There was once a couple who had been married for 60
years. Throughout their life they had shared everything. They loved each other deeply. They had not kept any secrets from one another, except
for a small shoebox that the wife kept in the top shelf of her closet.
When they got married, she put the box there and asked her husband never to look inside of it and never to ask questions about its contents. For 60 years the man honored his wife's request. In fact, he forgot about
the box until a day when his wife grew gravely ill, and the doctors were sure she had no way of recovering. So the man, putting his wife's
affairs into order, remembered that box in the top of her closet, got it down, and brought it to her at the hospital. He asked her if perhaps
now they might be able to open it. She agreed. They opened the box, and
inside were two crocheted dolls and a roll of money that totaled
$95,000. The man was astonished.

The woman told her husband that the day before they were married, her grandmother told her that if she and her husband were ever to get into an argument with one another, they should work hard to
reconcile, and if they were unable to reconcile, she should simply keep
her mouth shut and crochet a doll.

The man was touched by this, because
there were only two crocheted dolls in the box. He was amazed that over
60 years of marriage, they apparently had had only two conversations
that they were unable to reconcile. Tears came to his eyes, and he grew
even more deeply in love with this woman. Then he asked about the roll
of money.

"What's with this?" he asked.

His wife said, "Well, every time I crocheted a doll, I sold it to a local craft fair for five dollars."

One of the hard realities of life these days is that you just about can't take anyone at their word anymore. We sold a farm years ago in a rent to buy option, but required a nonrefundable deposit if the buyer failed to complete the sale. That deposit ended up being the only reason they bought the property, since we extended the contract once to give them time to get the cash up and they had too much money tied up in it at that point. The saying, "In God we trust, all others pay cash", sadly has a lot to back it.

Now, say you are a young Jewish virgin betrothed to be married and you have an angel show up telling you that you are going to become impregnated by God Himself. Just how many people would have said, "Thanks, but no thanks?" A pretty good amount I'd venture, especially knowing the potential for a REAL stoning if you were pregnant out of wedlock. What was it about Mary that let her tell Gabriel, "Let it be"?

The what? Faith. She had somehow been faithful and obedient in small things and found that God could be trusted. Before she birthed Jesus, she birthed a real faith and that led to another holy child - obedience.

What area of obedience do we need to give up to the Lord this Advent season? Where are we being called to release our trust and take a step of faith

LOVE AND HATE

Listen to this true story. Rabbi Michael Weisser lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. And for more than 3 years, Larry Trapp, a self-proclaimed Nazi & Ku Klux Klansman, directed a torrent of hate-filled mailings & phone calls toward him.
Trapp promoted white supremacy, anti-Semitism, & other messages of prejudice, declaring his
apartment the KKK state headquarters & himself the grand dragon. His whole purpose in life seemed to be to spew out hate-ridden racial slurs & obscene remarks against Weisser & all those like him.
At first, the Weissers were so afraid they locked their doors & worried themselves almost sick over the safety of their family. But one day Rabbi Weisser found out that Trapp was a 42-year-old clinically blind, double amputee. And he became convinced that Trapp’s own physical helplessness was a source of the bitterness he expressed.
So Rabbi Weisser decided to do the unexpected. He left a message on Trapp’s answering machine, telling him of another side of life…a life free of hatred & racism. Rabbi Weisser said, "I probably called
10 times & left messages before he finally picked up the phone & asked me why I was harassing him. I said that I’d like to help him. I offered him a ride to the grocery store or to the mall."
Trapp was stunned. Disarmed by the kindness & courtesy, he started thinking. He later admitted, through tears, that he heard in the rabbi’s voice, "something I hadn’t experienced in years. It was love."
Slowly the bitter man began to soften. One night he called the Weissers & said he wanted out, but didn’t know how. They grabbed a bucket of fried chicken & took him dinner. Before long they made a trade: in return for their love he gave them his swastika rings, hate tracts, & Klan robes.
That same day Trapp gave up his Ku Klux Klan recruiting job & dumped the rest of his propaganda in the
trash. "They showed me so much love that I couldn’t help but love them back," he finally confessed.
Folks, if that could happen in Lincoln, Nebraska, what could happen here in our community, in our neighborhoods, if we truly began to live lives that showed the love of Jesus to those around us?

Whatever your cross,
whatever your pain,
there will always be sunshine, after the rain....
Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall;
But God's always ready, to answer your call....
He knows every heartache, sees every tear,
a word from His lips, can calm every fear...
Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish, by dawn's early light...
The Savior is waiting, somewhere above,
to give you His grace, and send you His love. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN GOD SAYS NO?

