How To Observe Thanksgiving

Count your blessing instead of your crosses. Count your gains instead of your losses. Count your joys instead of your woes. Count your friends instead of your foes. Count your smiles instead of your tears. Count your courage instead of your fears. Count your full years instead of your lean. Count your good deeds instead of your mean. Count your health instead of your wealth. Count on God instead of yourself.                          Author Unknown   To all my family and friends, may everyday bring you many blessing. God loves you and so do I.   \o/

Smitten

Have you ever been smitten in the face by a friend? Have you ever tried to call a friend and no matter what you try they don't answer the phone or call you back. Do you still remain friends or do you sweep the dirt off your feet and move on and end the friendship. How long would you allow for the friend to contact you? Is there any proper protocol of time? I know questions go through my mind like, did I do something wrong, or is this person just going through a bad time and needing lots of prayer. How would handle this situation? I believe I would keep such a person covered in prayer!

\o/ Praises

Door Knockers

"I learned something the other day. I learned that Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Halloween. I guess they don't like strangers going up to their door and annoying them."
- Bruce Clark

FEET OF BRASS

"And His feet were like fine brass, as if they had burned in a furnace... and when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man..." (Revelation 1:15-17ff).

When they came to arrest the Lord Jesus in the garden, He asked, "Who are you looking for?" And they answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." He simply said, "I AM." When they heard this they fell over backwards to the ground. No one can stand before I AM and retain any of their strength. To the ground we will all go, for that ground is holy. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This revealing of Christ is sufficient to bring saint and sinner alike into absolute surrender and submission. Friends and foes alike find themselves at His feet, quite unable to stand before Him. He does not have to raise His voice or call down fire from Heaven or do anything other than simply reveal Himself for Who He is. Every doubting Thomas eventually cries out, "My Lord and My God!" when they finally behold Him.

We can talk about His presence and His glory and His majesty - yes, we can even sing songs of worship which incorporate these words into the lyrics - but we do not really conceptualize or comprehend what it means. If we really did see something of the majesty and the glory of the Christ of God we would not be so casual. We would be reverent. We would not take the Presence for granted. If we can take Him for granted they we have failed to apprehend Him. We have not yet seen Him. We do not yet know Him. We need to spend some time sitting at His feet.

A good story

A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course,  St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter says, "Here's how it  works.  You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the  good things you've done,  and I give you a certain number of points for  each item depending on how good it was.  When you reach 100 points,  you get in."  
 
"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same  woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."   
 
"That's wonderful," says St.Peter, "that's worth three points!"   
 
"Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and  supported its ministry with my tithe and service."  
 
"Terrific!" says  St.Peter. "That's certainly worth a point."  
 
"One point!?!!"   
 
"I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for  homeless veterans."  
 
"Fantastic, that's good for two more points," he  says. 
 
 "Two points!?!! "Exasperated, the man cries.  
 
"At this  rate the only way I'll get into heaven is by the grace of God."   
 
"Bingo, 100 points!  Come on in!"  
 
We often try to fix  problems with WD-40 and duct tape. 
 But, God did it with a  nail

PTMYG!

BIRD FLU! BIRD FLU! BIRD FLU! There, now I've gone on and on and on about it too. The world is all aflutter about the possibly coming bird flu pandemic that threatens to make humanity sicker than many of us already are of hearing about the bird flu. Once it was the sky falling that caused everyone to worry, and now chicken little himself is the one who threatens to do us all in. Experts from every corner of the world are offering up their commentary and advice concerning this threat and so, not be left out, I will too, prepare to meet your God! Now, please don't take my saying so as fear mongering or doomsday panic in the same vein of that which left egg on the faces of many Christian leaders when their obviously uninspired Y2K predictions disappeared at the stroke of midnight. My advice to prepare to meet your God is based on a more pragmatic reality: everyone is going to die. For the fact remains that cancer, car accidents, and carousing will kill lots of people before the bird flu (or whatever the next pandemic is) does. For all you know, this could be the last thing you read before some pilot has a heart attack and lands his plan on your lap. One never knows, so prepare to meet your God! By the way, while I'm on such a cheery note, I also want to encourage followers of Jesus to prepare for the moment that holds the event that will send them off to meet God. Get a grip people! There was a day when one of the strongest testimonies of the reality and power of salvation through Christ was an uncommon fearlessness in the face of death. Christians thrown to the lions and burned at the stake in Rome sang to God in their last moments which resulted in more new Christians being born in the stands of the coliseum than were dying on the field. Take note: this same conversion effect will not be duplicated if our most daring response to the Bird flu is to horde Tamiflu pills while our neighbours cough their way into a Christless eternity. The world is full of ways to die and apparently keeps coming up with new ones regularly. That's good to know so you can PTMYG Prepare to Meet Your God!

"A religious person is trying to avoid hell; a spiritual person has already been there."

“A religious person is trying to avoid hell; a spiritual person has already been there.”

Religion is the nemesis of Christianity, and these types of contrasts point that out. Religious people are stuck in a religious points system that keeps track of everything. They are actually pretty confident that hell can be avoided based on their own point tally. By contrast, keeping track is the last thing spiritual people want to do, because their track record condemns them. They believe that they deserve hell and get heaven by God's grace. Spiritual people are constantly pinching themselves because they can't believe their good fortune. The last thing they want to do is tally up points, because that will only confirm what they already know: they don't have enough. Never will.

Religion is a system; spirituality is a state of being, made possible by a relationship. Religion is trying to please God; spirituality is enjoying God. Religion is Martha fussing in the kitchen; spirituality is Mary listening at the feet of Jesus. Religion keeps the score; spirituality keeps the faith.

You can see how religion has kept a lot of people from Christianity. It's a shame, because there couldn't be anything farther from the truth of what it means to know God