20 Dec 09 Heaven’s Grocery Store
I was walking down life’s highway a long time ago.
One day I saw a sign that read, "Heaven’s Grocery Store".
As I got a little closer the door came open wide,
And when I came to myself I was standing inside.
I saw a host of Angels, they were standing everywhere.
One handed me a basket and said "My Child shop with care."
Everything a Christian needs is in that grocery store,
And all you can’t carry, come back the next day for more.
First, I got some Patience, Love was in the same row.
Further down was Understanding, needed everywhere you go.
I got a box or two of Wisdom, a bag or two of Faith,
I just couldn’t miss the Holy Ghost, it was all over the place.
I stopped to get some Strength and Courage to help me run this race,
But then my blanket was getting full, and I remembered I needed Grace.
I didn’t forget Salvation, which like the others was free,
So I tried to get enough of that to save both you and me.
Then I started to the counter to pay my grocery bill,
For I thought I had everything to do my Master’s will.
As I went up the aisle, I saw Prayer and had to put it in,
For I knew when I stepped outside, I would run right into sin.
Peace and Joy were plentiful, they were on the last shelf.
Song and Praises were hanging near, so I just helped myself.
Then I said to the Angel, "How much do I owe"?
The Angel smiled and said, "Just take them everywhere you go."
Again, I politely asked "How much do I really owe?"
The Angel smiled again and said,
"My Child, Jesus Paid Your Bill A Long Time Ago."
— 1990 Ron DeMarco & Friend
28 Oct 09 The Teacup
There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup.They said, “May we see that? We’ve never seen one quite so beautiful.”
As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.
“You don’t understand,” it said. “I haven’t always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, ‘let me alone, but he only smiled, ‘Not yet.’
“Then I was placed on a spinning wheel,” the teacup said, “and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I’m getting dizzy! I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, ‘Not yet.’
Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook His head, ‘Not yet.’
Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. ‘There, that’s better,’ I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ‘Stop it, stop it!’ I cried. He only nodded, ‘Not yet.’
Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, ‘Not yet.’
Then I knew there wasn’t any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, ‘Look at yourself.
And I did. I said, ‘That’s not me; that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful.’ ‘I want you to remember, then,’ he said, ‘I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot an disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life. And if I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.
Tags: Master, master piece, moulding a maserpiece, teacup
08 Oct 09 A maturity checkup
1. A mature person does not take himself too seriously — his job, yes.
2. A mature person keeps himself alert in mind.
3. A mature person does not always “view with alarm” every adverse situation that arises.
4. A mature person is too big to be little.
5. A mature person has faith in himself which becomes stonger as it is fortified by his faith in God.
6. A mature person never feels too great to do little things and never too proud to do the humble things.
7. A mature person never accepts either success or failure in themselves as permanent.
8. A mature person never accepts any one of his moods as permanent.
9. A mature person is one who is able to control his impulses.
10. A mature person is not afraid to make mistakes.
Tags: A maturity checkup
30 Sep 09 A lost friendship
My dearest and oldest friend,
You have put our friendship to an end.
It is you that I depended on,
In your bad times, I’ve helped you,
For you I emptied what I have and suffered for it.
I thought my friendship grew.
I believed you, but you could not hold your tongue.
You broke my trust, I’m mixed along with the dust.
When I am hurt, I told you how it saddened me,
just so that you could understand, but you silenced me.
For that, I’ve lost something great.
You have closed the friendship’s gate.
When we meet each other, we ignore.
For each other, we don’t exist anymore.
Friends may fail you and betrayed but Jesus will never fail you.
Listen to and read the lyric of this famous hymn:
What a friend we have in Jesus
Tags: Betrayed, friends, Friendship
24 Sep 09 Why ants survive microwave ovens?
We were talking about microwave during lunch yesterday. My colleagues gave all kind of explanation for the reason why ants do not get ‘nuked’ in a miccrowave over. One of my colleague went to the extent of explaining that ants do not have water molecules in them that is why they are ‘microwave safe’ since microwave works only if there are water molecules.
I decided to research on the scientific reasons why ants do not get toasted in microwave oven and I found this answer given below:
A microwave oven emits a form of energy called ‘standing waves”. That is to say that evenly spaced, stationary waves of energy bombard the turntable (or plate) in a vertical fashion so that only specific areas of the turntable are struck by the waves. Everything inside the microwave is not necessarily exposed to the waves, especially when the turntable is motionless. This is why you notice that certain portions of your food are well heated while others remain cold whenever the turntable is not moving. The sole purpose of the moving turntable is to ensure that all areas of the food pass through the stationary ‘standing waves”. Increasing the intensity of the microwave oven doesn’t turn up the
heat, it activates more ‘standing waves” in a given area of space.
The physical size of an object has little to do with its susceptibility to microwave generated heat. In fact, chemists use
microwave technology to heat sub-micron particles. The ant’s size only comes into play because he is able to navigate between the ‘standing waves’ by sensing the areas where there is high volume heat and low volume heat. You can visualize the patterns of low heat v. high heat by filling a paper plate with marshmallows and putting them in the
oven with the turntable turned off. After a few seconds you will see a pattern of melt or blistering on the marshmallows that are exposed while the others seem unaffected. Additionally, the intensity of the waves is greater in some areas than in others. You can see this by putting a pat of butter on the surface of the turntable and another on the bottom of an overturned paper cup. The one on the cup will melt long before the one on the turntable, because the wave intensity is lower near the bottom and sides of the oven than it is at various points elevated just above the turntable (where food heaped on a is plate usually located).
