LIVING THE GOSPELS

LIVING THE GOSPELS

Three people were discussing some recent translations of the Bible. One said, ‘I like the New American version. It is so much clearer than the older versions, and is so much easier to read.’

The second said, ‘I like the Jerusalem Bible. It’s not only clearer, but it’s more poetic, which makes it more suitable for us in prayer.’

The third said, ‘I like my mother’s translation best of all. She translated the Bible into actions, which makes it to much easier to apply to daily life.’

v You write a new page of the gospel each day, by the things you do, and the words that you say. People read what you are write, whether faithful or true. What is the gospel according to you?

v You may be the only gospel some people will ever read; they may never buy the books.

THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

A little boy was crying bitterly in class. The teacher asked what was wrong and he said that his sister was really dead, because they had put her in the ground and covered her up!

The teacher took the boy by the hand and brought him over to the window, on which was a box of clay. Some weeks earlier the class had planted seeds in the clay. The teacher explained that they were not intended to remain as seeds. They were planted in the clay, and after a while they began to sprout and grow into plants and flowers – which is what they wee meant to become.

She poked in the clay with her finger and removed one of the seeds, which has already begun to put forth shoots and to put down roots. “The seed is not dead,” she said; “it is changing and it is now becoming what it was always meant to become.”

-    “For us Christian people, life is changed, not ended.”

-     When I die, I then become all that God created me to be.

-     If you ever wake up some morning, and you find that your life is all it should be, then, don’t move – just call the undertaker.

SO MUCH FOR FAME

SO MUCH FOR FAME

There is a story told of a singer, well known in his own locality, who on holidays with his wife and kids in another part of the country. It was raining one of the days, so the singer, his wife, and four kids went to the movies.

When they arrived there, there were about ten people in the seats. When they entered, all ten jumped to their feet and applauded loudly. The singer was thrilled to be recognized so far from home.

A man came over and shook his hand and the singer, “I’m just amazed that you should recognize me so far away form home.” ‘Recognize you?’ All I know is that the manager of the cinema said he would not show the film unless six more people turned up!’

WHY I DO WHAT I DO?

WHY I DO WHAT I DO?

A young wife was preparing to bake a ham, she took a knife and cut of a piece off each end of the ham. ‘Why did you do that?’ he asked. ‘I really don’t know’, she replied, ‘but my mother always did it.’

Some time later the young man was visiting his wife’s mother, and he remembered the incident with the ham, and his wife’s explanation for doing what she did. So he asked his wife’s mother why she cut a piece off each end of a ham, before baking. The reason was simple, ‘Because the hams sold in our local supermarket are too big for the only baking pan I have!’

v    Oh! To be reflective, to be thoughtful, and not to be afraid to stop and look at ourselves, what we do, and why we do it!

v    On occasions I can do the right thing, but not always for the right reasons.

v    Why I do something makes it wrong or right. I could visit someone in hospital because I feel sorry for him – or because I want to gloat over his helpless state!

APPRECIATING LIFE

APPRECIATING LIFE

 

There is a play called Our Town, and in it a young woman dies. As the play progresses, it happens that she is allowed by God to return to earth t re-live one day of her life. The day she chooses is her twelfth birthday.

A few hours into the day, she cries out “I can’t, I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another…Oh earth, you’re too beautiful for anyone to realize.” Then, with tears in her eyes she asks, “Do human beings ever realize life while they live it?” A voice answers her, ‘No. The saints and poets maybe – they do sometimes.”

v    If you really want to appreciate something have it taken away from you, and when you have lost it, have it then restored to you.

v    A tragedy of life is to reach the end and realize I never really live; I settled for existing.

v    Everybody dies, but not everybody lives.

WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER

WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER

One day a little mouse was caught by a lion. The lion was ready to swallow the tiny creature, when it cried out, “Spare me, great beast! Please don’t eat me. Someday I may be able to repay your kindness.”

The lion, taken aback let out a roar, threw back his head, and roared with laughter. However, he was so amused at the thought that a tiny mouse could help him the king of the jungle, that he freed the little animal.

Sometime later, the lion was captured by hunters. He was caught in a huge net and secured to a tree, while the hunters went to fetch a truck to carry him. Along came the tiny mouse. When he saw the lion and the predicament he was in, he began to chew at the rope. He gnawed an opening in the net, and the lion got free.

v God can use any of us.

v The least significant person in my life can help set me free from my selfishness, intolerance, judgment etc. It all depends on how I relate to them, or treat them.