Friendship - A Short Story

Horror gripped the heart of a World War-I soldier, as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle.



The soldier asked his Lieutenant if he could go out to bring his fallen comrade back



"You can go," said the Lieutenant, "but don't think it will be worth it .

< FA M I L Y >

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,



"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.






He said, "Please excuse me too;


I wasn't watching for you."




We were very polite, this stranger and I.


We went on our way and we said good-bye.






But at home a different story is told,


How we treat our loved ones, young and old. 

Five Finger Prayer

This is beautiful


- and it is surely worth making the 5 finger


a part of our lives.

My Mother - A Poem

I was a just-born and she was Twenty-Five,

Though we were we, we were one.

I would cry out in Latin and she would respond in Greek,

I would learn nothing but she never got tired to teach.

I was surrounded by monsters eager to pull my cheek,

but they would vanish the moment I was wet and weep.

She would come running and hold me in her arms,

as if I had won the contest of the charms.

HOLD ON !

If the Lord has you on hold... hold on!



If the Lord has said 'NO' to you... thank Him!


If the Lords is molding your heart and mind... go with His


change!


If the Lord opens doors that you have asking Him to open...


Praise Him!


Be blessed wherever you are in your life today!

God has His hands on the situation!







YOU SAY * * * * *GOD SAYS    

THE TREE AND A BOY

There was a very young boy, who used to spend time playing by a tree. One day he got bored and he said to the tree, "I'm bored, I've played with these toys too many times!" The tree replied, "OK, you can climb up on me and play on my branches." The boy got really happy with this suggestion and he had a lot of fun playing and sitting high up, on the branches of the tree.

LIES OF A MOTHER

This story begins when I was a child:

I was born poor.

Often we hadn't enough to eat.

Whenever we had some food, Mother often gave me her

portion of rice.

While she was transferring her rice into my bowl,

she would say "Eat this rice, son! I'm not hungry."



This was Mother's First Lie.

Why God Allows Pain ???

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering in the world.........


A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.

As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.

They talked about so many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:

"I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.

Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?

Would there be abandoned children?



If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.

I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.

The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.



Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.

He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:

"You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber.

"I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did,

there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that
man outside."


"Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me."

"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!

That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help.

That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."


BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS !!!!!!!

Best Friends

This is a story of two friends who were walking through the desert.

At some point in the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he was saved from nearly drowning, he wrote on a stone:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.

Do not value the THINGS you have in your life. But value WHO you have in your life!

True Love

From the very beginning, the girl's family objected strongly on her dating this guy. Saying that it has got to do with the family background & that the girl will have to suffer for the rest of her life if she were to be with him.

Due to the family pressure, the couple quarelled very often.


Though the girl love the guy deeply, but she would always ask him: "How deep is your love for me?"

As the guy could not express much with words, this often caused the girl to be very upset. With that and the family's pressure, the girl often vented her anger on him. As for him, he only endured it in silence. After a couple of years, the guy finally graduated and decided to pursue further studies overseas. Before leaving, he proposed to the girl: "I'm not very good with words. But all I know is that I love you. If you allow me, I will take care of you for the rest of my life. As for your family, I'll try my best to talk to them and convince them. Will you marry me?"

The girl agreed, and with the guy's determination, the family finally gave in and agreed to let them get married. So before he left, they got engaged.

The girl got herself a good job, whereas the guy was overseas, continuing his studies. They communicated through emails and phone calls. Though it was hard, but both never thought of giving up.

One day, while the girl was on her way to work, she was knocked down by a car whose drive had lost control of it. When she woke up, she saw her parents besides her bed. She realised that she was badly injured. Seeing her mother crying, she wanted to comfort her. But she realized that all that could come out of her mouth was just a sigh. She had lost her voice......

The doctors said that the impact on her brain had caused her to lose her voice. Listening to her parents' comforting words, but with nothing coming out from her mouth, she broke down.

During the stay in hospital, she spent her time crying silently. Upon reaching home, everything seemed to be the same. Except for the ringing tone of the phone which pierced into her heart everytime it rang. She does not wish to let the guy know and not wanting to be a burden on him, she wrote a letter to him saying that she did not wish to wait any longer for his return.

With that, she sent the ring back to him. In return, the guy sent many reply letters, and countless phonecalls,. . all the girl did besides crying was only crying....

