8/8/06 EXTRA EDITION OF STORIES, HUMOR, POEMS AND MUSIC
Posted by: jhbreneman <jhbreneman@...>
ENCOURAGEMENT TO WOMEN
Compiled especially for you with love by Lois Breneman
GREEN GARDEN SNAKES
THE ANT AND THE CONTACT LENS
TAKING A CENTIPEDE TO CHURCH
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WONDERFUL CHRISTIAN MUSIC FOR CHILDREN
SOME FAVORITE KIDS' QUOTES FROM GRANDKIDS
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Author Unknown ~ Thanks to Annamarie Kresge in Virginia for sending this moving story!
Beth Moore was sitting at an airport terminal waiting to board a plane. She was sitting there with several other people whom she did not know who were also waiting.
As she waited, she pulled out her Bible and started to read. All of a sudden, she felt as if the people sitting there around her were looking at her. She looked up but realized that they were looking just over her head, in the direction right behind her.
She turned to see what everyone was looking at and when she did, she saw a flight attendant pushing a wheelchair with the ugliest old man sitting in it. It was the ugliest man she ever saw. He had this long white hair that was all tangled and such a mess. His face was really wrinkled, and he didn't look friendly at all.
She didn't know why, but she felt drawn to the man and thought at first that God wanted her to witness to him. In her mind she said she was thinking, "Oh God, please not now, not here,"
No matter what she did, she couldn't get the man off her mind, and all of a sudden she knew what God wanted her to do. She was supposed to brush this man's hair.
She went and knelt down in front of the old man and said, "Sir, may I have the honor of brushing your hair for you?" He said "What?" She thought , "Oh great! He's hard of hearing."
Again, a little louder she said, "Sir, May I have the honor of brushing your hair for you?" He answered, "If you are going to talk to me, you are going to have to speak up; I am practically deaf."
So this time, she was almost yelling, "Sir, May I please have the honor of brushing your hair for you?" Everyone was watching to see what his response would be.
The old man just looked at her confused and said, "Well, I guess if you really want too." She said, "I don't even have a brush, but thought I would ask anyway." He said, "Look in the bag hanging on the back of my chair, there is a brush in there,"
So she got the brush out and started brushing his hair. (She has a little girl with long hair, so she has lots of practice getting tangles out and knew how to be gentle with him.) She worked for a long time, until every last tangle was out.
Just as she was finishing up, she heard the old man crying. She went and put her hands on his knees, kneeling in front of him again looking directly into his eyes and said, "Sir, do you know Jesus?" He answered, "Yes, of course I know Jesus. You see, my bride told me she couldn't marry me unless I knew Jesus, so I learned all about Jesus, and asked Him to come into my heart many years ago, before I married my bride." He continued, "You know, I am on my way home to go and see my wife. I have been in the hospital for a long time and had to have a special surgery in this town far from my home. My wife couldn't come with me because she is so frail herself. He said, "I was so worried about how terrible my hair looked, and I didn't want her to see me looking so awful, but I couldn't brush my hair all by myself."
Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he thanked Beth for brushing his hair. He thanked her over and over again. She was crying, people all around witnessing this were crying, and as they were all boarding the plane, the flight attendant who was also crying, stopped her and asked, "Why did you do that?"
And right there was the opportunity, the door that had been opened to share with someone else the love of God. We don't always understand God's ways, but be ready, He may use us to meet the need of someone else like He met the need of this old man, and in a moment, also calling out to a lost soul who needed to know His love.
Thought for today: In my prayers today, did I tell God what to do or did I just report in for service? The why is God's business; the obedience is my part. Sometimes I get this turned around.
A couple in Sweetwater, Texas, had a lot of potted plants, and during a cold snap, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze. It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants, and when it warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa. She let out a very loud scream. Her husband, who getting dressed after a shower, ran out into the living room in his boxer shorts to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa. He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the leg. He thought the snake had bitten him and he fainted. His wife thought he had a heart attack, so she called an ambulance.
The attendants rushed in and loaded him on a stretcher and started carrying him out. About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa. The emergency medical technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he wound up in the hospital. The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor man. He volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking around under the sofa. Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief. But in relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa, and the neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her.
The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches. An ambulance was again called, and it was determined that the injury required hospitalization. The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed he had been bitten by the snake. She went into the kitchen, brought back a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat. By now the police had arrived. They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken brawl had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the two women tried to explain how it all happened over a little green snake. They called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.
