The uniformed waiter returns to his side and asks, "Would you like to
go ahead and order, sir?" The man has, after all, been waiting since seven
o'clock -- almost half an hour.
"No, thank you," the man smiles. "I'll wait for her a while longer.
How about some more coffee?"
"Certainly, sir."
The man sits, his clear blue eyes gazing straight through the flowered
centerpiece. He fingers his napkin, allowing the sounds of light chatter,
tinkling silverware, and mellow music to fill his mind. He is dressed
in sport coat and tie. His dark brown hair is neatly combed, but one stray
lock insists on dropping to his forehead. The scent of his cologne adds
to his clean cut image. He is dressed up enough to make a companion feel
important, respected, loved. Yet he is not so formal as to make one uncomfortable.
It seems that he has taken every precaution to make others feel at ease
with him.
<
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Lord when I feel lost and alone in this dark world
and when I feel there isn't anybody else around
Lord when I feel your light is nowhere to be found
that's when I remember your hand is reaching down
I now realize I need to give everything up
and concentrate on the things that really matter
when Satan comes my way my heart wont be shattered
so when I stop to pray my enemies will scatter
thank you lord for keeping me sheltered in your arm
you've guided me in the way of truth and helped me too
you've gave me the reassurance to make it through
you've been a close friend every time I've needed you
Lord I know that you've never given up on me
that is why you died on that old-rugged tree
I promise to keep my purity for God's time.
I can do this with Christ who strengthens me.
Sufficient is God's grace.
I promise to wait on God.
I will seek him in the morning and all day.
I will trust my Lord Jesus and obey.
I will kiss no other man but you.
I pray God forbid me from evil.
I will allow God to prepare me for you.
God holds the key of my heart.
He knows exactly whom to give it.
Dear man of God, I believe in you.
I believe that God will bring us together.
I will not listen to ungodly council.
But I will open my ears to the people who point me to God.
"Let integrity and uprightousness preserve me,
preserve me, for I wait for you." (Ps.25:21)
Keep me pure everyday. Jesus help me.
Father, you came to me first, not as God, nor creator,
but as a friend.
You have given me hope when I had none.
Shared your love when I had none to share and held me safe in your arms
of eternity.
You have opened up the doors to my soul and shown me that which is, was
and could be.
I love thee beyond all.
For you are the open hand, the whisper in my silence, the light in the
darkness.
And I my Lord God, am but a shadow in your light, an echo from a word
passed, a child lost in a world of children.
There was a professor of philosophy at USC who was a deeply committed atheist.
His primary goal for one required
class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God
couldn't exist.
His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable
logic.
For twenty years he had taught this class
and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had
argued in class at times, but no one had ever *really gone against him*
(you will see what I mean later). Noboby would go against him because
he had a reputation.
At the end of every semester, on the last day he would say to the class
of 300 students, "
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At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year they have what
is called "Baptist Day". It is a day when all the Baptists in the
area are invited to the school because they want the Baptist dollars to
keep coming in.
On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy
picnic area. Every "Baptist Day" the school would invite one of
the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education enter.
One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr. Tillich spoke for 2 ½ hours
proving that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after
scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such
thing as the historical resurrection the religious tradition of the church
was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship
with a risen Jesus, who in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal
sense. He then asked if there were any questions. After about 30 seconds
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A man was on the side of the road with a large birdcage.
A boy noticed that the cage was full of birds of many kinds.
"Where did you get those birds?" he asked.
"Oh, all over the place," the man replied. "I lure them
with crumbs and pretend I'm their friend. Then when they are close, I
net them and shove them into my cage."
"And what are you going to do with them now?"
The man grinned, "I'm going to prod them with sticks, and get them
really mad so they fight and kill each other. Those that survive, I will
kill. None will escape."
The boy looked steadily at the man. What made him do such things? He
looked into the cruel, hard eyes. Then he looked at the birds, defenseless,
without hope.
"Can I buy those birds?" the boy asked. The man hid a smile,
aware that he could be on to a good thing if he played his cards right.
"Well," he said hesitantly, "The cage is pretty expensive,
and
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I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San
Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to
raise money for youth at risk programs.
The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, "I want to tell
you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes back to a story about a
young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go
from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch
to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was
continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a
paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.
"That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of
someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail
and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of
all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed
floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot hous
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While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport in Portland, Oregon,
I had one of those life-changing experiences that you hear other people
talk about — the kind that sneaks up on you unexpectedly. This one
occurred a mere two feet away from me.
Straining to locate my friend among the passengers deplaning through
the jet way, I noticed a man coming toward me carrying two light bags.
He stopped right next to me to greet his family.
First he motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he
laid down his bags. They gave each other a long, loving hug. As they
separated enough to look in each other’s face, I heard the father say,
"It’s so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!” His son smiled
somewhat shyly, averted his eyes and replied softly, "Me, too, Dad!”
Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe
nine or ten) and while cupping his son’s face in his hands said, "You’re
already quite the young man. I love you very
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One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay
his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was
hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However,
he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a
meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so
brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked,
"How much do I owe you?” "You don’t owe me anything,” she replied.
"Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness.” He said,
"Then I thank you from my heart.”
As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger
physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been
ready to give up and quit.
Year’s later that young woman became critically ill. The local
doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they
called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was
called in for th
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