I don't believe in God. That is the last thing I remember saying. Let me start at the beginning. I am married to a wonderful woman. We have been trying and trying to have a baby but it just won't happen. My wife cries herself to sleep every night because she wants a little child of her own to care for, to love, to hold. She has even tried to pray to her God to help. Well, I thought she was crazy! Praying to a make-believe God to help her have a baby after every doctor she has seen has told her if she were to have a baby it would be a miracle because medically she is unable to have one.
At the office that day I have a co-worker who calls himself a "Christian" who is always trying to tell me about this God thing. I couldn't take it anymore.
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Life! What a precious gift from God. What a blessing to be alive in a wonderful, vibrant world of unlimited possibilities. Then, adversity strikes, and this "gift" feels more like a curse. "Why? Why me?" we ask. Yet we never get an answer, or do we? After contracting Hodgkin's disease at age seven and being given six months to live, I triumphed over the odds. Call it luck, hope, faith or courage, there are thousands of survivors! Winners like us know the answer - "Why not us? We can handle it!" I'm not dying of cancer. I'm living with cancer. God doesn't make junk, regardless of what comes our way, and I don't have to be afraid anymore.
In my sophomore year of high school, the class was scheduled to run the mile. I will always remember that day because due to the s
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Bereavement Publishing Magazine Archives Caught in the Web Death/Child-Children Suicide Nordman, Patricia September 1988
No, God, no! In the grip of horror I flipped the pages of my tattered Bible, but what am I looking for, God? What salve do You have for a sudden and fatal wound--my son's and mine? What thread can you offer to hold mind and heart together now?
Miraculously my eyes fell on 2 Timothy 1:7: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." Yes, Father, thank You for the Holy Spirit of love, not the spirit of fear and hate and discouragement that causes death. O my God, take away this agony! I've loved and trusted Yo
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An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and to live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.
When the carpenter finished his work and the builder had inspected the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said. "My gift to yo
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A great and wise man once called one of his workmen to him saying, "Go into the far country and build for me a house. The decisions of planning and of actual construction will be yours, but remember, I shall come to accept your work for a very special friend of mine."
And so the workman departed with a light heart for his field of labor. Material of all kinds was plentiful here, but the workman had a mind of his own. "Surely," he thought, "I know my business. I can use a bit of inferior materials here and cheat on my workmanship a little there, and still make the
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About six years ago, I went to the Poconos for a winter retreat with
my church. It was a small, simple gathering of about forty
kids.
We were not yet teens but slowly coming to realize ourselves as more
than just children.
Since I was new to the church, a few friends of mine gave me a basic overview
on the kids of our youth group. I can still remember a few random
faces and the descriptions that went with them:
"Oh, that's so-and-so. He's such a pussy; he wet
the bed at last year's retreat." or "That's
the kid that kicked so-and-so's butt cuz he bothered his sister."
Yet the one that haunts me with such clarity to this day is of a little
girl, probably in the third grade at the time. With uneven
locks of greasy hair adorning her
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How often, Lord, I've wanted life
to be as I preferred,
impatient to reach all my goals,
insisting I be heard.
How many times I questioned You,
embarking on a feat,
unwilling to be passenger,
but in the driver's seat.
How seldom I was patient
as I begged that life be calm,
not believing all along
that I was in Your palm.
How fast possessions slip away,
though often I would cling
to things thought safe instead of trusting
what Your will would bring.
Be with me, Lord, as I search for
another hill to climb.
I know rewards will come to me,
all in the Lord's due time.
One day, while I was lying on a massage table in a dark,
quiet room waiting for an appointment, a wave of longing swept over
me. I checked to make sure I was awake and not dreaming, and I saw that
I was as far removed from a dreamy state as one could possibly be. Each
thought I had was like a drop of water disturbing a still pond, and
I marveled at the peacefulness of each passing moment.
Suddenly my mother’s face appeared - my mother, as she
had been before Alzheimer’s disease had stripped her of her mind, her
humanity, and 50 pounds. Her magnificent silver hair crowned her sweet
face. She was so real and so close I felt I could reach out and touch
her. I even smelled the fragrance of Joy, her favorite perfume. She
seemed to be waiting and did not speak.
I said, "Oh, Mother, I’m so sorry that you had to suffer
with that horrible disease."
She tipped her head slightly to one side
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One of God’s main jobs is
making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die so there will
be enough people to take care of things here on earth.
He doesn’t make grown-ups, just babies. I
think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way, He doesn’t
have to take up His valuable time teaching them to talk and walk, He can
just leave that to mothers and fathers.
God’s second most important job is listening to
prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers
and things, pray at times besides bedtime. God doesn’t have time to listen
to the radio or TV on account of this. Since He hears everything,
not only prayers, there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless
He has thought
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I will have confidence in myself and put my trust
in God.
I will have courage for the big things and patience
for the small things.
I will admit mistakes, learn forgiveness, and go
on with the game.
I will not call myself a loser or a failure until
I've failed to try.
I will set sound, worthy goals and work for them
one day at a time and one play at a time.
I will do what I can and not worry about scoring,
winning, and making the big plays, because just doing my best and playing
fair is what really makes me a winner, both in life and on the playing
field.
