Positive Start

 

How to start your day with a positive outlook.

1. Open a new file in your PC.

2. Name it "Housework."

3. Send it to the RECYCLE BIN

4. Empty the RECYCLE BIN

5. Your PC will ask you, "Are you sure you want to delete Housework permanently?"

6. Answer calmly, "Yes," and press the mouse button firmly....

7. Feel better?

Make a Wish

May today there be peace within.
May you trust your highest power that you are exactly where you are

meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that

has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the freedom to
sing and dance. It is there for each and every one of you.

Virtual Friends

Virtual Friends

What do you do when you realize you have wronged a brother or a sister in Christ? You go to him or her and attempt to personally set it straight.

I had a conflict to resolve with a brother this week and I used E-mail and the fax machine. Not good enough.

It occurs to me that we’ve never had more communication technology and less real contact with people. We’ve got video phones, picture phones, E-mail and text messaging – I’ve even heard there is experimentation going on by which we will be able to communicate via brain waves – but are we any closer to each other because of all this? An argument could be made that we are actually growing further and further apart. Pretty soon all we will have is virtual communication among virtual friends. Virtual – as in almost, but not quite.

Virtual is truly the word of the day. The first synonym for virtual that comes up in my dictionary is “near.” We’re nearly friends, but not really. “Virtual” is a substitute for the real thing. The antonym (opposite) that came up for “virtual” is “actual.” Put these two together and you have “virtual” as something that appears close to the real thing but in actuality is so far off the mark that there couldn’t be anything farther from the truth. “Virtual” is like a moon shot that misses the moon. The farther it travels in the universe, the farther away from its destination it becomes, making “virtual reality” the quintessential oxymoron.

Please understand I’m speaking to myself here (I usually am). I use E-mail way too much. My written skills are much better than my verbal ones (unless I have a chance to prepare). Face to face confrontation is very difficult for me, so any chance I get to hide behind an E-mail or a fax, I’ll take it. How convenient that a whole culture is moving in the direction of an oxymoron.

When John the Apostle talked about Christ he found it necessary to point out that he and the other disciples had had physical contact with Jesus. “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands” (1 John 1:1). It was important to John for us to know this. Nothing virtual here. This was the real thing.

We need the real thing with each other. We need to come out of hiding. We’re never going to find ourselves in here anyway. We only know ourselves as we meet ourselves in others and ultimately in Christ who has touched us all with His virtual presence.

by John Fischer

 

Momma alway's told me not to play with my food

One of the pups in a breeder's litter of collies had a strange appetite, fostered no doubt, because the dog fancier's kennel was deep in the southern United States. The odd youngster spurned regular dog food, no meaty tid-bits could tempt him and he hated dog biscuits. just in time to save the little dog's life, the owner found he would eat nothing but watermelons. He doted on them. His brother pups could not understand this and they teased him unmercifully. He became the butt of their pranks until his tail would droop and he would whimper and shiver in a corner. His mother, trying to comfort him, called him to her. She said, ... "Come to me, my melon collie baby." With that said enjoy the following.

Danger in the oasis

On a very hot day in August 1995, we were near Athi River, Kenya, we needed to get more water to continue making concrete for the boy's home we were building. We approached the water supply located near an oasis. We were all tired and I was asked if we could take a short break. Everyone had been working hard and I could use the break to catch my breath anyways. We all found a nice spot to sit down to take our short break. All of a sudden one of the boys panicked and yelled something in one of the native languages. I didn't know what was said but all the other boys also panicked. As I glanced around I saw what had riled up the boys. One of the boys had sat down near some reeds and inside the reeds there was a king cobra, coiled, fully hooded and ready to strike . I looked around for something to through at it but I found nothing. I couldn't help the small child. A Masi warrior must have heard all the commotion and ran towards us. He had his spear drawn back and threw it, as the cobra had lunged to strike the spear went through the neck of the snake. Always be aware the enemy lurks nearby. Do you have an interesting story to tell of how God miraculously saved you?

Who was that masked man?

Have you ever been some where and you see someone you think you know and spend half of the day and or night trying to remember who they are or who they remind you of? I see people all the time who remind me of someone I have encountered. When I figure out either who they are or who they remind me of. So I say a prayer for them. Also when I wake up in the middle of the night and I think of a person I begin to pray for them. I believe God has placed that person on my heart for some reason so why not just go ahead and pray for them. Most of the time is a short prayer but there have been occasions where I have prayed lenghty prayers because My spirit is unsettled. Does this happen to you? Do you stop and say a short prayer for that person? Let me know!

Psalms 136:6

Make believe

When I was a small child I would pretend I was Superman or Batman. I would practice all the right moves, say the words. I was probably more like Batman. While Superman was the man of steel and had x-ray vision and could stop bullets, Batman had a really cool batbelt and drove a really cool and fast car, the bat mobile which could turn into a boat, a submarine, or an airplane depending on what was needed. That batbelt always had just the right tool for each episode. I was living life in a world of make believe. I knew I could not stop bullets and that I didn't have the really cool batbelt to get me out of danger.

 

Many today still live in a world of make believe, many who claim to be Christian put on religious clothes, speak religious talk, and go to every religious service they can. They have religious rules and regulation which have driven many believers away and even have cause many to become haters of the gospel. Case in point, I was attending a Bible college out west, one of the rules they had was that for the Sunday lunch you had to be dressed in slacks and a shirt and tie for the guys and a dress or skirt and blouse for the gals. One long weekend my sister came for a visit. All she had to wear was some jeans. So when Sunday came, not wishing my sister to feel out of place I wore jeans and a nice shirt. A lunch time my sister and I were getting our food and sure enough somebody came up to me and mentioned the dress code and then asked me and my sister to eat in the kitchen.

 

Recently I had someone say they still believed in God but they have walked away from religion. I visited several webpage's and I felt my heart crying. What I saw were people crying out for love and attention. Many were disillusioned. My eyes became tear filled. These are God's people who have been hurt and offended by make believe Christians.

 

1 Chronicles 4:10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested."

 

God, Help us to get out of our comfort zone and enlarge our coast.