Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
This story is soooo good!! Not only is this a great read, but I hope this will be a reminder to all to do a "Check In" of your own. GOD bless you all!
A minister passing through his church
in the middle of the day,
Decided to pause by the altar
and see who had come to pray.
Just then the back door opened,
a man came down the aisle,
The minister frowned as he saw
the man hadn't shaved in a while.
His shirt was kinda shabby
and his coat was worn and frayed,
the man knelt, he bowed his head,
Then rose and walked away.
In the days that followed,
each noon time came this chap,
each time he knelt just for a moment,
A lunch pail in his lap.
Well, the minister's suspicions grew,
with robbery a main fear,
He decided to stop the man and ask him,
'What are you doing here?'
The old man said, he worked down the road.
Lunch was half an hour.
Lunchtime was his prayer time,
For finding strength and power.
'I stay only moments, see,
because the factory is so far away;
as I kneel here talking to the Lord,
This is kinda what I say:
'I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD,
HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHERS
FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.
SO, JESUS, THIS IS JIM CHECKING IN TODAY.'
The minister feeling foolish,
told Jim, that was fine.
He told the man he was welcome
To come and pray just anytime.
Time to go, Jim smiled, said 'Thanks.'
He hurried to the door.
The minister knelt at the altar,
he'd never done it before.
His cold heart melted,
warmed with love,
and met with Jesus there.
As the tears flowed, in his heart,
he repeated old Jim's prayer:
'I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD,
HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHERS
FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. I DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.
SO, JESUS, THIS IS ME CHECKING IN TODAY.'
Past noon one day, the minister noticed
that old Jim hadn't come.
As more days passed without Jim,
he began to worry some.
At the factory, he asked about him,
learning he was ill.
The hospital staff was worried,
But he'd given them a thrill.
The week that Jim was with them,
Brought changes in the ward..
His smiles, a joy contagious.
Changed people, were his reward.
The head nurse couldn't understand
why Jim was so glad,
when no flowers, calls or cards came,
Not a visitor he had.
The minister stayed by his bed,
He voiced the nurse's concern:
No friends came to show they cared.
He had nowhere to turn.
Looking surprised, old Jim spoke
up and with a winsome smile;
'the nurse is wrong, she couldn't know,
that he's in here all the while
everyday at noon He's here,
a dear friend of mine, you see,
He sits right down, takes my hand,
Leans over and says to me:
'I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, JIM,
HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP, AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN.
ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY, I THINK ABOUT YOU EACH DAY, AND SO JIM, THIS IS JESUS CHECKING IN TODAY.'
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I love children! I also love the funny things they say!! These short stories are so funny, and I just had to post it. I hope you all enjoy these as much as we did. GOD bless you all.
A little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle, he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar. So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, ".....I was being the Ring Bear."
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One Sunday in a Midwest City, a young child was "acting up" during the morning worship hour. The parents did their best to maintain some sense of order in the pew but were losing the battle. Finally, the father picked the little fellow up and walked sternly up the aisle on his way out.....Just before reaching the safety of the foyer, the little boy called loudly to the congregation, "Pray for me! Pray for me!"
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One particular four-year old prayed, "....And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets."
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A little boy was overheard praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time just like I am."
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A Sunday School teacher asked her little children, as they were on the way to church service, "And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?" One bright little girl replied, "....Because people are sleeping."
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A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, looking at the old pages as he turned them. Then something fell out of the Bible. He picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that has been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found," the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked. With astonishment in the young boy's voice he answered, "It's Adam's suit".
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The preacher was wired for sound with a lapel mike, and as he preached, he moved briskly about the platform, jerking the mike cord as he went. Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again. After several circles and jerks, a little girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother and whispered, "If he gets loose, will he hurt us?"
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Six-year old Angie, and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had enough. "You're not supposed to talk out loud in church." "Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.
Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door? They're hushers."
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My grandson was visiting one day when he asked,
"Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?"
I mentally polished my halo, while I asked, "No, how are we alike?"
"You're both old," he replied.
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A ten-year old, under the tutelage of her grandmother, was becoming quite knowledgeable about the Bible. Then, one day, she floored her grandmother by asking, "Which Virgin was the mother of Jesus? The virgin Mary or the King James Virgin.
Too Cute!!!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I went to a Christian ladies get together tonight and I have just returned and it is very late, so I am going to bed. I will be back tomorrow. GOD bless you all!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
This video is alarming!!
