What is life ?!

 A rich man looked through his window and saw a poor man picking something from his dustbin ... He said, Thank GOD I'm not poor.

The poor man looked around and saw a naked man misbehaving on the street ... He said, Thank GOD I'm not mad.

The mad man looked ahead and saw an ambulance carrying a patient ... He said, Thank GOD am not sick.

Then a sick person in hospital saw a trolley taking a dead body to the mortuary ... He said, Thank GOD I'm not dead.

Only a dead person cannot thank God.

Why don't you thank GOD today for all your blessings and for the gift of life ... for another beautiful day.

*What is LIFE*? - To understand life better, you have to go to 3 locations :

1. Hospital

2. Prison 

3. Cemetery

🏥 At the Hospital, you will understand that nothing is more beautiful than HEALTH.

🔐 In the Prison, you'll see that FREEDOM is the most precious thing.

💐 At the Cemetery, you will realize that life is worth nothing. The ground that we walk today will be our roof tomorrow.

*Sad Truth* : 

We all come with.. *nothing* and we will go with ....... *nothing* ... 

Let us, therefore, remain humble and be thankful & grateful to God at all times for everything.

Bridge is out

 🌉🚘🌉🚘🌉

A preacher was driving home one night with his wife and two daughters in the car. It was dark, raining and intensely so and the pastor could hardly see past his headlights. ☦

On the way he had to drive over a huge bridge. There were posted signs  

*"DO NOT PICK UP HITCH-HIKERS."*

By the base of the bridge, there was an institution for the criminally insane and sometimes people would escape from it and try to catch a ride. 

On this night, as the pastor slowly approached the bridge, a man suddenly appeared in the headlights. 

He was soaked, standing in the middle of the road, frantically waving his shirt over his head and screaming.

The preacher's wife cautioned her husband, 

"Oh please don't stop, try to drive around him!" 

But the car was too close, the man was unavoidable, except to stop or drive over him. 

As soon as the Pastor stoped, the man slapped his hand down on the hood of the car and continued screaming, at the top of his lungs, unabated. 

The preacher felt something in his spirit, looked over to his wife and told her to lock the door after him and to not unlock it until he had returned.

 

His family understandably perturbed and crying, pleaded with him not to get out of the car. 

He opened the door and stepped outside... He was immediately soaked from the rain. 

As he approached the man, all of a sudden he could make out what the man was screaming,

*"THE BRIDGE IS OUT! THE BRIDGE IS OUT! A BUS JUST WENT OVER INTO THE WATER!!!"*

As these words registered in the pastor's mind, he looked back in the car at his wife and two daughters. He wrapped his arm around the man and wept in gratitude. 

The preacher stood there with the man for the next half-hour in the middle of the road, waving his jacket above his head screaming to warn other commuters.

*"STOP!!!!! THE BRIDGE IS OUT! THE BRIDGE IS OUT!"*

For a lost and a dying world, 

*"THE BRIDGE IS OUT!"* 

For a people heading to a Christless Eternity, ☦

*"THE BRIDGE IS OUT!"*

Where are the men and the women who will stand in the middle of the road and forbid people, not to perish?

*_HELL HAS OPENED IT'S MOUTH WIDE AND SADLY MANY ARE SPEEDING INTO IT_*

*THE BRIDGE IS OUT* 

Be watchful and vigilant!!

 

BE CAREFUL OF THE LITTLE THINGS TO DESTROY YOUR LIFE.* Gal.5:9.

It wasn't a mighty giant

that made King David fall,

It was just a little housewife

bathing beyond a wall... I.Sam.11:1-4. *Run away from lustful desires.*

It wasn't an army of warriors

that brought the mighty Samson down;

A few of Delilah's tricky tears

reduced the leader to nothing. Judges.16:19-21. *Run away from the spirit of deception.*

Peter boasted of devotion

beyond the shadow of a doubt,

It took a little servant girl by the fire....to take his fire out. Lk.22:55-61. *Be careful of your emotional spirit.* 

Eve's one bite of the fruit,

One backward look from Mrs Lot...

