The Difference

I got up early one morning, and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task.
"Why doesn’t God help me?" I wondered.
He answered, "You didn’t ask."

I longed for joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak.
I wondered why God didn’t show me.
He said, "But you didn’t seek."

I tried to come into God’s presence; I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn’t knock."

I woke up early this morning, and paused before starting the day.
I had so much to accomplish, that I had to take time to pray.

~ Author Unknown

Quotations on Encouragement, etc.

"Correction does much, but encouragement does more."
~ Goethe

"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them."
~ Lady Bird Johnson

"Manners are the happy way of doing things."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination."
~ Tommy Lasorda

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight -- it's the size of the fight in the dog."
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

"He that can have patience can have what he will."
~ Benjamin Franklin

"At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet."
~ Plato

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
~ Mother Teresa

"The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all."
~ Pablo Casals

The Apostles

"Wedded to their priority, they did not have time for the important."

~ John Galloway Jr.

Praying for Salvation

My grandmother told my father when he was a teenager:

If you think you are going to stay outside of God's will, I will pray that God will save you and kill you.

~ Paul Sheppard, Enduring Truth, 11/27/07, 19:40,

Farmer Joe's Day In Court

Farmer Joe decided his injuries from the accident were serious enough to take the trucking company (responsible for the accident) to court. In court, the trucking company's fancy lawyer was questioning farmer Joe.
"Didn't you say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine?," questioned the lawyer.
Farmer Joe responded, "Well I'll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule Bessie into the......."
"I didn't ask for any details," the lawyer interrupted, "just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine!'"
Farmer Joe said, "Well I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road..."
The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."
By this time the Judge was fairly interested in Farmer Joe's answer and said to the lawyer, "I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule Bessie."
Joe thanked the Judge and proceeded, "Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting real bad and didn't want to move. However, I could hear ole Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans.
Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the Patrolman came across the road with his gun in his hand and looked at me.
He said, "Your mule was in such bad shape I had to shoot her. How are you feeling?

So Few Want It

When I give at all I want to give my whole heart, and I feel that so few want it all.

~ Woodrow Wilson

The Advantage of a Woman Friend

"It is a wonderful advantage to a man, in every pursuit or avocation, to secure an adviser in a sensible woman. In woman there is at once a subtle delicacy of tact and a plain soundness of judgment which are rarely found to an equal degree in man.
A woman, if she be really your friend, will have a sensitive regard for your character, honor, repute. She will seldom counsel you to do a shabby thing; for a woman friend always desires to be proud of you."

~ The Earl of Lytton (1831-91)

Einstein the Believer

Einstein writes:

If we cleanse the Judaism of the prophets and Christianity as Jesus has taught it from what came afterwards, especially from priestcraft, we have a religion which can save the world from all social evils. It is the holy duty of every man to do his utmost to bring this religion to triumph.

~ Richard Wurmbrand, from Tortured for Christ

The New Pastor

An older preacher told the story of a young minister interviewing for his first pastorate. The Pulpit Committee had invited him to come over to their church for the interview. The committee chairman asked, "Son, do you know the Bible pretty good?"
The young minister said, "Yes, pretty good." The chairman asked, "Which part do you know best?" He responded saying, "I know the New Testament best." "Which part of the New Testament do you know best," asked the chairman. The young minister said, "Several parts." The chairman said, "Well, why don't you tell us the story of the Prodigal Son." The young man said, "Fine."
"There was a man of the Pharisees name Nicodemus, who went down to Jericho by night and he fell upon stony ground and the thorns choked him half to death.
"The next morning Solomon and his wife, Gomorrah, came by, and carried him down to the ark for Moses to take care of. But, as he was going through the Eastern Gate into the Ark, he caught his hair in a limb and he hung there forty days and forty nights and he afterwards did hunger. And, the ravens came and fed him.
"The next day, the three wise men came and carried him down to the boat dock and he caught a ship to Ninevah. And when he got there he found Delilah sitting on the wall. He said, "Chunk her down, boys, chunk her down." And, they said, "How many times shall we chunk her down, till seven time seven?" And he said, "Nay, but seventy times seven." And they chucked her down four hundred and ninety times.
"And, she burst asunder in their midst. And they picked up twelve baskets of the leftovers. And, in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?"
The Committee chairman suddenly interrupted the young minister and said to the remainder of the committee, "Fellows, I think we ought to ask the church to call him as our minister.
He is awfully young, but he sure does know his Bible."