This girl is running for her life from her own parents who want to kill her, and all she longs for is to worship JESUS freely! This is going on in AMERICA!!! She asks for prayer, let us all stand up and pray for our young sister in CHRIST.
I am so thankful to GOD for helping her to safety. I pray that GOD will take her and all who are suffering as she is, to the place of refuge under the shadow of HIS wings, where no one will be harmed.
GOD bless you!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I hope you all enjoy this sweet story. GOD bless you all!
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore . We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the Clinic. One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old,' I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the Eastern Shore, and there's no bus 'till morning.'
He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success; no one seemed to have a room. 'I guess it's my face. I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments...' For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: 'I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.' I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. 'No thank you I have plenty' and he held up a brown paper bag.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was prefaced with thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going. At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded, and the little man was out on the porch.
He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, 'Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.' He paused a moment and then added, 'Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind.' I told him he was welcome to come again.
And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4 a.m. , and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us. In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. 'Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!'
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice, but, oh!, if only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.
Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, 'If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!'
My friend changed my mind. 'I ran short of pots,' she explained, 'and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden.' She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. There's an especially beautiful one,' God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. 'He won't mind starting in this small body.'
All this happened long ago --- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.
~Author Unknown~
Remember...The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
As I continue to ponder what happened on Sunday, the feelings I feel are bitter sweet.
I have read 2 Corinthians 3:3 many times but I never really got it until this week. It is truly amazing how GOD continues to show us new things in HIS WORD. 2 Corinthians 3:3 says, Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of CHRIST ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the SPIRIT of the living GOD; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. I never got it, I never saw that we are the love letters sent from JESUS to others in need. I just love that!!!!
Sunday morning after I took the bloodtest to see if I was pregnant, I came home and prayed. I prayed to GOD to help me. I did not know what the test would show, but I knew one thing for certain, I would not have been able to hear another "NO"! I would not be able to handle it again! I asked GOD to please come and surround me with HIS love and comfort if the test was negative. I had no idea how much love and comfort HE would send. As I said in the last post, my 2 sisters in CHRIST who were personally sent by GOD, came to love me and comfort my bitterness of soul.
I hurt so much in my heart, but GOD has taken most of my pain and has hidden it from me. I believe my pain would be worse if my HEAVENLY FATHER would not be here to comfort me. I feel like HE is holding the brunt of my pain. I asked HIM to help me and HE did. I told HIM I would not be able to handle the pain again, but HE made a way for me to handle it. As I type this I am reminded of the verse, Philppians 4:13, I can do all things through CHRIST which strengtheneth me. It is so true! Without the LORD here to comfort me, I would be a true mess right now.
I am thankful for so much. I may not have a baby, but I have a GOD who really, really loves me.
I trust you LORD, my life is your life, lead me LORD, for I am lost without you. Keep me humble, continue to help me to be the gentle quiet spirit you want me to be. No matter what emotions I feel, I know what is more important, I KNOW the truth...for I know YOU! Though I hurt, I know you are holding most of it back from me, I just know it! Thank YOU for loving me...I love you too!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I love this cartoon! JESUS sent me a love letter yesterday through the hearts of two very special sisters in CHRIST.
Randy and I have been trying to have a baby on our own for fourteen years with no success. GOD has blessed us with two extremely wonderful children through adoption, and though I am very happy with my children, I still long for the day I can have a baby from my own body. I long to feel the baby move within me, and go through everything all mothers do when pregnant. I have been pregnant eleven times, and eleven times I have miscarried within the first few weeks. The doctors told me after a series of tests that according to the tests I should be able to carry to full term. The tests said one thing, my body said another.
Now we are stationed (through the ARMY) in Belgium. Belgium is the place to be when having issues in fertility, they are more advanced in treatment than the States. When I heard this, I hesitated for a while, but was led by GOD to a specialist, and after one month, he told me my thyroid was producing antibodies that were attacking my babies.
A year and a half ago I had my thyroid removed, and now we are at a place where we can try again. Last month was not successful, and yesterday we took our pregnancy test and it was negative.
This was the worst two week wait I have ever experienced concerning fertility. The doctor had me taking Progesterone, and oh my goodness, I was a complete wreck! I could not stop crying, I was irritable, and I wanted to do nothing but sleep. My body started to have symptoms of pregnancy, and I was so excited, but when the test came back negative, I was crushed! My joy in thinking I could be pregnant was quickly turned to despair. That is when JESUS sent me a love letter through my very dear friends, Vanessa and Christina.