Satan's baits are tremendously tiny,

But they hide a deadly hook. Gen.3:6. Gen.19:26 *Check your disobedient spirit.*

Little foxes of gossip, impatience, anger...

Destroy your vines in a day;

Few dead flies in a perfume jar,......Yet we must throw it all away. 😫Eccl.10:1. *Run away from the sin easily beset you*

The little greed of Mr & Mrs Ananias cost their death. Act.5:1-10.  *Check up your greedy spirit, let it not strip your life.*

Little love of money in the heart of Judas Iscariot stripped him of his glorious ministry. Act.1:16-20. *Check up your motive of doing God's work.*

A little pride made Lucifer  lose the heavenly glorious position forever. Isa.14:12-15.  *Pride is a cancer, run away from it.*

So pay attention to the little things,

And be vigilant in this fight;

That roaring lion, the Satan, who seeks to devour,

Comes purring as an Angel of light. I.Pet.5:8-9

*Be watchful and vigilant 👍🏻

Joy of living😎

 Wisdom echoes 

John D Rockfeller was once the richest man in the world. The first billionaire in the world.

By age 25 he controlled one of the largest oil refineries in the US. 

By age 31 he had become the world’s largest oil refiner.  

By age 38 he commanded 90% of the oil refined in the U.S.                                          

By 50, he was the richest man in the country.

By the time he died, he had become the richest man in the world. 

As a young man, every decision, attitude, and relationship was tailored to create his personal power and wealth. 

But at the age of 53 he became ill. 

His entire body became racked with pain and he lost all of his hair. In complete agony, the world’s only billionaire could buy anything he wanted, but he could only digest soup and crackers. 

An associate wrote, "He could not sleep, would not smile and nothing in life meant anything to him."

His personal, highly skilled physicians predicted he would die within a year. 

That year passed agonizingly slowly. 

As he approached death he awoke one morning with the vague realisation of not being able to take any of his wealth with him into the next world. 

The man who could control the business world suddenly realized he was not in control of his own life. 

He was left with a choice. 

He called his attorneys, accountants, and managers and announced that he wanted to channel his assets to hospitals, research, and charity work. 

John D. Rockefeller established his Foundation. 

This new direction eventually led to the discovery of penicillin, cures for malaria, tuberculosis and diphtheria. 

But perhaps the most amazing part of Rockefeller’s story is that the moment he began to give back a portion of all that he had earned, his body’s chemistry was altered so significantly that he got better. 

It looked as if he would die at 53 but he lived to be 98.

Rockefeller learned gratitude and gave back the vast majority of his wealth. 

Before his death, he wrote this in his diary: 

"I was taught to work as well as play,

My life has been one long, happy holiday;

Full of work and full of play

I dropped the worry on the way

And God was good to me everyday!"

*The JOY OF GIVING is the JOY OF LIVING*

🌲True Christmas🎄

 

 

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love, 

I'm just another decorator. 

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love, 

I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love, 

it profits me nothing. 

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, 

attend a myriad of holiday parties

and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, 

I have missed the point. 

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss a loved one. 

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. 

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, 

but is thankful they are there to be in the way. 

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't. 

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, 

pearl necklaces will be lost, 

golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure

The best Judgment

 *Actual Judge's sentence in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.* 

 There was a fifteen year old boy in Atlanta. He was caught stealing from  a store.  

On trying to escape from the hold of the guard, a shelf of the store was also broken.

 The judge heard the crime and asked the boy, "Did you really steal something, a packet of bread and cheese"?

 The boy responded by looking down.  ;- Yes'.

 Judge,: - 'Why?'

 Boy,: - I needed.

 Judge: - 'Could have bought.

 Boy: - 'There was no money.'

 Judge: - Take it from the family.  