~ author unknown

You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought

title of "a book for people living with any life-threatening illness, including life" by Peter McWilliams and John Roger, in the "The Life 101 Series"

The book speaks of the effect negative and positive thoughts have on the body, including depression and mourning. It encourages being aware of your thoughts before reacting to negative situations, choosing not to waste energy on small irritations you have no control over, and regaining control of your energy.
Peter McWilliams is a cancer survivor living with AIDS. Oprah says "the chapter on Purpose changed my life!"

Great Love and Miracles

"Where there is great love there are always miracles."

~ Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop

Drug Use and Spiritual Emptiness

author unknown:

Drug use is rooted in the spiritual emptiness of daily life. If "spirit matters" in the way that you argue, and we make spirituality a reality in our lives, we won't need drugs.

But if we pretend in public life that we are really only material beings without any spiritual needs, then privately in our personal lives many of us will turn to drugs to fill the emptiness in our souls.

You can see this same distortion in our current mental health industry, which treats people's unhappiness as a product of chemical imbalances and doesn't recognize the imbalance in spirit and soul.

Be Who You Are

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

~ Dr. Suess

Consequences

"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments--there are consequences."

~ Robert Green Ingersoll

God's Grace Has Sustained Me

God allows what He hates in order to accomplish what He loves. ...
He loves me enough--and this is why I'm so loyal to Him--to let me encounter sorrow, taste bitter emotions, feel loss; and He trusts me to be a good steward of that sorrow. He loves me enough to let me experience that pain so that He can accomplish something He loves--which for me has been a deeper character and a more eternal perspective.
I am convinced that God's grace has sustained me.

~ Jennifer Rothschild
Decision

Jennifer is author of the books "Lessons I Learned in the Dark" and "Lessons I Learned in the Light" about her experiences as a blind singer and songwriter.

Growing Older

"The longer you live, the more like yourself you become."

~ Calvin Thielman, Montreat pastor

Respect

The code of the street:

"People respect those who have respected themselves."

~ Victor Marrero

Criticism is Useful

"Criticism is useful. People who live without criticism become delusional."

~ author unknown

Affliction

Christian leaders are supposed to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

~ author unknown

Glory

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."

~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Counter-Productive Thoughts

"You never see a motorcycle parked outside of a psychiatrist's office."

"Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your kids."

"A good friend will come and bail you out ... but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, 'Wow ... that was fun!'"

"When you have lots of things to do, get your golf game out of the way first."

Family Happiness

"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city."

~ George Burns

Expect the Best

"Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life."

~ John F. Kennedy, U.S. president

For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry

(excerpt, Jubilate Agno)

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.

For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.

For having consider'd God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.

For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.

For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.

For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.

For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.

For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.

For he is of the Lord's poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually--Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.

For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.

For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.

For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.

For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.

For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.

~ Christopher Smart
English poet (1722 - 1771)
http://www.poemhunter.com/

The Surgeon's Prayer

"May we be helped to do here whatever is most right."

~ author unknown

People as They Really Are

A minister sees people at their best.
A lawyer sees people at their worst.
A physician sees people as they really are.

~ heard from Malcolm McCuaig, 1-11-98

Despair, Fear, and Rage

Spiritual forces that hide us from God:
despair, fear, and rage.

~ Rev. Wesley Avram

Do no injure yourself

"No one can harm the man who does not injure himself."

