HOW IS YOUR COMMITMENT?

Chuck Swindoll, in his book entitled, "Living Above the Level of Mediocrity," tells a story about a church back in the days before the Soviet Union broke up. The church met secretly in homes out of fear of the communist authorities.

They tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as they gathered on Sunday to worship the Lord, so they came at different times & casually walked into the house until they had all arrived. Then they would close & bolt the doors, pull the curtains, & quietly worship the Lord.

They had managed to obtain one copy of the Gospel of Luke for the whole church. They cut it up into little sections & passed out those pieces of the Gospel of Luke to individual members. 

The members would take them home for the week & memorize that section of scripture, & then bring it back to exchange with another who had a different section of the Gospel, until finally everyone had an opportunity to read the entire gospel & to commit much of it to memory.

One Lord's Day they gathered for worship as usual. With deep emotion they quietly sang their hymns of faith. 

Between songs different ones would stand up & recite the passage of scripture they had learned that week from the Gospel of Luke. In this way they worshiped & praised God.

But right in the midst of their worship service, two KGB officers burst into the house, & at gunpoint commanded everyone to line up against the wall. Then they were told that they had a choice, either to renounce their faith in Christ & leave, or they could stay & suffer the consequences.

Several of the people quickly left. After a few moments, which seemed like an eternity to those still lined up against the wall, the officers said, "This is your last opportunity to leave. We repeat, ‘You may renounce your faith in Jesus Christ & leave, or stay & suffer the consequences."

Finally, two more left, almost hiding their faces in shame as they walked out. But the rest stood their ground, children standing beside their parents, trembling in fear, some even crying. Parents were trying to look down & comfort their children.

Then, after all had left who had elected to leave, the officers closed the doors once again, turned to the remaining Christians & said, "Now keep your hands up, but this time in praise to our Lord & Savior." 

Then the two officers explained that some time earlier they had been given the assignment to infiltrate & to break up house churches & arrest Christians. But in the process, they had heard the gospel & had come to accept Jesus as their Lord & Savior, too. 

"But," as they explained to these Christians who had refused to flee, "We have learned that you can't trust people who are not willing to die for their faith."

I've always wondered how I would react in such a situation. I pray that my commitment would be just as strong as theirs. What about you?

IT WAS THEM THAT I HAD THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE WITH

A cruise ship met with an incident at sea, on the ship was a pair of couple, after having made their way to the life boat, they realized that there was only space for one person left.

At this moment, the man pushed the woman behind him and jumped onto the lifeboat himself.

The lady stood on the sinking ship and shouted one sentence to her husband.

The teacher stopped and asked, "What do you think she shouted?"

Most of the students excitedly answered, "I hate you! I was blind!"

Now, the teacher noticed a boy who was silent throughout, she got him to answer and he replied, "Teacher, I believe she would have shouted - Take care of our child!"

The teacher was surprised, asking "Have you heard this story before?"

The boy shook his head, "Nope, but that was what my mum told my dad before she died of a disease".

The teacher lamented, "The answer is right".

The cruise sunk, the man went home and brought up their daughter single-handedly.

Many years later after the death of the man, their daughter found his diary while tidying his belongings.

It turns out that when parents went onto the cruise ship, the mother was already diagnosed with a terminal illness.
At the critical moment, the father rushed to the only chance of survival.

He wrote in his diary, "How I wished to sink to the bottom of the ocean with you, but for the sake of our daughter, I can only let you lie forever below the sea alone".

The story is finished, the class was silent.

The teacher knows that the student has understood the moral of the story, that of the good and the evil in the world, there are many complications behind them which are hard to understand.

That is why we should never only focus on the surface and judge others without understanding them first.

Those who like to pay the bill, do so not because they are loaded but because they value friendship above money.

Those who take the initiative at work, do so not because they are stupid but because they understand the concept of responsibility.

Those who apologize first after a fight, do so not because they are wrong but because they value the people around them.

Those who are willing to help you, do so not because they owe you anything but because they see you as a true friend.

Those who often text you, do so not because they have nothing better to do but because you are in their heart.

One day, all of us will get separated from each other; we will miss our conversations of everything & nothing; the dreams that we had. Days will pass by, months, years, until this contact becomes rare... One day our children will see our picture collection and ask 'Who are these people?' 

And we will smile with invisible tears because a heart is touched with a strong word and you will say: 'IT WAS THEM THAT I HAD THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE WITH'.

 "WALKING" IS THE BEST EXERCISE........! 

