LIFE Stories

"Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'" – John 4:13-14. +++ An amusing thing happened on one occasion in the renowned Rose Parade in Pasadena in Southern California. One beautifully decorated float suddenly came to a standstill. It ran out of fuel! The irony was that this float was entered by and represented the Standard Oil Company – one of the large fuel companies of North America. With all their vast oil and gasoline (petrol) resources, they failed to make sure their own vehicle was running on full. +++ Isn’t it similar in our Christian life? Wonder how often we as Christians, with all the vast resources of God and heaven at our disposal, run on an empty love, joy, and peace tank when, if we truly trusted God and followed his instructions for getting these needs met, we could be ce...

"When the Prodigal Son] came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." – Luke 15:17-20. +++ Once someone approached his Parish Priest and said, "Father, I was once a Christian with a great love for the knowledge of the Bible. I have, unfortunately, turned away from God in the last several years and been a miserable sinner. Will God take me back? Will he return His Spirit to me?" The Parish Priest replied, “Dear Sam (name changed), Will God take you back? Will the sun stop shining? Will the world stop tur...

"I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one." – Ezekiel 22:30. Down through the ages since the beginning of time whenever God has a job to do, he has always chosen and started with a single individual. Think of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Daniel, Mary, John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul for example. +++ In 1872, Dwight L. Moody attended an early morning meeting in a hay mow (the place they store hay) in Ireland. At the meeting he heard a man quietly say, 'The world has yet to see what God can do with, and for, and through, and in, the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to God's will.' Years later, Moody was seated high up in Charles Spurgeon's tabernacle in London, and Spurgeon used those same words in his message. Moody bowed his head and prayed, 'By the power of the Holy Spirit, I will be that man.' +++ Moody was greatly used of Go...

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." – Acts 1:8. +++ While attending a university in London, Mahatma Gandhi became almost convinced that the Christian religion was the one true, supernatural religion in the world. Upon graduation, and still seeking evidence that would make him a committed Christian, young Gandhi accepted employment in East Africa and for seven months lived in the home of a family who were members of a Christian church. But as the months passed and he saw the casualness of their attitude toward the cause of God, heard them complain when they were called upon to make a sacrifice for the kingdom of God, and sensed their general religious apathy. Gandhi's interest turned to disappointment. He said, “No, it is not the one true, supernatural religion I had hoped to find. Indeed, a good religion but just one more of the many religions...

"Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked." – 1 Timothy 1:19. +++ Once a ship was caught in a dangerous storm on the high seas. At the height of the storm, the frightened sailors heard a terrible crashing noise below the deck. They knew at once that this new noise came from a cannon, part of the ship's cargo, that had broken loose. It was moving back and forth with the swaying of the ship, crashing into the side of the ship with terrible impact. Knowing that it could cause the ship to sink, two brave sailors volunteered to make the dangerous attempt to retie the loose cannon. They knew the danger of a shipwreck from the loose cannon on the inside was greater than the fury of the storm outside." +++ Life's certainly like that. Not always, but more often than not, it isn't the storms that cause us the most problems, bu...

“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it." – Proverbs 22:6. +++ It's an old story that we've all read about, but it's a good reminder as found in the following parable about "a new mother who discovered a butterfly struggling mightily to escape its cocoon through a tiny opening at the top. She became concerned when the creature seemed to give up after making no progress. Certain that the butterfly wouldn't make it out without help, she enlarged the hole slightly. On its next try, the butterfly wriggled out easily. But the young woman's joy turned to horror as she saw its wings were shriveled and useless. Her well-intentioned intervention turned out badly because it interrupted a natural process. You see, forcing the butterfly to squeeze through a small opening is nature's way of assuring that blood from the creature's body is pushed into the wings. By making it easier, she deprived the butterfly of st...

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." – Colossians 3:23. If you are finding yourself unsatisfied with where you are in life, I would encourage and challenge you to look past your present circumstances and look through your eyes of faith to a better and brighter future.  Remain faithful, don’t murmur, don’t complain and most importantly don’t give up. +++ There is a story told of an eleventh-century German king, Henry III, who, having grown tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch, applied to a monastery to be accepted for a life of contemplation. The religious superior of the monastery, Prior Richard, is reported to have said, "Your Majesty, do you understand that the vow here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king, used to using power." Henry replied, "I understand. For the rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you." "Then I will tell ...