     I heard a story recently about a young girl who wrote a letter to a missionary to let him know that her class had been praying for him.  But evidently she'd been told not to request a response to her letter because the missionaries were very busy.  So the missionary got a kick out of her letter.  It said, "Dear Mr. Missionary, we are praying for you.  But we are not expecting an answer."
     I can't help but think that that little girl summarized the prayer lives of many Christians. Sometimes we pray without expecting an answer, even though God has assured us that He does indeed hear our prayers.  David said, "I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications." (Psalm 116:1).  But I think many of us struggle with the nagging question, "Is God really listening to me?"   Yes, He heard David, He heard Elijah, and He heard the apostles.  But does He hear me?
     How do we really know that our prayers are answered?  Sure, there are times when we see visible results.  We may pray for someone who's sick and the next week they get well.  But more often, our prayers don't produce flashing "neon" answers.  We pray for help in financial problems, and we don't see things get any better.  We pray for guidance in making right decisions, but the decisions don't get any easier.  We pray for relationships with other people to improve, but they just seem to get worse. How do we as Christians account for that happening?  How do we explain the fact that so many of our prayers seem to go "unanswered"?
     The truth is, for a child of God there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer.  Maybe you've heard it said before that God answers prayer in three ways.  Sometimes the answer is "yes."  Sometimes the answer is "no."  And sometimes the answer is "wait a while."  It's easy to accept an answer of "yes," but what about when God says, "no"?
     Let me suggest three principles:
     First of all, we need to trust God enough to realize that our all-loving, all-powerful Father loves us and has our best interest at heart. So when it seems that God says "no" to our prayers, we must trust Him enough to understand that there must be a good reason for it.  It may be beyond our limited ability to understand, but we must simply trust God.
     Secondly, we must not forsake God.  Disappointment is a dangerous, powerful thing.  When we get the feeling that God isn't listening to us, that He has said "no" to some prayer, we have a tendency to feel disappointed in Him.  And Satan whispers to us, "God said He loves you, but He's not here."  And if we allow that disappointment to harbor in our hearts, it can drive a wedge between us and God.  We must continue to be faithful to our responsibility before God.
     And thirdly, we need to realize that the answer may not be "no," but only "wait a while."  God always answers our prayers immediately, but sometimes there's a delay in the giving of the answer and that can be a difficult thing for us to accept.  The ability to wait for an answer is one of the marks of maturity.  Be willing to let God answer in his own time, in his own way, and in his own power.
     Many people see God as a divine vending machine in which you deposit one prayer and out pops a blessing.  But what happens when you put your money in the Coke machine and nothing comes out?  You get angry, you kick the Coke machine.  So it's not surprising that such a view of God and prayer leads to disappointment when God says no.
     I believe that we need to foster an entirely different view of prayer from that one.  Our God is the Great God of the Universe, the Creator of all things that exist other than Himself.  For us to even venture to speak to Him is presumptuous.  For us to ask Him to pay attention to our requests and then hope for Him to meet them requires bold expectation.  In fact such would be arrogance if it were not for the simple fact that God tells us to do just that.
     Looking from the proper perspective, we will not ask "What happens when God says no?" but rather "What happens when God says yes?"  That the God of the heavens would listen to us and our needs is a great testimony to His great love for us.  And it is that love that will lead Him to say no from time to time.  At those times, we must trust Him knowing that he loves us and desires what is best for us.  We must never forsake Him nor our duty toward Him.  And we must realize that what we interpret to be an answer of "no" may just be God telling us to wait a while.
     "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." (I John 5:14)

Have a great day!
Alan Smith         www.TFTD-online.com
Boone Church of Christ  Boone, North Carolina

     Evangelism is not what we tell people, unless what we
tell is totally consistent with who we are.

It is who we are that is going to make the difference.

If we do not truly enjoy our faith, nobody is going to
catch the fire of enjoyment from us.

If our lives are not totally centered on Christ, we
will not be Christ-bearers for others, no matter how
pious our words.

SOURCE: Show and Tell, Citation: Madeleine L’Engle,
quoted in Christian Reader (May/June 1998, p. 50)

.Do you know anyone who you think is a bit over the top when it comes to their faith? Or does anyone think of us that way? Religious fanatic - zealot. Now, let's go back say, 150 years to 1852 and hear the words of an Anglican Bishop:

"I want to strike a blow to the lazy, easy, sleepy Christianity of these latter days which can see no beauty in zeal and only use the word "zealot" as a word of reproach." J. C. Ryle, 1852.

