Aug 31, 2008

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!

Aug 24, 2008

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.

Aug 17, 2008

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.

Aug 10, 2008

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.

Aug 3, 2008

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.'