I just came again to tell you, Lord ...

A minister passing through his church in the middle of the day, decided to pause by the altar and see who had come to pray. Just then the back door opened, a man came down the aisle. The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn’t shaved in a while. His shirt was kind a shabby and his coat was worn and frayed. The man knelt, he bowed his head, then rose and walked away. In the days that followed, each noon time came this chap, each time he knelt, just for a moment, with lunch pail in his lap.

Well, the minister’s suspicions grew, with robbery a main fear, he decided to stop the man and asked him, “What are you doing here?” The old man said, he worked down the road. Lunch was half an hour. Lunchtime was his prayer time – for finding strength and power. “I stay only moments as I kneel here talking to the Lord, because the factory is so far away.”

“This is kind a what I say :

I just came again to tell you, Lord, how happy I’ve been, since we found each others friendship and you took away my sin. Don’t know much of how to pray, but I think about you everyday. So Jesus, this is Jim checking in today”

The minister feeling foolish, told Jim, that was fine. He told the man that he was welcome to come and pray just anytime. Time to go, Jim smiled, said “Thanks” as he hurried to the door. The minister knelt at the altar, as he’d never done before. His cold heart melted, warmed with love, and met with Jesus there. As the tears flowed, in his heart, he repeated Old Jim’s prayer”

“I just came again to tell you, Lord, how happy I’ve been, since we found each others friendship and you took away my sin. I don’t know much of how to pray, but I think about you everyday. So Jesus, this is me checking in today.”

Past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn’t come. As more days passed without Jim, he began to worry. At the factory, he asked about him and learnt that he was ill.

The hospital staff was worried. But he’d given them a thrill. The week that Jim was with them, had brought changes in the ward. His smiles, a joy contagious, changed people, were his reward. The head nurse couldn’t understand why Jim was so glad, when no flowers, calls or cards came. Not a visitor he had.

The minister stayed by his bed. He voiced the nurse’s concern : No friends came to show they cared. He had nowhere to turn. Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a winsome smile: “the nurse is wrong, she couldn’t know, that he’s in here all the while everyday at noon. He’s here, a dear friend of mine, you see, He sits right down, takes my hand, leans over and says to me :

“I just came again to tell you Jim, how happy I have been, since we found this friendship, and I took away your sin. Always Love to hear you pray, I think about you each day, and so Jim, This is JESUS checking in today.”

Am I my brother's keeper?

...THE HAND YOU PULL UP, MAY BE THE HAND THAT SAVES YOU!

A SIMPLE LESSON:

A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a rat trap. Retreating to the farmyard the rat proclaimed the warning; "There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Rat, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The rat turned to the pig and told him, "There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!"

"I am so very sorry Mr. Rat," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers."

The rat turned to the cow. She said, "Like wow, Mr. Rat. A rat trap. I am in grave danger. Duh?"

So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's rat trap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rat trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a rat trap in the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.

"Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9d)

-- Author Unknown

Today I taught my child

When I got mad today and hit my child
"For his own good, " I reconciled,
and then I realized my plight...
Today, I taught my child to fight.

When interrupted by the phone,
I said, "tell them I'm not home."
And then I thought, and had to sigh...
Today I taught my child to lie.

I told the tax man what I made,
forgetting cash that was paid,
And than I blushed at this sad feat...
Today I taught my child to cheat.

I smugly copied a cassette,
To keep me from one more debt,
But now the bells of shame must peal...
Today I taught my child to steal.

Today I cursed another race,
Oh God, protect what I debase,
for now, I fear it is too late...
Today I taught my child to hate.

By my example, children learn
That I must lead in life's sojourn
In such a way they are led
By what is done and not what is said.

Today I gave my child his due
By praise for him instead of rue.
And now I have begun my guide;
Today I gave my child his pride.

I now have reconciled and paid
to IRS all that I have made.
And now I know that this dear youth,
Today has learned from me the truth.

The alms I give are not for show,
And yet, this child must surely know
That charity is worth the price:
Today he saw my sacrifice.

I clasp within a warm embrace
My neighbor of another race.
The great commandment from up above.
Today I taught my child to love.

Someday my child must face alone
This fearsome undertone,
But I have blazed a sure pathway:
Today I taught my child to pray.

-- Author Unknown