The parents decided to move home elsewhere, hoping that she would eventually forget everything and come to terms with her handicap and learn to be happy.

With a new environment, the girl learnt to communicate in sign language & started a new life, telling herself everyday that she must forget about him. One day, her friend informed her that he was back. She requested her friend not to let him know what happened to her. Since then, there wasn't anymore news of him.

A year had passed and her friend came to her with an envelope, containing an invitation card for the guy's wedding. The girl was shattered. When she open the letter, she saw her name in it with his name.
When she was about to ask her friend what's going on, she saw him standing in front of her. He used sign language to tell her "I've spent a year's time to learn sign language. Just to let you know that I've not forgotten our promise. Let me have the chance to be your voice. I Love You. With that, he slipped the ring back into her finger. The girl smiled.

It Is Strange, Isn't It

IT

IS STRANGE ISN'T

IT..





Isn't

it strange

how

a 20 dollar bill seems like such a large amount

when you donate it to church,

but such a

small amount when you go shopping?



Isn't

it strange

how

2 hours seem so long when you're at church,

and how short they seem when you're watching

a good movie?



Isn't

it strange

that

you can't find a word to say when you're praying

but..

you have no trouble thinking what to

talk about with a friend?



Isn't

it strange

how

difficult and boring it is to read one chapter

of the Bible but

how easy it is to read 100

pages of a popular novel or ZANE GREY book?



Isn't

it strange

how everyone wants

front-row-tickets to concerts or games but

they do whatever is possible to sit at the

last row in Church?



Isn't

it strange

how we need to know about an

event for Church 2-3 weeks

before the day so

we can include it in our agenda,

but we can

adjust it for other events in the last minute?



Isn't

it strange

how difficult it is to learn a

fact about God to share it with others;

but

how easy it is to learn, understand, extend and

repeat gossip?



Isn't

it strange

how

we believe everything that magazines and

newspapers say but...

we question the

words in the Bible?



Isn't

it strange

how

everyone wants a place in heaven but...

they

don't want to believe, do, or say anything to

get there?



Isn't

it strange

how

we send jokes in e-mails and they are forwarded

right away but

when we are going to send

messages about God,

we think about it twice

before we share it with others?



IT'S

STRANGE

ISN'T IT?

THINK ABOUT IT.

An Incredible Love Story

An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world.
It is a story of a man and an older woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century.


The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple's home for the last 50 years.


Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin.
In a twist worthy of Shakespeare' s Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.


At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing Municipality.


In the beginning, life was harsh as they had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives.
Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful? Liu always replied, 'As long as we are industrious, life will improve.'


In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.


Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, 'My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother's convenience, although she doesn't go down the mountain that much.'


The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away.

'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?'
Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.


In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China , collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.

Heaven

WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked
side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels.


My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This Is the
Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are Received.'


I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels
sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from
people all over the world.


Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.
The angel then said to me, 'This is the Packaging and Delivery Section.


Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and
delivered to the living persons who asked for them.'


I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard
at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being
packaged for delivery to Earth


Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the Door of a
very small station To my great surprise, only one angel was Seated there,
idly doing nothing.
'This is the Aknowledgment Section,' My angel friend
quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed 'How Is it that there is no
work going on here?' I asked.


'So sad,' the angel sighed. 'After people receive the blessings that they
asked For, very few send back acknowledgments .'


'How does one acknowledge God's blessings?' I asked.
'Simple,' the angel answered. Just say, 'Thank you, Lord.'


'What blessings should they acknowledge? ' I asked..


'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead
and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy .'


'And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. '


Also ' If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... You are more
blessed than the many who will not even survive this day .'


'If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of
imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ..
You are ahead of 700 million people in the world.' ;


'If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture
or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people In
the world .'


'If your parents are still alive and still married ...you are very rare .'

'If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique
to all those in doubt and despair.'


Ok, what now? How can I start?


If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that
someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than
over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.


ATTN: Acknowledge Dept.:


'Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for
giving me so many wonderful people to share it with.'

Two Travelling Angels

Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night

in the home of a wealthy family.

The family was rude and refused to let the angels

stay in the mansion's guest room.

Instead the angels were given a small space in

the cold basement.


As they made their bed on the hard floor, the

older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.


When the younger angel asked why, the older angel

replied,


"Things aren't always what they seem."


