MIRACLE FOR $1.11

"When the solution is simple, God is answering." - Albert Einstein 

Eight year old Tess overheard her parents talking about her little brother, Andrew. “Only a miracle can save him now.” They didn't have money for his operation.

Tess pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet, in her bedroom. She poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully three times. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way to "Rexall’s Drug Store", 6 blocks away. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at the moment. After trying and failing to get his attention. She finally took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it! “And what do you want?” the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago, I haven’t seen him in ages,” he said without waiting for a reply to his question. “Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really, really sick… and I want to buy a miracle.” “I beg your pardon?” said the pharmacist. “His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?” “We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the pharmacist said, softening a little. “Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn’t enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs.”

A MERRY HEART

"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight." - Phyllis Diller 

Here's a little story; A Rich man died and was met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter. He was ushered into heaven where he was taken past mansion after mansion and through street after street paved with gold. Finally, they came to the end of the street and he was shown a small shack and was told that this was where he was going to be living. “Why do I get this ugly little shack when there are so many beautiful Mansions all around that I could live in?” the rich man asked. “Well,” St. Peter said, “We did the best we could with the money you sent us!”

Yes, a smile is something that can be likened to "money", it has the ability to buy healing for a wounded heart. It can be in adequate, but never too much. Ever wondered how people smile back when you first smile at them? Or noticed the feeling of happiness that wells up in you somehow when you smile? Truth be told you can't afford much if you don't smile much. Be generous with your smile don't hoard it.

FACE YOUR FATHER'S DEMONS

"I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"How was your growing up like?", someone would pause, think a bit and probably ask "in what aspect?", because that no doubt is a bogus question. It contains many parts and many dimensions to it. So in order to adequately answer that question, one would need to be specific as to what part of one's growing up experience is being examined.

I don't want to be all educational this morning, or anything like that; but to bring to your attention something I consider vital. Most of us live our lives not aware, or rarely talking about this fact. Ironically its an enormous problem, as it were. Someone said, "at some point in your life you'll have to face your father's demons."

Many years ago, his father had a janitorial business. Started it at a time when not many people were going into business. His father worked at it, dedicating time, energy and everything into the business just to make it work. After a while in the business he became ill and died form high blood pressure and and swollen feet. Many years later, T.D Jakes, started strong and after awhile he started to experience the same symptoms his father did, high blood pressure, and his feet started to swell. He started a workout program, started to diet and do things his father never had the privilege to do. Today, he's healthy and strong. But by the time he started to notice the same symptoms, as his dad. The devil tried to make him believe that he was going to die the same way his father.

CHANGE YOUR WINDOW

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” - Abraham Lincoln

The window through which we see life is extremely important, it is called “perspective". It determines our thinking, interpretations, reactions and in general our attitude to the things that happen both within and around us. If we must wade through life and fulfill destiny then our perspective of life must be viewed through the right window.

Maggie tells a compelling story of an experience she had aboard a plane bound for Cleveland, waiting for takeoff. As she settled into her seat, Maggie noticed a strange phenomenon. On one side of the airplane a sunset suffused the entire sky with glorious color. But out of the window next to her seat, all Maggie could see was a sky dark and threatening, with no sign of the sunset. As the plane’s engines began to roar, a gentle voice spoke within her, "you have noticed the windows". The voice murmured beneath the roar and thrust of the takeoff. "Your life too will contain some happy, beautiful times; but also some dark shadows. Here’s a lesson I want to teach you to save you much heartache, and allow you live in continual peace and joy. “You see, it doesn’t matter which window you look through; this plane is still going to Cleveland." So it is in our lives. We have a choice. You can dwell on the gloomy picture, or focus on the bright things and leave the dark, ominous situations to God. He alone can handle them anyway.

YOUR ATTITUDE MATTERS

"For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." - Matthew 12:37 

Jerry was always in a good mood. He always had a positive thing to say. Ask him, "how are you?" He'd reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!” If an employee were having a bad day, Jerry was sure to show them the positive side. “I don’t get it! You can’t be positive all the time. How do you do it?” Tina asked. “I say to myself each morning, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or not. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time I see someone sad, I can choose to accept their sadness or I can point out the positive side. I choose the positive side.” He replied. “Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” Tina protested. “Yep, it is,” Jerry quipped.

