The Parents' House

www.countryliving.com

It's the only house where you can go to dozens of times without an invitation.

The only house where you can put the key in the door and enter directly.

The house that has loving eyes that stare at the door until they see you.

The house which reminds you of your care-free days, stability and your happiness during your chîldhood.

The house in which your presence and look at your mother’s and father’s faces is for you a bliss and your conversation with them is a reward.

The house that if you do not go, the hearts of its owners will shrink, and if you hurt them,  they will be angry.

The house in which two candles were burnt to light up the world and fill your life with happiness and joy.

The house where the dining table is pure for you and has no hypocrisy.

The house that if the food time arrives and you don't eat, the hearts of its owners will be broken and annoyed.

The house that offers you all the laughs and happiness.

Oh children, find out the value of these houses before it's too late.

Lucky are those who have their parent’s house to go to!

40 WRESTLERS FOR CHRIST

Image: vectorstock.com

In the days of Nero, the Emperor of Rome, there was a band of elite soldiers known as the “The Emperor’s Wrestlers.” These men were the best athletes in the Roman amphitheater, and the bravest soldiers in all of the Roman army. They wrestled for the Emperor against all who challenged them. Before each contest they would stand before the Emperor’s throne and cry out,“We, the wrestlers, wrestling for thee, O Emperor, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor’s crown.”

One year, in mid-winter, there was a rebellion waged in Gaul (modern-day France), the Emperor sent for his wrestlers and told them to go to Gaul to end the war that was raging on. This brave group of wrestlers left Rome under the command of Vespasian. 

While in Gaul rumors spread to Rome that many of the Emperor’s Wrestlers had become Christians. When news of this reached Nero, the Emperor, he sent a message to Vespasian, and made this decree; “If there be any among your soldiers who cling to the faith of the Christian, they must die!”

It was in the dead of winter that Vespasian received the message while his soldiers were camped beside a frozen lake in Gaul. Vespasian assembled his troops and asked, “Are there any among you who cling to the faith of the Christians? If so, let him step forward.”

Forty soldiers instantly stepped forward two paces, saluted and stood at attention. Vespasian was stunned! He had not expected any to step forward. Vespasian said, “Until sundown I shall give you time to recant and to deny your faith.”

At sundown the soldiers were again assembled together and Vespasian asked: “Who still clings to the Christian faith, even if it means death?”

Again 40 soldiers stepped forward and stood at attention. Vespasian pleaded with them to deny their faith, but not one soldier would deny Christ.

Vespasian did not want these men he loved, respected, who fought side to side together, die at the hands of their fellow wrestlers, so he had them strip naked. Vespasian reluctantly said, “The decree of the Emperor must be obeyed, so you shall stand out on the frozen lake, exposed to the elements until you freeze to death. Should you recant and deny Christ, the fire will remain burning on shore, and by returning to the shelter of the fire, you will be denouncing Christ and you shall live.”

The forty soldiers stripped off their clothing, fell into four columns of ten each, and marched towards the center of the frozen lake to their death. But as they marched onto the ice, they chanted, “Forty wrestlers, wrestling for thee O Christ, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor’s crown.”

All night long Vespasian stood by his campfire and watched those forty brave wrestlers out on the ice as they slowly succumbed to the elements. As they grew weaker and weaker, their chanting grew fainter and fainter, “Forty wrestlers, wrestling for thee O Christ, to win of thee the victory and from thee the victor’s crown.” 

As morning drew near, one wrestler, no longer able to stand the freezing cold, walked off the ice and came to the edge of the fire, renouncing Christ. Vespasian could hear faintly from the frozen lake, “Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for thee O Christ, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor’s crown.”

Vespasian, standing by the fire all night, was thinking. As he stood there God touched his heart. Vespasian slowly removed his cloak, helmet and armor and calmly walked down upon the frozen lake to join his men, and as he walked, he chanted:

“Forty wrestlers, wrestling for thee O Christ, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor’s crown.”

Author Unknown

God Without Man

Courtesy: www.gulfbreezerecovery.com

When God wanted to create fish, He spoke to the sea.

