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A TRUE FRIEND
Miraculously, he managed to reach his friend, hoist him onto his shoulder, and bring him back to their company's trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, then looked kindly at his friend. "I told you it wouldn't be worth it." he said. "Your friend is dead, and you are mortally wounded." It was worth it, though, sir." the soldier said. "How do you mean, 'worth it'?" responded the Lieutenant. "Your friend is dead!" "Yes, sir," the private answered. "But it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say, 'Jim, I knew you'd come.'" Many times in life, whether a thing is worth doing or not really
depends on how you look at it. Take up all your courage and do something
your heart tells you to do so that you may not regret not doing it
later in life.
FORECASTS THAT WERE WRONG
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957 "But what is it good for?" Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip. "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. " Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." Western Union internal memo, 1876. "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s. "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp. "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind." "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." Response to Debbie Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies. "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895. "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground and try and find oil? You're crazy." Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859. "The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." Admiral William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project. "This fellow, Charles Lindbergh, will never make it. He's doomed." Harry Guggenheim, millionaire aviation enthusiast. "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929. "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre. "Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." Dr. Lee De Forest, inventor of the vacuum tube and father of television. "Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles
H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
GOD'S ANSWERS...
You say: "It's impossible" You say: "I'm too tired" You say: ""Nobody really loves me"" You say: "I can't go on" You say: "I can't figure things out" You say: "I can't do it" You say: "I'm not able" You: say: "It's not worth it" You say: "I can't forgive myself"
You say: "I'm afraid" You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated" You say: "I don't have enough faith" You say: "I'm not smart enough" You say: "I feel all alone"
GOD'S EMBROIDERY
I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my View. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother's voice say, "Son, come and sit on my knee." This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then Mother would say to me, "My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing." Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father
and said, "Father, what are You doing?" He has answered,
"I am embroidering your life." I say, "But it looks
like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark."
The Father seems to tell me, "'My child, you go about your business
of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put
you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side."
IT TAKES TWO
Everything was going along fine until the lad put his head around the side of the organ and whispered, "We are doing pretty good, aren't we?" "What do you mean by 'we'?" objected the organist. A few minutes later, in the midst of a beautiful strain, the organ suddenly stopped giving out any music. Desperately the organist tried all the stops. No use. Then again he saw the head of the boy bob around the corner, a broad
smile on his face. He said, "Now do you know who I mean by 'we'?"
Jesus through out the Bible In Genesis, He's the breath of life · In Exodus, the Passover lamb · In Leviticus, He's our high priest · Numbers, the fire by night · Deuteronomy, He's Moses' voice · In Joshua, He is salvations choice · · Judges, Lawgiver · In Ruth the kinsmen's redeemer · First and Second Samuel, our trusted Prophet · In Kings and Chronicles, He's Sovereign · Ezra, The true and faithful scribe · Nehemiah, He's the rebuilder of broken walls and lives · · In Esther , He's Mordecai's courage · In Job, the
·· He is He is He is ·· · In Isaiah, He's The Prince of Peace · Jeremiah, The
weeping prophet · In Lamentations, the cry for Israel ·
In Ezekiel, He's the call from sin · In Daniel, the stranger
in the fire · In · In Joel, He's the spirits power · In Amos the arms that carry us · In Obadiah, he's the lord our savior · In Jonah, He is the great missionary · In Micah, the promise of peace · In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield · In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, · He is pleading for revival · In Haggai, he restores a lost heritage · In Zechariah, our fountain · In Malachi, He is the Sun of Righteousness · Rising with healing in his wings · · He is He is He Is · In Mathew , Mark, Luke and John, He is God, Man, Messiah ·
In the book of Acts, He is the fire from heaven · In Romans,
He's the grace of God · In Corinthians, the power of love ·
In · Ephesians, our glorious treasure · Philippians,
the · In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant · In James, the one who heals the sick · In first and second Peter, He is our Shepard · In John and in Jude, He's the lover · Coming for his bride · In the Revelation, He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords · He is He is He is · The Prince of Peace · The Son of Man · The Lamb of
God · The Great I Am · He's The Alpha and Omega ·
Our God and Our Savior · He is Jesus Christ the Lord ·
He is the Everlasting · He Is He Is ·
LITTLE THINGS...
