LIFE Stories

…. God created man in his image, in the image of God he created him… - Genesis  2:27 . +++ A guru was once walking down the road with his disciples at dawn. He asked his disciples, “Could any of you tell me when the night ended and the day began.” One of the disciples said: “When you see an animal at a distance and you can distinguish if it is a cow or a goat.” “No,” said the Guru. Another of the disciples ventured: “When you see a tree at a distance and you can distinguish if it is a mango tree or a banyan tree.” “Not either,” said the Guru. “We give up,” said the disciples in chorus. “Please tell us, when is it?” The Guru answered: “When you look at a man’s face and recognize in him your brother and when you look at a woman’s face and recognize in her your sister — only then can you truly say that the night has ended and the day has begun. If you are not able to do this, then, whatever hour it be, it is still night for you.” +++ “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or ...

In My Name (Lyrics by Aneel Aranha, Music by Brandan Hendricks) ... Jesus said, if you have faith you can tell the mountain go throw yourself into the sea and if you believe that it will happen it will be done by me (Matthew 21:21-22) In my name you can move the mountains In my name you can calm the sea In my name you will make the deaf hear And in my name the blind will see Jesus said, if you believe and you are baptized you will be saved for all eternity and these signs will follow as you travel They will be done by me (Mark 16:16-18) In my name you will speak in new tongues In my name you will heal the sick In my name you will cast out demons In my name you’ll set all men free Jesus said, as you go preach this message The kingdom of heaven is near Freely you have received and freely you should give And all this will be done by me (Matthew 10:5-8) In my name you can make the lame walk In my name you can still the storm In my name you can preach ...

+++ A Primary School teacher asked her pupils to write an essay “what wish do you want from God?” At the end of the day, the teacher collected all the essays given by her pupils. She took them home, sat and started marking them. While marking the essays, the teacher saw a strange essay written by one of her pupils. That essay made her very emotional. Her husband came and sat beside her and saw her crying. The husband asked his wife, “What happened?” She answered “Read this. It is one of my pupils’ essay.” “Oh God, Make me into a Television. I want to live like the TV in my house. “In my house, the TV is very valuable. All of my family members sit around it. They are very interested in it. When the TV is talking, my parents listen to it happily and calmly. They don’t shout at the TV. They don’t quarrel with the TV. They don’t slap the TV. So I want to become a TV. “The TV is the center of attraction in my house. I want to receive the same special care that the TV receives from my parent...

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not there; HE IS RISEN.” – Luke 24:5-6. +++ Jeremy was born with a twisted body and a slow mind. At the age of 12 he was still in second grade. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated with Jeremy with his squirming in his seat, drooling and make grunting noises. Sometimes, he spoke clearly and distinctly, but most of the time Jeremy just irritated his teacher. One day she called his parents and asked them to come in for a consultation. Doris said to them, “Jeremy really belongs in a special school. There is a five year gap between his age and that of the other students.” Jeremy’s mother cried softly into a tissue, while her husband spoke. “Miss Miller,” he said, “there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here. After all, our only child has a terminal illness.” One day, Jeremy limped to her desk, dragging his bad leg...

Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." – John  21:15 . +++ A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, "Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like." The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the Holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at t...

“Love is when a Man wipes away your tears, even after you have left Him hanging on the cross for your sins.” +++ Once upon a time there was a kingdom of monkeys and were ruled by a very large and very wise monkey king. The monkeys lived near a stand of mango trees which ran alongside a river and enjoyed a constant supply of these delicious fruits. One day the king noticed a castle being built downstream from the mango trees. He ordered the monkeys to gather all the mangoes from the trees. They dutifully responded, and collected all the mangoes except one which was hidden behind a bird’s nest. One day this mango fell from the tree into the river. The human king who inhabited the recently built castle was taking a swim when the mango floated by. He picked it up, and after learning from his Prime Minister that it was a delicious fruit, he ate it. So impressed was he that the human king determined to gain more mangoes, and set out with his guards in search of the mango trees. When the huma...