God doesn't give us our talents and abilities solely for the purpose of being blessed, but also to be a blessing towards others.  I encourage you to be a blessing and show the Jesus that lives within you openly with the rest of the world. +++ Once a boy who loved to listen to music was bitterly disappointed because he could neither play nor sing. But a kindly gentleman encouraged him with these words: "There are many ways of making music. What matters is the song in your heart." That boy – Antonio Stradivarius – took the man at his word and became the world's greatest violin maker. Also, there was this well-dressed European woman on safari in Africa. The group stopped briefly at a hospital for lepers. The heat was intense, the flies buzzing. She noticed a nurse bending down in the dirt, tending to the pus-filled sores of a leper. "With disdain the woman remarked, 'Why, I wouldn't do that for all the money in the world!" "The nurse quietly replie...

We do not always know or understand why certain things happen, but we need to trust in the Lord and have faith that God is in control. God does not bring the problems, but He will use them to teach us and make us stronger than we were before. The Lord has all wisdom and understanding and knows exactly how much we can handle, so keep that in mind the next time you feel overwhelmed with life's challenges. +++ Once a woman was walking through a meadow. As she strolled along meditating on nature, she came upon a field of golden pumpkins. In the corner of the field stood a majestic oak tree. The woman, weary, sat down under the oak and began to muse about the strange twists in nature. Tiny acorns hung on huge branches and huge pumpkins sat on tiny vines. She thought, "God blundered with creation! He should have put the small acorns on the tiny vines and the large pumpkins on the huge branches." Resting beneath the tree, she drifted off to sleep. She was awakened by a tiny acor...

"But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works with us, we become more and more like him." – 2 Corinthians 3:18. +++ On a bitterly cold day in a western city, a small boy stood shivering on a steel grate in the sidewalk. He was very poorly dressed and obviously a child of the street. A well-dressed woman passerby noticed the lad and began to talk to him. Sensing his need, she took him to a clothing store and had him completely outfitted suitable for the weather – including cap, scarf, and gloves. She gave him some money too. The lad was so grateful; he couldn't thank her enough. As they parted, he turned back to ask, "Are you God's mother?" Surprised, the woman replied, "Oh, no! I'm just a child of God." Whereupon the smiling lad remarked, "I knew you were related." +++ We are to treat people as we want to be treated and everyone no mat...

No matter where you are in life and no matter what troubles you have been through, I encourage you to put on love. See the best in others when you are tempted to give them a piece of your mind.  Forgive the offenses of others when all you want to do is cut ties with them. We all need grace and mercy to carry us through our many shortcomings and when we adopt the same love that God has for us towards our fellow man, we will be making an impact that is unimaginable in our own minds. +++ There is a story from long ago when a young novice had entered a monastery run by a wise Abbot (Superior of monks). One day the Abbot told his monks that he was going to share a secret teaching with them that would bring them lasting peace and happiness. But if they shared it with anyone else they would be expelled from the monastery. The next day several of the older monks saw the young novice sharing the secret teaching with everyone in a nearby town. They ran back and told the Abbot what they had s...

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." – Hebrews 3:13. +++ "Dr. Alfred Adler, the great psychologist, had an experience when he was a young boy. He got off to a bad start learning arithmetic, so his teacher became convinced that Adler was stupid when it came to mathematics. The teacher told his parents that the boy was dumb, and also told them not to expect much from him. His parents were convinced that the teacher's evaluation was correct. "Therefore, Adler passively accepted the assessment that they had made of his abilities. And his grades in math proved that they were correct.  However, one day he had a sudden flash of insight and thought he saw how to work a problem the teacher had put on the board that none of the other pupils could solve. He raised his hand and announced that he would like to solve the problem. The students, and even the teacher, laughed at this. He beca...

“The Lord disciplines those he loves … for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." – Hebrews 12:6, 10,11. +++ Earl Nightingale told how on one National Secretaries Day he gave his secretary flowers and she remarked how beautiful they were. She also said that she couldn't understand why they didn't have any scent. He informed her that the flowers came from a hothouse and explained that because flowers raised in this type of environment have everything done for them, they don't have to attract insects to pollinate them. As a result, they lose their scent. In the same way fruit raised in a hothouse, because it doesn't need to attract insects to scatter its seeds, doesn't taste as good as fruit grown in its natural environment. It's similar to the child who wanted to help a butterfly out of its c...

“I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." – Psalm 121:1-2 +++ Politics: Without character and ethics, capitalism and democracy cannot survive for the long haul. Lying, cheating, cooking the books, irresponsibility, self-centeredness are self-destructive. We always reap what we sow – even if it is eventually. I am thankful for those who are genuine, responsible, honest, and have at heart the best interest of the people they serve – not necessarily giving them what they want, but always seeking to provide, wherever possible, what they genuinely need. Unfortunately, some people are like this too. We're like "two birds that fly over our nation's deserts: One is the Hummingbird and the other is the Vulture. The Vultures find the rotting meat of the desert because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But Hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look f...

