The Story of Two
Wolves
The Dying Preacher
A Sioux Indian Story
The Last Laugh
We are Never Alone
Never Let Go
Two Pastors
A Well Known Radio Host
Do You Have The Time?
The Richest Man In The Valley
Take My Hand
Atheist and Christian Farmers
Lest I Make a Mistake
You Can't Please Everyone
A Son's Love
The Judge
Bar Owner and Church
Congregation
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil.
It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret,
greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt,
resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
“The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,
kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:
“Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Author Unknown
An old preacher was dying. He sent a message for his IRS agent and his lawyer,
both church members, to come to his home.
When they arrived, they were ushered up to his bedroom.
As they entered the room, the preacher held out his hands and
motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The preacher grasped their hands,
sighed contentedly, smiled and stared at the ceiling. For a time, no one said anything.
Both the IRS agent and the attorney were touched and flattered that the old preacher
would ask them to be with him during his final moment. They were also puzzled because
the preacher had never given any indication that he particularly liked either one of them.
Finally, the lawyer asked, "Preacher, why did you ask the two of us to come?"
The old preacher mustered up some strength, then said weakly,"Jesus died between two thieves, and that's how I want to go, too."
by Author Unknown
My grandfather took me to the fish pond on the farm when I was about seven, and he told me
to throw a stone into the water. He told me to watch the circles created by the stone.
Then he asked me to think of myself as that stone person.
"You may create lots of splashes in your life but the waves that come from those splashes
will disturb the peace of all your fellow creatures," he said.
"Remember that you are responsible for what you put in your circle and that circle will also
touch many other circles. You will need to live in a way that allows the good that comes from
your circle to send the peace of that goodness to others. The splash that comes from anger or
jealousy will send those feelings to other circles. You are responsible for both."
That was the first time I realized each person creates the inner peace or discord that flows
out into the world. We cannot create world peace if we are riddled with inner conflict, hatred,
doubt, or anger. We radiate the feelings and thoughts that we hold inside, whether we speak
them or not. Whatever is splashing around inside of us is spilling out into the world, creating
beauty or discord with all other circles of life.
Remember the eternal wisdom:
Whatever You Focus On Expands.
A bus carrying only ugly people crashes into an oncoming truck, and everyone inside dies. They then get to meet God and, because of the grief they have experienced, he decides to grant them one wish each, before they enter Paradise.
They're all lined up, and God asks the first one what the wish is. "I want to be gorgeous," and so God snaps His fingers, and it is done.
The second one in line hears this and says "I want to be gorgeous too."
Another snap of His fingers and the wish is granted.
This goes on for a while but when God is halfway down the line, the last guy in the line starts laughing. When there are only ten people left, this guy is rolling on the floor, laughing his head off. Finally, God reaches this guy and asks him what his wish will be.
The guy eventually calms down and says: "Make'em all ugly again".
NEXT TIME YOU'RE LAST IN LINE -- CONSIDER YOURSELF BLESSED!
We are never alone.
Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of
passage?
His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves
him
alone.
He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not sleep;
cannot remove the
blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.
He
cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night,
he is a
MAN.
He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each
lad must
come into manhood on his own.
The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises.
Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some
human might
do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his
stump,
but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be
the
only way he could become a man!
Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed
his
blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on
the
stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night,
protecting
his son from harm.
We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, our
Heavenly
Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When
trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.
Some years
ago, on a hot summer day in south Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim
in the old
swimming hole that was behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water,
he ran out the back
door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went.
He flew into
the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an
alligator was
swimming toward the shore.
In the house,
his mother was looking out the window. She saw the two as they got closer and
closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as
loudly as she could.
Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed, and made a U-turn to swim to
his mother. It was too late.
Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the mother
grabbed her little boy by the arms,
just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began a very incredible tug-of-war
between the two.
The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too
passionate to let go.
A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took
aim, and shot the alligator.
Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy Survived. His
legs were extremely scarred
by the vicious attack of the animal. On his arms, there were deep scratches
where his mother's fingernails
dug into his flesh; in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.
The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked the boy
if he would show him his scars.
The boy lifted his pant legs. Then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter,
"But look at my arms. I have great
scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Mom wouldn't let go."
You and I can identify with that little boy.
We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past.
Some of those scars are unsightly,
and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has
refused to let go.
In the midst of your struggle, He's been right there, holding on to you.
The Scripture teaches that God loves you.
You are a child of God. He wants to protect you, and provide for you in every
way. But, sometimes, we foolishly
wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole
of life is filled with peril ~
and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That is when the tug-of-war
begins.
If you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He will
not ever let you go.