“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” – Philippians 2:8. +++ An old man saw a scorpion drowning and decided to pull it out from the water. He calmly extended his hand to reach the creature. When he did, the scorpion stung him. With the effect of the pain, the old man let go the creature and it fell back into the water. The man realizing that the scorpion was drowning again got back and tried to rescue it but then again it stung him. He let go of it again. A young boy standing by, approached the old man and said, "Excuse me Sir. You are going to hurt yourself trying to save the evil-vicious creature, why do you insist? Don't you realize that each time you try to help the scorpion, it stings you?" The man replied, "I know nature of the scorpion is to sting, but my nature is not to bite but help. My nature is doing good to others. My nature, even though I am bitten, is to love and save...

“A friend loves at all times.” – Proverbs  17:17 . +++ Babe Ruth was one of the all-time greats of American baseball. For years he had been the idol of sports fans. Time, however, took its toll. I read how, in one of his last games, he began to falter. He struck out and made several misplays that allowed the opposing team to score five runs in one inning. As he walked from the field, he was greeted with an enormous storm of boos and catcalls from the stands. Fans shook their fists. Then a little boy jumped over the railing and, with tears running down his cheeks ran out to the great athlete. Unashamedly, he flung his arms around his hero's legs and held on tightly. Babe Ruth picked him up, hugged him, set him down, and together the two of them walked off the field hand in hand. +++ Jesus said in John  15:15 , “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I ...

"A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial." – 1 Corinthians 12:7 +++ Once a student received an appointment from a Bishop and the student did not feel the placement exactly suited his abilities. Some students overheard him complaining about it to another student, and then the other student said, "You know, the world's a better place because Michelangelo did not say, 'I don't do ceilings.' " Her comment stopped him dead in his tracks and he had to admit she was right. +++ If you and I are going to be faithful to the ministry God is calling us to, then we had better understand that. Let’s reflect on the attitudes of key people throughout the Scriptures and the history of the church. - The world's a better place because Moses didn't say, "I don't do Pharaohs or mass migrations." - The world's a better place because Noah didn't say, "I don't do arks and animals." - The...

A letter from Albert Einstein to his daughter: Read when ever  you have some " TIME "...this weekend think about it...? Love All Serve Alls In the late 1980s, Lieserl, the daughter of the famous genius, donated 1,400 letters, written by Einstein, to the Hebrew University, with orders not to publish their contents until two decades after his death. This is one of them, for Lieserl Einstein. "When I proposed the theory of relativity, very few understood me, and what I will reveal now to transmit to mankind will also collide with the misunderstanding and prejudice in the world. I ask you to guard the letters as long as necessary, years, decades, until society is advanced enough to accept what I will explain below. There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others, and is even behind any phenomenon operating in the universe and has not yet been identified by us. This universal ...

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." – Matthew  6:19-20 . +++ A woman from a poor village in Bangladesh was visiting a Christian family in Toronto, and the morning after she arrived she looked out the kitchen window of the people's home. "Who lives in that house?" she asked the woman from Toronto. "Which house?" "That one, right there." "Oh, that. No one lives there. That's a 'house' for the car." The woman from Bangladesh was amazed and baffled. "A house for the car," she kept saying. "A house for the car." Picture that woman looking out our kitchen windows and saying, "A house for the shovels. A house for the lawn mower. A house for the tractor. A house for the plough. A house for the ...

Look for the good in others. Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly. +++ "In Other Words," a publication of the Wycliffe Bible Translators, recently told a story about Sadie Sieker, who served for many years as a house-parent for missionaries' children in the Philippines. Sadie loved books. Though she gladly loaned out some, others she treasured in a footlocker under her bed. Once, in the quiet of the night, Sadie heard a faint gnawing sound. After searching all around her room, she discovered that the noise was coming from her footlocker. When she opened it, she found nothing but an enormous pile of dust. All the books she had kept to herself had been lost to termites. +++ It is very important for us to be givers and helping toward others because you'll never know what a great impact you might have on someone because of your kindness.  You never know what someone may be going through so always be quick to say som...

