A TALE OF TWO FRIENDS
(Author unknown)
A
story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point
of the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in
the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he
wrote in the sand:
"TODAY
MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE"
They
kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath.
The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but
his friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he carved on a
stone:
"TODAY
MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE"
The
friend, who had slapped and saved his best friend, asked him, "After I
hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now, you carve on a stone, why?" The
other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in
sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away, but when someone does
something good for us, we must engrave it in stone, where no wind can ever
erase it."
LEARN
TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BLESSINGS IN STONE.
God’s Testings Have a Purpose
“All God’s testings have a
purpose--
Some day you will see the light,
All He asks is that you trust Him,
Walk by faith and not by sight.
Do not fear when doubts beset you,
Just remember--He is near;
He will never, never leave you,
He will always, always hear.”
-
Anon
The A – B – C’s of Life
Although things are not perfect
Because of trial or pain
Continue in thanksgiving
Do not begin to blame
Even when the times are hard
Fierce winds are bound to blow
God is forever able
Hold on to what you know
Imagine life without His love
Joy would cease to be
Keep thanking Him for all the things
Love imparts to thee
Move out of "
No weapon that is known
On earth can yield the power
Praise can do alone
Quit looking at the future
Redeem the time at hand
Start every day with worship
To "thank" is a command
Until we see Him coming
Victorious in the sky
We'll run the race with gratitude
Xalting God most
high
Yes, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but...
"I AM
Too blessed to be stressed!"
The shortest distance between
a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels
to the Lord in prayer can stand up to anything.
Think carefully about what you will be
reading:
Mary had a little lamb,
His fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The Lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school each day,
T'wasn't even in the rule.
It made the children laugh and play,
To have a Lamb at school.
And then the rules all changed one day,
Illegal it became;
To bring the Lamb of God to school,
Or even speak His Name.!
;
Every day got worse and worse,
And days turned into years.
Instead of hearing children laugh,
We heard gun shots and tears.
What must we do to stop the crime
That's in our schools today?
Let's let the Lamb come
back to school,
And teach our kids to pray!
- (Author Unknown)
GOD BLESS YOUR
FAMILY
Every single evening
As I'm lying here in bed
This tiny little prayer
Keeps running through my head.
God bless all my family
Wherever they may be,
Keep them warm and safe from harm
For they're so close to me.
And God, there is one more thing
I wish that you could do.
Hope you don't mind me asking,
Bless my computer too.
Now I know that it's not normal
To bless a mother board,
But listen just a second
While I explain to you 'My Lord.'
You see, that little metal box
Holds more than odds &ends
Inside those small compartments
Rest so many of my FRIENDS.
I know so much about them
By the kindness that they give
And this little scrap of metal
Takes me in to where they live.
By faith is how I know them
Much the same as you
We share in what life brings us
And from that our friendship grew.
Please, take an extra minute
From your duties up above
To bless those in my address book
That's filled with so much love!
Wherever else this prayer may reach
To each and every friend,
Bless each e-mail Inbox
And the person who hits Send.
When you update your heavenly list
On your own CD-ROM
Remember each who've said this prayer
Sent up to God.Com.
Amen.
Testimony: Man Awakens
from the Dead in
In its October 2002,
"Friends Focus" magazine, the Friends Missionary Prayer Band
of
A Santhal tribal man from
Christian
name Solomon. Though a man
of poor means and not well educated,
he took charge of the local worship meeting
whenever the local elder was
absent. His wife also became a strong believer
and assisted her husband.
In September,
Solomon fell ill with malaria coupled with an attack of
Kala-zar, a deadly disease caused by the sand
flies. He went to the
doctors, but they were not helpful. Gradually
Solomon became bed-ridden and
struggled for his very breath.
His relatives heard
of his plight and came to the house. Not being
believers, they told the wife it was her fault her
husband was sick because
both of them had become Christians.
"Throw away the Bible and all things
relating to it. We will bring a Bhagat (witch doctor) and perform puja,
and
he (Solomon) will be all right," they
said.
The wife refused.
"Even if my husband dies, I will not allow a Bhagat
in my
house," she said. "Jesus will surely
heal my husband. No one else can help
us in this matter."
Suddenly, in the midst
of the argument, Solomon recovered his breathing,
and the relatives left the house.
A week later Solomon
had another attack of breathlessness and soon breathed
his last. Arrangements for his funeral were
in progress when Solomon's
relatives again arrived on the scene, angry and
weeping. "You have killed
Solomon by not
allowing the witch doctors to come," one of them said. "Kill
her also," said another.
They surrounded her
and began to beat her. Some friends rushed in to break
up the fight, and the wife escaped to
another room and bolted the door.
Then she knelt down
on the floor and prayed, "Lord, look upon me. Let not
Your name be despised. Give my husband back his life." While the
people
outside were knocking on her door and raising a
fuss, she was knocking on
heaven's door.
