THE LEGEND OF THE CANDLE

THE LEGEND OF THE CANDLE

One evening a man took a small candle from a box and began to climb a long winding stairway. "Where are we going?" asked the candle. "we're going up higher than the house to show ships the way to the harbour." "But no ship in the harbour could ever see my light," said the candle. "It is so very small." 

"If your light is small," the man said, "just keep burning brightly and leave the rest to me."

when they reached the top of the lighthouse, they came to a large lamp. then he took the little candle and lit the lamp. Soon the great polished reflectors behind the lamp sent beams of lights out across miles of sea. 

We are God's light! Our job is to keep on shining and our effectiveness is in His hands. 

• Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Mt. 5:16)
• I am the light of the world.whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of the life. (Jn. 8:12)

Source: Tonic for the Heart in 1000 bottles Vol. 1 

- Purnell Bailey

SELF - SACRIFICE

SELF - SACRIFICE

Once when a fierce battle was being fought in the Netherlands, Sir Philip Sidney, the British Commander was severely wounded in the battle field. he was fast losing blood. feeling extremely thirsty he asked for a glass of water. 

As Sir Philip Sidney held the glass of water to his lips, he noticed a badly, wounded soldier looking longingly at it, his wide eyes showing all signs of the agony of death. Moved with COMPASSION for the dying soldier, he told the soldiers to offer the water to him saying, "His need is greater than mine."

• To recognize another's need and to sacrifice your own basic needs are truly praiseworthy. 
• To forget our own pain at someone else's agony and to console them in the mark of a selfless existence. 
• Moved with COMPASSION, Jesus touched the eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him. (Mt (20:34)

LOVE

LOVE

1. True Love grows by sacrifice and the more thoroughly the soul rejects natural satisfaction, the stronger and more detached its tenderness becomes.   - St Theresa of Lisieux

2. Love cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.   - Karl A. Menninger

3. Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him/her with Love.  - Mahatma Gandhi

4. I Love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.    - Roy Croft

5. Love is patient and kind; Love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.   - (1 Cor) Bible

6. Love may be blind, but it can sure find its way around in the dark.     -Source Unknown

7. To Love is to place our happiness in the happiness of another. 

   -   Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz

8. True Love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.     - Francois De La Rochefoucauld

9. Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness.   

   - Oliver Wendell Holmes

10. Love and a cough cannot be hid.      - George Hebert

TRUTH

TRUTH 

1. You never find yourself until you face the truth.      - Pearl Bailey

2. Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.  

      - Benjamin Disraeli

3. Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies. 

       - Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. Truth is a thing immortal and perpetual, and it gives to us a beauty that fades not away in time.     - Max Fuller

5. Truth is a torch that shines through the fog without dispelling it. 

           - Claude A. Helvetius

6. Always tell the truth  - it's the easiest thing to remember.     

      - David Mamet

7. Everyone wishes to have truth on his/her side, but not everyone wishes to be on the side of truth.     - Richard Whately

8. Between truth and the search for it, I choose the second.  

      - Bernard Berenson

9. All great truths are simple in final analysis, and easily understood; if they are not, they are not great truths.     - Napoleon Hill 

10. Truth is a fruit which should not be plucked until it is ripe.  

         - Voltaire

ANGER

ANGER

1. My dear brothers and sister, take a  note of this: 

"Everyone should be quick to Listen, 

Slow to speak and slow to become angry,

for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life 

that God desires."

- James 1:19-20

2. Anger is a momentary madness, so control your passion or it will control you.                       - Horace

3. anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. 

- Source Unknown

4. When you meet up with a disagreeable person, never allow yourself to be upset. Say to yourself, if a dowdy like that can stand himself all his life, surely I can stand him for a few minutes.                - Source Unknown

5. Anger begins with folly, and ends with Repentance. 

                                            -H.G Bohn    

6. The greatest remedy for anger is delay.       -  Seneca

7. There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.     -Proverb

8. Man should forget his anger, before he lies down to sleep.   

     - Thomas De Quincey

9. Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame. 

       - Benjamin Franklin

10. The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life. 

        - Samurai maxim

EXAMPLE SPEAKS LOUDEST

EXAMPLE SPEAKS LOUDEST

Some young Christians were attending an international summer camp. One of the projects set before them was to discuss and explore ideas for spreading the Gospel in the world.

