Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions
Author Unknown
When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds
that are going to take over my yard.
My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish
on.
When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly,
dirty person who probably wants money and I look away.
My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.
When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't
have much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen.
My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words.
If they don't know them, they make up their own.
When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel
it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk.
My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it,
until they fall to the ground laughing.
When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this, give me that.
My kids say, "Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends.
Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven
yet. I would miss my Mommy and Daddy."
When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and
dirty carpets.
My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and
worms to play with.
I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children!
Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back
and realize they were the big things.
I wish you
Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions
(Author Unknown)
Some years ago on a hot summer day in
His mother in the house was looking out the window and saw the two
as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the
water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could. Hearing her voice, the little
boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother. It was too late.
Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.
From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just
as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between
the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was
much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her
screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.
Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy
survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal,
and, on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into
his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.
The newspaper reporter who interviewed
the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted
his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But
look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Mom
wouldn't let go."
You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, or anything quite so dramatic.
But the scars of a painful past, Some of those scars are unsightly and
have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has
refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to
you.
The Scripture teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God.
He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we
foolishly wade into dangerous situations. The swimming hole of life is filled
with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the
tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars of His love on your arms be very, very grateful. He did not and will not - let you
go.
Please pass this on to those you love. God has blessed you, so
that you can be a blessing to others. You just never know where a person is in
his/her life and what they are going through. That is why it is soooo important that we are not selfish to receive the
blessings of these messages without forwarding them to someone else.
"Whatever does not make u weaker,
makes u stronger"
Keep the faith, don't give up for
"You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you."
A New Twist on "Footprints"
(Author Unknown)
Imagine you and the Lord Jesus are walking down the road together. For much of the
way, the Lord's footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the
pace. But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops,
turnarounds, circles, departures and returns.
For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your
footprints come more in line with the Lord's, soon paralleling His consistently. You
and Jesus are walking as true friends!
This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: Your footprints, that
once etched the sand next to Jesus', are
now walking precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints are your
smaller ones, safely you and Jesus are becoming one. This goes on for many
miles, but gradually you notice another change. The footprints inside the large
footprints seem to grow larger.
Eventually they disappear altogether. There is only one set of
footprints; they have become one. This goes on for a long time, but suddenly
the second set of footprints is back.
This time it
seems even worse!
Zigzags all over the place.
Stops.
Starts.
Deep gashes in
the sand.
A veritable mess of prints.
You are amazed
and shocked.
Your dream ends.
A conversation
begins:
Now you pray: "Lord, I
understand the first scene with zigzags and fits. I was a new Christian; I was just learning.”
“That is correct…But you walked on through the storm and learned to
walk with Me."
”When my smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually
learning to walk in Your steps – to follow You very
closely."
"Very good. You have understood everything so
far.... when Your smaller footprints grew and filled
in Mine, I you were becoming like Me in every way."
"So, Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints
separated, and this time it was worse than at first."
There is a pause as the Lord answers with a smile in his voice.
"You didn't know? That was when we danced."
“To
everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to
weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance. ( Ecclesiastes
3:1,4)
PRAYER IS ITS
OWN REWARD
( Ken R. Anderson)
Every once in a
while I get to thinking…and lately I have been thinking about the blessings of
pure unadulterated prayer.
The main benefit
of giving yourself more to prayer is not to be able to preach better, prophesy
more, lay hands on the sick, cast out devils, and evangelize the world. To be
sure, all of these good things will
happen, but the main benefit of giving yourself
more to prayer is that, by God's good grace, you will be able to pray more.
Pray more, and better. Quantity will eventually lend itself to quality. Your more
frequent and extended times with Him will become
richer, fuller, and a great delight to both you and your God. I say this
because I believe that prayer is its own reward.
He Delights In
Giving Us Himself
God wants to give
us everything necessary to fulfill our calling, everything we need to
"succeed." He wants us to have health for the journey and enough
wealth to meet the needs of a God-ordained lifestyle. He delights when we
become all we can be, and when we learn to enter into whatever ministry may be
His will. He is pleased to anoint us for service in His Kingdom, and to share
the gospel with the lost. He is glad to be present and to bless us when we come
together corporately and call it "church." But most
of all, He delights in giving us Himself. Everything else flows out of
our being intimate with Him. Intimacy comes by spending time in His Presence,
in whichever way He shows us is appropriate to our own relationship with Him.
