Cherish While You Can!

One day a woman's husband died, and on that clear, cold morning, in the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't there "anymore". No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat, no more ‘just one minute….’

Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away, never to return before we can say good-bye, and say ‘I love you.’

So while we have it, it is best that we learn to appreciate it, love it, care for it and fix it when it's broken. We heal it when it's sick.

This is true about marriage... and old vehicles... and children with poor report cards, and dogs with bad hips, and aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they mean so much to us and also because they are worth our care and concern.

Suppose one morning, you never wake up. Do all your friends and loved ones know that you love them?

I am thinking...if I were to die today, tomorrow or next week, are there any wounds that need healing and relationships that need rekindling? Have I expressed those three words “I love you” to those who have blessed and cared for me.

Just in case I am gone tomorrow, I want you to know that “I love you”. I live with cherished memories of those whom I love and had passed on. I wish I had spent more time with them and live with regrets that I had not expressed enough of love and care for them.

As tomorrow is not promised and may never come. And so today, I want you to know that I love you very much and treasure you deeply.

Saint of Auschwitz

Father Maximilian Kolbe

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."¹

You may be familiar with the story of Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Father Kolbe's love for the other prisoners earned him the nickname "Saint of Auschwitz."

One day, a prisoner escaped from the camp. Each time anyone escaped, the guards executed ten men as a punishment. As the guards prepared for the execution, Father Kolbe came forward. He asked to take the place of another prisoner, a man named Gajowniczek. The guards agreed.

Father Kolbe and the other nine men were placed in a cell and starved to death over the next few days. Father Kolbe died on August 14, 1941.

Every year, Mr. Gajowniczek returns to Auschwitz to commemorate the death of Father Kolbe. It is his way to say thank you to the man who died in his place.²

Suggested prayer: "Dear Jesus God, how can I ever thank you enough for giving your life and dying on the cross in my place so that I could inherit your gift of eternal life. Help me to always live in an attitude of gratitude for all that you have done for me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

NOTE: If you have never accepted God's gift of love for you, be sure to read: "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian—without having to be religious" at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian.

1. John 15:13 (NIV).
2. From "A Man for Others" by Patricia Treece. Found in God's Unexpected Blessings, edited by Kathy Collard Miller (Lancaster, PA: Starburst Publishers, 1998), pp. 79-80.

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By Dick Innes

It All Began With An iPhone...

It all began with an iPhone...

March was when my son celebrated his 15th birthday, 

and I got him an iPhone. He just loved it. Who wouldn't?

I celebrated my birthday in July, 

and my wife made me very happy when
she bought me an iPad.

My daughter's birthday was in August 

so I got her an iPod Touch.

September came by so for her birthday 

I got my wife an iRon

It was around then that the fight started......

What the wife failed to recognise is that the iRon can be integrated into the home network

with the iWash, iCook and iClean. This inevitably activates the iNag reminder service

Ask More Than Once

Mark Gungor is hilarious. You want to watch this video even though you are not in the Second Half of your game.
 Enjoy!

Following Leads to Honor

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. (John 12:26)

The highest service is imitation. If I would be Christ's servant I must be His follower. To do as Jesus did is the surest way of bringing honor to His name. Let me mind this every day.

If I imitate Jesus I shall have His company: if I am like Him I shall be with Him. In due time He will take me up to dwell with Him above, if, meanwhile, I have striven to follow Him here below. After His suffering our Lord came to His throne, and even so, after we have suffered a while with Him here below, we also shall arrive in glory. 

The issue of our Lord's life shall be the issue of ours: if we are with Him in His humiliation we shall be with Him in His glory. Come, my soul, pluck up courage and put down thy feet in the blood-marked footprints which thy Lord has left thee.

Let me not fail to note that the Father will honor those who follow His Son. If He sees me true to Jesus, He will put marks of favor and honor upon me for His Son's sake. No honor can be like this. Princes and emperors bestow the mere shadows of honor; the substance of glory comes from the Father. Wherefore, my soul, cling thou to thy Lord Jesus more closely than ever.

C. H. Spurgeon

The One Who Guided The Stone!

Your adversary would love for you to assume the worst about your situation. He would enjoy seeing you heave a sigh and resign yourself to feelings of depression. However, it's been my experience that when God is involved, anything can happen. 

The One who directed that stone in between Goliath's eyes and split the Red Sea down the middle and leveled that wall around Jericho and brought His Son back from beyond takes delight in mixing up the odds as He alters the inevitable and bypasses the impossible.  

The blind songwriter, Fanny Crosby, put it another way: "Chords that were broken will vibrate once more."

Charles R. Swindoll

Living Is Giving

Living is giving your best self away,

Living is helping someone every day;

Living is giving more than you get,

It’s treating an animal like a person, instead of a pet.

It’s helping the handicapped across the street,

It’s smiling at the new person at work that you meet;

It’s respect for all nations, colors and creeds,

It’s sharing and caring for your neighbor’s needs

One of God’s greatest laws you can live and believe,

Is the more that you give, the more you’ll receive!

Denis Waitley