October 28

ALTERNATIVE RETIREMENT HOME
There will be no nursing home in my future. When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess Cruise Ship. The average cost for a nursing home is $200 per day. I have checked on reservations at Princess and I can get a long term discount and senior discount price of $135 per day. That leaves $65 a day for:
1. Gratuities which will be $10 per day.
2. I will have as many as 10 meals a day if I can waddle to the restaurant, or I can have room service (which means I can have breakfast in bed every day of the week).
3. Princess has as many as three swimming pools, a workout room, free washers and dryers, and shows every night.
4. They have free toothpaste and razors, and free soap and shampoo.
5. They will even treat you like a customer, not a patient. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the entire staff scrambling to help you.
6. I will get to meet new people every 7 or 14 days.
7. TV broken? Light bulb need changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No Problem! They will fix everything and apologize for your inconvenience.
8. Clean sheets and towels every day, and you don't even have to ask for them.
9. If you fall in the nursing home and break a hip you are on Medicare. If you fall and break a hip on the Princess ship they will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life.
Now hold on for the best! Do you want to see South America, the Panama Canal, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, or name where you want to go? Princess will have a ship ready to go. So don't look for me in a nursing home, just call shore to ship.
"There is too much organising and too little agonising in the church today. Too much working before men and too little waiting before God."


"Where will you spend eternity?
a) here b) heaven c) hell d) not sure, is that your final answer?"


Go to God in prayer and ask him to use a "little thing" in your life to reach someone today.


"Just as saltwater fish exist their entire lives in an ocean without becoming saturated with salt, Jesus ministered in the world without being of the world." - Rick Warren

Have you ever noticed that just one *line* makes all the difference between EAT and FAT?

A football coach was asked how he picked a team from a bunch of raw recruits.
"I hate to give away my secrets," he replied, "but I'll tell you. I take them out into the woods. Then, at a given signal, I start them running. Those that run around the trees are chosen as guards. Those that run into the trees are chosen as tackles."
There's the story about the MIT student who spent an entire summer going to Harvard football field every day wearing a black and white striped shirt, walking up and down the field for ten or fifteen minutes throwing birdseed all over the field, blowing a whistle and walking off the field.
At the end of the summer, it came time for the first Harvard home football game.
When the referee walked onto the field and blew his whistle, the game had to be delayed for half an hour to wait for the birds to get off the field.
The guy wrote his thesis on this and graduated.

Our mind is where our pleasure is, our heart is where our treasure is, our love is where our life is, but all these, our pleasure, treasure, and life, are reposed in Jesus Christ. --Thomas Adams
A teenager was always asking his father if he could borrow the family car. Pushed to the limit, the father asked his son why he thought God had given him two feet. Without hesitation, the son replied, "That's easy, one for the clutch and one for the accelerator."

Some rules to live a long life:
- Don't throw a brick straight up.
- Walk around toxic waste dumps, not through them.
- Don't microwave yourself too often.
- Don't stick body parts into electrical outlets.
- If you're on a ball field and someone shouts "Heads up!" don't actually raise your head up. Cover it with your arms and duck.
- No matter how tempting it is to be one with nature, stay on the outside of all fences at the zoo.
- When sticking thumb tacks into bulletin boards, press on the flat end.
- Don't take long naps while driving.

God knows where we are. Sometimes we forget this. Sometimes we even feel that God has forgotten us. He hasn't. God knows exactly where we are. So when you are afflicted with those forsaken feelings, when you’re on the verge of throwing a pity party thanks to those despairing thoughts, go back to the Word of God.
--Charles Swindoll


Wal-Mart is the United States’ and the world’s largest employer with more than 1.6 million employees. Another three million people have jobs directly dependent upon business by Wal-Mart.

“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others.” —Robert Louis Stevenson

“Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell, the name will carry.” —Bill Cosby

“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” —Andre Gide

“He who is not busy being born is busy dying.” —Bob Dylan, “It’s Alright, Ma”

"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B." -- James Yorke

"Simplify the task. Continually look for faster, better, easier ways to get the job done." -- Brian Tracy

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." -- Herman Melville

Eight and a half months very pregnant with twins, I was used to getting nervous glances from strangers. But I never realized how imposing I was until my husband and I went out to dinner at a new restaurant. The hostess sat us at our table, took a long look at my stomach and asked, "Would you like me to get you a high chair just in case?"

