March 30, 2008

Ants in the Pants of Faith
Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don't have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving. - Frederick Buechner

A New Shalom
When Jesus appeared to the disciples, his greeting was, "Peace be unto you." The Hebrew word shalom, for "peace," is a most comprehensive word, covering the full realm of relationships in daily life and expressing an ideal state of life. The word suggests the fullness of well-being and harmony untouched by ill fortune. The word as a blessing is a prayer for the best that God can give to enable a person to complete one's life with happiness and a natural death. If the concept of shalom became all too casual and light-hearted with no more significance than a passing greeting, Jesus came to give it new meaning. At Bethlehem God announced that peace would come through the gift of God's unique Son. The mission and ministry of our Lord made it quite
clear that Jesus had come to introduce the rule of God and to order peace for the world.
Harry N. Huxhold, Which Way To Jesus?

You can't have everything. Where would you put it? -Steven Wright

Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home. -Bill Cosby
"Hors D'oeuvres - A sandwich cut into 20 pieces."


What a hotel we're staying at! The towels are so big and fluffy, you can hardly close your suitcase."
The town I grew up in was so small, the road map was actual size.
Question. What did the buffalo say to his boy going off to school every morning?
Answer. Bison.

A Few Ideas about Joy:
**Joy is distinctly a Christian word and a Christian thing. It is the reverse of happiness. Happiness is the result of what happens of an agreeable sort. Joy has its springs deep down inside. And that spring never runs dry, no matter what happens. Only Jesus gives that joy. He had joy, singing its music within, even under the shadow of the cross. --Samuel Dickey Gordon (1859-1936)

**Easter can be described in many ways, but joy is one adjective that is it full of. Understand this: the Stoic bears, the Epicurean seeks to enjoy, the Buddhist and Hindu stand apart disillusioned, the Muslim submits, but only the Christian exults in joy. And that is the message of Easter!


A Reflection about the “open tomb” (From Max Lucado, shared by permission.)
“Why did the angel move the stone? Was the death conqueror so weak that he couldn’t push away a rock? Listen to what the angel says: “Come and see the place where his body was.”
The stone was moved--not for Jesus--but for the women; not so Jesus could come out, but so the women could see in! Mary looks at Mary and Mary is grinning the same grin she had when the bread and fish kept coming out of the basket.
“Go quickly and tell his followers, ‘Jesus has risen from the dead. He is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there.’” Yet one surprise awaits them....
“Suddenly, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings.’ The women came up to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘don’t be afraid.’
Never let an open tomb scare you. As a Christian you can look right in for nothing will be there--nothing of importance. The soul is with God and the glory of Easter is now come full circle!

Women blink twice as often as men.
The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate. .
. . .they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate!

✓ Thomas Jefferson, a great man, nevertheless could not accept the miraculous elements in Scripture. He edited his own special version of the Bible in which all references to the supernatural were deleted. Jefferson, in editing the Gospels, confined himself solely to the moral teachings of Jesus. The closing words of Jefferson's Bible are these: "There laid they Jesus and rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulchre and departed." Thank God that is not the way the story really ends!

The Bible can keep you away from sin; and sin can keep you away from the Bible..


✓ A workman of the great chemist Michael Faraday accidentally knocked a silver cup into a solution of acid. It was promptly dissolved, eaten up by the acid. The workman was terribly disturbed by the accident. The chemist came in and put a chemical into the jar, and shortly all the silver was precipitated to the bottom. The shapeless mass was lifted out and sent to the silversmith, and the cup was restored to its original shape. If a human genius can do a things like this, why should we doubt that God can raise the dead?
Our minister announced that the cost to attend a special church social event would be six dollars per person. "However, if you're over 65," he said, " the price will be only $5.50."
From the back of the congregation, a woman's voice rang out, "Do you really think I'd give you that information for only 50 cents?"

Our Lord has written the promise of the Resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime. --Martin Luther

IRS sounds like Toys r Us

Thought for the week: "Unforgiveness is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die." -- Unknown

Thought for today: "The empty tomb proves the value of Christianity; the empty church denies it."

I've started an exercise program. I do 20 sit-ups each morning. That may not sound like a lot, but you can only hit that snooze button so many times.

Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel, "Gadsby", which contains over 50,000 words -- none of them with the letter E!
Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!

Good news bad news, worse news
The good news is that there is baseball in heaven.
The bad news is that you're playing tomorrow.
The worse news is that you're playing on the visiting team.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -- Sir Winston Churchill

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet." -- James Oppenheim

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." -- Alexander Graham Bell

☼ The Gospels do not explain the Resurrection; the Resurrection explains the Gospels. Belief in the Resurrection is not an attachment to the Christian faith; it is the Christian faith. -- John S. Whale


BE THANKFUL
Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
Because it means you've made a effort.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

TO HELP MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY Here is what "happy thinkers" do:
1). They saturate their mind with God's promises and stubbornly resist entertaining self-criticizing thoughts.
2). They count their many blessings, and are grateful for them all.
3). Knowing God is on their side, they trust God implicitly and pray persistently.
4). They are optimistic knowing that "Nothing is impossible with God!"
5). They choose a positive attitude even when all seems to be going wrong.
6). Every day they encourage others knowing that this is one of the bridges to success. For the flowers of today are the seeds of encouragement they planted in all of their yesterdays.

NICE DOCTOR
Because of an ear infection, Little Johnny, had to go to the pediatrician. The doctor directed his comments and questions to Little Johnny in a professional manner. When he asked Little Johnny, "Is there anything you are allergic to?" Little Johnny nodded and whispered in his ear. Smiling, the pediatrician wrote out a prescription and handed it to Little Johnny's mother. She tucked it into her purse without looking at it.
As the pharmacist filled the order, he remarked on the unusual food-drug interaction Little Johnny must have. Little Johnny's mother looked puzzled until he showed her the label on the bottle. As per the doctor's instructions, it read, "Do not take with broccoli."

"Early to bed and early to rise -- till you get enough money to do otherwise." - Peter's Almanac
When life caves in, you do not need reasons - you need comfort.
You do not need answers - you need someone.
And Jesus does not come to to us with an explanation -
He comes to us with His presence.

Many people readily give God credit, but few cheerfully give Him cash.



"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist." -- Louis Nizer

My husband, a big-time sports fan, was watching a football game with our grandchildren. He had just turned 75 and was feeling a little wistful. "You know," he said to our grandson, Nick, "it's not easy getting old. I guess I'm in the fourth quarter now." "Don't worry, Grandpa," Nick said cheerily. "Maybe you'll go into overtime."
Spray a bit of perfume on the lightbulb in any room to create a lovely light scent in each room when the light is turned on.

Place fabric softener sheets in dresser drawers and your clothes will Smell freshly washed for weeks to come. You can also do this with towels and linen.

Candles will last a lot longer if placed in the freezer for at least 3 hours prior to burning.

✓ In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, is a grave on which were placed huge slabs of granite and marble cemented together and fastened with heavy steel clasps. It belongs to a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Yet strangely, she directed in her will that her grave be made so secure that if there were a resurrection, it could not reach her. On the marker were inscribed these words: "This burial place must never be opened." In time, a seed, covered over by the stones, began to grow. Slowly it pushed its way through the soil and out from beneath them. As the trunk enlarged, the great slabs were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from their sockets. A tiny seed had become a tree that had pushed aside the stones.
The dynamic life force contained in that little seed is a faint reflection of the tremendous power of God's creative word that someday will call to life the bodies of all who are in their graves. He will also bring back every person drowned at sea, cremated, or destroyed in some other way. This is no problem to the One who made something out of nothing when He spoke the universe into existence. Unbelief cannot deter the resurrection. But faith in the risen Christ opens the door to blessings that His resurrection guarantees -- a glorious new spiritual body and a home in heaven. In new bodies we will be reunited with saved loved ones to live with Jesus throughout all eternity.

The simplest toy, which even the youngest child can operate, is called a grandparent. --Sam Levenson

42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

A day without sunshine is like, well, night.

*One of the things I didn't want to be when I grew up was wrinkled.

"The story of JOY is not a story of numbers. It's the story of individual lives changed one at a time. Every number represents a real person transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. We simply start where people are, teach them God's purpose for their lives, and the Holy Spirit does the rest."

I had a piece of Carefree Sugarless gum and I was still worried