Boy: - 'There is only mother in the house.  Sick and unemployed, Bread and Cheese were also stolen for the same

 Judge: - You don't do anything?

 Boy: - Used to wash a car.  When I took a day off to take care of my mother, I was fired.

 Judge: - Dont you ask someone for help?

 Boy: - Had left the house since morning, went to about fifty people, took this desperate step at the very end.

 When the arguments ended, the judge began to pronounce the verdict, "the theft and especially the theft of Bread is a very shameful crime and we are all responsible for this crime.  Every person in the court, including me, is a perpetrator, so every person present here is fined ten dollars.  No one can get out of here without giving ten dollars. "

 Saying this, the judge took ten dollars out of his pocket and then picked up the pen and started writing: - In addition, I fined the store a thousand dollars for handing over a hungry child to the police.  

 If the penalty is not deposited within 24 hours, the court will order to seal the store.

 By giving the full amount of collections to this boy, the judge & court ask for forgiveness from that boy.

 After hearing the verdict, tears were pouring from the eyes of the people present in the court. That boy's hiccups were also relentless.  The judge  came out court with tears in his eyes.

 Are our society, systems and courts ready for such a decision?

 Chanakya has said that if a hungry person is caught stealing bread, then the people of that country should be ashamed.

 If this post touches your heart, do share it with others too. 😊🤗💯%

Joy of giving

 

*I want to remember your Face so that when I meet you in Heaven, I will be able to recognize you and Thank you once again -*

In a telephonic interview,

the Radio Announcer

asked his guest,

a millionaire,

"What made you

Happiest in life ?"

The millionaire replied :

I have gone through

Four stages of

Happiness in my Life 

Finally I understood the

Meaning of True Happiness. 

The First Stage was

to Accumulate

Wealth and Means.

But at this Stage

I did not get the

Happiness I wanted. 

Then came the Second

Stage of Collecting

Valuables and Items. 

But I realized that the

Effect of this thing

is also Temporary & the

Lustre of Valuable Things

Does not last long.

Then came the

Third Stage of Getting

Big Projects like

Buying a football team,

Buying a tourist resort etc. 

But even here I did not

Get the Happiness

I had imagined.

The Fourth time

A Friend of mine

Asked me to buy

Wheelchairs for

Disabled children.

At the Friend's request, I immediately bought some Wheelchairs.

But My Friend insisted

That I go with him and

Hand over the Wheelchairs

To the Children myself.

So,I went with him &

Gave the Wheel chairs

To those Children

with my own hands.

I saw the Great

Glow of Happiness

On the Faces of

Those Children. 

I saw them all

Sitting on the Chairs,

Moving around

And having fun.

It was as if they had

Arrived at a Picnic.

But I felt Real Joy

When I started to leave

And one of the Kids

Grabbed my leg.

I gently tried to

Free my leg - but the

Child stared at my face

And held my leg tightly.

I bent down and

Asked the Child :

"Do you need

Anything else?"

The answer the Child

Gave me not only

Made me Happy

but also Changed

My Life forever.

The Child said : 

"I want to remember

Your Face, so that

When I meet you

in Heaven, i will be

Able to recognize you

& Thank you once again."

💐🙂

*"THE JOY OF GIVING".*

🙏The Good Shepherd 🐑

 

Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind.

These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like something is wrong with its neck. Their spirit is broken.

These lambs are called “bummer lambs.” Unless the Shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone. So, do you know what the Shepherd does?

He takes that rejected little one into His home, hand-feeds it and keeps it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to His chest so the bummer can hear His heartbeat. Once the lamb is strong enough, the Shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock.

But that sheep never forgets how the Shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him. When the Shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to Him first?

That is right, the bummer sheep. He knows His voice intimately.

It is not that the bummer lamb is loved more, it just knows intimately the One who loves it and has experienced that love one on one.

So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken. But He is the good Shepherd. He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heartbeat.