Most friction in life is caused by the tone of the voice.

An archaeologist was digging in the Negev Desert in Israel and came upon a casket containing a mummy. After examining it, he called the curator of a prestigious natural-history museum. "I've just discovered a 3,000 year-old mummy of a man who died of heart failure!" the excited scientist exclaimed.
To which the curator replied, "Bring him in. We'll check it out."
A week later, the amazed curator called the archaeologist. "You were right about the mummy's age and cause of death. How in the world did you know?"
"Easy. There was a piece of paper in his hand that said, '10,000 Shekels on Goliath'."

The other day, we had a bomb scare here in Rio Rancho, NM at the Giant gas station. Of course the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate, which in turn brought the news. In the local paper the next day, they had a picture of a bomb squad member, wearing a shirt that said: "I am a bomb technician. If you see me running, try and keep up!"
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit noticed the crow, and asked, "Can I sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered, "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral Of The Story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Why don't Italians have barbeques? The spaghetti keeps falling through the grill.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT MAKES US CHRIST-LIKE
The Fruit of the Spirit
Love is the Christ-like reaction to people's malice.
Joy is the Christ-like reaction to depressing circumstances.
Peace is the Christ-like reaction to troubles, threats and invitations to anxiety.
Patience is the Christ-like reaction to all that is maddening.
Kindness is the Christ-like reaction to all that are unkind.
Goodness is the Christ-like reaction to bad people and had behavior.
Faithfulness and gentleness are the Christ-like reactions to lies and fury.
Self-control is the Christ-like reaction to every situation that goads you to lose your cool and hit out. --Author Unknown

There was this city doctor who started a practice in the countryside.
He once had to go to a farm to attend to a sick farmer who lived there.
After a few house calls he stopped coming to the farm.
The puzzled farmer finally phoned him to ask what’s the matter, didn't he like him or somethin'.
The doctor said, "No, its your ducks at the entrance... every time I enter the farm, they verbally insult me!"

There is an old story about a mother who walks in on her six-year-old son and finds him sobbing. "What's the matter?" she asks.
"I've just figured out how to tie my shoes."
"Well, honey, that's wonderful." Being a wise mother, she recognizes his victory in the Eriksonian struggle of autonomy versus doubt: "You're growing up, but why are you crying?"
"Because," he says, "now I'll have to do it every day for the rest of my life."

Prop Me Up
Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed, "Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side." After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.
He answered, "Well sir, you see, it's like this....I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time, it's withstood a lot of weather, it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years. It's still standing, but one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall."
"Then I got to thinking 'bout that and how much I was like that old barn. I been around a long time, I've withstood a lot of life's storms, I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, 'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times."
Sometime we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't, so we need to pray, "Lord, prop us up on our leaning side," so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord. Author unknown

When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment! Author Unknown

You can do more through a handful of totally devoted believers than through a churchful of halfhearted ones.

As I grow older, I care less what people think about me and more what God thinks of me. I expect to be with him much longer than with you. -- Robert Baker

"People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts." --Robert Keith Leavitt

October 21

Justice - When you get what you deserve
Mercy - When you don't get what you deserve
Grace - When you get what you don't deserve

God is in no hurry. We tend to think that if God is really engaged, He will change things within the next hour or so. Certainly by sundown. Absolutely by the end of the week. But God is not a slave to the human clock. Compared to the works of mankind, He is extremely deliberate and painfully slow. As religion poet George Herbert wisely penned, "God's mill grinds slow, but sure." --Charles Swindoll

"A wise old owl, lived in an oak,
The more he saw the less he spoke!
The less he spoke, the more he heard,
Why can't we be like that wise old bird?"

MOM WAS GETTING swamped with calls from strangers. The reason? A medical billing service had launched an 800 number that was identical to hers. When she called to complain, they told her to get a new number. "I've had mine for twenty years," she pleaded. "Couldn't you change yours?" They refused. So Mom said, "Fine. From now on I'm going to tell everyone who calls that their bill is paid in full." The company got a new number the next day.

A couple on a safari was going through Africa when a lion leaped out, attacking the husband.
As the lion was about to put the man's head in his mouth, the victim yelled to his wife, "Shoot! Shoot!"
The wife called back, "I can't, I'm out of film!"