Tina reflected on what Jerry said. She left the restaurant to start a business. Several years later, he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. He was shot. Luckily, he was found quickly and rushed to the hospital. After hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was discharged. They met 6 months after the accident. "How are you", she asked, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” She asked "what went through your mind during the robbery?" “I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “As I lay on the floor, I remembered; I could choose to live, or I could choose to die.

WHAT YOU SEE

"It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui." - Helen Keller

"No arms, no limbs, no worries", that's Nic Vujicic's slogan. He's motivational speaker with no arms, and no limbs. I heard him say sometime ago (paraphrased), that "the words we speak sometimes are either going to pull someone off the edge of the cliff of rejection or plunge them down, headlong."

In a certain city there lived a very cantankerous, and troublesome old man. He was difficult to please and never saw anything good in not even the most comely of people in the community. He was always in the habit of fighting with his fellow villagers. He would analyze the fault in the king's every decision. He knew everyone's problem and everyone's flaw. He was never wrong. It is said that, his wife left him after about 2months into their marriage. He frustrated her. She once confided in a friend how that, her husband always found fault in everything she did. He was either complaining about how disrespectful the tone of her voice was, or how embarrassing her silence is. She couldn't do anything right; so she left.

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

“Dreams aren’t those things you see when you sleep at night but those pictures you see that keep you from sleeping at night” - JIM

Two men occupied the same hospital room. One man could to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end each day. They spoke of many things; their wives, families, homes, jobs, and even their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be enlivened by all the activity and colour of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans wadded in the water, children sailed their model boats and lovers walked arm in arm amidst beautiful scented flowers. The city’s skyline painted a fantastic view in the background, and could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all he saw in detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

WHOSE FAULT II (Contd. from yesterday)

"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future." - John F. Kennedy

I woke up the next morning to find him gone, and saw a piece of paper with his scratchy handwriting, underneath a milk glass, on the dining table near the front door. The note went thus…"My dear, I would not pick that flower for you, but please allow me to explain the reasons further.” This first line was already breaking my heart. I continued reading. “When you use the computer you always mess up the software programs, then you cry in front of the screen. I have to save my fingers so I can help to restore the programs. You're fond of leaving the house keys behind, thus, I have to save my legs to rush home to open the door for you. You love traveling but always lose your way in a new city, I have to save my eyes to show you the way. You always have the cramps whenever your “good friend” approach every month, I have to save my palms so that I can calm the cramps in your tummy. You like to stay indoors, and I worry that you will be infected by infantile autism. I have to save my mouth to tell you jokes and stories to cure your boredom. You always stare at the computer, and that will do nothing good for your eyes, I have to save my eyes so that when we grow old, I can help to clip your nails, and help to remove those annoying white hairs. So I can also hold your hand while strolling down the beach, as you enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful sand…and tell you the color of flowers, just like the color of the glow on your young face. Thus, my dear, unless I am sure that there is someone who loves you more than I do…I could not pick that flower yet, and die. Because, I desire to grow old with you”

WHOSE FAULT I

"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future." - John F. Kennedy

In relationships every time, I often wonder why no sooner than a couple gets together they start having irreconcilable differences. It blows my mind to pieces and I'm like "what in God's green earth happened?" I read some time ago that, "until blame transfer stops, character building doesn't start". Is it surprising to discover that it's so easy for us to assume the next person is the problem? It's got to be the other person. It's either the way to look at me, or the way they talk to me. They are either too bossy or too full of themselves. They never take correction. They are so insensitive, so unromantic, so boring...the list is endless.

Here's a story. "My husband is an Engineer, I love him for his steady nature, and I love the warm feeling when I lean against his broad shoulders. We courted three years and now, two years into marriage, I would have to admit, that I am tired of it. The reasons of me loving him before, have all now seemed to have evaporated.

HE LOVES YOU STILL

"True love doesn't happen right away; it's an ever-growing process. It develops after you've gone through many ups and downs, when you've suffered together, cried together, laughed together." - Ricardo Montalban

 

Love

A young soldier fell in love with a lady. The soldier was from a poor family; the girl’s parents didn't like that very much. So the young soldier decided not only to court the girl but to court her parents as well. In time, the parents saw that he was a good man and was worthy of their daughter’s hand.