And for the Methodists among us, go back say another 100 years or so when John Wesley was castigated over his zeal and forbidden to even speak in an Anglican church, but his zeal took him to the town squares, mills, and fields. And beatings and threats could not silence his zeal.

Foxes Book of Martyrs testifies to the many saints who gave up their lives than to lose their zeal.

Now, go back to the story of Jesus' birth and His dedication. Think on Anna and how she lived her life - in prayer, fasting, and NEVER left the Temple courts, even though she couldn't even enter most of it being a woman. You just have to know many of those priests and scribes sneered at her for being a fanatic - though zealot meant something different back than with the Roman rule.

So, does anyone see us as being "too religious"? Has our faith ever even cost us anything? Or is the word "zealot" the farthest thing from what someone would think about us?

Just wondering....

If you want to live a long life then:

1. Do not ride in an automobile as 20 percent of all fatal accidents happen in
them.

2. Do not stay at home as 17% of all accidents happen there.

3. Do not walk around on the street as 14% of all accidents happen to
pedestrians.

4. Do not travel by air, rail, or water as these result in 6% of accidents.

And amazingly ONLY 0.0001% of all deaths happen at church, and almost all are
related to some pre-existing condition such as heart disease.

So, obviously, the safest place to be is at worship services. It might save your
life - not to mention your soul.

-- Author Unknown

Every time a boy went to his playmate's house, he saw the boy's grandmother studying her Bible. Finally, he asked his friend about it.

"Why is you Grandmother always reading that Bible?"

He answered, "I don’t know, but I think she is cramming for her finals."
Contributed by: Randy Aly

How Beautifull

Roger Kuhn

One of my favorite songs is Twila Paris', "How Beautiful". I can never hear it without tears in my eyes as I hear about how the Body ought be.

Friday at lunch, I went to get a hamburger for lunch. The parking lot was packed and cars were driving in and out with large boxes, not simply bags, full of burgers. I got in line and as I turned toward the checkout I heard those fateful words, "Sorry, Rick. We don't have any left." So, I pulled some twenties from my wallet and left them on the counter and left with tears welling in my eyes..

No, while the burgers were very good (from past experience), obviously, where I went to get that burger was not at one of my usual places to eat. It was a church and a beehive of activity. They had cooked 3,000 burgers over 5 grills and then packed them into bags with chips and napkins and whatever (since I did not actually get one). Some cooked. Some set up tables. Some packed the burgers into bags and others checked orders and packed the bags into the right boxes so that there would be the needed 20 bags for the right group.Some took the money and others had answered the phones and tabulated the lists, while others entered them into the computers and printed out the master lists.

And then there was one woman at the entrance to the church's Family Life Center who was just there with a smile on her face and gave everyone hugs who came in. We talked for a while and Vickie asked about Mary and the kids and told me that Bob had just left to go to chemotherapy - and now you know why these people had all come together - and how beautiful it was.

There were teachers, engineers, dentists, retirees, recreation department workers, realtors, public works people, textile mill workers, and even the unemployed and more there doing what they could in this effort.

There was a need to help someone - and the Body came together to meet it.

How beautiful and even a nonbeliever would think it beautiful - and wonder what was it that would have so many do so much for someone else - who was probably going to die anyway.

But, as I stood there I had to turn away or breakdown an just sob. And if someone watched the joy and love that filled these people, they might not be able to identify what it was that filled them - but they probably want to say, "I don't know what they have, but I do know I want it."

"And He gave some to be cooks, and some to be counters, and some to be baggers, and some to collect the money.....so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

How beautiful - indeed!

ONE WONDERS why Christians today get off so easily. Is it because unchristian Americans are that much better than unchristian Romans, or is our light so dim that the tormentor can't see it? What are the things we do that are worth persecuting?
Clarence Jordan, Sermon on the Mount

A boy told his father, "Dad, if three frogs were sitting on a limb that hung over a pool, and one frog decided to jump off into the pool, how many frogs would be left on the limb?"

The dad replied, "Two."

"No," the son replied.

"There are three frogs and one decides to jump, how many are left?"

The dad said, "Oh, I get it, if one decides to jump, the others would too. So there are none left."

The boy said, "No dad, the answer is three. The frog only DECIDED to jump."

Does that sound like last year’s resolution? Great inspiration and great resolutions, but often times we only decide, and months later we are still on the same limb of do-nothing.