For many of us, the foundational way is in prayer.
Pure
Unadulterated Prayer
Not
prayer to be anointed to preach on Sunday, nor prayer that we may be better able to
minister in His gifts. Not prayer to reach the lost with the gospel, nor to have our standard of living raised. No, I mean prayer
that is simply a Child of God being with his or her Father.
Prayer
that is delightful friend-to-Friend heart communion. Prayer that is the
Bride spending time with the Bridegroom. Prayer that is without guile,
free of ulterior motives, devoid of ambition for any earthly
thing - pure unadulterated prayer! Each
enjoying the other, just because of Love. Our pouring ourselves out as
an oblation at the feet of the one who poured out His life to gain us that delight. Sitting in wordlessness at
the wonder of His Words of life and love. Simply gazing into His eyes of
fire, and being consumed by His fiery gaze. This is prayer that does not take
us anywhere, but to Him. Prayer that is beyond understanding,
beyond explanation, beyond description.
No Social
Significance
When we lay our
lives before Him and He pours His life into us, when we pour out our heart's
longing and He consumes us with His Love, all our concerns about who is being
"used" in the Kingdom to "do great things" get swallowed up
in our vision of His Greatness. Our silly desires to be important die in the
light of His Magnificence. We become nothing, He becomes all. It then becomes
irrelevant to us what He has us do - pick up a straw or preach to the
multitudes - so long as our doing it brings joy and delight to our Beloved. We
no longer want our face to be seen, once we have "seen" the loveliness
of His Face. Ego dies in the light of His Glory.
When being
"used of God" becomes of no social significance, we may be candidates
to be used of God. When it no longer matters, maybe God can use us to do
something that matters. When we care not for the glory, perhaps God can
manifest His Glory through us. When we seek only for His Praise, He may be able
to use us to lead others into His Praises.
By then, of course, it really
will not matter. Not being "the Pastor," the Evangelist, or a
"recognized" Prophet. Not being accepted and acclaimed, voted in or
valued. Certainly not being noticed. In fact, it
really will become immaterial who is used to do what, where, when, why or how.
All of these former concerns will be of absolutely no consequence. Pleasing Him
will be all that is important, be that in "prominence" or obscurity,
the pulpit or the pew. We will truly be able to pray, "All that delights
my heart is knowing that I am delighting You."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John 4:31-34 “In the
meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them,
I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to
another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith
unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent
me, and to finish his work.” (KJV)
Matthew 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (KJV)
JOHN 3:16
In the city of
The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say John 3:16, and they will let you in."
So he did. He walked up the steps and knocked on the door, and a lady answered. He looked up
and said, "John
The lady said, "Come on in, Son." She took him in
and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker in front of a great big old
fireplace, and she went off. The boy sat there for a while and thought to
himself: John
Later she came back and asked him "Are you hungry?" He said, "Well, just a little. I haven't eaten in a couple of days, and I guess I could stand a little bit of food." The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat any more. Then he thought to himself: John 3:16... Boy, I sure don't understand it but it sure makes a hungry boy full.
She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub filled with warm water, and he sat there and soaked for a while. As he soaked, he thought to himself: John 3:16... I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean. You know, I've not had a bath, a real bath, in my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out.
The lady came in and got him. She took him to a room, tucked him into a big old feather bed, pulled the covers up around his neck, kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As he lay in the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold night, he thought to himself: John 3:16... I don't understand it but it sure makes a tired boy rested.
The next morning the lady came back up and took him down
again to that same big table full of food. After he ate, she took him back to
that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace and picked up a
big old Bible. She sat down in front of him and looked into his young face.
"Do you understand John
He replied, "No, Ma'am, I don't. The first time I ever
heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it." She
opened the Bible to John
that big old fireplace, he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there and thought: John 3:16. .. .. I don't understand it, but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.
You know, I have to confess I don't understand it either, how God was willing to send His Son to die for me, and how Jesus would agree to do such a thing. I don't understand the agony of the Father and every angel in heaven as they watched Jesus suffer and die. I don't understand the intense love for ME that kept Jesus on the cross till the end. I don't understand it, but it sure does make life worth living.
