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When
To Keep Your Mouth Shut
Don't open your mouth when:
1. In the heat of anger. (Proverbs
14:17)
2. When you don't have all the
facts. (Proverbs 18:13)
3. When you haven't verified the
story. (Deuteronomy 17:6)
4. If your words will offend a
weaker person. (1 Corinthians
8:11)
5. When it is time to listen.
(Proverbs 13:1)
6. When you are tempted to make
light of holy things. (Ecclesiastes
5:2)
7. When you are tempted to joke
about sin. (Proverbs
14:9)
8. If you would be ashamed of
your words later. (Proverbs
8:8)
9. If your words would convey
the wrong impression. (Proverbs
17:27)
10. If the issue is none of your
business. (Proverbs 14:10)
11. When you are tempted to tell
an outright lie. (Proverbs
4:24)
12. If your words will damage
someone else's reputation. (Proverbs
16:27)
13. If your words will damage
a friendship. (Proverbs
16:28)
14. When you are feeling critical.
(James 3:9)
15. If you can't say it without
screaming it. (Proverbs
25:28)
16. If your words will be a poor
reflection of the Lord or your friends and family.
(Peter 2:21-23)
17. If you may have to eat your
words later. (Proverbs
18:21)
18. If you have already said it
more than one time. (Proverbs
19:13)
19. When you are tempted to flatter
a wicked person. (Proverbs
24:24)
20. When you are suppose to be
working instead. (Proverbs
14:23)
"Whoever
guards his mouth & tongue keeps his soul from
troubles." (Proverbs 21:23)
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Heaven
And Hell
There was a religious lady who
traveled by air a lot for her business. Since
flying made her extremely nervous, she always
took her Bible along with her to read to help
her relax on long flights. One time, as she was
sitting next to a man, he saw her pull out her
Bible. He gave a little chuckle, smirked and went
back to what he was doing. After a while, he asked
her, "You don't really believe all that stuff
in there, do you?"
"Of course I do," she
replied. "It's the Bible."
He said, "Well, what about
the guy that was swallowed by the whale?"
She replied, "Oh, Jonah.
Yes, I believe that, it's in the Bible."
He asked, "Well, how do you
suppose he survived all that time inside the whale?"
The lady said, "Well, I don't
really know. I guess when I get to heaven, I'll
ask him."
"What if he isn't in heaven?"
the man asked sarcastically.
"Well, then, you can ask
him," replied the lady.
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Bone Of
My Bone, Flesh Of My Flesh
Years ago, I asked God to give
me a spouse. "You don't own because you didn't
ask", God said. Not only I asked for a spouse
but also explained what kind of spouse I wanted.
I want a nice, tender, forgiving, passionate,
honest, peaceful, generous, understanding, pleasant,
warm, intelligent, humorous, attentive, compassionate
and truthful spouse. I even mentioned the physical
characteristics I dreamt about. As time went by,
I added the required list of my wanted spouse.
One night, in my prayer, God talked
to my heart: "My servant, I cannot give you
what you want." I asked, "Why God?"
God said, "Because I am God and I am fair.
God is the truth and all I do are true and right."
I asked, "God, I don't understand why I cannot
have what I asked from you?"
God answered, " I will explain.
It is not fair and right for Me to fulfill your
demand because I cannot give something that is
not your own self. It is not fair to give someone
who is full of love to you if sometimes you are
still hostile, or to give you someone generous
but sometimes you can be cruel; or someone forgiving,
however, you still hide revenge; someone sensitive,
however, you are very insensitive."
He then said to me: "It is
better for Me to give you someone who I know could
grow to have all the qualities you are searching
rather than to make you waste your time to find
someone who already have the qualities you want.
Your spouse would be bone from your bone and flesh
from your flesh and you will see yourself in him/her
and both of you will be one. Marriage is like
a school. It is a life-long span education. It
is where you and your partner make adjustments
and aim not merely to please each other, but to
be better human beings and to make a solid teamwork.