Vanessa calls me and says, "I will be over within 30 minutes!" Click!!! When she arrived, she gave me this really hilarious, heartfelt presentation which included, 7 differnt types of ice cream, bannanas, chopped nuts, chocolate syrup, carmel topping, and 2 pizzas. That was not all, she also brought about 8 different games, and several movies. I tell ya, she was on it! LOL!!!
Christina then came over and we had such wonderful fellowship. We laughed, we cried, we prayed, we read scripture, we played a little of the games and then started to watch Anne of Green Gables. They stayed for hours and just saturated me with the LOVE OF CHRIST.
Though my heart really hurt, I knew GOD was right there loving me through HIS personal love letter to me, sent through HIS personal postal service... Vanessa and Christina.
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
This video is one of the cutest I have seen. I love to see the wee ones of the world praise GOD, and this one is no different. I love it! You may have already seen it, but if not, check it out and be blessed. GOD bless you all!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
The other day I was reading the BIBLE and trying to explain a passage of scripture from Genesis to my daughter when I came across something I had never caught before. I have read Genesis many times, but I had never seen this little nugget. Maybe one of you have, but I got excited when it came jumping out at me. Ok, I will not keep you in suspense any longer...
In Genesis 3:20 it says, And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Eve did not recieve her name until after the fall of mankind! She did not receive her name until after GOD had his time with the serpent, Adam and "the Woman". I was chuckling to myself asking the question, "Did Adam really call her woman before this time?" So, I checked in Genesis 2, and lo and behold what did I find? Genesis 2:23, And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. If you notice that the word "woman" is spelled with a capital W meaning it was her name.
I always ask GOD to open my mind of understanding when reading HIS WORD and this is what I recieved... Eve did not recieve her name until she was in trouble...When the world was perfect her name was "Woman", but when she sinned, she recieved her name... Now we know why we use the full name when scolding someone who is in trouble. For example, when my son is in trouble...Brandon Thoman Bragg get to your room and get it cleaned. See? The name. It is all about the name. Again, it was because of...The Woman!!!! We just can not get a break!!! LOL!!!
I hope you all enjoyed this little devotion as I did!!! LOL!!! I believe my husband did too!!LOL!!!
By the way...I appreciate all my family in CHRIST praying for me the past few days. I am feeling a bit better, but in a few days I should be fine. Thank you all so much! GOD bless you all!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I am not feeling well, I am on the couch. Please pray for me. Hopefully I will be back to share a nugget of truth I found in the BIBLE yesterday.
GOD bless each and everyone of you.
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I am so happy that no matter if I go to bed victorious or defeated from the wars of the day, GOD still works on me. He is still loving me and continuously drawing me toward HIM. I hope you all have that hope today. I hope you all realize how you are so loved by GOD HIMSELF.
I found the words to this song by Joel Hemphill and I want to leave the words to you tonight. I hope it may speak to someones heart tonight. GOD bless you all!
HE's Still Working On Me
There really ought to be a sign up-on my heart, "Don't judge him yet, there's an unfinished part." But I'll be perfect just according to HIS plan, fashioned by the MASTER's loving hand.
HE's still workin' on me to make me what I ought to be. It took HIM just a week to make the moon and stars, the sun and the Earth and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient HE must be, HE's still workin' on me.
But HE loves me as I am and helps me when I pray, Remember, HE's the POTTER...I am the clay.
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I just love these Biblical Cartoons! I hope you enjoy them too! GOD bless you all!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
This story is a tear jerker, but a good tear jerker so read it with your tissues ready in hand.
I spent the week before my daughter's June wedding running last-minute trips to the caterer, florist, tuxedo shop, and the church about forty miles away.
As happy as I was that Patsy was marrying a good Christian young man, I felt laden with responsibilities as I watched my budget dwindle... So many details, so many bills, and so little time. My son Jack was away at college, but he said he would be there to walk his younger sister down the aisle,
taking the place of his dad who had died a few years before. He teased Patsy, saying he'd wanted to give her away since she was about three years old!
To save money, I gathered blossoms from several friends who had large magnolia trees. Their luscious, creamy- white blooms and slick green leaves would make beautiful arrangements against the rich dark wood inside the church.
After the rehearsal dinner t he night before the wedding, we banked the podium area and choir loft with magnolias. As we left just before midnight, I felt tired but satisfied this would be the best wedding any bride had ever had!
The music, the ceremony, the reception - and especially the flowers - would be remembered for years.
The big day arrived - the busiest day of my life - and while her
Bridesmaids helped Patsy to dress, her fiancé Tim walked with me to the sanctuary to do a final check.