I looked at her and sighed and wished I was as fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle.
She had one leg and used a crutch, but as she passed, she passed a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine. I have two legs, the world is mine.
I stopped to buy some candy. The lad who sold it had such charm.
I talked with him a while, he seemed so very glad. If I were late, it'd do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me, "I thank you, you've been so kind.
It's nice to talk with folks like you. You see," he said, "I'm blind."
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine. I have two eyes, the world is mine.
Later while walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play. He did not know what to do.
I stopped a moment and then I said, "Why don't you join the others, dear?"
He looked ahead without a word. And then I knew, he couldn't hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine. I have two ears, the world is mine.
With ears to hear what I would know. Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I've been blessed indeed. The world is mine.
We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.
The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, "Mom let's run through the rain," she said.
"What?" Mom asked.
"Let's run through the rain!" She repeated.
"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.
This young child waited another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain,"
"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.
"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.
This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?
"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"
The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I declare you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes.
Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.
"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God lets us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said.
Then off they ran! We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.
And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.
Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
Author unknown - Thanks to Shelley Camden in Virginia for sending this story!
Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed. As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be Your will, please protect me. Whatever Your will though, I love You and trust You. Amen."
After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one." Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.
As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave. "Hah, he thought, "What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor."
As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on.
Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. "Lord, forgive me," prayed the young man. "I had forgotten that in You a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall."
We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways. As the great leader, Nehemiah, reminded the people of Israel when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, "In God we will have success!" [Nehemiah 2:20]
Remember: Whatever is happening in your life, with God, a mere spider's web can become a brick wall of protection. Believe He is with you always. Just speak His name through Jesus, His Son, and you will see His great power and love for you.
The original source of this story is the 1995 book Keep a Quiet Heart, by Elisabeth Elliot, where it appeared in a chapter entitled "Lost and Found." Mrs. Elliot attributes the story to a first-person account sent to her by Brenda Foltz of Princeton, Minnesota, who maintained she wrote it based upon an event that occurred during her first rock-climbing experience.
"Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry." She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there. She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.
When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the Bible verse, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."
She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."
Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"
Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!
The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."
I think it would do all of us some good to say, "God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."
THE PICKLE JAR
Author unknown - Thanks to Dolly Buterbaugh in Virginia for sending this!
The pickle jar as far back as I can remember sat on the floor beside the dresser in my parents' bedroom. When he got ready for bed, Dad would empty his pockets and toss his coins into the jar. As a small boy I was always fascinated at the sounds the coins made as they were dropped into the jar. They landed with a merry jingle when the jar was almost empty. Then the tones gradually muted to a dull thud as the jar was filled. I used to squat on the floor in front of the jar and admire the copper and silver circles that glinted like a pirate's treasure when the sun poured through the bedroom window. When the jar was filled, Dad would sit at the kitchen table and roll the coins before taking them to the bank. Taking the coins to the bank was always a big production. Stacked neatly in a small cardboard box, the coins were placed between Dad and me on the seat of his old truck.
Each and every time, as we drove to the bank, Dad would look at me hopefully. "Those coins are going to keep you out of the textile mill, son. You're going to do better than me. This old mill town's not going to hold you back."
Also, each and every time, as he slid the box of rolled coins across the counter at the bank toward the cashier, he would grin proudly. "These are for my son's college fund. He'll never work at the mill all his life like me."
We would always celebrate each deposit by stopping for an ice cream cone. I always got chocolate. Dad always got vanilla. When the clerk at the ice cream parlor handed Dad his change, he would show me the few coins nestled in his palm. "When we get home, we'll start filling the jar again." He always let me drop the first coins into the empty jar. As they rattled around with a brief, happy jingle, we grinned at each other. "You'll get to college on pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters," he said. "But you'll get there. I'll see to that."
The years passed, and I finished college and took a job in another town. Once, while visiting my parents, I used the phone in their bedroom, and noticed that the pickle jar was gone. It had served its purpose and had been removed.
A lump rose in my throat as I stared at the spot beside the dresser where the jar had always stood. My dad was a man of few words, and never lectured me on the values of determination, perseverance, and faith. The pickle jar had taught me all these virtues far more eloquently than the most flowery of words could have done. When I married, I told my wife Susan about the significant part the lowly pickle jar had played in my life as a boy. In my mind, it defined, more than anything else, how much my dad had loved me.