After our friend Tom had been a temporary bachelor for several weeks, we stopped by his home to visit him. My wife asked if he was eating properly. "Well, I do eat a lot of dog food," Tom told her.
"Dog food!" my wife exclaimed, horrified. "I can't believe you would be eating anything like that!"
"Come to the kitchen and I'll show you," Tom replied.
Opening the refrigerator door, he waved his hand at a row of doggie bags from half of the restaurants in town.

- A careful study of economics has recently revealed that the best time to buy anything is last year.
- For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.
- If a shepherd takes care of sheep, shouldn't a coward take care of cows?
- When I'm not in my right mind, well, my left mind can get awful crowded.
“God creates out of nothing. Therefore until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.”

My pastor-husband Scott has a sweet tooth, so I knew the chocolate chip cookies I'd just baked might disappear before I returned from running errands.
To discourage him, I taped a verse on the wrapped goodies: "'Everything is permissible for me'—but not everything is beneficial ... " (1 Cor. 6:12).
When I returned I found half the cookies gone and another verse attached: "The righteous eat to their heart's content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry" (Prov. 13:25).

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff-- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.

"You will become as small as your controlling desire, or as great as your dominant aspiration." -- James Allen

"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." -- Helen Keller

In a Peanut’s cartoon Lucy encourages Charlie Brown: "Look at it this way, Charlie Brown," she consoles. "These are your bitter days. These are the days of your hardship and struggle ..." The next frame goes on: "... but if you just hold your head up high and keep on fighting, you'll triumph!" "Gee, do you really think so, Lucy?" Charlie asks. As she walks away Lucy says: "Frankly, no!"

Hope is like that. We speak of it more often than we believe in it. Hope is not a strong word for us. It has more to do with "wishing" than "expecting." It has the sound of resignation, an inability to bring about, influence, or even believe that a desired event or goal might ever come to be.

-"That person is about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."

-"I feel about as helpless as a trombone player in a phone booth."

-"You can't tell how much gas is in the tank by how loud the horn honks!"

-"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than going to McDonald's makes you a Big Mac."

-But my all time favorite comes from the old TV program, "Cheers". Norm walked into the bar, and Sam the bartender asked him, "How's it going, Norm?" And Norm answered, "It's a dog eat dog world out there, Sammy and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear."

Milton Berle understood persistence. “Mr. Television” during the 1950’s was one of the great entertainers of the 20th century on stage, in film, radio and finally as a pioneer of television. Here are a couple of his one-liners about persistence: How would the guy have felt if he quit after 6 UP? Or the guy that stopped at Preparation G?

A THOUGHT ON PREACHING: "I preached in a little church not long ago. While I was waiting to preach I looked and saw a fire extinguisher on the side of the pulpit. Strangest thing I'd ever seen! But the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed, because if a fire is going to start anywhere it's likely to start in the pulpit. If it doesn't start there, you can forget about the rest of it." (William Hinson)


I'd rather be able to pray than to be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach, but only how to pray. -- Dwight L. Moody,

LIFE AT THE TWO YARD LINE GALATIANS 6:10
Paul Dietzel, former head coach of LSU, said, "You learn more character on the 2 yard line than anywhere else in life." He's got a point. When you're on the 2 yard line you’re either about to score or the other team is about to score on you. That's when it's time to dig in. At the 2 yard line you find out whether you have the fortitude to push the rest of the way through to the end zone and/or make a last minute stand against defeat.
You may be on the two yard line now -- advancing toward success or staving off defeat. Or all of the above ... because, unlike football, in life it's possible to be both places at once. Take a look at the challenges you're facing today. What do you need to do? Push a little harder in one area? Stand a little stronger in another? Most importantly, we all need to persevere, to persist in doing good one more day, making one more effort to accomplish that to which we have been called. "Let us not become weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:10 KJV)--Steve May

Handling Life's Burdens
It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God's. He begs you to leave the future to Him and mind the present. - George MacDonald

"I'm into golf now. I'm getting pretty good. I can almost hit the ball as far as I can throw the clubs." - Bob Ettinger