The discussing was wide and varied. It included the use of television and radio programmes, newspaper articles, notices in magazines, and so on. Finally, when they were out of ideas an African girl stood up and gave her opinion:

“In my country when we think that a pagan village is ready for Christianity, we don’t send them books and missionaries. We send them a good Christian family. The family’s example is a more powerful proclamation of the gospel than all the books in the world.

v     “You shall be my witnesses,” says Jesus (Acts 1:8)

v     “By this shall men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another?” (John 13:35)

v     The witness value of Christianity is central. A Christian is in the business of attracting, not promoting. 

PERSEVERANCE

PERSEVERANCE

Wilma Rudolph was a disaster from birth. She was a tiny premature baby, who caught pneumonia, then scarlet fever, and finally polio. The polio left one leg bodily crippled, with her foot twisted inward.

Until the age of eleven, Wilma hobbled around on metal braces. Then she asked her sister to keep watch while she practiced walking without the braces. She kept this up every day, afraid that her parents might discover what she was doing and she might be compelled to stop. Eventually feeling guilty she told her doctor, who was flabbergasted. However he gave her permission to continue as she was, but only for a short period of time.

Anyhow to make a long story short, Wilma worked away at it until she eventually threw away her crutches for good. She progressed to running and by the time she was sixteen she won a bronze medal in a relay race in the Melbourne Olympics. Four years later in the Roma Olympics she became the first woman in history to win three gold medals in track and field.

She returned to  a ticker tape welcome in the US had a private meeting with President Kennedy, and received the Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete.

v     We can grow in faith, love, patience, etc. by day-in-day-out practice and perseverance.

THE LEAST OF THESE

THE LEAST OF THESE

A king who had no son to succeed him posted a notice inviting young men to come along and apply for adoption into his family. The two qualifications were love of God and love of neighbour.

A poor peasant boy was tempted to apply, but fell unable to do so because of the rags he wore. He worked hard, earned some money, bought some new clothes, and headed off to try his luck at being adopted into the king’s family.

He was halfway there, however, when he met a poor beggar on the road, who was shivering with the cold. The young man felt sorry for him and he exchanged clothes with him. There was hardly much point in going any further toward the king’s palace at this stage, now that he was back in rags again. However, the young man felt that having come this far, he might as well finish the journey.

He arrived at the palace and despite the sneers and jibes of the courtiers; he was finally admitted into the presence of the king. Imagine his amazement to see that the king was the old beggar man he had met on the road, and he was actually wearing the good clothes the young man had given! The king got down form his throne, embraced the young man, and said, “Welcome, my son!”

v     There is a direct lesson in this story to show the welcome of God for king kind and the good when they come before him after death.

v     Whatever you do to the least of these, that’s what you do unto me. (Mt. 25:40)

FOR OR AGAINST

FOR OR AGAINST

It was during the Mexican war. Thoreau, the philosopher and writer, vehemently opposed to the war, because he believed it to be an attempt to expand slaveholding territories. He refused to pay taxes, because the money was going to the work effort. He ended up in jail, rather than pay taxes.

Emerson, another philosopher and writer, a friend of his, and someone who was also strongly opposed to the war and to slavery visited him in prison. Emerson asked Thoreau, “Henry, why are you in prison?” Thoreau looked straight in the eye, and quickly asked him, “Waldo, why are you not here?”

v     Happy are they who dream dreams, and are prepared to pay the price to make their dreams come true.

v     The acid test of our conviction about anything is our willingness to be faithful to it, no matter what the consequences.

GETTING OUR OWN BACK

GETTING OUR OWN BACK

A foolish man heard that Buddha taught that you should never return evil for evil. One day the man met Buddha, and decided to test him to see if he practiced what he taught others to do. The man began to heap all kinds of verbal abuse upon the great teacher, shouting at him, and calling him all kinds of names.

All the while Buddha listened quietly. When the man had run out of things to say, Buddha said to him “My son, if a man declines to accept a gift from another, to whom does the gift go?” “Any fool knows that,” sneered the man, “the gift goes back to the giver.” “My son,” said Buddha, “you have just given me much verbal abuse. I decided to accept your gift.” The man made no reply.

Buddha continued, “My son, a man who slanders a virtuous person is like a man who spits at the sky. The spit doesn’t soil the sky, it returns to soil the face of the one who spat.”

v     The “law of the echo” said the teacher, whether you shout, curse, sing or laugh into an echo chamber – that’s what will come to you!

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIEND

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIEND

Mt Ranier is a 14, 000 – foot mountain in Washington state. Some years ago, nine physically handicapped people succeeded in climbing to summit.

One had an artificial leg, five were blind, two were deaf, and one was an epileptic. In spite of all this, they climbed the mountain, and came down together, without a mishap. When asked how they achieved such an extraordinary feat, one of the blind men said, “We got a lot of help form each other.”

v     That must surely rank as one of the understatement of the century.

v     A good example of the body of Christ in action, where the blind could see with someone else’s eyes, the deaf could hear with someone else’s ears etc.