Suddenly it grew
totally quiet. The wife opened the door to see what had
happened, and saw her husband sitting alive and
well on the cot. Arguing
about whose God was real was no longer
necessary.
By the beginning of
this year, Friends Missionary Prayer Band had 700
cross-cultural missionaries working with 700 local
evangelists in 19 states
of
the Maltos and Santhali in
Vasavi in Gujjarat,
the Gounder, Kathodi and Oravan in Tamil Nadu, and the
Chamars in
FMPB workers led
1,254 people to the Lord in September, and now gather
174,698
believers into 2726 worshiping groups. Their goal for 2002 is to
lead 39,950 persons to Christ and establish
836 new worshiping groups. FMPB
raises support for its national workers within
supplementary support for special projects and needs.
To learn how to help,
write insider@christianaid.org with MI-344 610-FMPB for subject line.
A PUMPKIN
(Author Unknown)
Never looked at
it like this before......
A woman was asked
by a co-worker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"
The co-worker
replied, "It is kind of like being a pumpkin. God picks you from
the patch, brings you in, and washes all
the dirt off of you. Then he cuts off
the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.
He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. and then He carves you
a new smiling face and puts HIs light inside of you
to shine for all the world to see."
This was passed
on to me from another pumpkin.
Now, it is your
turn to pass it to a pumpkin.
THE CAB RIDE
Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. When I arrived at
But, I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as
their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I
always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my
assistance, I reasoned to myself.
So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute", answered
a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the
floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80's
stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil
pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small
nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years.
All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the
walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters.
In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.
"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the
suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the
woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept
thanking me for my kindness.
"It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my
passengers the way I would want my mother treated". "Oh, you're
such a good boy", she said.
When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then
asked, "Could you drive through downtown?" "It's not the
shortest way," I answered quickly. "Oh, I don't mind," she
said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice". I looked
in the rear view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any
family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very
long."
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would
you like me to take?" I asked. For the next two hours, we drove
through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as
an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood
where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull
up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she
had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a
particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying
nothing.
As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said,
"I'm tired. Let's go now." We drove in silence to the address
she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home,
with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to
the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her
every move. They must have been expecting her.
I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman
was already seated in a wheelchair. "How much do I owe you?" she
asked, reaching into her
purse. "Nothing," I said. "You have to make a living," she
answered. "There are other passengers," I responded. Almost
without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me
tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she
said. "Thank you." I squeezed her hand, then
walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the
sound of the closing of a life.
I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost
in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that
woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his
shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then
driven away?
On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more
important in my life. We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around
great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware--beautifully wrapped in
what others may consider a small one.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT
YOU SAID, BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.
(Author Unknown)
The Secret
One day, one
friend asked another,
"How is
it that you are always so happy?
You have so
much energy,
and you never seem to get down."
With her eyes
smiling, she said,
"I know
the Secret!"
"What
secret is that?"
To which she
replied,
"I'll
tell you all about it,
but you have to promise to
share the Secret with
others."
"The Secret is this:
I have
learned there is little I can do
in my life that will
make me truly happy.
I must depend
on God to make
me happy and to meet my needs.
When a need
arises in my life,
I have to
trust God to supply
according to HIS riches.
I have learned most of the time
I don't need
half of what I think I do.
He has never
let me down.
Since I
learned that 'Secret', I am happy."
The
questioner's first thought was,
"That's
too simple!"
But upon reflecting over her own life
she recalled how she thought a bigger
house
would make her happy, but it didn't!
She thought a
better paying job
would make her happy,
but it hadn't.
When did she
realize her greatest happiness?
Sitting on
the floor with her grandchildren,
playing games, eating pizza or reading a
story,
a simple gift from God.
Now you know
it too!
We can't
depend on people to make us happy.
Only GOD in
His infinite wisdom can do that.
Trust HIM!
And now I
pass the Secret on to you!
So once you
get it, what will you do?
YOU have to
tell someone the Secret, too!
That GOD in
His wisdom will take care of YOU!
But it's not really a secret...
We just have
to believe it and do it...
Really trust
God!
TO BE THANKFUL FOR:
The
mess to clean after a party because it means I
have been surrounded by friends.
The
taxes I pay because it means that I'm
employed.
The
clothes that fit a little too snug because it
means I have enough to eat.
My
shadow who watches me work because it means I
am out in the sunshine.
A
lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning
and gutters that need fixing because it means I
have a home.
All
the complaining I hear about our government
because it means we have freedom of speech.
The
space I find at the far end of the parking lot
because it means I am capable of walking.
My
huge heating bill because it means I am warm.
The
lady behind me in church who sings off key
because it means that I can hear.
The
piles of laundry and ironing because it means
I
have clothes to wear.
Weariness
and aching muscles at the end of the day
because it means I have been productive.
The
alarm that goes off in the early morning hours
because it means that I'm alive.
Getting
too much e-mail bogs me down but at least I
know I have friends who are thinking of me.
Unknown
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