"Christian Voices"

August 30, 2010

HUMOR

A Good Defense

A family of skunks was trapped in a thicket, surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves that were edging even closer.

The mother skunk calmly instructed her young, "Quickly, children, let's put our heads together!"

After they obeyed, forming a circle, she continued, "Now -- let us spray!"

.....Docs Daily Chuckle (pkaine@woh.rr.com) by way of "Christian Voices" (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

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THOUGHT PROVOKING – INSPIRATIONAL

The ringing phone woke me up. It was my friend Theresa, whose premature baby had been in the hospital for two months with a life-threatening infection. Little Bonnie had been doing well, so Theresa and her husband, Steve, were spending some much needed time at home.

Now Theresa was on the verge of panic: “The doctor called. Bonnie’s heart keeps stopping. Can we pray together?”

I took a deep breath. “Lord, take our hands as we pray for Bonnie. We know your promise: Where two are gathered in your name, you are there.”

On the other end a gentle male voice joined in, his quiet, steady words mingling with mine. I had seen Steve at the hospital, his head bowed over the incubator while trying to will strength into his tiny daughter. As I prayed, I couldn’t hear Theresa, only Steve, speaking with me almost in sync. It was as if he knew what I was going to say before my mouth shaped the words.

When we finished—together, precisely—I said, “Theresa, grab Steve’s hand.”

“Steve’s not here,” she said quickly. “I’ll call you from the hospital.”

“Then who—?” I started to ask, but she had hung up. The next day, Theresa reported the infection had disappeared overnight. The baby was going to be okay.

“But who was on the line with us last night?” I asked Theresa, puzzled.

“Nobody. Steve was out on repair calls. You and I prayed alone.”

No, I thought. Where two are gathered in his name.

.....Chaplain Notes (ChapnotesMail@aol.com (http://www.chapnotes.org) (t.airportchaplain@verizon.net) by way of "Christian Voices" (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

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Focus

One summer my husband and had an opportunity to visit one of our beautiful national parks. Our camera wasn’t new, but I never had learned all the ins and outs of it. Good thing it had an automatic focus, because when I tried it on manual and had to set all the dials, I could never remember exactly how that worked!

On this particular trip, the camera was attached to my wrist at all times, since there was one great shot after another. Behind us on the trail were three generations of a family. The adults and the grandparents seemed captured and caught up by the natural splendor. The youngest seemed oblivious to the grandeur surrounding us; his focus was fixed on a handheld computer game.

In uncomparably beautiful poetic form, Psalm 104 mentions ravines and valleys, mountains and trees, the heavens, moon and sun, the wild animals, the clouds and wind, birds, the seas and all that live in them. All made and sustained by the Lord.

God is all around us in nature, sharing His majesty and revelation. Not just in the mountains and hidden waterfalls, but also in a daisy, a perfectly veined leaf, the flash of a lightning bolt, or in glistening drops of rain.

Sometimes I am just like the child we saw at the park. It is a fact that I can get so caught up in what I have in my hands that I miss what God has in His.

Open my eyes, Lord, and help shift my focus to what You have for me to see this day.

.....Sally I. Kennedy, ©2009 Irish Thursdays Weekly Devotionals by way of "Christian Voices" (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net) Sally also publishes More Little Parables,52 Little Parables from Ireland, © Creation House Press, Words from the Heart©, Poppy the Penguin®, and Kwackie the Wonder Duck (http://www.sallyikennedy.com) (sallyikennedy@bellsouth.net)

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