of for a fellow to propose to a girl.

But regardless of how you said it,

I accept."

 

[beensetfree]

How To Mend A Broken Heart?


How do you mend a broken heart?

We get a lot of prayer requests asking to simply pray for their
broken heart.

So what do you do when you've got a broken heart?

Here are four steps that will help you up that mountain.

1. Occupy 2. Gratify 3. Sanctify 4. Glorify.

Occupy:
Occupy your time, don't sit around moping.

Do something.

Idleness is the soil of self-pity and depression. Get busy.
The best thing that you can do is to do something that helps
others. It's a universal principle that when you start focusing
on helping others, your own problems are diminished.
Don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING!

Gratify:
Write a list of the things you like, then pick three of those
things and put those things in your life - now.
Make sure you can afford them and that they aren't harmful.
When our hearts are broken, we often deprive ourselves of the
things we enjoy. Make an effort to put enjoyment in your life.

Sanctify:
Do good. Don't return evil for evil, hurt for hurt, pain for
pain. Don't wish something horrible would happen to the other
person. Hope for their good fortune in your spirit, and it just
may release your good fortune in your world.

The easiest way to forget someone, is to truly wish them well.

Glorify:
Life is not over. You can live without them. Not only can you
live without them, you can live even happier without them.
It is a matter of perspective. Even with the negative in your
world at the moment, there is something to be thankful for.

There is plenty to be thankful for actually.
Give God the glory for what you have.
You can't be sad and thankful at the same time.
Tell heartbreak to move over.

There is a sermon on www.AirJesus.com called "Breaking the 3-Way
Tie, How to Break Soul, Sex and Spirit Ties." If you or someone
you know is suffering from a broken heart, they might do well to
listen to it.

A famous comedian said,
"A man isn't a man until he's had his heart broken."

It's not really broken, it's just tenderized.