"You become evil only with your own consent. Nothing external can ever do evil to the soul."

~ Plato

The One Who Spends An Hour

The ones who spend an hour
kneeling on cold moist earth
stones biting at their knees
early March wind
bothering at their backs
planting peas dried and wrinkled
know what a promise is,
know the love that makes it
know the joy that seals it
know the faith that keeps it
know the hope that binds it
to the harvest, yet to come.

~ George Pasley
poet and pastor, rural Kansas
summer/fall 2001 InSpire

Everyone has genius

"Everyone has genius, but if you judge a fish by how it climbs a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."

~ Albert Einstein

Things are just as they are

"If you understand,
things are just as they are.
If you do not understand,
things are just as they are."

~ Zen Koan

You get what you negotiate

"You don't get what you deserve.
You get what you negotiate."

~ Rev. Paul Sheppard

Hope in God after sinning

Micah 7:8-9 NRS
Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I must bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he takes my side and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall see his vindication.

Matthew 12:15-21 NRS
When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to make him known.
This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope."

Definition of a TEAM

Together Everyone Achieves More

Wishful Thinking? Turning your "if onlys" into reality

by Gary D. Chapman

"Most couples I encounter in my counseling office have dreams of how wonderful their marriage would be if only. The if only statements almost always focus on things they wish their spouse would change. ...

"Here are the guidelines for making requests.

• Limit your requests to one every other week. (That's 26 requests a year. If you could see 26 things change, would that be a good year for you?)
• Never make a request when your spouse is hungry or tired.
• Always make your requests in private—never in front of other people. When you bring up something in front of others, it becomes a putdown to your spouse.
• Ask if your spouse is emotionally ready for you to make your request.
  For example, "Would this be a good night for me to make a request of you or would it be better to wait?" This respects the emotional state of your spouse and gives the right to select a more appropriate time.
• Precede your request with at least three compliments.
  A husband might say, "Before I share my request, let me tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you cook good meals for the children and me. I really appreciate all the work you invest in doing that. Secondly, I want you to know how much I appreciate the fact that you take my shirts to the laundry each week. That's a real help to me. Thirdly, I want you to know how much I appreciate your involvement at church. It makes me feel good when I see you singing in the choir. Bottom line, I really like you. Now, here's my request. Would it be possible for you to get the hairs out of the sink before you leave the bathroom?""

~ Gary D. Chapman, Ph.D., author of The Chapman Guide to Negotiating Change with Your Spouse
(Tyndale House)

Scriptures on Generosity

Psalm 72:4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.

Proverbs 11:25 A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.

Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

Mark 10:21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

Luke 12:15 And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

Luke 12:22-34 22 He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ... 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you-- you of little faith! ... 32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 14:13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

Luke 14:25-35 25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26 "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ... 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. 34 "Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"

Luke 19:8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."

Acts 2:42-47 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

1 Corinthians 13:3-8a 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8a Love never ends.

Tobit 4:7 give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you.

Tobit 12:8-10 8 Prayer with fasting is good, but better than both is almsgiving with righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than wealth with wrongdoing. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold. 9 For almsgiving saves from death and purges away every sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life, 10 but those who commit sin and do wrong are their own worst enemies.

~ New Revised Standard Version

Sometimes miracles occur only when you jump in

“We all think of the scene in The Ten Commandments movie with Charlton Heston, where Moses lifted up his rod, and the waters rolled back. But this midrash says that's not how it happened. Moses lifted up his rod, and the sea did not part. The Egyptians were closing in, and the sea wasn't moving.
"So a Hebrew named Nachshon just walked into the water. He waded up to his ankles, then his knees, then his waist, then his shoulders. And right when water was about to get up to his nostrils, the sea parted. The point is, sometimes miracles occur only when you jump in.”

~ from “The Year of Living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs

Anything Good Going to Happen?

"They ain't going to show up if they don't believe that anything good is going to happen."

~ Yogi Berra