Jesus Christ said, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." – Luke 6:38. +++ In his young struggling years, W. L. Douglass, the shoe manufacturer, "had been unemployed so long that he was down to his last dollar. Nevertheless, he put half of it, fifty cents, in the collection basket of his church. Next morning he heard of a job in a neighboring town. The railroad fare to that town was one dollar. To all appearances it would have been wiser if he had kept that fifty cents. However, with the half-dollar remaining he bought a ticket and rode halfway to the desired place. He stepped from the train and began to walk to the town for the job. Before he had gone one block he heard of another factory right in that town where they were employing men. Within thirty minutes W. L. Douglas had a job at a salary five times more than he woul...

"Beware of false prophets,' Jesus warned, "who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." – Matthew 7:15. Once someone asked, "How can you tell if a preacher is a fake-healer, or if a Christian is not for real?” +++ At one time there was a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest being held. An always the practical joker, the real Chaplin decided he would enter. After deliberating long and hard, the judges unwittingly awarded the real Charlie Chaplin the third prize behind two impostors." So, you often can't tell the fake from the real by outward appearances. +++ Pharisees were the religious elite of Jesus' day. They knew the Bible cover to cover. They knew their doctrinal teachings by heart. They had all the outward trappings of religiosity, but for many of them it was an outward show. Furthermore, they loved their doctrines more than they loved people and used them to control people. Jesus not only knew the same Script...

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You." – Isaiah 26:3. +++ Johannes Tauler, a German Roman Catholic priest, one day met a beggar. "God give you a good day, my friend." he said. The beggar answered, "I thank God I never had a bad one." Then Tauler said, "God give you a happy life, my friend." "I thank God," said the beggar, "I am never unhappy." Tauler in amazement said, "What do you mean?" "Well," said the beggar, "When it is fine, I thank God; when it rains, I thank God; when I have plenty, I thank God; when I am hungry, I thank God; Since God's will is my will, and whatever pleases Him, pleases me, why should I say I am unhappy when I am not?" Tauler looked at the man in astonishment. "Who are you?" he asked. "I am a king," said the beggar. "Where then is your kingdom?" asked Tauler. And the beggar answered quietly...

"If you are angry, don't sin by nursing your grudge. Don't let the sun go down with you still angry—get over it quickly; for when you are angry you give a mighty foothold to the devil." - Ephesians 4:26-27. +++ The story or legend is told how two monks, when traveling back to their monastery in inclement weather, came to the fjord of a river. There they met a young woman who was afraid to cross the river. Seeing her dilemma one of the monks offered to carry her across the river on his back which offer she accepted. Later that evening the monk who didn't help the young lady accused the monk who did of breaking the rules of their monastic order. "You know we are to have no dealings with the opposite sex," he said, "and you were wrong in doing what you did." To which the other monk quietly replied, "I carried her only across the river. You are carrying her still." +++ When we fail to resolve our anger, and keep nursing our grudges, we no...

"Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one's life for one's friends." – John 15:13. +++ The story tells of two friends in World War I, who were inseparable. They had enlisted together, trained together, were shipped overseas together, and fought side-by-side in the trenches. During an attack, one of the men was critically wounded in a field filled with barbed wire obstacles, and he was unable to crawl back to his foxhole. The entire area was under a withering enemy crossfire, and it was suicidal to try to reach him. Yet his friend decided to try. Before he could get out of his own trench, the Sergeant yanked him back inside and ordered him not to go. "It's too late. You can't do him any good and you'll only get yourself killed." A few minutes later, the Sergeant turned his back, and instantly the man was gone after his friend. Shortly after he staggered back, mortally wounded, with his friend, now dead, in his arms. The Sergeant was both...

“Your attitude should be like that of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 2:5. Instead of giving God an overabundance of complaints today, let's choose to thank Him for the things we do have. Sure, we can lift our petitions to Him, because He cares for us and wants to hear what is on our heart. But let our prayers always come from an attitude of praise and thankfulness for what God has ALREADY done. +++ There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. 'Well,', she said, 'I think I'll braid my hair today?' So, she did and went off to work and had a wonderful day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.  'Hmmm,' she said, 'I think today I'll part my hair down the middle?' So, she did and went off as usual and she had a grand day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head....