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." – Romans  15:13 . +++ Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn spent many years in the freezing cold prison camps of Siberia. Along with other prisoners, he worked in the fields day after day, in rain and sun, during the summer and winter. His life was nothing more than backbreaking labor and slow starvation, which reduced him to a state of despair. On one particular day, the hopelessness of his situation became too much for him, and he felt there was no reason to keep living, so he gave up!! Leaving his shovel on the ground, he slowly walked to a bench and sat down, knowing that at any moment a guard would order him to stand up, and if he failed to respond, the guard would beat him to death, with his own shovel. He had seen it happen to other prisoners, so he waited. A moment later, he felt th...

"You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him." – John  13:13-16 . +++ During a terrible storm at sea that threatened every moment to carry the ship to the bottom, one of the ship's crew was doing something on the deck when a great sea struck the ship and went fairly over the deck, striking this man with great force, disabling him and carrying him into the mad waters. Although he was a good swimmer, he was so disabled that he could only keep above water. They saw him lifting up his imploring hands through the white foam, signifying his desire for help. But the Captain said, "Don't lower a boat, for no small boat can live in this sea, in this terrific ...

"And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ." – Ephesians  4:32 . +++ In the early 60’s a drama student performed a scene from Annie Get Your Gun which was astounding. After the performance she was standing at the buffet when a man, whom she did not know, approached her and told her how much he enjoyed her routine. He kindly asked her, “What do you intend to do with the rest of your life. The young student told him, “I am hoping and dreaming to go to New York some day and make a career for myself on stage.” The man then asked her, “Then what is stopping you?” She explained, “I have barely enough money to get back to Los Angeles, let alone to go to New York. In truth, me, as well as my sister, mother, and grandmother are having various times, been living on welfare.” The man smiled and said, “I will offer you a loan of $5,000 to get started.” He went on to say, “However, on three conditions. First, if you met wit...

Never think that God is unreachable for the Bible declares in Jeremiah 29:12-14 "You will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you, says the Lord..." +++ Out of parental concern and a desire to teach our young son responsibility, we require him to phone home when he arrives at his friend's house a few blocks away. He began to forget, however as he grew more confident in his ability to get there without disaster befalling him. The first time he forgot, I called to be sure he had arrived. We told him the next time it happened, he would have to come home. A few days later, however, the telephone again lay silent, and I knew if he was going to learn he would have to be punished. But I did not want to punish him! I went to the telephone, regretting that his great time would have to be spoiled by his lack of contact with his father. As I dialed, I prayed...

What difference will my work make? God's answer: "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin." – Zechariah  4:10 . +++ Bohn Fawkes, during World War II, piloted a B-17. On one mission he sustained flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. Even though his gas tanks were hit, the plane did not explode, and Fawkes was able to land the plane. On the morning following the raid, Fawkes asked his crew chief for the German shell. He wanted to keep a souvenir of his incredible good fortune. The crew chief explained that not just one but eleven shells had been found in the gas tanks, none of which exploded. Technicians opened the missiles and found them void of explosive charge. They were clean and harmless and with one exception, empty. The exception contained a carefully rolled piece of paper. On it a message had been scrawled in the Czech language. Translated, the note read: "This is all we can do for you now." A courageous assembly-line...

"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye." – Matthew 7: 3-5. +++ An old man walked daily through his village wearing a patched and tattered coat of many colors. A visitor to the village stopped and asked, 'Why do you parade through the streets wearing such a garment? What does it mean?' The old man replied, 'Each colored patch represents the sins of my neighbors. I don't want them to forget them.' Then the visitor asked, 'What is the white patch between your shoulder blades?' Reluctantly the old man answered, 'That is my own sin. I put it where I cannot see it.' +++ Sometimes we are more interested in the sins of others than in our ow...