Never judge other
persons scars, because you don't know how they got them.
Also, it is so important that we are not too selfish to receive the blessings of
these messages without
forwarding them to someone else.
Right now, someone needs to know that God loves them, and you love them too
~enough to not let them go!!!
God bless!
Two Pastors wives were visiting and sewing their husbands
pants.
One wife said: My husband is just beside himself, he does not
know what to do anymore and he is so tired and depressed he said
he is ready to just give up and resign.
The other wife said: I am sorry to hear that because my husband
has never been happier. Our membership is growing and we are
out of our financial burden, we have such a large and loving
congregation. Life could not be any better than it is right now.
(One woman was mending the seat of her husbands pants,
the other was mending the knees.)
Back in the 50's there was a well known radio host/comedian/song writer in
Hollywood named
Stuart Hamblen who was noted for his drinking, womanizing, partying, etc. One of
his bigger hits at the time was
"I won't go hunting with you Jake, but I'll go chasing women."
One day, along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblen had him on
his radio show
presumably to poke fun at him.
In order to gather more material for his show, Hamblen showed up at one of the
revival meetings.
Early in the service the preacher announced, "There is one man in this audience
who is a big fake."
There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblen was convinced
that he was the one the preacher
was talking about (some would call that conviction) but he was having none of
that.
Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights later he showed
up drunk at the preacher's
hotel door around 2AM demanding that the preacher pray for him!
But the preacher refused, saying, "This is between you and God and I'm not going
to get in the middle of it."
But he did invite Stuart in and they talked until about 5 AM at which point
Stuart dropped to his
knees and with tears , cried out to God.
But that is not the end of the story. Stuart quit drinking, quit chasing women,
quit everything that was 'fun.' Soon he began to lose favor with the Hollywood
crowd.
He was ultimately fired by the radio station when he refused to accept a beer
company as a sponsor.
Hard times were upon him. He tried writing a couple of "Christian" songs but the
only one that had
much success was "This Old House", written for his friend Rosemary Clooney.
As he continued to struggle, a long time friend named John took him aside and
told him,
"All your troubles started when you 'got religion,' was it worth it all?"
> Stuart answered simply, "Yes."
Then his friend asked, "You liked your booze so much, don't you ever miss it?"
And his answer was,
"No." John then said, "I don't understand how you could give it up so easily."
And Stuart's response was, "It's no big secret. All things are possible with
God."
To this John said, "! That's a catchy phrase. You should write a song about it."
And as they say, "The rest is history."
The song Carl Stuart Hamblen wrote was "It Is No Secret."
"It is no secret what God can do. What He's done for others, He'll do for you.
With arms wide open, He'll welcome you!
It is no secret, what God can do...."
By the way... the friend was John Wayne.
And the young preacher who refused to pray for Stuart Hamblen?
...That was Billy Graham.
I knelt to pray but not for long,
I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.
So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
And jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done
My soul could rest at ease.
All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer.
No time to speak of HIM to friends,
They’d laugh at me I’d fear.
No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time, the time to die.
I went before the YAHWEH, I came,
I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands HE held a book;
It was the book of life.
HE looked into his book and said
“Your name I cannot find.
I once was going to write it down . . .
But never found the time.”
A rich
landowner named Carl often rode around his vast estate so he could congratulate
himself on his great wealth.
One day, while riding around his estate on his favorite horse, he saw Hans, an
old tenant farmer. Hans was sitting
under a tree when Carl rode by.
Hans said, "I was just thanking God for my food."
Carl protested, "If that is all I had to eat, I wouldn't feel like giving thanks."
Hans replied, "God has given me everything I need, and I am thankful for it."
The old
farmer added, "It is strange you should come by today because I had a dream last
night.
In my dream a voice told me, 'The richest man in the valley will die tonight.' I
don't know what it means,
but I thought I ought to tell you."
Carl
snorted, "Dreams are nonsense," and galloped away, but he could not forget Hans'
words:
"The richest man in the valley will die tonight."
He was
obviously the richest man in the valley, so he invited his doctor to his house
that evening.
Carl told the doctor what Hans had said.
After a
thorough examination, the doctor told the wealthy landowner, "Carl, you are as
strong and healthy as a horse.
There is no way you are going to die tonight."
Nevertheless, for assurance, the doctor stayed with Carl, and they played cards
through the night.
The doctor left the next morning and Carl apologized for becoming so upset over
the old man's dream.
At about nine o'clock, a messenger arrived at Carl's door. "What is it?" Carl demanded.
The messenger explained, "It's about old Hans. He died last night in his sleep."
I cannot ease your aching heart,
Nor take your pain away,
But let me stay and take your hand
And walk with you today.