The frustrations and grudge toward someone will not hurt them or help them change themselves until and unless it is expressed to them directly: whereas it disturbs and hurts the one who holds the grudge. Either we should have the courage to address the person/s who wound us. I would say the best approach is King David’s approach. If you are familiar with the Bible, may I request you to read to know more about David. He brought his frustrations to God Almighty (Pl. refer Psalms 109 for the exhaustive prayer); but at the same time, when he got opportunities to destroy his enemy, he withdrew himself from taking revenge (I Sam. Ch. 24 & 26) for he believed that vengeance should not be from him but God.

I have received the following message which promoted me to write about frustrations and grudges we hold and how it destroys our joy in life. ‘Walking is the best exercise' is meaningful and to be practiced way of life. If we can, we shall be over- comers of many of the frustrations we carry in our personal life. 

           "Walking" is the best exercise........!   

                                              

'Walk Away'   from arguments that lead you to nowhere but anger.

'Walk Away'  from people who deliberately put you down.

'Walk Away'  from any thought that reduces your worth.

'Walk Away'   from failures and fears that stifle your dreams.

'Walk Away'   from people who do not care for you and who are opportunistic.

The more you 'Walk Away'  from things that poison your soul, the happier your life would be.

 Gift Yourself A Walk Towards Happiness.

THE MIRACLE OF TOUCH

A man named Doug Nichols told of the time in 1967 when he was part of a missionary outreach in India. But his trip was sidelined when he developed tuberculosis. He was forced to stay in a sanitarium in India for several months. He said he didn’t speak the language yet, he tried to give Christian literature written in their language to the patients, doctors, and nurses.

BUT everyone politely refused. He sensed many weren't happy about a rich American (to them all Americans are rich) being in a free, government-run sanitarium. (They didn't know he was broke!). The first few nights he woke around 2:00 A.M. coughing.

He wrote: One morning during my coughing spell, I noticed one of the older and sicker patients across the aisle trying to get out of bed. He would sit up on the edge of the bed and try to stand, but in weakness would fall back into bed. I didn't understand what he was trying to do. He finally fell back into bed exhausted. I heard him crying softly.

The next morning I realized what the man had been trying to do. He had been trying to get up and walk to the bathroom! The stench in our ward was awful. Other patients yelled insults at the man. Angry nurses moved him roughly from side to side as they cleaned up the mess. One nurse even slapped him. The old man curled into a ball and wept.

The next night I again woke up coughing. I noticed the man across the aisle sit up and again try to stand. Like the night before, he fell back whimpering. I don't like bad smells, and I didn't want to become involved but I got out of bed and went over to him. When I touched his shoulder, his eyes opened wide with fear. I smiled, put my arms under him, and picked him up. He was very light due to old age and advanced TB.

I carried him to the washroom, which was just a filthy, small room with a hole in the floor. I stood behind him with my arms under his armpits as he took care of himself. After he finished, I picked him up, and carried him back to his bed.  As I laid him down, he kissed me on the cheek, smiled, and said something I couldn't understand.

The next morning another patient woke me and handed me a steaming cup of tea. He motioned with his hands that he wanted a tract. As the sun rose, other patients approached and indicated they also wanted the booklets. Throughout the day nurses, interns, and doctors asked for literature.

What made the difference? Why did so many respond that had rejected his literature just days before? The difference was that he had touched a man others avoided… and he changed the lives of dozens because of it.  

Following is an excerpt of one of the last interviews with Mother Teresa conducted by Edward W. Desmond in 1989 for Time magazine:  

Time: What is God's greatest gift to you?

Mother Teresa: The poor people.

Time: How are they a gift?

Mother Teresa: I have an opportunity to be with Jesus 24 hours a day.

Time: Here in Calcutta, have you created a real change?

Mother Teresa: I think so. People are aware of the presence and also many, many, many Hindu people share with us. They come and feed the people and they serve the people. Now we never see a person lying there in the street dying. It has created a worldwide awareness of the poor.

Time: Beyond showing the poor to the world, have you conveyed any message about how to work with the poor?

Mother Teresa: You must make them feel loved and wanted. They are Jesus for me. I believe in that much more than doing big things for them.

Time: What's your greatest hope here in India?

Mother Teresa: To give Jesus to all.

Time: But you do not evangelize in the conventional sense of the term.

Mother Teresa: I'm evangelizing by my works of love.

Time: Is that the best way?

Mother Teresa: For us, yes. For somebody else, something else. I'm evangelizing the way God wants me to. Jesus said go and preach to all the nations. We are now in so many nations preaching the Gospel by our works of love. "By the love that you have for one another will they know you are my disciples." That's the preaching that we are doing, and I think that is more real.