When we opened the door and felt a rush of hot air, I almost fainted; and then I saw them - all the beautiful white flowers were black. Funeral black.
An electrical storm during the night had knocked out the air conditioning system, and on that hot summer day, the flowers had wilted and died.
I panicked, knowing I didn't have time to drive back to our home town, gather more flowers, and return in time for the wedding.
Tim turned to me. 'Edna, can you get more flowers ? I'll throw away these dead ones and put fresh flowers in these arrangements.'
I mumbled, 'Sure,' as he be-bopped down the hall to put on his cuff links.
Alone in the large sanctuary, I looked up at the dark wooden beams in the arched ceiling. 'Lord,' I prayed, 'please help me. I don't know anyone in this town. Help me find someone willing to give me flowers - in a hurry!'
I scurried out praying for four things: the blessing of white magnolias, courage to find them in an unfamiliar yard, safety from any dog that may bite my leg, and a nice person who would not get out a shotgun when I asked to cut his tree to shreds.
As I left the church, I saw magnolia trees in the distance.
I approached a house... No dog in sight.
I knocked on the door and an older man answered.
So far so good... No shotgun.
When I stated my plea the man beamed, 'I'd be happy to!'
He climbed a stepladder and cut large boughs and handed them down to me.
Minutes later, as I lifted the last armload into my car trunk, I said, 'Sir, you've made the mother of a bride happy today.'
'No, Ma'am,' he said. 'You don't understand what's happening here.'
'What?' I asked.
'You see, my wife of sixty-seven years died on Monday. On Tuesday I received friends at the funeral home, and on Wednesday... He paused.
I saw tears welling up in his eyes.
'On Wednesday I buried her.' He looked away. 'On Thursday most of my out-of-town relatives went back home, and on Friday - yesterday - my children left.'
I nodded.
'This morning,' he continued, 'I was sitting in my den crying out loud. I miss her so much. For the last sixteen years, as her health got worse, she needed me. But now nobody needs me.. This morning I cried, 'Who needs an eighty-six-year-old wore-out man? Nobody!' I began to cry louder.
'Nobody needs me!' About that time, you knocked, and said,
' Sir, I need you.'
I stood with my mouth open.
He asked, 'Are you an angel? The way the light shone around your head into my dark living room...'
I assured him I was no angel.
He smiled. 'Do you know what I was thinking when I handed you those magnolias?'
'No.'
'I decided I'm needed. My flowers are needed.. Why, I might have a flower ministry! I could give them to everyone! Some caskets at the funeral home have no flowers. People need flowers at times like that and I have lots of them.
They're all over the backyard! I can give them to hospitals, churches - all sorts of places. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to serve the Lord until the day He calls me home!'
I drove back to the church, filled with wonder. On Patsy's wedding day, if anyone had asked me to encourage someone who was hurting, I would have said,
'Forget it! It's my only daughter's wedding, for goodness' sake! There is no way I can minister to anyone today.'
But God found a way. Through dead flowers.
~Author Unknown~
'Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.'
GOD bless you!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and Savior JESUS CHRIST.
LOL!! This video is so funny! My mom sent it to me and I could not resist posting it. Enjoy!! BTW, it says naughty song, but it is not a naughty song, it is funny, clean song! LOL!!!
GOD bless you all!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I found this awesome reminder from John Mac Arthur's book, " Truth For Today". Thank you GOD for your precious WORD!
1 Peter 4:14 says, If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
A pure conscience provides tranquility and vindicates you when you are slandered. It will be free from the task of pointing out any sin, and your godly life will prove any criticisms to be false. When you have a pure conscience, the verbal abuse and insults against you bring shame to your accuser, not you.
The world self-righteously condemns Christianity when it can point to a Christian who has scandalized the faith. Unbelievers enjoy drawing attention to a sinning Christian so they can justify their own sinful behavior. Therefore, live above reproach so that the unbeliever's accusations will be without any foundation.
GOD bless you all!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I have a prayer request for all my brothers and sisters out there. I am looking for all prayer warriors who dedicate time to serious prayer.
Our church is having Vacation Bible School this week. I am teaching the 2nd to 4th grade class. Monday, I was soooo excited, nine kids came to me to accept CHRIST into their life. It was the most beautiful moment in my life, leading those kids in becoming children of GOD.