I do not give you a perfect partner, because you
are not perfect either. I give you a partner with
whom you would grow together."
Keep this in mind. This is for
all: the recently married, the ones who have been
married, the soon to get married, and the ones
who are still looking.
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The "No-Excuse"
Sunday
"Let us go to the house
of the Lord." Psalm 122:1
Recently, a church bulletin announced
the "no excuse Sunday!" It read: "To
make it possible for everyone to attend church
next week we're planning to have
(a) cots, for those who say Sunday
is their only day for sleeping-in.
(b) eye-drops, for those whose eyes are tired
from watching too much TV the night before,
(c) steel helmets, for those who say the roof
will fall in if they go to church,
(d) blankets, for those who say the building is
too cold, and fans for those who say it's too
hot,
(e) hearing aids, for those who say the pastor
isn't loud enough, and ear-plugs for those who
say he shouts too much,
(f) score cards, for those who like to count all
the hypocrites,
(g) relatives, for those who say Sunday is the
only day for them to be with the family,
(h) lunch, for those who say they can't attend
church and make dinner too,
(i) trees and grass, for those who say they "see
God in nature" - especially golf courses!
And finally,
(j) Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies, for
those who wouldn't recognise the church without
them."
Now, listen to what David said
about going to church: "I
love the house where You live, O lord, the place
where Your glory dwells" (Psalm 26:8). Listen
again, "I rejoiced with those who said to
me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord.'"
(Psalm 122:1)
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Special
Delivery
Sally jumped up as soon as she
saw the Surgeon come out of the operating room.
She said: "How is my little boy? Is he going
to be O.K.? When can I see him?" The Surgeon
said, "I'm sorry, we did all we could."
Sally said, "Why do little
children get cancer, doesn't GOD care any more?
GOD, where were you when my son needed you?"
The Surgeon said, "One of
the nurses will be out in a few minutes to let
you spend time with your son's remains before
it's transported to the university".
Sally asked that the nurse stay
with her while she said good-bye to her son. Sally
ran her fingers through his thick red curly hair.
The nurse said, "Would you like a lock of
his hair?" Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut
a lock of his hair and put it in a plastic bag
and handed it to Sally.
Sally said, "It was Jimmy's
idea to give his body to the university for study.
He said it might help somebody else," and
that is what he wanted. I said no at first, but
Jimmy said, "Mom I won't be using it after
I die, maybe it will help some other little boy
to be able to spend one more day with his mother".
Sally said, "My Jimmy had a heart of Gold,
always thinking of someone else and always wanting
to help others if he could".
Sally walked out of the Children's
Hospital for the last time now after spending
most of the last 6 months there. She sat the bag
with Jimmy's things in it on the seat beside of
her in the car. The drive home was hard and it
was even harder to go into an empty house. She
took the bag to Jimmy's room and started placing
the model cars and things back in his room exactly
where he always kept them. She laid down across
his bed and cried herself to sleep holding his
pillow. Sally woke up about midnight and laying
beside of her on the bed, was a letter folded
up. She opened the letter, it said:
Dear Mom,
I know you're going to miss me,
but don't think that I will ever forget you or
stop loving you because I'm not around to say
I LOVE YOU. I'll think of you every day, mom and
I'll love you even more each day. Some day we
will see each other again.
If you want to adopt a little
boy so you won't be so lonely, he can have my
room and my old stuff to play with. If you decide
to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like
the same things as us boys do, so you will have
to buy her dolls and stuff girls like. Don't be
sad when you think about me, this is really a
great place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon
as I got here and showed me around some, but it
will take a long time to see everything here.
The angels are so friendly, and I love to watch
them fly.
Jesus doesn't look like any of
the pictures I saw of Him, but I knew it was Him
as soon as I saw Him. Jesus took me to see GOD!