A CONSCIOUS CHOICE MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Here is a beautiful story that speaks about how our attitude changes the surroundings.

A long time ago in China, a girl named Li-Li got married and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn’t get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law’s habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly.

 As days went by, the relationship with Li-Li and her mother-in-law increased. But what made the situation even worse was that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing the poor husband great distress.  Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law’s bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it.

Li-Li went to see her father’s good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all. Mr. Huang thought for a while, and finally said, “Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you.”

Li-Li said, “Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do.” Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs.

He told Li-Li, “You can’t use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspects you when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.”

Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.

Weeks went by, months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother. After six months had passed, the whole household had changed.

Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset. She hadn’t had an argument in six months with her mother-in-law, who now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.

                      

The mother-in-law’s attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter.

Li-Li’s husband was very happy to see what was happening.

One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again. She said, “Mr. Huang, please help me to stop the poison from killing my mother-in-law! She’s changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her.”

Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. “Li-Li, there’s nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her.”

Friends, make a conscious choice to see the good qualities of the person in relationships, act it out; surely let time heal relationships (if the other person is sane; if not, we need to put more efforts in showing love and concern!) Let’s start making amends - to parents, siblings, friends and all we come into contact.
 

Remember, no one has a promised a tomorrow. This moment is the only opportunity we have to act. Have a wonderful life with no regrets!

OFF-LOAD THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE

.
The Professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students “How much do you think this glass weighs?”

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“50gms!” ….. “100gms”’ ….. “125 gms!” … the students answered.

.

“I really don’t know unless I weigh it,” said the professor, “but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?”…. 

“Nothing” …..the students said.

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“Ok what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?” the professor asked.

“Your arm would begin to ache,” said one of the students.

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“You’re right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?”

“Your arm could go numb; you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis & have to go to hospital for sure!” Ventured another student & all the students laughed.
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“Very good.” But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?”  asked the professor.

“No”…. Was the answer.

“Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?”
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The students were puzzled.

“What should I do now to come out of pain?” asked professor again.

“Put the glass down!” said one of the students.

“Exactly!” said the professor. “Life’s problems are something like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head & they seem OK. Think of them for a long time & they begin to ache. Hold it even longer & they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything.”

It’s important to think of the challenges or problems in your life, But EVEN MORE IMPORTANT is to ‘PUT THEM DOWN’ at the end of every day before you go to sleep…

That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh &strong & can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way!

So, Remember, my friend to ‘PUT THE GLASS DOWN NOW ITSELF!’

“I WANT TO BUY A MIRACLE”

An eight-year-old child heard her parents talking about her little brother. All she knew was that he was very sick and they had no money left. They were moving to a smaller house because they could not afford to stay in the present house after paying the doctor's bills. Only a very costly surgery could save him now and there was no one to loan them the money.

When she heard her daddy say to her tearful mother with whispered desperation, 'Only a miracle can save him now', the little girl went to her bedroom and pulled her piggy bank from its hiding place in the closet. She poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully.

Clutching the precious piggy bank tightly, she slipped out the back door and made her way six blocks to the local drugstore. She took a quarter from her bank and placed it on the glass counter.

"And what do you want?" asked the pharmacist.

"It's for my little brother," the girl answered back. "He's really very sick and I want to buy a miracle."

"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.

"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?"

"We don't sell miracles here, child. I'm sorry," the pharmacist said, smiling sadly at the little girl.

"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I can try and get some more. Just tell me how much it costs."

In the shop was a well-dressed customer. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does you brother need?"

"I don't know," she replied with her eyes welling up. "He's really sick and mommy says he needs an operation. But my daddy can't pay for it, so I have brought my savings".

"How much do you have?" asked the man.

"One dollar and eleven cents; but I can try and get some more", she answered barely audibly.

"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man, "A dollar and eleven cents - the exact price of a miracle for little brothers."

He took her money in one hand and held her hand with the other. He said, "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the kind of miracle you need."

That well-dressed man was Dr Carlton Armstrong, a neurosurgeon. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn't long before Andrew was home again and doing well.

"That surgery," her mom whispered, "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost."

The little girl smiled. She knew exactly how much the miracle cost ... one dollar and eleven cents ... plus the faith of a little child.

Perseverance can make miracles happen! Miracle can come in various forms - as a doctor, as a lawyer, as a teacher, as a police, as a friend, as a stranger and many others.

A river cuts the rock not because of its power, but because of its consistency.

Never lose your hope & keep walking towards your vision.