One of the girls, who I will call Kelly, left so happy and ready to share the good news to her family upon arriving home. But what Kelly got was not what she expected. Kelly was met with anger. She got into serious trouble for telling them that she was saved. She was told by her own mom and dad that she was not to have anything to do with Christians and she would not be returning to Church.
The next day, Kelly was able to share her hurt with another mom in the Church who lives in the same neighborhood, and this mom was able to encourage her for that day, but Kelly's new life is just beginning and it will not be easy for a seven year old to stay obedient to GOD living in a non-Christian environment. She needs us! Surround her with prayer.
I have one question...what do people think is being taught in a Christian Church? Why send children to VBS and then punish them for believing what is being taught. I do not understand that.
That night we shared the whole truth of the gospel with Kelly and she responded to the call. Praise GOD for that! I feel so bad for her. She did not have a chance to grow in CHRIST or get to know the WORD of GOD (besides the gospel) before being persecuted. What makes it worse is that the persecution is from her own mom and dad.
Christians, please pray for her! I pray that somehow I will be able to secretly get a BIBLE to her. GOD has placed this mission upon my heart.
I have been crying and praying for her most of the day. It just breaks my heart. One thing I do know is that GOD is in control. HE knows her situation and I trust HIM to guide her and protect her. She belongs to HIM now and there is nothing anyone can do about that, but the enemy is there to make it hard for her. Again, please pray for her.
We have 2 days left to reach more boys and girls, please pray that many more will come. So far this week 17 kids (Church-wide) have asked JESUS to be their SAVIOR. PRAISE GOD!!!
Thank you all for your prayers! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
GOD Bless you all! Muah!!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I know you all have probably seen this very cute video, but I could not resist posting it tonight. She is sooooooo adorable...And she is surely putting a smile on the face of GOD...SURELY!!! LOL!!!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I just have one question for you all tonight...
Who is sitting on the throne of your heart...You or GOD?
GOD is supposed to be there, but so many times we ignore HIM and place ourselves in HIS place, making the decisions of life for ourselves, when we know that HE knows what is best for us.
Kings sit on thrones, GOD is the KING of KINGS and should be sitting where we dwell too often.
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
GOD Is In Control
The man slowly looked up. This was a woman clearly accustomed to the finer things of life. Her coat was new. She looked like she had never missed a meal in her life. His first thought was that she wanted to make fun of him, like so many others had done before.
"Leave me alone," he growled... To his amazement, the woman continued standing. She was smiling -- her even white teeth displayed in dazzling rows.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"No," he answered sarcastically. "I've just come from dining with the president. Now go away.
"The woman's smile became even broader.
Suddenly the man felt a gentle hand under his arm. "What are you doing, lady?" the man asked angrily. "I said to leave me alone.
Just then a policeman came up. "Is there any problem, ma'am?" he asked...
"No problem here, officer," the woman answered. "I'm just trying to get this man to his feet. Will you help me?"
The officer scratched his head. "That's old Jack. He's been a fixture around here for a couple of years. What do you want with him?"
"See that cafeteria over there?" she asked. "I'm going to get him something to eat and get him out of the cold for a while.
"Are you crazy, lady?" the homeless man resisted. "I don't want to go in there!" Then he felt strong hands grab his other arm and lift him up.
"Let me go, officer. I didn't do anything."
"This is a good deal for y you, Jack," the officer answered. "Don't blow it." Finally, and with some difficulty, the woman and the police officer got Jack into the cafeteria and sat him at a table in a remote corner. It was the middle of the morning, so most of the breakfast crowd had already left and the lunch bunch had not yet arrived.
The manager strode across the cafeteria and stood by his table. "What's going on here, officer?" he asked. “What is all this, is this man in trouble?"
"This lady brought this man in here to be fed," the policeman answered.
"Not in here!" the manager replied angrily. "Having a person like that here is bad for business."
Old Jack smiled a toothless grin. "See, lady. I told you so. Now if you'll let me go... I didn't want to come here in the first place.
"The woman turned to the cafeteria manager and smiled. "Sir, are you familiar with Eddy and Associates, the banking firm down the street?"
"Of course I am," the manager answered impatiently. "They hold their weekly meetings in one of my banquet rooms."
"And do you make a lot amount of money providing food at these weekly meetings?"
"What business is that of yours?"
I, sir, am Penelope Eddy, president and CEO of the company."
"Oh."
The woman smiled again. "I thought that might make a difference."She glanced at the cop who was busy stifling a laugh. "Would you like to join us in a cup of coffee and a meal, officer?"
"No thanks, ma'am," the officer replied. "I'm on duty."