And guess what mom? I got to sit on GOD'S knee
and talk to Him like I was somebody important.
I told GOD that I wanted to write you a letter
and tell you good-bye and everything, but I knew
that wasn't allowed. God handed me some paper
and His own personal pen to write you this letter
with. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel
that is going to drop this letter off to you.
God said for me to give you the answer to one
of the questions you asked Him about. Where was
He when I needed him? God said, "The same
place He was when Jesus was on the cross. He was
right there, as He always is with all His children.
Oh, by the way Mom, nobody else can see what is
written on this paper but you. To everyone else,
it looks like a blank piece of paper.
I have to give God His pen back
now, He has some more names to write in the Book
Of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with
Jesus for supper. I'm sure the food will be great.
I almost forgot to let you know - Now I don't
hurt anymore, the cancer is all gone. I'm glad
because I couldn't stand that pain anymore and
God couldn't stand to see me suffer the pain either,
so He sent the angel of mercy to get me. The angel
said I was Special Delivery!
Signed with love,
God & Jesus & Me
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Financial
Blessings
May the Lord bless you with a
financial blessing today. May the Lord open up
the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing
that you will not have room enough to receive
it all. May the Lord bless you exceeding abundantly
above all you could ever hope for. May the Lord
bless you that you may walk in a financial overflow
for the rest of your days in the Name of Jesus.
Amen!
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Salty
Coffee
He met her in a party. She was
so outstanding, many guys chasing after her while
he was so normal, nobody paid attention to him.
At the end of the party, he invited her to have
coffee with him, she was surprised, but due to
polite, she promised.
They sat in a nice coffee shop,
he was too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable,
she thought, please, let me back home. Suddenly
he asked the waiter: would you please give me
some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee.
Everybody stared at him, so strange!
His face turned red, but still, he put the salt
in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously:
"why you have this hobby?" He replied:
"when I was a little boy, I was living near
the sea, I like playing in the sea, I could felt
the taste of the sea, salty and bite, just like
the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time
I have the salty coffee, I will think of my childhood,
think of my hometown, I miss my hometown so much,
I miss my parents who still living there. Saying
that, tears filled his eyes.
She was deeply touched. That's
his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart.
A man who can tell out his homesick, he must be
a man loves home, cares about home, has responsibility
of home. Then she also started to talk, talked
about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her
family.
That was a really nice talk, also
a beautiful beginning of their story. They continue
to date. She found actually he was a man who meets
all her demands: he was tolerance, kind hearted,
warm, careful, he was such a good guy but she
almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee!
Then the story was just like every
beautiful love story: the princess married to
the prince, then they were living the happy life.
And, every time she made coffee for him, she put
some salt in the coffee, as she knew that's the
way he liked. After 40 years, he passed away and
left her a letter.
"My dearest, please forgive
me, forgive my whole life lie. This was the only
lie I said to you - the salty coffee. Remember
the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that
time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said
salt. It's hard for me to change so I just go
ahead. I never thought that could be the start
of our communication! I tried to tell you the
truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid
to do that, as I have promised not to lie to you
for anything. Now I'm dying, I afraid of nothing
so I tell you the truth: I don't like the salty
coffee, what a strange bad taste but I have the
salty coffee for my whole life since I knew you,
I never feel sorry for anything I do for you.
Having you with me is the biggest happiness for
my whole life. If I can live for the second time,
I still want to know you and have you as my wife,
even though I have to drink the salty coffee again."
Her tears made the letter totally wet. Someday,
someone asked her: "what's the taste of salty
coffee?" "It's sweet", she replied.
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Airport
When I stopped the bus to pick
up Chris for preschool, I noticed an older woman
hugging him as he left the house.
"Is that your grandmother?"
I asked.
"Yes," Chris said. "She's
come to visit us for Christmas."
"How nice," I said.
"Where does she live?"
"At the airport," Chris
replied. "Whenever we want her, we just go
out there and get her."
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