A Prayer for the Presidential Candidates
Lord, Pressure can bring out the best in us. It can also bring out the worst in us.
But almost always, pressure squeezes out whatever is already in us.
As we come to the beginning of this brutal, nasty presidential campaign, the candidates---particularly the frontrunners— will feel themselves under intense pressure. Open the hearts, souls, minds, and wills of each to You. Help them to think about things that are noble and from You.
Help them to avoid being self-serving.
Help them to take the pressure and respond not with personal attacks, but with magnanimity, equamimity, wisdom, and self-control.
Send to each sensitive, caring but firm followers of Jesus Christ who will remind them that even kings stand naked before Your throne, that no political principal is of utmost importance, and that Your presence can make even the humblest of people in the meanest of circumstances more powerful than any army. Grant that these same emissaries from You will share the comforting, energizing Good News of Jesus' death and resurrection that has a power outlasting every nation, every leader, every idea.
Finally, God, grant to each of these leaders the wisdom to open their mouths when they should and to shut them when they should.
We pray these things in Jesus' awesome Name! AMEN!

"If America is to survive, we must elect more God-centered men and women to public office; individuals who will seek Divine guidance in the affairs of state." Billy Graham

--In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins -- not through strength but by perseverance. --H. Jackson Brown

--It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up. --Vince Lombardi

October 14

I remember hearing Roger Breland (former director of the band ‘Truth’) once say, “If the Holy Spirit wanted to get on the program in most of our churches, he’d have to go through three committees and even after that, he’d only get 30 seconds during announcements.”

The story is told of a group of farmers many years ago who decided to eat their best potatoes and to plant only the small ones. They kept up this practice for many years, even though they noticed the potatoes getting smaller and smaller. They blamed the weather and the beetles and the blight.
They kept it up until all of their potatoes were reduced to the size of large marbles. The farmers learned through bitter experience that they could not keep the best things of life for themselves and use the leftovers for seed. The laws of life and nature decreed that the harvest would reflect the planting.

On a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, a troubled woman realized that there was something out there larger than her worries. She decided to toss her worries over the side of the canyon. It's a big world out there - much large than our worries. When we step out into the world, we can leave our worries behind, or at lease see them in their true perspective.


The Folded Napkin
Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His Resurrection?
The Gospel of John (20: 7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.
Is that important? You'd better believe it! Is that Significant? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes!
In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.
The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant
would Wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, And the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.
Now if the master had finished eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm
done". But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, "I'm not finished yet." The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

~ The deepest lessons come out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires. - Elisabeth Elliott
~ God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our consciences, but shouts to us in our pain. - C. S. Lewis

Howard came home from work one evening and there was his wife Miriam in the kitchen crying out loud.
"What's the matter, darling?" he asked her.
"I just don't know what to do," said Miriam. "Because we were eating in for a change, I cooked us a special dinner - but the dog has just eaten it."
"Don't worry," said Howard, "I'll get us another dog."


Don't put a question mark where God puts a period.

I'm comforted when I realize that God is in sovereign control of all of life. He not only knows the times and the seasons; He is also Lord of the unexpected and the unpredictable. Our times and our trials are in His hands. Even when we feel embarrassed or confused or do something really weird. --Charles Swindoll

Nine Reasons They Did Not Return
Why did only one man cleansed from leprosy return to thank Jesus? Someone has made a list of nine suggested reasons why the nine did not return:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy in the first place.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
That's not surprising, is it? I doubt that more than ten percent of us are ever truly grateful to God. In fact, it often seems that the more we have, the less gratitude we feel.

• Insightful Survey
In a new study conducted by Kelton Research in conjunction with the upcoming release of the animated feature film, The Ten Commandments, 80 percent of respondents knew "two all beef patties" were among the ingredients of the Big Mac, but only six out of ten could identify "Thou shalt not kill" as one of the Ten Commandments. Also, while 43 percent of respondents — including those who regularly attend worship — could recall Bobby and Peter, two of the least-recalled names from the Brady Bunch, they were less familiar with two of the least recalled commandments — "Remember the Sabbath" (34%) and "Do not make any false idols" (29%).

These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own. - G.K. Chesterton (1906)

My son, always respect and honor the other fellow's point of view. Unless it's different from yours, of course. - Hagar in the Hagar comic strip (March 3, 1999)

Religion is the fashionable substitute for belief. - Oscar Wilde

We mortals have many weaknesses. We feel too much, hurt too much, or too soon we die, but we do have the chance of love. - Sir Walter Raleigh in the upcoming movie “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”

A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband. Suddenly her husband burst into the kitchen.
"Careful ... CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my gosh! You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my gosh! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful ... CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!"
The wife stared at him. "What the heck is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?"
The husband calmly replied, "I wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving with you in the car.