When God wanted to create trees, He spoke to the earth.

But when God wanted to create man, He turned to Himself.

Then God said: "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness."

If you take a fish out of the water it will die; and when you remove a tree from soil, it will also die. Likewise, when man is disconnected from God, he dies. God is our natural environment. We were created to live in His presence. We have to be connected to Him because it is only in Him that life exists.

Let's stay connected to God. We recall that water without fish is still water but fish without water is nothing.

The soil without tree is still soil but the tree without soil is nothing. God without man is still God but man without God is nothing.

(Author Unknown)

 

You Forgot My Soul

You lived next door to me for years;
We shared our dreams, our joys and tears.
A friend to me you were indeed,
A friend who helped me when in need.

My faith in you was strong and sure.
We had such trust as should endure.
No “words” between us could impose;
Our friends were like – and so, our foes.

What sadness, then, my friend, to find
That, after all, you weren’t so kind;
The day my life on earth did end,
I found you weren’t a faithful friend.

For all those years we spent on earth,
You never talked of second birth.
You never spoke of my lost soul
And of the Christ Who’d make me whole.

I’m lost today eternally
And tell you now my earnest plea.
You cannot do a thing for me –
No words today my bonds will free.

But – do not err, my friend, again –
Do all you can for souls of men.
Plead now with them quite earnestly,
Lest they be cast in hell with me.

Author Unknown

A Few Drops of Water

Source: Unknown

It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through.

Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn't see some rain soon... we would lose everything.

It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes. I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort...trying to be as still as possible.

Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches, thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour. He would walk carefully to the woods, run back to the house.

Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen...as he was obviously doing important work and didn't need his Mommy checking up on him).

He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked, being very careful not to spill the water he held in them...maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site.

Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him...he didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand.

When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree. I followed him back to the house, to a spigot that we had shut off the water to. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back.

And it came clear to me. The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him.

It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said.

As he began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job.

I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops...and more drops...and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.

Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. That miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like the actions of one little boy saved another.

25 Ways To Be More Positive

Source: Unknown

1. Be careful of what you want-You will get it.

2. Doubt your doubts and have faith in your faith.

3. Sitting in the front row-people of faith, confidence.

4. Go for it, give it a try. You might surprise yourself with success.

5. Success is achieving the maximum of your potential in a given situation.

6. Positive affirmation is like whistling in the dark. It gets me there and keeps me going, even at the darkest point of the journey.

7. Unless I am expandable, I am expendable. Growth is synonymous with life. Keep dreaming and you keep growing.

8. Use your faith to set +ve goals & you will be sure to rise to a higher plateau. Goals distract from worries, you feel your life has a value.

9. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

10. I would rather attempt to do something great and fail, than attempt to do nothing and succeed.

11. I am trying, therefore I am a success.

12. Faith takes a giant leap through public announcement of your goals.

13. Get excited about succeeding.

14. If you aim to do nothing, you are sure to hit it.

15. There are no great people in the world. There are only ordinary people. The only difference is that they set higher goals, dream bigger dreams & settle for nothing less than the best.

16. When you dare to predict your own success, you attract support and produce the pressures that will ensure your success.

17. The element of uncertainty adds excitement to life. God’s promises are not to ‘play it safe  spectator in the stands’, but to the ‘let’s take a chance’ player in the middle of a game.

18. Faith is not day dreaming-it is decision making. Procrastination is an exercise of doubt.

19. Today, I shall tackle my biggest enemy-inertia.

20. In deciding to begin, I have solved my biggest problem. I am going to succeed, for beginning is half done.

21. Miracles never happen with meditation, but mighty action.

22. Every commitment generates a new set of problems. The solutions are never known a priori, you know them when you set out on the journey.

23. Irrecoverable commitments that offer no loopholes, no bail out provisions, & no parachute clauses will attract incredible productivity & performance.

24. Be prime mover, leader! A leader is the 1st person who stands up out of chair and says, ‘O.K. gang, let us go’.

25. Compliment yourself every day(morning/night).