April 12, 2010

 

 

HUMOR

 

You can be pretty sure it’s time to trade in your car for a newer model, if when sitting at a stop light, people sometimes run up to you asking if anyone was hurt.

 

.....CHAPLAINS NOTES (http://www.chapnotes.org) and "Christian Voices" (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

 

 

When asked by a young patrol officer "Do You know you were speeding"?, an 83-year-old woman talked herself out of a ticket by stating...

"Yes,  but...I wanted to get there before I forgot where I was going".

.....Susanne M by way of "Christian Voices" (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

 

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THOUGHT PROVOKING – INSPIRATIONAL

 

 

A Boy and His Lunch

 

God is looking for people to stand in the gap. Take the disciples, who were instructed to find food for the hungry multitude - they panicked.

 

It's as if they looked at the massive need and it was bigger than they could comprehend. They worried about how they were going to pull this off, feeding some 20,000 people. (5,000 men plus the women and children)   Regardless of the odds, the disciples went out into the crowd in search of food.

 

I wonder if the more they talked to the people, the more they were discouraged.  Obviously, no one planned ahead and everyone was hungry and they were getting closer to the kid with the bread and fish. The boy is the only one with food and they're closing in on him and he probably is sitting on his lunch by now. He figures a squashed lunch versus no lunch is still a meal. 

 

The only person who didn't need a miracle was the little boy,

but God was about to use him in a mighty way.

 

A small child standing in the crowd - and God chose him.  You are either a person who needs a miracle, like those who were hungry, or you are like the little boy who didn't really need a miracle, but God can use you in his work.

 

Often we hold onto our security because it seems what God is asking is impossible. We question the "how" or the "why" only to let the moment pass us by. The obstacle seems too big and the questions even bigger. Have you ever missed a miracle from God because you just couldn't comprehend it? Can you imagine how many opportunities have slipped by you?

 

I can just see this kid running home after the feast of fish and loaves. His Mom asks him about his day as he runs into the kitchen. He says, "Mom, you are not going to believe what happened." She says, "I know you were excited to see Jesus. Something was bothering me today after I packed your lunch this morning, and I was worried because I don't think I gave you enough food."

 

She touches his chin and asks, "Was it enough?"

 

The boy leaps up and down saying, "I gave it to Jesus and he fed so many people, thousands. My lunch fed thousands. And we still had 12 baskets of food left over after everyone ate."

 

The boy will never forget the day God used him. And neither will you if you allow him to use you. However, nothing will ever happen until you get the lunch out of your hand. We must open the bag and look inside, and see what it is we have to share.

 

You can always trust Jesus with whatever you have.  Open the bag, give it

to Him and He will multiply it!

 

.....Pam Krumpke by way of The Daily Encourager (dlangerfeld@HarrisburgBaptist.org) and "Christian Voices" (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

 

 

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Riding Tandem

 

Teaching a child to ride a bike can be difficult.  I watched as my daughter worked with her son as they went back and forth on the street in front of the house where we were all staying on vacation.  I sighed wistfully as I watched because it didn’t seem that long ago that I was doing that very thing with her.

 

We were on Hilton Head Island and there are bike trails everywhere but Ben hadn’t yet gotten the hang of riding a bike on his own.  I guess we could have found some training wheels somewhere but Ben was getting old enough that he wanted to ride without them. 

 

Since we were in a strange place, we decided that Ben just wasn’t ready to go on the bike trails alone yet.  There are lots of hazards out there with other bikers on the paths, streets to cross, and animals we might run across (hopefully, not literally).

 

There were all kinds of places to go on the bike trails but it was also another challenge to figure out how to get where we wanted to go from where we were.  There were lots of choices such as the beach, the petting zoo, shops, and points of interest.

 

We decided the best way for Ben to go would be for him to ride tandem. There was one bike in the garage that had an attachment of another bicycle where the person in the back could just sit and peddle without worrying about anything else…or so we thought.

 

I never knew it could be such a big deal to just get everyone on the bike and off down the trail but we had to get the little ones all helmeted up and in the child carts that pulled behind two of the bicycles.  We got lined up to go with Ben wobbling about on the tandem bike with his Mom riding in the front, and then there was me who hadn’t been on a bike in 15 years who had to find a bike that “felt just right”.  Thirty minutes later we were off down the trail with my son behind me laughing and commenting that I rode like a drunk and a daughter who cheered, “Go Mom, You can do it!” every time I slowed down on a hill.  Well, okay, it was only a slope.

 

The tandem situation was not doing so well either.  In order to ride tandem, you must look straight ahead and not lean or the person in front can’t guide the bike properly.  I kept hearing the same words repeated from Ben’s Mother, “Ben, look at me…Ben look at me…Ben look at me!” Then, “ Keep your eyes on me.  Don’t look around at other things or try to see around me, just look at me or we’ll have to stop and it’s late in the day, so if you don’t quit looking around and look at me, we won’t get to the petting zoo today. Ben, look at me.  Keep your eyes on me.”  Variations of these same words were spoken over and over for a long time until somewhere along the way I began to notice the words were not being said as frequently.  Ben was catching on!  He still needed to hear his mother’s voice from time to time but he was doing better.  His mother didn’t have to shout so much now because Ben began to sense when his mother was going to stop or turn because he had gotten used to following her lead instead of fighting against what she was doing.

 

As I thought about it, my life is a lot like riding a tandem bicycle.  If I allow God to be on the front seat and me on the back, He will take me on a great adventure to exciting places I have never known.  I have to learn not to try to look around Him to see where the bike is going, or He will have to stop and it will just take longer to get there.  I sometimes wobble about and I become distracted by the things in the world around me.  Sometimes He has to shout, “Look at Me, keep your eyes on Me!”  However, if I listen, learn to pay attention, and keep my eyes on Him, I’ll make the trip just fine.  Maybe, like Ben, I’m catching on a little bit too!

 

.....Pamela Perry Blaine ©September 20, 2009 (pamyblaine@marktwain.net)by way of "Christian Voices" (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net) 

 

 

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