The next night the pair came to rest at the house

of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his

wife.


After sharing what little food they had the couple

let the angels sleep in their bed where they could

have a good night's rest.


When the sun came up the next morning the angels

found the farmer and his wife in tears.


Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole

income, lay dead in the field.


The younger angel was infuriated and asked the

older angel how could you have let this happen?


The first man had everything, yet you helped him,

she accused


The second family had little but was willing to

share everything, and you let the cow die.


"Things aren't always what they seem," the older

angel replied.


"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I

noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the

wall.


Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and

unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the

wall so he wouldn't find it."


"Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed,

the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him

the cow instead.


Things aren't always what they seem."


Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things

don't turn out the way they should. If you have

faith, you just need to trust that every outcome

is always to your advantage. You just might not

know it until some time later..



Oooo
Some people ( )
come into our lives ) /
and quickly go.. (_ /




oooO
( ) Some people
\ ( become friends
\ _) and stay awhile...




leaving beautiful Oooo
footprints on our ( )
hearts.. ) /
(_ /



oooO
( ) and we are
\ ( never
\ _) quite the same
because we have
made a good
friend!!


Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow a mystery.

Today is a gift.

That's why it's called the present!

Wrong Number

It was the day of her son's XII results and she was so tensed. She sat beside him while he logged on the website with his registration no. "MOM", he screamed in excitement," I scored 1191, with centum in 4 subjects.


"I cant believe it. " She became numb in excitement.
Her eyes became wet. She kissed him on his forehead and smiled.




Soon they realized that he stood first in the state. Oh, her joy knew no bounds when reporters and media persons soon swamped her house for interviews and photos. She was so honored to join him in the snaps.




She wanted to call her "wrong-number- friend" to tell him the news......She was so excited. He was someone whom she has known for more than 20 years.




She still did not remember when they became friends, but certainly cannot forget the first day he called her when she blasted him for giving her so many wrong calls.....after that he had called up a week later asking apology, for he had now got the right number of his friend whom he wanted to talk to . They spoke for an hour that day...even without knowing each other's names.




Though he kept pestering her to reveal her name she never did and so he kept a name...Sweety. She used to get so shy whenever he called her 'Sweety'. She was doing first year of BSc. Maths then, and he was a Computer Engineering student. From then he used to call her very often . They almost discussed everything ..




By the final year of her college, they probably were in love, but she had been cautious. She was in a dilemma whether to tell him. But what if he was of a different religion? Did she have the courage to talk to her parents about it? ........all these questions ran through her mind.




She decided that she would not talk to him thereafter. When he called next time she lied to him that she was going to Delhi for her post graduation. He gave her his office number and asked her to ring him up once she reached there.




She never called .......




A couple of months later her marriage got fixed with a guy of her parent's choice. She was not happy but she did not complain; rather accepted it as an obedient daughter. At times she felt she missed her wrong- number- friend......




Her hubby was a moody person; she has hardly spent any good time with him- but he was genuine indeed and never bothered her personal space. After 2 years they had a boy...


Yet,s he was not very happy with her married life...




One day she happened to browse through her diary and found that she still had her old friend's office phone no that he had given her. she dialed it and spoke with him. He said he was married and got a kid too. She was happy for him though in the bottom of the heart she felt bad that she could not marry him.




From then she used to occasionally call him on that number.




She never gave him hers as she felt that would put her in trouble.. And till the day she almost shared everything with him including her relationship with her hubby..... today she was so happy and wanted to call him.




Just then she got a call. "Your husband met with an accident and died on the spot".




She banged the phone down. She broke. She did not call her friend.....She somehow started feeling guilty. She has never tried to talk to him properly when he was alive or moved close with him.... She felt that she had been a bad wife........
A couple of years passed and one day her son brought home a Bengali girl and said they wanted to get married. She got them married as she did not want her son to go through what she did.




She decided to give her son his father's room and started clearing it. There was a phone book. She gently opened it to find, "Wrong No Sweety -01010101"




God always puts the right numbers together. Its we who interpret it wrong!!!!!

The Essence Of Trust - A Short Story

A little girl and her father were crossing a bridge.

The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter,
"Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river. "

The little girl said,
"No, Dad. You hold my hand."

"What's the difference?"
Asked the puzzled father.

"There's a big difference", replied the little girl.

