Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Each morning gives us one more chance to pray, one more chance to help

another and one more chance to make this a better world. Lord, thank you

for working in and through everything.

Scripture for the day:

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard;

and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the

gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this

fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the

soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around

it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if

not, you can cut it down.'" ~Luke 13:6-9

Meditation for the day:

Like a tree, it is best for me to be pruned of a lot of dead branches so I

can be ready to bear good fruit. I can think of changed people as trees

which have been stripped of their old branches, pruned, cut and bare. But

through the dark, seemingly dead branches flows silently, secretly, the new

sap, until with the sun of spring, comes new life.

There are new leaves, buds, blossoms and fruit, many times better because of

the pruning. I am in the hands of God, a master gardener, who makes no

mistakes in pruning.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may cut away the dead branches of my life. I pray that I may

not mind the pruning since it helps me to bear good fruit later.

Hello my friends! Lots of blessings again that God gives us! Tonight at our Church we had a wonderful speaker, a priest, who talked on the Catechism of the Catholic Church - it was very interesting and we learned a lot - reviewed a lot, and he answered questions afterwards - I got to talk to him privately and that was a great blessing too!! He's very young, newly ordained last June and very knowledgeable - very gifted! Praying for all of you - thanks for your prayers for us. God bless you!

TRUE REPENTANCE

Author Unknown

God... commanded all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30b).

True repentance is keenly painful, but very beneficial in

its results. Some people easily forget their period of repentance;

other never do. This is referring to the period when a person fully

feels what one has been. The Spirit of God allows Christians to lose

all memory of horrible pit and miry clay of sins out of which God has

delivered them. The apostle Paul never forgot what he was; and that

memory reminded him that he became what he "now is" by the

marvelous grace of God.

Repentance does not mean that you will never commit those

sins again. It means that you have, by God's grace, reached a place

where you do positively the other things. The only truly repentant

person, in the fullest analysis, is the person who allows God to deal

with what was wrong - sin.

Set your heart and mind toward God and let the holy light of

Jesus Christ search through every wrong and opening. The result will

be a marvelous readjustment of your whole life.

THE PARACHUTE

Author Unknown

Feb 9 2009

Charles Plum, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot

in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a

surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected & parachuted into enemy hands.

He was captured & spent six years in a Communist prison.

He survived that ordeal & now lectures about lessons learned from that

experience.

One day, when Plumb & his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at

another table came up & said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in

Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise &

gratitude. The man pumped his hand & said, "I guess it worked!"

Plumb assured him, "It sure did-if your 'chute hadn't worked, I

wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says,

'I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform-a

Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered

how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered

how many times I might have seen him & not even said good morning, how

are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot & he was

just a sailor.

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden

table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds &

folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the

fate of someone he didn't know. Now, Plumb asks his audience, 'Who's

packing your parachute?' Everyone has someone who provides what they

need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed

many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy

territory-he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his

emotional parachute, & his spiritual parachute."

He called on all these supports before reaching safety. His experience

reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie

ahead.

SUGGESTION: Recognize people who pack your parachute & strengthen

yourself to prevail through tough times.

ANGEL TALK

Just inside the Pearly Gates

Underneath a gorgeous sky

Two angels hovered near a cloud

(They don't sit like you and I!)

"I just don't understand it,"

Said angel number one,

"I've watched and studied everything

Those foolish souls have done."

The second angel gave a shrug,

"Why do you even care?

It's no concern of ours at all

What they choose to do down there."

"Maybe not," the first one said,

"But still I'd like to know

With all the blessings they've received

What makes them quarrel so?"

The second angel stretched his wings

Then smoothed a ruffled feather,

"It's just about a hopeless cause

For men to live together."

"The Master's working very hard

Has been for generations.....

And still they fight among themselves

causing death and devastation."

The older angel softly sighed,

"You can't change things, little one,

The Master's tried everything

He even sacrificed His Son!!"

The young angel nodded slowly,

"That's what seems so bad!

He suffered, bled and died for them!

He gave them all he had!"

"Oh, He still has more to give,"

The other looked both sad and wise,

"For I've seen Jesus when souls are lost,

And I've held Him while He cries."

"For to Him each one is precious

With a value beyond measure.....

He wants them all up here with Him

To share in Heaven's treasure."

"And sometimes, someone down on Earth

Will kneel in fervent prayer

Crying out, 'Please help me, God!

Show me that You're there!'"

"And when that happens you will hear

All the bells of Heaven ring!

As the Master's love pours down like rain

And the Heart of Jesus sings!"

-- Author Unknown

The Flashlight

Most parents have had some experience with kids waking up with bad dreams at some point or another. If not bad dreams, then surely every parent has had to deal with invisible monsters hiding in the closet or under the bed.

Recently my wife and I had a bout with our oldest son waking us out of the comfort of our warm bed to come into his room and scare off something that was fear itself.

It was three in the morning and even though it can be the sweetest word on earth when you get home from work, it is not so sweet when heard at three in the morning.

"Daddy"

I came into my son's room to see what the problem was. The first time it was, "I think I saw something." The second time it was, "I think I heard something." The third time it was, "I'm just scared."

I had to get up early in the morning and go to work. I am a very patient man but my sleepiness was wearing my patience down. The wee hours of the morning had me delirious so I warned him, "If you call me one more time, I'm going to give you something to be afraid of." Two minutes later.

"Daddy"

I came into the room and staying true to my promise, even though it hurt my heart to do so, I gave him a tap on the leg; after all, I had to get some sleep. Walking back to my bed like a weary victor of war, I said, "It wasn't easy but that took care of that." Five minutes later.

"Daddy"

I lay in bed for a while at my wit's end on what to do, I had given up.

I knew that if I went and slept in his room with him he would want me to do it every night that he felt fear. I laid there basking in a feeling of stripped victory. In the stillness of the night, a light popped on in my head.

It was a literal light. I saw a picture in my head of a flashlight.

I immediately got out of bed, went to the hall closet, got the flashlight out and took it to my son's room. I handed it to him and told him "Light has a special power to make monsters go away, when you think you see or hear something just cut the light on and shine it in that direction and whatever it is will have to go away."

I went back and got into bed with apprehensiveness against getting to sleep too soundly. I listened for about five minutes then I saw a circle of light shining in my son's room. I waited for that demanding title of "Daddy," but all I heard was the stillness of the night.

This same principle is true in the lives of adults. Many times, we are afraid of that which can really do us no harm.

Our flashlight can be knowledge; most of the time we fear what we don't understand. As we become more enlightened on something that seems scary, peace will come.

The light doesn't really chase away monsters living in the shadows, it just changes our eyesight to see that the room, the business, the school, the marriage, and the assignment is not as scary as it looked without the light on.

Whatever you are afraid of, shine some light on it.

~ James Bronner ~

Prayer for the Grace of the Passion

O Lord, for the redemption of the world, you willed to be born among human beings, subjected to the rite of circumcision, rejected by the people, betrayed by Judas with a kiss, bound with cords, led like an innocent lamb to slaughter, shamelessly exposed to the gaze of Annas as well as Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod, accused by false witnesses, tormented by scourges and insults, spat upon and crowned with thorns, struck with blows of hand and reed, blindfolded and stripped of your garments, affixed to the wood and lifted high on the Cross, numbered among thieves, given gall and vinegar to drink, and pierced by a lance.

Lord, by these most holy sufferings which we, your unworthy servants, devoutly call to mind, and by your holy Cross and death, deliver us from the pains of h ell, and be pleased to take us where you took the penitent thief who was crucified with you. You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever. Amen.