I'll listen when you need to talk,
I'll wipe away your tears,
I'll share your worries when they come,
I'll help you face your fears.
I'm here and I will stand by you,
Each hill you have to climb.
So take my hand, let's face the world --
Live one day at a time.
You're not alone, for I'm still here...
I'll go that extra mile,
And when your grief is easier,
I'll help you learn to smile!
...Author Unknown
Two men owned farms
side by side. One was a bitter atheist,
the other a devout Christian. Constantly annoyed at the Christian
for his trust in God, the atheist said to him one winter, “Let’s plant
our crops as usual this spring, each the same number of acres. You
pray to your God and I’ll curse him. Then come October, let’s just
see who has the bigger crop.”
When October came, the
atheist was delighted because his crop was large.
“See, you fool,” he taunted. “What do you have to say for your god now?”
“My God,” replied the other farmer, “doesn’t settle all his accounts in October.”
“For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,” Proverbs 24:16 NIV.
Many years
ago, I used to work in construction. On a construction site of which I was in
charge,
I made what to me was a whopping error and was scared to death to tell my boss.
Fortunately for me when
I did tell him, he simply said, “Dick, the man who never made a mistake never
made anything!”
What a
relief to know my “sin” was forgiven! Then we set about to correct the mistake.
I think it was
Robert Schuller who said, “A high jumper never knows how high he can jump until
he reaches his failure point.”
In fact, we
probably learn a lot more through our failures than we do through our successes.
The important thing when we fail, is that we need to get up, learn from our
mistakes, and go on to
achieve better things. As another has said, “Not failure, but low aim is a
crime.”
I appreciate the words of the poet who said:
“I would
rather stumble a thousand times
Attempting to reach a goal,
Than to sit in a crowd
In my weather-proof shroud,
A shriveled and self-satisfied soul.
I would rather be doing and daring
All of my error-filled days,
Than watching and waiting, and dying
Snug in my perfect ways.
I would rather wonder and blunder,
Stumbling blindly ahead,
Than for safety’s sake
Lest I make a mistake
Be sure, be safe, be dead.”
Suggested
prayer: “Dear God, help me to see your plan and purpose for my life, and with
your help,
make a total commitment to fulfilling it. Help me to learn from my
mistakes and never give up.
Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name,
amen.”
— author unknown
An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked.
As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.
Later, they passed some people that remarked, “What a shame, he makes that little boy walk.” They then decided they both would walk!
Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey.
Now they passed some people that cast there eyes on them and railed on them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey.
The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned. The moral of the story is if you try to please everyone, you might as well kiss your donkey good-bye.
— by author unknown
An old man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his potato garden
but it was very hard work as the ground was hard. His only son Fred, who
used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and
described his predicament.
Dear Fred,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my
potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a
garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you
would dig the plot for me. - Love, Dad
A few days later he received a letter from his son....
Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake, don't dig up that garden! That's where I buried the
BODIES. - Love, Fred
At 4 am the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up
the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man
and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. That's the best I could do under the
circumstances. - Love, Fred
Have you heard about this case? Great answer from the judge!
In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the preparation of Easter
and Passover holidays. He decided to contact his lawyer about the
discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant celebrations
afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while atheists had no
holiday to celebrate.
The case was brought before a wise judge. After listening to the long
passionate presentation by the lawyer, the Judge banged his gavel and
declared "Case dismissed!"
The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, "Your
honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have
Christmas, Easter and many other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom
Kippur and Hanukkah... yet my client and all other atheists have no
such holiday!"
The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said, "Obviously your
client is too confused to even know about, much less celebrate his own
atheists' holiday!"
The lawyer pompously said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any such
holiday for atheists. Just when might that holiday be, your Honor?"
The judge said, "Well it comes every year on exactly the same
date---April 1st! Since our calendar sets April 1st as 'April Fools Day,'
consider
that Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.'
Thus, in my opinion, if your client says there is no God, then by
scripture he is a fool, thus April 1st is his holiday! Get it?"
PRAY THAT SOME DAY OUR COURTS WILL BE FULL OF THESE KIND OF JUDGES......
MAYBE THEN, WE CAN PUT GOD BACK WHERE HE BELONGS --- IN EVERYTHING WE
DO...
Way to go, Judge!
Bar Owner and Church Congregation
In a small mid-western conservative town, a new bar started building to open up their business. The local Baptist church started a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers.
Work progressed, however right up till the week before opening, when a lightning strike hit the bar, and it burned to the ground.
The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means.
The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise in its reply to the court.
As the case made it's way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented, "I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that doesn't."