THE LAST SUPPER
Finally, after weeks of laborious search, a young man nineteen years of age, was selected as a model for the portrayal of Christ. For six months DaVinci worked on the production of this leading character of his famous painting. During the next six years DaVinci continued his labors on this sublime work of art. One by one fitting persons were chosen to represent each of the eleven Apostles; space being left for the painting of the figure representing Judas Iscariot as the final task of this masterpiece. This was the Apostle, you remember, who betrayed his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, worth in our present day currency $16.96. For weeks Da Vinci searched for a man with a hard, callous face, with a countenance marked by scars of avarice, deceit, hypocrisy, and crime; a face that would delineate a character who would betray his best friend. After many discouraging experiences in searching for the type of person required to represent Judas, word came to Da Vinci that a man whose appearance fully met his requirements had been found in a dungeon in Rome, sentenced to die for a life of crime and murder. Da Vinci made the trip to Rome at once, and this man was brought out from his imprisonment in the dungeon and led out into the light of the sun. There DaVinci saw before him a dark, swarthy man; his long shaggy and unkempt hair sprawled over his face, which betrayed a character of viciousness and complete ruin. At last the famous painter had found the person he wanted to represent the character of Judas in his painting. By special permission from the king, this prisoner was carried to Milan where the picture was being painted. For months he sat before Da Vinci at appointed hours each day as the gifted artist diligently continued his task of transmitting, to his painting, this base character representing the traitor and betrayer of our Savior. As he finished his last stroke, he turned to the guards and said, "I have finished. You may take the prisoner away." As the guards were leading their prisoner away, he suddenly broke loose from their control and rushed up to Da Vinci, crying as he did so, "O, Da Vinci, look at me! Do you not know who I am?" Da Vinci, with the trained eyes of a great character student, carefully scrutinized the man upon whose face he had constantly gazed for six months and replied, "No, I have never seen you in my life until you were brought before me out of the dungeon in Rome." Then, lifting his eyes toward heaven, the prisoner said, "Oh, God, have I fallen so low?" Then turning his face to the painter he cried, "Leonardo DaVinci! Look at me again for I am the same man you painted just seven years ago as the figure of Christ." This is the true story of the painting of The Last Supper. It teaches so strongly the lesson of the effects of right or wrong thinking on the life of an individual. Here was a young man whose character was so pure, unspoiled by the sins of the world, that he represented a countenance of innocence and beauty fit to be used for the painting of a representation of Christ. But within seven years, following the thoughts of sin and a life of crime, he was changed into a perfect picture of the most traitorous character ever known in the history of the world.
This is an excerpt of an e-mail to Ray Comfort from an atheist. "You are really convinced that you've got all the answers. You've
really got yourself tricked into believing that you're 100% right.
Well, let me tell you just one thing. Do you consider yourself to
be compassionate of other humans? If you're right, as you say you
are, and you believe that, then how can you sleep at night? When you
speak with me, you are speaking with someone who you believe is walking
directly into If you believed one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unchangeable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness. That's equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing. You're just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that 'walk' signal will shine your way across the road. Think about it. Imagine the horrors Hell must have in store if the Bible is true. You're just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself? If you're right then you're an uncaring, unemotional and purely selfish (expletive) that has no right to talk about subjects such as love and caring." www.raycomfort.com
THREE TREES
After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said,"This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter." and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest. At the second tree a woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship. When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsman said, "I don't need anything special from my tree so I'll take this one" and he cut it down. When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one day, a man and women came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time. Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said "peace" and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of kings in it's boat. Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it. The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that
His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.
Children's quotes Attending a wedding for the first time, a little
girl whispered to her mother, "Why is the bride dressed in white?"
An elderly woman died last month. Having never married,
she requested no male pallbearers. In her handwritten instructions
for her memorial service, she wrote, "They wouldn't take me out
while. I was alive, I don't want them to take me out when I'm dead.
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