Quote from Forum Archives on March 11, 2007, 11:08 am

Posted by: bigguyhereagain <bigguyhereagain@...>

"IN THE HAND OF GOD"

 

    

There is a beautiful story about a child playing with a vase his mother had left on the table for a few moments. When the mother turned at the sound of her son crying she saw that his hand was in the vase and was apparently stuck. She tried to help him and  pulled and pulled until the child cried out in pain. But the hand  was stuck fast.

 

How would they get it out? The father suggested  breaking the vase but it was quite valuable and the child's hand  might be cut in the process. Yet he knew that if all else failed  there would be no other alternative. 

 

So he said to the boy, "Now, let's make one more try. Open your hand and stretch your fingers out straight, like I'm doing, and then pull!"

 

"But Dad," said the boy, "if I do that I'll lose  my penny!"

 

The boy had had a coin in his hand all the time and was holding it securely in his tight little fist. And he wasn't prepared to open his hand and lose the penny. But once he opened his hand it came out of the vase easily. 

 

What are you holding onto so tightly as to hinder your walk with Jesus? That vase can be likened to the entrance to the Kingdom of God. It is narrow but quite easy to pass in, but first you must "open" your hand to God and allow earthly things to fall. If we keep our fists  closed and hold fast to what we have and keep it for ourselves, we will be unable to take hold of the "Hand of God"!

 

We arrived with nothing and will depart the same way.  Jesus told the parable of the rich man who wanted to build bigger barns to store his grain and goods. But God said to him, 'You fool!

 

This very night your life could be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' We need to be on guard, or the things we own will begin to own us. It is our own clenched  fist that makes us a prisoner. 

 

Open your hand to the hand of God.

"EXPLANATION OF GOD"

 

 

"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the
ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on
earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are
smaller and easier to make. That way He doesn't have to take up His
valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to
mothers and fathers."
"God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot
of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at
times beside the bed. He doesn't have time to listen to the radio or
TV because of this. Because He hears everything, there must be a
terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to
turn it off."
"God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps
Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His time by going over your
mom and dad's head, asking for something they said you couldn't have."
"Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are
any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church."
"Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on
water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't
want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them
and they crucified Him. But He was good and kind, like his Father, and
He told his Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to
forgive them and God said O.K."
"His dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard
work on earth, so He told him He didn't have to go out on the road
anymore. He could stay in Heaven. So He did. And now He helps his Dad
out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for
God to take care of and which ones He can take care of himself without
having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important." "You can
pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it
worked out so one of them is on duty all the time." "You should always
go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's
anybody you want to make happy, it's God! Don't skip church to do
something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is
wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon
anyway."
"If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very
lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp,
but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in
the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water
by big kids."
"But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I
figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime he pleases.
And...that's why I believe in God."

 

 

Have a Blessed Day
Dave and Barbara

 

 

Necessary Legal Information

 

We do not mail idea-central  unsolicited. If you are receiving this newsletter from us it's because you have subscribed to this mailing list. If you receive this newsletter and are not a subscriber then someone, other than us, has forwarded it to you.

 

Normal Subscribe: idea-central-subscribe@welovegod.org
Normal Unsubscribe: idea-central-unsubscribe@welovegod.org
 
Web Subscribe: idea-central-allow-subscribe@welovegod.org
Web Unsubscribe: idea-central-allow-unsubscribe@welovegod.org
 
Email Group Owner: idea-central-owner@associate.com

 

 

-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: idea-central-unsubscribe@associate.com