(Author Unknown)
John
(Author Unknown)
His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a
T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe
for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kind of esoteric and very,
very bright. He became a Christian while attending college. Across the
street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want
to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it.
One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in
with no shoes, jeans, his -shirt, and wild hair. The service has already
started, and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely
packed, and he can't find a seat. By now people are really looking a bit
uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer
to the pulpit and, when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down
right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college
fellowship, trust me, this had never happened in this church before!) By now
the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.
About this time, the minister realizes that from
way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill.
Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-grey
hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man very elegant, very
dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking
toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves that you can't blame him for
what he's going to do.
How can you expect a man of his age and of his
background to understand some college kid on the floor? It takes a long time
for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the
clicking of the man's cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear
anyone breathing. The minister can't even preach the sermon until the deacon
does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the
floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and
worships with him so he won't be alone. Everyone chokes up with emotion.
When the minister gains control, he says,
"What I'm about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just
seen, you will never forget. Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible
some people will ever read."
Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing.
Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous
granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the
rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she
could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped
against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens.
Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below
her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and
looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there. Here she
was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get
upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it. When she got to the
top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no
contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party,
waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked
out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that
says, The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout
the whole earth. She thought, Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know
every stone and leaf, and you know exile to the
bottom.
At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up
the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a
contact lens? Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the
climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying
it.
Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him
the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a
picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't
know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat
it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You
want me to do, I'll carry it for You."
I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say,
“God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it,
and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will.”
God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. Yes I do
love GOD. He is my source of existence and my savior. He keeps me functioning each
and every day.
“Without Him, I am nothing,
but with Him I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
(Phil
Are You Too Busy?
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to
his evil angels, he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to
church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We
can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience
in Christ.
If they gain that connection with Yahshua
Jesus, your power over them is broken. So let them go to their churches; let
them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't
gain that relationship with Yahshua Jesus Christ, The Anointed One.
This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from
gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout
their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.
"Keep them busy in the non essentials of life and invent
innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.
"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow,
borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands
to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their
empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their
family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of
work!"
Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still,
small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they
drive. To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going
constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the
world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and
break that union with The Anointing of Christ."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.
Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments
with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs,
sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free
products, services and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the
magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what's
important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Ha! That will fragment
those families quickly!"
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them
return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the
coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on YHWH God's wonders.
Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.
Keep them busy, busy, busy! And when they meet for
spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave
with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."
“Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning; but crowd their
lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Yahshua Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own
strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will
work! It will work!"
It was quite a convention. The evil angels went eagerly to their
assignments causing Christians Anointed ones
everywhere to get more busy and more rushed, going here and there.
Does "busy" mean:
B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?
I love the Lord YHWH and thank Him for all that He does in my
life.
Yes, I do love Yahshua Jesus.
He
is my source of existence and Savior.
He
keeps me functioning each and every day.
Without
Him, I will be nothing.
Without
Him, I am nothing!
But
WITH HIM I can do ALL things. (Phil
4:13)
(Author Unknown)
Watch your thoughts,
for
they become words,
Watch your words,
for
they become actions,
Watch your actions,
for
they become habits,
Watch your habits,
for
they become your character,
Watch your character,
for it will be
your destiny.
(Author Unknown)
Michael is
the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has
something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing he'd say
"If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how
to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me
curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, "I don't get it!
You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"
Michael
replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices
today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad
mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can
choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from
it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their
complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive
side of life.
"Yeah,
right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes, it
is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all
the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations.
You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad
mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected
on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my
own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice
about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Michael
was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications
tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was
released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about
six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied.
"If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see
my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone
through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went
through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter, " Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the
ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could
choose to die. I chose to live." "Weren't you scared? Did you lose
consciousness?" I asked. Michael continued, "...the paramedics were
great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me
into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I
got really scared. In their eyes, I read "he's a dead man. I knew I needed
to take action." "What did you do?" I asked. "Well there
was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael. "She
asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes, I
replied." The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my
reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity." Over their
laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am
alive, not dead." Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but
also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have
the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
"Therefore
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own." After all today is the tomorrow you worried
about yesterday. You have two choices now.