DID YOU KNOW...
...If all the unchurched people in America were lined up, they would stretch for 50,000 miles and that the line is growing 1/2 mile longer each day?

Your mental picture of yourself is the key to your healthy development. You are the writer, director, and star of either an Oscar-winning epic or a Grade B movie. Who you see in your imagination will always rule your world.

This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what's best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

"In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others.

If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers. --Charles Dickens

There are no bad people, only broken people. God has called us to be menders.

October 7

My 12-year-old daughter asked me, "Mom, do you have a baby picture of yourself? I need it for a school project." I gave her one without thinking to ask what the project was. A few days later I was in her classroom for a parent-teacher meeting when I noticed my face pinned to a mural the students had created. The title of their project was "The oldest thing in my house.”

Some folks are so eager to find fault, you'd think there's a reward.

Man to wife: "Boy, you are getting old, look at all the wrinkles you are getting!"
Wife: "They aren't wrinkles, they're laugh lines!"
Man: "Nothing is that funny!!"

"I'm growing old by myself. My wife hasn't had a birthday in years." - Milton Berle

Chocolate Calories
A good piece of chocolate has about 200 calories. As I enjoy two servings per night, and a few more on weekends, I consume 3,500 calories of chocolate in a week, which equals one pound of weight per week. Therefore...
In the last 3 1/2 years, I have had a chocolate caloric intake of about 180 pounds. I weigh only 165 pounds, so without chocolate, I would have wasted away to nothing about three months ago! I owe my life to chocolate.


"By perseverance the snail reached the ark." --Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough."--Garrison Keillor

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us" --William Morrow

"Opportunity never knocks; it is within you." -- Denis Waitley

"There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; and those who wonder what happened!" -- An old American military saying

"I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse." -- Florence Nightingale

"Those who travel the high road of humility are not troubled by heavy traffic." -- Alan Simpson

"What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of science is not able to make an oyster?" - Jeremy Taylor

Most people assume WWJD is for "What would Jesus do?"
But the initials really stand for "What would Jesus drive?"
One theory is that Jesus would tool around in an old Plymouth because "the Bible says God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury."
But in Psalm 83, the Almighty clearly owns a Pontiac and a Geo. The passage urges the Lord to "pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm."
Perhaps God favors Dodge pickup trucks, because Moses' followers are warned not to go up a mountain "until the Ram's horn sounds a long blast."
Some scholars insist that Jesus drove a Honda but didn't like to talk about it. As proof, they cite a verse in St. John's gospel where Christ tells the crowd, "For I did not speak of my own Accord..." Meanwhile, Moses rode an old British motorcycle, as evidenced by a Bible passage declaring that "the roar of Moses' Triumph is heard in the hills."
Joshua drove a Triumph sports car with a hole in its muff!ler... "Joshua's Triumph was heard throughout the land." And, following the Master's lead, the Apostles car pooled in a Honda ........."The Apostles were in one Accord."!!

The trouble with nearly everybody who prays is that he says "Amen" and runs away before God has a chance to reply. Listening to God is far more important than giving Him your ideas. ... Frank Laubach (1884-1970), ““apostle to the illiterates””


Our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in "muchness" and "manyness," he will rest satisfied.... Richard J. Foster

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." -- General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." -- Douglaus Everett

Ted Williams once told reporters: "All I want out of life is when I walk down the street, folks will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.' "
As you walk down the street of life, may your greatest identity not be the greatest hitter who ever lived, or the greatest banker who ever lived, or the greatest computer programmer who ever lived, or the greatest lawyer who ever lived, but the greatest human who ever lived—an extraordinary specimen of the human spirit.

The apostles, in this gospel reading, are conscious of their role as leaders among the disciples. Apparently they feel they need more faith to be able to forgive the repentant and to combat strife and jealousy among them. So they say, “Increase our faith.” Jesus’ answer turns his disciples’ attention away from greater faith to its true nature. What is crucial is not the amount of faith, but its reality. A small faith can do impossible things, for with it they can tap into the miraculous power of God. After the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, the disciples did humanly impossible things. Trusting in God’s power and enabled by the Spirit, they performed many mighty deeds. So, whether great or small, faith can accomplish great things for God.

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat." Napoleon Hill