I am a bummer lamb adopted and loved by The Good Shepherd!

You are not home yet!!

After forty years of faithful service to the Lord as a missionary to Africa, Henry Morrison and his wife were returning to New York.  As the ship neared the dock, Henry said to his wife, "Look at that crowd.  They haven't forgotten about us".  However, unknown to Henry, the ship also carried President Teddy Roosevelt, returning from a big game hunting trip in Africa.  Roosevelt stepped from the boat, with great fanfare, as people were cheering, flags were waving,  bands were playing, and reporters waiting for his comment, Henry and his wife slowly walked away unnoticed.  They hailed a cab, which took them to the one bedroom apartment which had been provided by the mission board. 

 

Over the next few weeks, Henry tried but failed to put the incident behind him.  He was sinking deeper into depression when one evening, he said to his wife, "This is all wrong.  This man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody throws a big party.  We give our lives in faithful service to God for all these many years, but no one seems to care." 

 

His wife cautioned him that he should not feel this way.  Henry replied "I know you're right, but I just can't help it.  It just isn't right."

 

His wife then said, "Henry, you know God doesn't mind if we honestly question Him.  You need to tell this to the Lord and get this settled now.  You'll be useless in His ministry until you do."

 

Henry Morrison then went to his bedroom, got down on his knees and, shades of Habakkuk, began pouring out his heart to the Lord.  "Lord, you know our situation and what's troubling me.  We gladly served you faithfully for years without complaining.  But now God, I just can't get this incident out of my mind..."

 

After about ten minutes of fervent prayer, Henry returned to the living room with a peaceful look on his face.  His wife said "It looks like you've resolved the matter.  What happened?"

 

Henry replied, "The Lord settled it for me.  I told Him how bitter I was that the President received this tremendous homecoming, but no one even met us as we returned home.  When I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and simply said, 'But Henry, you are not home yet!'" (copied)

It is not yet time to congratulate ourselves neither is it time for us to tell ourselves that we have done enough. Heaven is the home and as long as we are not yet there, we have to keep pressing on.

God help us!

Power of Appreciation

Question :What is the best advice your mother ever gave you? 

Answer By Jonathan Pettit

I was about ten. My mom had just finished creating one of her amazing meals, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Delicious. Later, as I was washing the dishes, my mom came up to me. “Sorry, dinner was so awful again,” she said.

I was shocked. “What? No, it was great. I loved it.”

“Really?” she said, with mock surprise. “You always eat so quietly, never saying anything. You’ve never told me you liked my cooking, so I thought you hated it.”

“No, you’re the best cook I know.”

“Then you should tell me that,” she said. “Whenever someone does something nice for you, you should thank that person. If you don’t, then she might think she’s not appreciated and stop doing those nice things.”

Something clicked right then. From that day onward, I thanked everyone for literally everything. If anyone did something that even vaguely helped me, I thanked that person profusely. It became a habit, something I didn’t even think about, and that’s when the magic started happening.

People liked me more. They talked to me more, shared with me, were more friendly. In my first year of high school, during the final week, I came home and found a giant freezie (a kind of sweet frozen snack) waiting for me. “Thanks, mom!” I said instinctively.

“This isn’t from me, she said. “This is from your bus driver.” He had been driving that bus for years, and my siblings and I were the first people to ever thank him as we got dropped off. Those two simple words made a huge difference, so much so that he went out of his way to tell our mom and give us a present.

That’s the power of appreciation. When you have it, all is right in the world, but when it’s missing life is empty. My mom taught me many things, but taking two seconds to say ‘thank you’ every time, in any situation, was the best.

*Debriefing of this Story*

You would have met people who call themselves as good critics but have you ever met a person who says I am good at appreciating others? Isn't that a sad part of our society?

Let's start appreciating people more frequently especially people who are close to us. 

"The sweetest of all sounds is praise"

*Sending you good vibes to start with positive energy*

🙏🙏🌹