A single ant, or even a few ants, can simply walk around between the waves of energy, making their way from one safe area to the next, and avoid getting nuked. If, on the other hand, you put a thousand ants in your microwave and agitate them so that they are running around in a panic, you will, without a doubt, see many of them turned to toast.
Tags: ants, microwave, standing energy
22 Sep 09 Emergency Telephone Number
Emergency Telephone Numbers
These are more effective than 911
When -
- You are sad, phone John 14
- You have sinned, phone Psalm 51
- You are facing danger, phone Psalm 91
- People have failed you, phone Psalm 27
- It feels as though God is far from you, phone Psalm 139
- Your faith needs stimulation, phone Hebrews 11
- You are alone and scared, phone Psalm 23
- You are worried, phone Matthew 8:19-34
- You are hurt and critical, phone 1 Corinthians 13
- You wonder about Christianity, phone 2 Corinthians 5:15-18
- You feel like an outcast, phone Romans 8:31-39
- You are seeking peace, phone Matthew 11:25-30
- It feels as if the world is b igger than God, phone Psalm 90
- You need Christ like insurance, phone Romans 8:1-30
- You are leaving home for a trip , phone Psalm 121
- You are praying for yourself, phone Psalm 87
- You require courage for a task, phone Joshua 1
- Inflation’s and investments are hogging your thoughts, phone Mark 10:17-31
- You are depressive, phone Psalm 27
- Your bank account is empty, phone Psalm 37
- You lose faith in mankind, phone 1 Corinthians 13
- It looks like people are unfriendly, phone John 15
- You are losing hope, phone Psalm 126
- You feel the world is small comp ared to you, phone Psalm 19
- You want to carry fruit, phone John 15
- Paul’s secret for happiness, phone Colossians 3:12-17
- With big opportunity/ discovery, phone Isaiah 55
- To get along with other people, phone Romans 12
ALTERNATE NUMBERS
- For dealing with fear, call Psalm 47
- For security, call Psalm 121:3
- For assurance, call Mark 8:35
- For reassurance, call Psalm 145:18
ALL THESE NUMBERS MAY BE PHONED DIRECTLY.
NO OPERATOR ASSISTANCE IS NECESSARY.
ALL LINES TO HEAVEN ARE AVAILABLE 24 HOURS A DAY.
FEED YOUR FAITH, AND DOUBT WILL STARVE TO DEATH
Tags: bible verses for different needs, Emergency numbers
30 Aug 09 From the mouth of babes
It was a blistering hot day, the house was full of guests, and things weren’t going well. Finally, the hostess got everyone seated for dinner and asked her seven-year-old daughter to say grace.
“But mother,” said the little girl, “I don’t know what to say” “Yes you do,” said her mother, “Just say the last prayer you heard me use.”
Obediently, the child bowed her head and recited hesitantly: “Oh, Lord, why did I invite these people on such a hot day?”
Tags: From the mouth of babes, Grace, Prayer
29 Aug 09 A Surrendered Life
General William Booth of the Salvation Army once said, “The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender”
Indeed the mark of a spiritual life is the submissive, surrendered life, and the surrendered life is the powerful, blessed life.
Tags: General William Booth, Salvation Army, surrendered life
23 Jul 09 Change your behaviour or change your name
Several centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great came out of Macedonia and Greece to conquer the Mediterranean world. He didn`t know it, but God was using him to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah – for it was as a result of Alexander`s conquests that Greek was established as the lingua france (common language) of the Grecian and later even Roman Empire.
On one of his campaigns, Alexander received a message that one of his soldiers had been continually, and seriously, misbehaving and thereby shedding a bad light on the character of all the Greek troops. And what made it even worse was that this soldier`s name was also Alexander. When the commander learned this, he sent word that he wanted to talk to the errant soldier in person. When the young man arrived at the tent of Alexander the Great, the commander asked him, “What is your name?” The reply came back, “Alexander, sir”. The commander looked him straight in the eye and said forcefully, “soldier, either change your behaviour or change your name.”
This story has a lesson for each of us. When we call ourselves Christians, we are identifying with Jesus Christ. Is your behaviour compatible with that Name?
Tags: Jesus Christ, name, Testimony
22 Jul 09 Was Michael Jackson happy?
Was Michael Jackson happy when he was alive? He had all the popularity of a great celebrity. He had large followers of fans. He had lots money (at least before he lost them). He lived is a big mansion. But he could not sleep. Why couldn’t he sleep? Perhaps he had no peace. Was he happy? He was trying so hard to please so many people.
Can you find happiness on earth? Where can you find happiness?
• Not in unbelief — Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born.”
• Not in pleasure — Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure, if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker and the grief are mine alone.”
• Not in money — Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”
• Not in possession and fame — Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: “Youth is a mistake, manhood a struggle, old age regret.”
• Not in military glory — Alexander the Great conquered the known world of his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent, because, as he said: “There are no more worlds to conquer.”
Where, then is happiness found?
The answer is simple: “In Christ alone.” He said: “I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” (John 16:22)
Where can we find great JOY? The secret is found in the acronym J.O.Y.
To have joy you must put Jesus first, Others next and then Yourself last.
That’s right! Put Jesus on top of everything else. Put Jesus as your motive for doing anything. Put the needs of other people first before looking at your own needs. If you follow this formula you will find true happiness.
