September 17, 2006

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent
if no birds sang except those that sang best." -- Henry Van Dyke

"Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it." - Rick Warren

** I have a sign in the mirror of my room I see it every morning in my groggy condition, when I first wake up: WHAT HAVE YOU GOT GOING TODAY, GOD? I'D LIKE TO BE A PART OF IT. THANKS FOR LOVING ME.
I have to find my place in God's plans, rather than make my own little plans and then ask God to support them: "Come on, God, give me an A in this course. Come on, God, do this for me." Instead, I pray, "What have you got going today, God? You love this world. You loved this world into life. You created this world. We're all yours. What's my part in the drama? What part do you want me to play? I will play any part you say. Want me to be a success? I'll be a success for you. Want me to be a failure? I'll fail for you. Whatever you want." That's the condition of successful prayer. -- John Powell, "Prayer as Surrender"


No Half-Measures One of the most dramatic and world-renowned shifts from "I" to God is the conversion of C. S. Lewis. This little man, who held the chair of medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge, sat in his study without typewriter or secretary and penned the great masterpieces which made him perhaps the most broadly-read Christian writer of our century. C. S. Lewis was an agnostic, but was Surprised By Joy--the title of a book in which he tells about "The Shape of My Early Life" as Christ replaced the "I" in his life.
C. S. Lewis describes the exchange between self-will and God's will in Beyond personality (and his words are a challenge to you and to me): "Christ says, 'Give me all. I don't want so much of your money and so much of your work--I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and there; I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self instead. In fact I will give you myself, my own will shall become yours.

Take a little stress out of your day.....Digital bubble wrap you can pop!
http://www.saab-stuff.com/pop.swf

The "Christian is not in the business of winning arguments, but of winning people."

Some impressive satellite pictures of the beautiful planet we live on. I especially enjoyed the night pictures. http://home.att.net/~hideaway_fun/442/planet.htm

Ole decided to buy Lena a new car for her birthday. They shopped and shopped. Finally, Lena found one she liked. But before signing the papers, Lena looked at the car one more time. Suddenly, she bristled and walked away, saying she didn't want the car. She wouldn't even talk about it. On the way home, Ole said, "Vell, Lena, I tot yew liked dat car. Vat changed yer mind about it? "Ole, I yust don't vant any car vit XL on it," Lena answered. "It's bad enuff having dat on my undervear."

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible. -- George Burns

MY SPELL CHEQUER
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea

Eye strike a key and type a work
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
-Sauce unknown


A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a college religion class, given by her teacher, whom we'll call Brother Smith. She says Brother Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons.
One particular day, Sally walked into college and knew they were in for another fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. Brother Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would allow them to throw darts at the person's picture. Sally's girlfriend (on her right), drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend (on her left), drew a picture of his little brother. Sally drew a picture of Brother Smith, putting a great
deal of detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on his face. Sally was pleased at the overall effect she had achieved.
The class lined up and began throwing darts, with much laughter and hilarity. Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with disappointment when Brother Smith, because of time
limits, asked the students to return to their seats.
As Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any darts at her target, Brother Smith began removing the target from the wall.
Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus . . .A complete hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced out.
Brother Smith said only these words, "In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." No other words were necessary; the tear-filled eyes of each student focused only on the picture of Christ. The students remained in their
seats . . . even after the bell rang . . . then slowly left the classroom, tears streaming down their faces. Enough Said!!!
"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'" ~Matthew 25:40

Recently we went to a church service where a new song was being sung and the chorus included the phrase "taste God's Grace Eternal." My son, who was listening but not reading along, turned to me and asked if we were supposed to "taste God's gray sea turtle."

There are two ways to be rich. One is to have everything you want, and the other is to be satisfied with what you have.
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A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather's word processor. She told him she was writing a story. "What's it about?" he asked. "I don't know," she replied. "I can't read."

"...focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." -- Greg Anderson

I am not a teacher but an awakener. Robert Frost (1874-1963) Poet

NEW COLLEGE FRESHMEN ILL PREPARED . . . Many college-bound freshmen don't have the academic skills to succeed in college, reports a nonprofit testing company, ACT Inc. Researchers discovered that about half do not have reading-comprehension skills, which will make it harder for them to do well in literature, history, and sociology classes. Only one out of four have the skills to do well in college biology. (USA Today, August 17, 2005)

A good friend will come and bail you out of the Police Lockup... But, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying: "Wow...that was fun!"

"Honesty" My son Zachary, 4, came screaming out of the bathroom to tell me he'd dropped his toothbrush in the toilet. So I fished it out and threw it in the garbage. Zachary stood there thinking for a moment then ran to my bathroom and came out with my toothbrush. He held it up and said with a charming little smile, "We better throw this one out too then, 'cause it fell in the toilet a few days ago.

I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing. If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn't be signing up in the first place!

Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.

Walt Disney went broke seven times and had a nervous breakdown before he became successful. At age 40 Henry Ford was broke. Enrico Caruso, who became one of the world's greatest tenors, was advised by his voice teacher to quit singing because he failed so many times to carry his high notes. Thomas Edison failed more than 6,000 times before he could get an electric light bulb to work, but when a child, one of his teachers once called him a dunce. Abraham Lincoln was well known for his many failures but became one of America's most beloved presidents. And Albert Einstein and Werner von Braun both flunked courses in mathematics. History is filled with similar stories.
The reason these people all succeeded is because they didn't quit. They believed they could succeed and they stuck with it until they did.