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever." – 1 Chronicles  16:34 . +++ Dear GOD: I want to thank You for what You have already done. I am not going to wait until I see results or receive rewards; I am thanking You right now. I am not going to wait until I feel better or things look better; I am thanking You right now. I am not going to wait until people say they are sorry or until they stop talking about me; I am thanking You right now. I am not going to wait until the pain in my body disappears; I am thanking You right now. I am not going to wait until my financial situation improves; I am going to thank You right now. I am not going to wait until the children are asleep and the house is quiet; I am going to thank You right now. I am not going to wait until I get promoted at work or until I get the job; I am going to thank You right now. I am not going to wait until I understand every experience in my life that has caused me pain or grief; ...

"God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." – Exodus  3:14 . We see the eternity of God in the name He revealed to Moses: "I AM WHO I AM." What does this mean? At the very least it means that God is self-existent. He is original, the cause, the root, the great mover, the well-spring of all that there is. Many people, especially children, have trouble understanding this. You will probably recognize the following conversation as sounding like one in your own home: +++ "Mommy, who made me?" "God made you, darling." "Well, Mommy, who made the sky and the trees?" "God made the sky and the trees. God made everything." "Mommy, who made God?" One mother who was approached about this dropped what she was doing and sat down with her youngster for a little talk. Pointing to her wedding band, she said, "This is a 'love ring,' which your daddy gave to me when we were married. Look at it closely and tell me where it ...

"Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit." - Psalm 147:5. Anytime God is about to take you to a new level you’re going to face opposition. There will be new battles to fight and new obstacles to overcome. It’s easy to get discouraged and think, “Why is this happening?” But we have to change our thinking and focus on the fact that on the other side of those challenges is a new level of victory—a new level of success. David would only be known as a shepherd boy if it weren’t for Goliath. David’s enemy became the tool that God used to promote him. And God will do the same in your life today. He’ll use those challenges and difficulties in your life to catapult you towards success! If you are going through a hard time today, if things look impossible, don’t give up now. +++ While browsing through a book, my attention fell on a page entitled "Daring to Face the Giants." It was written, "When David went to meet Goliath, he did not reckon ...

"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." – John 15:2. +++ Once upon a time, in the heart of an ancient Kingdom, there was a beautiful and every day the Master of the garden would walk. All the plants of the garden, the most beautiful and most beloved was gracious and noble bamboo. Year after year, bamboo grew yet more noble and gracious, conscious of his Master's love and watchful delight but very modest. Now, one day, the Master himself drew near to contemplate his Bamboo with eyes of curious expectancy. And Bamboo, in a passion of adoration, bowed his great head to the ground in loving greeting. The Master spoke: "Bamboo, Bamboo, I would use you." Bamboo flung his head to the sky in utter delight. The day of days had come, the day for which he had been made, the day to which he had been growing hour by hour, the day in which he would find his completion and his de...

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." – John  20:29 . +++ We can sit among loving Christians in worship and say to ourselves, "I believe in God!" We can be enjoying a meal with the family and express our belief in God. We can be hoeing the garden, cleaning house, watching the sunset, watching the children at play and a thousand other things and reaffirm our strong belief in God. What about when nothing is going right? What about when a family member has a terminal illness? What about when we have been robbed, or our house burned by an arsonist? What if one of our children was molested? What if suddenly we found we have no money and no income? Can we heartily say, "I believe in God"? The point is, when all's well, we can see God by the eye of faith; but when nothing seems right, we lose sight of God. After World War II, in a cellar in Cologne, Germany, were found these words on a wall: "I believe in the sun, even when it's not ...

"As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored." – Mathew 8 :27-29. +++ The gullibility of people remains constant. Aren't you amazed at what people will believe? Just look at the headlines on grocery store tabloids: Cow Mattresses Help Cows Produce More Milk; Mom On Diet Of Only Chicken, Lays Huge Egg; World War II Bomber Found On The Moon; Woman Gives Birth To Two Year Old Baby; Child Walks And Talks In Three Days; Adam And Eve's Bones Found In Asia - Eve Was A Space Alien. Those have actually been printed, read, and believed by gullible people. And these same people have trouble believing in the miracle working power of ...