"If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go."

In any relationship, the essence of trust is not in its bind, but in its bond.

So hold the hand of the person whom you love rather than expecting them to hold urs... this story tells many things... u just need to understand the meaning rest depends on u.

A Touching Life Story

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car.

Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Holy Book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business.

He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care things. When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He began to search his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible.It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words...PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

Always faith in God and pray everyday.

This will give you the feeling of contentment and make your life easier.

Love Story - Must Read

A girl and boy were on a motorcycle, speeding through the night.

They loved each other a lot..


Girl: " Slow down a little.. I'm scared.."


Boy: "No, it's so fun.."


Girl : "Please ... its so scary.."


Boy: "Then say that you love me......."


Girl: "Fine..I Love you..can you slow down now?"


Boy: "Give me a big hug.."


The girl give gave him a big hug.


Girl: "Now can you slow down?"


Boy: "Can you take off my helmet and put it on? It's uncomfortable and it's bothering while i drive."


The next day , there was a story in the newspaper....


A motorcycle had crashed into a building because its brakes were broken.

There were two people on the motorcycle, of which one died, and other had survived..


The guy knew that the brakes were broken.He didn't want to let the girl know, because he knew that the girl would have gotten scared.


Instead, when he was told the last time that she loved him and got a hug from her, he put his helmet on her so that she can live, and
die himself....

Happiest People

In this pic, jus look at their condition..

no place to sleep, still they have made some space for the cat & the dog...
water pouring from the roof but still each 1 of them have a peaceful smile on their face..
simply amazing!!!!!



The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems,
but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect.

The Miracle of a Brother's Song (My First Post)

Never give up!!!!
You are My Sunshine, My only Sunshine' (Be prepared to get watery eyes!)

Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling. They found out that the new baby was going be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael sang to his sister in mommy's tummy.
He was building a bond of love with his little sister before he even met her.

The pregnancy progressed normally for Karen, an active member of the Panther Creek United Methodist Church in Morristown , Tennessee ! In time, the labor pains came. Soon it was every five minutes, every three, every minute. But serious complications arose during delivery and Karen found herself in hours of labor.
Would a C-section be required?
Finally, after a long struggle, Michael's little sister was born. But she was in very serious condition. With a siren howling in the night, the ambulance rushed the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Mary's Hospital, Knoxville.
Days inched by. The little girl got worse. The pediatrician had to tell the parents there is very little hope. Be prepared for the worst.

Karen and her husband contacted a local cemetery about a burial plot. They had fixed up a special room in their house for their new baby but now they found themselves having to plan for a funeral.
Michael, however, kept begging his parents to let him see his sister. I want to sing to her, he kept saying. Week two in intensive care looked as if a funeral would come before the week was over. Michael kept nagging about singing to his sister, but kids are never allowed in Intensive Care. Karen decided to take Michael whether they liked it or not. If he didn't see his sister right then, he may never see her alive.

Karen dressed him in an oversized scrub suit and marched him into ICU. He looked like a walking laundry basket. The head nurse recognized him as a child and bellowed, 'Get that kid out of here now. No children allowed'.
The mother rose up strong in Karen, and the usually mild-mannered lady glared steel-eyed right into the head nurse's face, her lips a firmline.'He is not leaving until he sings to his sister' she stated.
Then Karen towed Michael to his sister's bedside. He gazed at the tiny infant losing the battle to live. After a moment, he began to sing.
In the pure-hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sang:
'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray'.
Instantly, the baby girl seemed to respond. The pulse rate began to calm down and become steady.

'Keep on singing, Michael,' encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes.'You never know, dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away.'
As Michael sang to his sister, the baby's ragged, strained breathing became as smooth as a kitten's purr.
'Keep on singing, sweetheart.' 'The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms'. Michael's little sister began to relax as rest, healing rest, seemed to sweep over her.
'Keep on singing, Michael'. Tears had now conquered the face of the bossy head nurse. Karen glowed.

'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please don't take my sunshine away...

'The next day...the very next day...the little girl was well enough to go home.
Woman's Day Magazine called it The Miracle of a Brother's Song .
The medical staff just called it a miracle.
Karen called it a miracle of God's love.

LOVE IS SO INCREDIBLY POWERFUL.
NEVER GIVE UP ON THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE.