A Cup of Tea

ONLY A MOTHER WOULD KNOW...

~A Cup of Tea ~

One day my mother was out, and my dad was in charge of me. 

I was maybe 2 1/2 years old. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift, and it was one of my favorite toys. 

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought him a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my mom came home. 

My dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' Mom waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy; and she watched him drink it up. 

Then she said, (as only a mother would know), "'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is .......

LEARN TO BE GRATEFUL

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I would marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life Is a Gift

Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still around.

The Grocery List

Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store..

She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries..

She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.

John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once.

Visualizing the family needs, she said: 'Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.'

John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.

Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family. The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, 'Do you have a grocery list?'

Louise replied, 'Yes sir.' 'O.K' he said, 'put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.'

Louise hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.

The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down..

The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, 'I can't believe it.'

The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.

The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.

It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said:

'Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands.'

The grocer gave her the groceries that he had
gathered and stood in stunned silence.

Louise thanked him and left the store. The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said; 'It was worth every penny of it. Only God Knows how much a prayer weighs.'

The Little White Cross

This is something most of us haven't thought about. So many on the far left are doing everything possible to rid our nation of any sign of God or Jesus, his death and resurrection. But it is in more places than most of us even think about.

Read/see this.    
When driving to, from, and through Frankenmuth , Michigan , I'm always intrigued with the many small simple crosses in the front yards of the homes we pass by.  Those crosses are a statement of support for Frankenmuth's Christian foundation.

Two years ago an atheist living there complained about two crosses on a bridge in town.  He requested that they be removed and the town removed them. He then decided that, since he was so successful with that, the city shield should also be changed since it had on it, along with other symbols, a heart with a cross inside signifying the city's Lutheran beginnings.

At that point, the residents decided they had had enough.  Hundreds of residents made their opinions known by placing small crosses in their front yards. Seeing this quiet but powerful statement from the community, the man removed his complaint. Those simple  crosses remain in those front yards today.

After passing those crosses for two years, it finally hit me that a small cross in millions of front yards across our country could provide a powerful and inspiring message for all Americans passing them every day. I think it might be time to take this idea across America .

We have an administration that says "we are not a Christian nation" and everywhere you look the ACLU and others are trying to remove from our history and current lives any reference to God, prayer, or the fact that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Our administration can't bring themselves to talk about "radical Muslims or Islamic terrorists" for fear of offending them, but they can talk about Americans "clinging to their guns and their religion", or insinuate that our own military troops coming home from service overseas might turn into terrorists. The majority of Americans are Christians, why are we letting this happen to us?

It's time to stand up and make a statement, a small, quiet, but powerful statement. If you agree, place a small white cross in your front yard or garden for all to see that they are not alone. It would be a beautiful thing to see crosses all across America .

God has richly blessed America but America is falling short of returning thanks for it...we can help to change that.

The Sack Lunches

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap', I  thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down  the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.

'Where are you  headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.
'Petawawa.  We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan .'

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time...

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask  his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five  bucks.  I'll wait till we get to base.'

His friend agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were  buying lunch I walked to the back of the plane and handed the  flight attendant a fifty  dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in   Iraq ; it's almost like you are doing it for  him.'

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where  the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which  do you like best - beef or chicken?'
'Chicken,' I replied,  wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane,  returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class.  

'This is your thanks...'

After we finished eating, I  went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest  room..  A man stopped me. 'I saw  what you did.. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand and said, 'I  want to shake your hand.' Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood  and took the Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a  soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch.  It was an act of kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my  palm.

When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip  to the base.  I walked over to them  and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base... It will be about time for a sandwich.  God Bless You.'

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers.

As I walked briskly to my  car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of  meals. It seemed so little...

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America 'for an amount of up to and including my life.'

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.

Please send this on after a short prayer.. Prayer for our soldiers.

Prayer:
'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'

A German's View on Religion

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history; it is the fanatics who march...it is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers..

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across Southeast Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.

Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts--the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Drive-Up Service

Earlier this year, an Oregon man was driving his pickup truck down the street when he saw smoke billowing from the hood. His truck was on fire. There was no time to call 911, so the man pressed the gas pedal and drove straight to the McMinnville fire station. Flames were licking around the engine, but the firefighters quickly put it out. They've been joking ever since about their "new drive-up service."

Grace is God's drive-up service that helps us when life catches fire. We need it constantly, which is why the apostle Paul opened and closed so many of his letters with words like: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." He told Timothy to "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:1). The writer of Hebrews bids us to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Grace is a word that conveys all that God does for us and gives to us through Jesus. It is God's Riches at Christ's Expense. It's the best remedy for an overheated life.

Between here and heaven, every minute that the Christian lives will be a minute of grace.
Charles Spurgeon

Sparrow At Starbucks

The song that silenced the cappuccino machine.

 It was chilly in Manhattan but warm inside the Starbucks shop on 51st Street and Broadway, just a skip up from Times Square .  Early November weather in New York City holds only the slightest hint of the bitter chill of late December and January, but it's enough to send the masses crowding indoors to vie for available space and warmth.  For a musician, it's the most lucrative Starbucks location in the world, I'm told, and consequently, the tips can be substantial if you play your tunes right. 

 Apparently, we were striking all the right chords that night, because our basket was almost overflowing.  It was a fun, low-pressure gig - I was playing keyboard and singing backup for my friend who also added rhythm with an arsenal of percussion instruments.  We mostly did pop songs from the '40s to the '90s with a few original tunes thrown in.  During our emotional rendition of the classic, "If You Don't Know Me by Now," I noticed a lady sitting in one of the lounge chairs across from me.  She was swaying to the beat and singing along. 

 After the tune was over, she approached me.  "I apologize for singing along on that song.  Did it bother you?" she asked. 

 "No," I replied.  "We love it when the audience joins in.  Would you like to sing up front on the next selection?" To my delight, she accepted my invitation.  "You choose," I said.  "What are you in the mood to sing?"

 "Well.  ...  do you know any hymns?" Hymns?  This woman didn't know who she was dealing with.  I cut my teeth on hymns.  Before I was even born, I was going to church.  I gave our guest singer a knowing look.  "Name one."

 "Oh, I don't know.  There are so many good ones.  You pick one."

"Okay," I replied.  "How about 'His Eye is on the Sparrow'?"

 My new friend was silent, her eyes averted.  Then she fixed her eyes on mine again and said, "Yeah.  Let's do that one." She slowly nodded her head, put down her purse, straightened her jacket and faced the center of the shop.  With my two-bar setup, she began to sing,

"Why should I be discouraged?  Why should the shadows come?"

 The audience of coffee drinkers was transfixed.  Even the gurgling noises of the cappuccino machine ceased as the employees stopped what they were doing to listen.  The song rose to its conclusion. 

 "I sing because I'm happy;

I sing because I'm free. 

For His eye is on the sparrow

And I know He watches me."

 When the last note was sung, the applause crescendoed to a deafening roar that would have rivaled a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall.  Embarrassed, the woman tried to shout over the din, "Oh, y'all go back to your coffee!  I didn't come in here to do a concert!  I just came in here to get somethin' to drink, just like you!"

 But the ovation continued..  I embraced my new friend.  "You, my dear, have made my whole year!  That was beautiful!"

 "Well, it's funny that you picked that particular hymn," she said. 

"Why is that?"

"Well .  .." she hesitated again, "that was my daughter's favorite song."

"Really!" I exclaimed. 

 "Yes," she said, and then grabbed my hands.  By this time, the applause had subsided and it was business as usual..  "She was 16.  She died of a brain tumor last week."

 I said the first thing that found its way through my stunned silence.  "Are you going to be okay?"

She smiled through tear-filled eyes and squeezed my hands.  "I'm gonna be okay.  I've just got to keep trusting the Lord and singing his songs, and everything's gonna be just fine." She picked up her bag, gave me her card, and then she was gone.

 Was it just a coincidence that we happened to be singing in that particular coffee shop on that particular November night?  Coincidence that this wonderful lady just happened to walk into that particular shop?  Coincidence that of all the hymns to choose from, I just happened to pick the very hymn that was the favorite of her daughter, who had died just the week before?  I refuse to believe it.  God has been arranging encounters in human history since the beginning of time, and it's no stretch for me to imagine that he could reach into a coffee shop in midtown Manhattan and turn an ordinary gig into a revival.  It was a great reminder that if we keep trusting him and singing his songs, everything's gonna be okay. 

Jesus is

Honk if you Love Jesus

God Does Care

In last week’s devotional, I told you about the three levels of faith Jesus talks about. The first of these levels is found in Mark 4:37-40,

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

The first level of faith that Jesus speaks about is no faith. No faith believes God does not care. It is typified by the disciples who woke Jesus in the midst of the storm and said, “Lord, don’t You care that we’re perishing?”

Perhaps you are in a storm today; and, to you, it seems like God is asleep and that He doesn’t even care. That He is aloof, disinterested, and disconnected from you. That you are going through hell and He doesn’t care.

Do not believe that lie. If you buy into the lie that God does not care, it robs you of faith. And you cannot get any lower than that.

Do not believe the lie that God is detached and unconcerned. Don’t think, “If God cares about me, why would this have happened? Why am I going through this storm? Why is this happening in my life? God doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t even know my name.”

My friend, God does care. He is not going to let you perish. He is interested in even the smallest details of your life.

1 Peter 5:7 says, He cares for you!

Preparation for Memorial Day

Keep it moving, please, even if you've seen it before.

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician, Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN who salutes the Flag,

It is the VETERAN who serves under the Flag,

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

I'd be EXTREMELY proud if this email reached as many as possible. We can be very
proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.

God Bless them all!!!

Makes you proud to be an AMERICAN!!!!