A TRUE STORY

A TRUE STORY
 
 
Spend some time to read this! Really touching!

I was walking around in a Big Bazar store making shopping, 
when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.
 The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll. 
Then the little boy turned to me and asked: ''Aunty, are you sure 
I don't have enough money?''
I counted his cash and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy 
 
the dolll, my dear.'' The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, 
I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 
'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much . 
Iwanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY. I have to give the doll to my mommy so 
that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.' 
His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. 
Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so 
I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.
'' My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and 
aid: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until 
I come back from the mall.' 
Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. 
He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister 
won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, 
but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.
' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.
I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, 
just in case you do have enough money for the doll?'' 'OK' he said, 
I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and 
we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. 
The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!
' Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before 
I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, 
so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have 
enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask 
God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. 
My mommy loves white roses.'
I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. 
I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.. Then I remembered a local news 
paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who 
hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, 
and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether 
to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would 
not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?
Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that 
the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch 
of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young 
woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. 
She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the 
photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. 
I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever. 
The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, 
to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, 
a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

PLEASE DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE.

THE VALUE OF A MAN OR WOMAN RESIDES IN WHAT HE OR SHE GIVES, NOT IN WHAT HE OR SHE IS CAPABLE OF RECEIVING.  

THE LOST PAGE

THE LOST PAGE

A teacher asked her class to rewrite the parable of the Lost Sheep in a way what would make more sense to the members of the class. One student wrote: Suppose you had just finished typing a 100 page term paper. You had worked long hours in drafting it and typing it. You were exhausted but deeply relieved that the job was finished. You were collecting the page to staple them and bind them when you discovered that there was one missing. Imagine the horror, the panic, the sick feeling in the pit of the stomach. You drop the other 99 pages, and begin the anxious search. Everything in you is longing and aching for a sight of that missing page. Without that page the whole project falls limp.

Suddenly, there, away in a corner is the page. You excitedly push a chair aside, sending the 99 page on it flying in all direction and you are on your knees, reaching into the corner to touch and to grasp that page.

-   That one page in the hand is a source of much greater joy and delight than the 99 pages scattered around the floor.

YOU DID IT TO ME

YOU DID IT TO ME

There is a story told, apocryphal, of course, about a black man in the South. It was pre-integration days and he was standing outside a church that was attended by whites only. As it happened it was quite close to where he lived, and he was seriously considering attempting to go there on a Sunday morning, rather than traveling several miles to all black church. He was standing outside; trying to get enough courage to face what would surely prove an impossible task anyway. When he looked up, and there was Jesus standing beside him.

Jesus asked him what he was doing there and he said he was trying to figure out a way to get into that church. Jesus smiled and said, “I know well how you feel. Actually I myself have been trying for years to get into that church.”

-   Religion, divorced form spirituality can be very destructive.

-      Christianity is about a Person, Jesus Christ, over and above any concept of doing good – praying etc.

DEATH THE LEVELER

DEATH THE LEVELER

This is the story about Alexander the Great told by the Greek writer Plutarch.

One day Alexander came upon Diogenes the ancient philosopher and he was examining some bones. He had two sets of human bones in two different boxes.

When Alexander asked him what he was doing he said he was reflecting on some of the more important lessons of life. “For example,” said Diogenes, “the two sets of bones here are those of your father and one of his slaves. I have examined them now for some time and I honestly must confess that I cannot find any difference between them!”

-     I am a spiritual being who lives in a body for a while. When I die, I go on ahead, I am finished with the body (the remains) and if I have a donor card, other can benefit from parts of my body when I’m finished with it.

-  The rich man and Lazarus in the Gospel (Lk 16:19-31) is another way of liking at the teaching contained in the story above.

DEVIL’S BEATITUDES

DEVIL’S BEATITUDES

Blessed are those who are too tired,

Busy or disorganized to meet with

Fellow Christians on Sundays each week.

Their hearts are not in it.

Blessed are those who enjoy noticing

The mannerisms of clergy and choir.

Their hearts are not in it.

Blessed are those Christians who wait

To be asked and expect to be thanked.

I can use them.

Blessed are the touchy.

With a bit of luck they may even stop,

Going to church.

Those are my missionaries.

Blessed are those who claim to love God

At the same time as hating other people.

They are mine forever.

Blessed are the trouble makers

They shall be called my children.

Blessed are those who have no time to pray.

They are easy prey for me.