No matter how rough things got at home, Dad continued to doggedly drop his coins into the jar. Even the summer when Dad got laid off from the mill, and Mama had to serve dried beans several times a week, not a single dime was taken from the jar. To the contrary, as Dad looked across the table at me, pouring catsup over my beans to make them more palatable, he became more determined than ever to make a way out for me. "When you finish college, Son," he told me, his eyes glistening, "You'll never have to eat beans again...unless you want to."
The first Christmas after our daughter Jessica was born, we spent the holiday with my parents. After dinner, Mom and Dad sat next to each other on the sofa, taking turns cuddling their first grandchild. Jessica began to whimper softly, and Susan took her from Dad's arms. "She probably needs to be changed," she said, carrying the baby into my parents' bedroom to diaper her. When Susan came back into the living room, there was a strange mist in her eyes.
She handed Jessica back to Dad before taking my hand and leading me into the room. "Look," she said softly, her eyes directing me to a spot on the floor beside the dresser. To my amazement, there, as if it had never been removed, stood the old pickle jar, the bottom already covered with coins. I walked over to the pickle jar, dug down into my pocket, and pulled out a fistful of coins. With a gamut of emotions choking me, I dropped the coins into the jar. I looked up and saw that Dad, carrying Jessica, had slipped quietly into the room. Our eyes locked, and I knew he was feeling the same emotions I felt. Neither one of us could speak.
Sometimes we are so busy adding up our troubles that we forget to count our blessings.
THE BLESSINGS OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP
"Two are better than one.....If one falls down, his friend can help him up" (Ecces. 4:9-10)
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Read Linda J. Stevenson's testimony and a few of her many poems at her web site: http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeri2mm/poetofhope/index.html
WONDERFUL CHRISTIAN MUSIC FOR CHILDREN
"Heart to Heart" (and definitely the Lord) introduced these two "Heart to Heart" subscribers, Linda J. Stevenson in Virginia and Mary Rice Hopkins in California, to each other several years ago. Now Linda works for Mary! Mary's new Christian album, featuring songs written by Mary and Linda. will hopefully be ready this fall.
Check out the music, books and curriculum Mary Rice Hopkins has available at her web site: http://www.maryricehopkins.com
SOME FAVORITE KIDS' QUOTES FROM GRANDKIDS
Thanks to Karen Coughlin in Florida for sending this!
A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like: "We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods."
The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!" A young grandson called to wish his grandma a Happy Birthday. He asked how old she was, and she told him, "62." He was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you start at 1?" After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. At last she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?" I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me, and always she was correct. But it was fun for me, so I continued. At last she headed for the door, saying sagely, "Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these yourself!"
When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use, Grandpa. The mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights." When a grandson asked his grandma how old she was, she teasingly replied, "I'm not sure."
"Look in your underwear, Grandma," he advised. "Mine says I'm 4-6." A nursery school teacher was delivering a station wagon full of kids home on e day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's duties. They use him to keep crowds back," said one youngster.
"No, said another, "he's just for good luck." A third child brought the argument to a close. "They use the dogs", she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrant!" Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said a teacher.
The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant."
The teacher took the lad aside to correct him: "Don't you know what pregnant means?" Sure," said the young boy confidently. "It means carrying a child." A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, "Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today."
The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's interesting," she said, "How do you make babies?" "It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' and add "es'" Many Heart to Heart ladies and their families need our prayers, so
please remember to pray for each Heart to Heart lady as you receive your newsletter.
(¨`·.·´¨) God bless you and your family and keep you in His loving care!
`·.¸(¨`·.·´¨) And remember, I love to hear from you dear ladies!
`·.¸.·´ Your Heart to Heart friend,
Lois
The purpose of the Heart to Heart Newsletter is to encourage women and build biblical values into daily living through practical creative ideas for the Christian family regarding marriage, children, homemaking, and much more. You may receive this free bimonthly newsletter by sending your name, city, state, e-mail address, and name of your referral person to Lois at [email protected]. New subscribers will receive a "Start-Up Kit." Disclaimer: Various web sites are given as credits or to supply additional information for readers. However, all the views and advertisements represented by web sites given in this newsletter are not necessarily the views of the editor. Please use your own discretion regarding all information given in this newsletter.
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