"Then perhaps a cup of coffee to go?"
"Yes, ma'am that would be very nice."
The cafeteria manager turned on his heel. "I'll get your coffee for you right away, officer."
The officer watched him walk away. "You certainly put him in his place," he said."That was not my intent... Believe it or not, I have a reason for all this."
She sat down at the table across from her amazed dinner guest. She stared at him intently.
"Jack, do you remember me?"
Old Jack searched her face with his old, rheumy eyes. "I think so -- I mean you do look familiar."
"I'm a little older perhaps," she said. "Maybe I've even filled out more than in my younger days when you worked here, and I came through that very door, cold and hungry."
"Ma'am?" the officer said questioningly. He couldn't believe that such a magnificently turned out woman could ever have been hungry.
"I was just out of college," the woman began. "I had come to the city looking for a job, but I couldn't find anything. Finally I was down to my last few cents and had been kicked out of my apartment. I walked the streets for days. It was February and I was cold and nearly starving... I saw this place and walked in on the off chance that I could get something to eat.
"Jack lit up with a smile.
"Now I remember," he said. "I was behind the serving counter. You came up and asked me if you could work for something to eat. I said that it was against company policy."
"I know," the woman continued. "Then you made me the biggest roast beef sandwich that I had ever seen, gav e me a cup of coffee, and told me to go over to a corner table and enjoy it. I was afraid that you would get into trouble. Then, when I looked over and saw you put the price of my food in the cash register, I knew then that everything would be all right."
"So you started your own business?" Old Jack said.
"I got a job that very afternoon. I worked my way up. Eventually I started my own business that, with the help of God, prospered." She opened her purse and pulled out a business card. "When you are finished here, I want you to pay a visit to a Mr. Lyons. He's the personnel director of my company. I'll go talk to him now and I'm certain he'll find something for you to do around the office."
She smiled. "I think he might even find the funds to give you a little advance so that you can buy some clothes and get a place to live until you get on your feet. If you ever need anything, my door is always open to you."
There were tears in the old man's eyes. "How can I ever thank you?" he asked.
"Don't thank me," the woman answered. "To God goes the glory. Thank Jesus... He led me to you."
Outside the cafeteria, the officer and the woman paused at the entrance before going their separate ways. "Thank you for all your help, officer," she said.
"On the contrary, Ms. Eddy," he answered. "Thank you. I saw a miracle today, something that I will never forget. And...And thank you for the coffee."
~Author unknown~
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called 'Monday Night At Morton's.' (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time. Ben Stein's Last Column...
How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?
As I begin to write this, I 'slug' it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is 'eonline FINAL,' and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again.
Beyond that, a bigger change has happened..? I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a 'star' we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails..
They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit , Iraq . He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world. A real star is the U.S. Soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad . He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him..
A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. Soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad . The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.
We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.
I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.
There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament..the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.
Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.
I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.
But, I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.
This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York . I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human. Faith is not believing that God can, it is knowing that God will.
By Ben Stein
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
A few months ago I watched a child for a friend of mine. He found some of Brandon's toys and began to have a great time. It got really good when he put on the Darth Vader voice changer mask and began singing in his southern accent. Watch this video, it is the cutest thing!!
GOD Bless You!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
This video touched my heart and made it smile. It brought forth tears of joy! I hope you will watch it in its entirety and be blessed. It is worth it!
GOD Bless you all!
Hello All, Grace and Peace be to you from our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
Most people go to the parks or ponds to feed the ducks, but not the Bragg family, the ducks came to us...EVERYDAY! It was so awesome, it was like we had pet ducks of our own. They would just show up at our home daily, and if we were not outside they would quack until we opened the door.
It was so awesome, our ducks did not get too scared when approached. At times they did, but not often. They thought they were part of the family. They even entered our home as if they were one of the kids. LOL!!! We would just feed them the bread as they came in. LOL! We set out a special bowl for their water and they loved that!
The female even laid an egg in our front lawn, but a huge bird came out of no where and hit the egg with its beak and broke it! I was so upset!! But I was honored she chose our home to lay her egg at anyway.
They have been gone now for a few weeks, but here are a few pictures of our 3 friendly ducks. Bye friends! I will miss you waddling around the neighborhood. :(
Brandon tossing bread to them.
Come on in and have dinner!
Standing at the front door surrounded by bread.
Leaving so soon, you forgot your food! LOL!
GOD's beautiful creation! I hope you come back again next year! OUCH!!!! Talk about rebuke!! We all need it sometimes!
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