Blessed are you when you read this and

Think it is about other people

And not about yourself.

I have got you.

v     The devil doesn’t cause me to commit sin. I’m a sinner by nature. What the devil is best at is preventing me doing the good – through my own discouragement, distractions, despair - or through the criticism and cynicism of others.

v     All that is needed for evil people to succeed is that good people should do nothing.



INCARANATION

INCARANATION

This story is told to show the difference between the teaching of Confucius and Buddha and the teaching of the gospels.

A man fell into a dark, slimy pit, and he tried to climb out, but he couldn’t. Confucius came along, he saw the man in the pit, and said, “Poor fellow, if you had listened to me, you never would have fallen into that pit.” And Confucius went on his way.

Buddha came along. He saw the man in the pit, and said, “Poor fellow if he’ll just come up here, I’ll help him.” And Buddha went on his way.

Then Jesus came along, He saw the man and said, “Poor fellow!” and jumped into the pit and lifted him out.

- Incarnation means that God came to join us exactly where we are, as we are. God could love us from a distance, but decide not to.

Attitudes



1. Life is 10% what you make it and 90% how you take it. 

   -Irving Berlin

2. It's how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success. -  David Feherty

3. Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.  -Fredrick Langbridge

4. There are only 3 colours, 10 digits; and 7 notes; its what we do with them that's important.    - Ruth Ross

5. Whether a glass is half full or half empty depends on the attitude of the person looking at it.    -Source unknown

6. If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.  - Amy Tan

7. Win as if you were used to it; lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.   - Golnik Eric

8. Our attitude towards life determines life's attitude towards us.

    - Earl Nightingale

9. An optimist may seea light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?    - Michel De Saint -Pierre

10. A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.           - Source Unknown

QUOTES

QUOTES

1. Super achievers don't waste time in unproductive thoughts, esoteric thoughts, or catastrophic thoughts. they think constructively and they know that their level of thinking determines their success.       - Dr Seymour Epstein

2. History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered hear-breaking obstacles before they triumphed. they won because they refused to become discouraged by thier defeats.
       - B. C. Forbes

3. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice, it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.    
    - William Jennings Bryan

4. Health, Happiness and success depend upom the fighting spirit of each person. the big thing is not what happens to us in life - but what we do about what happens to us.   - George

5. Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it, and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else; hard-work and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't. 
     - Lucille Bart

6. Ability without dependability, responsibility and flexibility is a liability.

7. A duty which becomes a desire will ultimately become a delight.      - George Gitter

8. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at something worht doing.   - Theodore Roosevelt.

EDUCATION

EDUCATION

1. The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.   

     - Aristotle

2. Education is the ability to meet life's situations.     

   - Dr. John G. Hibben

3. The best education in the world is that got by struggling to get living.    - Wendell Phillips

4. The greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work.   - Michael Jackson

5. Education is too important to be left solely to the educators.     - Francis Keppel

6. The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.  - Carl Rogers

7. Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.  - Jim Rohn

8. A liberally educated person meets new ideas with curiosity and fascination. An illiberally educated person meets new ideas with fear.                - James B. Stockdale.

9. The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know.   - Simone Weil

10. Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remeber from time to time that nothing is worth knowing can  be taught.                                         - Oscar Wilde





SOME SAYINGS 4M THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

SOME SAYINGS 4M THE BOOK

OF PROVERBS

1.  The fear of the LOrd is the beginnic of Knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. 1:7

2. Do not loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of ur heart.    3:3

3. A child who gathers in summer is prudent, but a child who sleeps in harvest brings shame.   10: 5

4. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge but those who hate to be rebuked are stupid.  12:1

5. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.     15:16



THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER

THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER

 

1. As a mostiure is necessary for the life of plants, to prevent them 4m drying up, so is prayer necessary for our salvation.                             - St Chrysostom
2. Man/woman by prayer merits to receive that which GOd had from all etrnity determinde to give him or her.                                                - St Gregoru
3. As the body without the soul cannot live, so the soul without prayer is ded and emits an offensive odour.                                                 - St Chrysostom
4. Prayer is also called the food of soul, because the body cannot be supported without food; nor can the soul be kept alive without prayer.     - St. Augustine.
5. Prayer is not conquering God's reluctance but taking hold of God's willingness.     - Philips Brooks.
6. Prayer is not only "the practice of the presence of God", it is the relazation of His presence.                                                 - Joseph Fort Newton
7. Prayer is exhaling the spirit of man and inhaling the Spirit of God.                                     - Edwin Keith
8. praying is dangerous business. Results do come.   -G. Christi Swan