The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.
C.S. Lewis
A tale is told about a small town that had historically been “dry,” but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that “no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not.”
J.K. Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 129.
I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, “No. It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.”
I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, “No. His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.”
I asked God to grant me patience.”
God said, “No. Patience is a by product of tribulations; it isn’t granted, it is learned.”
I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, “No. I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.”
I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, “No. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings
you closer to me.”
I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, “No. You must grow on your own! , but I will prune you to make you fruitful.”
I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, “No. I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things.”
I ask God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.
God said, “Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.”
Quoted from www.cybersalt.org email list
Remember, God respecteth not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how long they are; nor the music of our prayers, how methodical they are; but the divinity of our prayers, how heart-sprung they are. Not gifts, but graces, prevail in prayer.
Trapp – Quoted from http://www.net153.com email list
Much of our prayer life is like that of the little boy who found himself losing his balance in a tree that he had climbed. He cried, “Help me Jesus;” but when his pant leg became caught on a branch, He said, “Never mind Jesus. My jeans caught me.”
Quoted from net153.com email list
Some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant asking. The way to trouble God is not to ask at all.
Dwight L. Moody Quoted from the Sermon Fodder Email list
“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire ? ”
Corrie Ten Boom – Quoted from the Sermon Fodder email list
I AM AN ONLY CHILD AND A LONELY ONE AT THAT,
I SIT IN DOORS AND GET REAL BORED,
I HATE IT AND THATS A FACT,
MY MUMMYS ALWAYS BUSY AND HAS NO TIME FOR ME,
SHE’S ALWAYS CLEANING UP OUR HOUSE,
AND COMPLAINS ITS AFTER ME.
I WOULD REALLY LOVE A GARDEN
OR A BIG HOUSE TO RUN AROUND,
BUT INSTEAD WEVE GOT A LITTLE BOX
AND MUMMY CALLS IT HOME.
SOME PEOPLE SAY ITS CRUEL TO TRAP BIRDS IN A CAGE
SOME PEOPLE SAY ITS CRUEL TO LOCK ANIMALS AWAY
WELL IM A HUMAN WITH RIGHTS OR SO THEY SAY?
BUT I AM TRAPPED IN A TINY FLAT
WHERE’S THE JUSTICE IN POLITICS TODAY.
THERES A PLACE WHERE MUMMY TAKES ME,
TWO DAYS A WEEK, WHERE THERE’S LOTS OF TOYS
AND CHILDREN WITH BICCY’S AND A NICE COOL DRINK,
I LIKE THESE PEOPLE HERE, THEY’RE REALLY KIND TO ME.
THEY TREAT ME LIKE A PERSON
AND HAVE LOTS OF TIME FOR ME.
I WISH I COULD LIVE HERE!!
A JAMES STREET PROJECT PARENT….
From my STETS weekend on ministry in the inner city.
Esmeralda’s prayer in song from the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame
I don’t know if You can hear me Or if You’re even there I don’t know if You would listen To a gypsy’s prayer Yes, I know I’m just an outcast I shouldn’t speak to you Still I see Your face and wonder Were You once an outcast too? God help the outcasts Hungry from birth Show them the mercy They don’t find on earth The lost and forgotten They look to you still God help the outcasts Or nobody will I ask for weath, i ask for fame I ask for glory to shine on my name I ask for love, i can posess I ask for god and his angels to bless me.. I ask for nothing I can get by But I know so many Less lucky than I Please help my people The poor and downtrod I thought we all were all were The children of god God help the outcasts, Children of God
Fresh evidence that the Biblical plagues and the parting of the Red Sea were natural events rather than myths or miracles is to be presented in a new BBC documentary.
Moses, which will be broadcast next month, will suggest that much of the Bible story can be explained by a single natural disaster, a huge volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Santorini in the 16th century BC.
Using computer-generated imagery pioneered in Walking With Dinosaurs, the programme tells the story of how Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt after a series of plagues had devastated the country. But it also uses new scientific research to argue that many of the events surrounding the exodus could have been triggered by the eruption, which would have been a thousand times more powerful than a nuclear bomb.
Dr Daniel Stanley, an oceanographer who has found volcanic shards in Egypt that he believes are linked to the explosion, tells the programme: “I think it would have been a frightening experience. It would have been heard. The blast ash would have been felt.”
Computer simulations by Mike Rampino, a climate modeller from New York University, show that the resulting ash cloud could have plunged the area into darkness, as well as generating lightning and hail, two of the 10 plagues.
The cloud could have also reduced the rainfall, causing a drought. If the Nile had then been poisoned by the effects of the eruption, pollution could have turned it red, as happened in a recent environmental disaster in America.
The same pollution could have driven millions of frogs on to the land, the second plague. On land the frogs would die, removing the only obstacle to an explosion of flies and lice – the third and fourth plagues.
The flies could have transmitted fatal diseases to cattle (the fifth plague) and boils and blisters to humans (the sixth plague).
The hour-long documentary argues that even the story of the parting of the Red Sea, which allowed Moses to lead the Hebrews to safety while the pursuing Egyptian army was drowned, may have its origins in the eruption.
It repeats the theory that “Red Sea” is a mistranslation of the Sea of Reeds, a much shallower swamp.
Computer simulations show that the Santorini eruption could have triggered a 600ft-high tidal wave, travelling at about 400 miles an hour, which would have been 6ft high and a hundred miles long when it reached the Egyptian delta.
Such an event would have been remembered for generations, and may have provided the inspiration for the story.
Jean-Claude Bragard, the director, said: “Sifting through the latest historical research and utilising new archaeological tools, we have been able to find a surprising amount of circumstantial evidence for the Biblical tales.”
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(The Daily Telegraph 11/11/2002)