Another problem however, was that war broke out and he was sent overseas for a year. The week before he left, the man knelt on his knee and asked his love, “Will you marry me?” She agreed and they were engaged; they agreed that they would get married when he returned.

Tragedy struck a few days after he left, the girl had a major vehicular accident. It was a head-on collision. When she woke up in the hospital, she saw her father and mother crying. Immediately, she knew there was something wrong. She later found out that she suffered brain injury.

REAL BEAUTY

"Every(thing or situation) has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

Real Beauty

We are responsible for the words we speak. We can either join the crowd to make a mockery of someone's flaws, or be the odd one out in the crowd, who'd speak differently and positively.

“Can I see my baby?” the happy new mother asked. When the bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Time proved that the baby’s hearing was perfect. It was only his appearance that was marred. When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself into his mother’s arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be a succession of heartbreaks. He blurted out the tragedy. “A boy, a big boy…called me a freak.” He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music. “But you might mingle with other young people,” his mother reproved him, but felt a kindness in her heart. The boy’s father had a session with the family physician. Could nothing be done? “I believe I could graft on a pair of outer ears, if they could be procured,

HOLES IN A WALL

"A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough." - Bruce Lee

Holes in a Wall

There was once a little boy who was talented, and extremely bright. The kind of person everyone would normally have wanted as friend. When he got angry, he usually said and did very hurtful things. He seemed to have little regard for people around him. Even friends. So, naturally, he had few. “But,” he told himself, “that just shows how stupid most people are!”

As he grew, his parents became concerned about this personality flaw, and pondered long and hard about what they could do. Finally, the father had an idea, he struck a bargain with his son. He gave him a bag of nails, and a BIG hammer. “Whenever you lose your temper,” he told the boy, “I want you to really let it out. Just take a nail and drive it into the oak boards of that old fence out back. Hit that nail as hard as you can!” By the end of the first day, he had driven 37 nails into the fence. Gradually, over a period of weeks, the number dwindled. Holding his temper proved to be easier than driving nails into the fence! Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He felt mighty proud as he told his parents about that accomplishment.

TO EVERYONE

"Not only do I think being nice and kind is easy but being kind, in my opinion, is important." - Dwayne Johnson

To Everyone

I used drive a cab for a living. One time I arrived in the middle of the night for a pick up at a building that was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.

Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked.

“Just a minute,” answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80′s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. “Would you carry my bag out to the car?” she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness.

“It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.” “Oh, you’re such a good boy,” she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?” “It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly. “Oh, I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.” I looked in the rear view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. “I don’t have any family left,” she continued.

JUST DO IT

"You never know what you have until you lose it" - Anonymous

Just Do It

My wife said, “I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.”The other woman that my wife wanted me to go out with was my MOTHER. She'd been a widow for 19 years, the demands of my work had made it possible to visit her only occasionally. That night I called to invite her for night out and a movie. “What’s wrong, are you well?” she asked. She's is the type of woman who suspects that a late call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news. “I thought that it would be pleasant to spend some time with you,” I responded. “Just the two of us.” She thought about it for a moment, and then said, “I would like that very much.”

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. “I told my friends I was going out with my son, and they were impressed,“ she said, as she got into the car. “They can’t wait to hear about our meeting.”

A NECESSARY ATTITUDE

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." - John F. Kennedy

Necessary Attitude

Performance monitors and improvement trainers are always on the lookout for how to increase performance and cohesion. Whether in an organization, in a family or just among a group of friends; they device a methodology and procedure to maximize cohesion and performance. I do believe that these methodologies do work; besides I am a performance enhancement trainer myself. However, it is interesting to note that one good, age old, method to get the best out of people is simply an attitude of appreciating people.

A few years ago Dr. Nick Stinnett of the University of Nebraska conducted a group of studies called the "Family Strengths Research Project" Stinnett and his researchers identified six qualities that make for strong families. The first quality and one of the most important to be found in strong families was the quality of appreciation. Families that are strong are strong in part, Dr. Stinnett concludes, because family members express to each other their appreciation for what the other members DO and for who they ARE.

PROGRESS IS NOT A DESTINATION

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am almost certain every person desires to progress in life, we set goals and strive to attain them, which is an absolutely wonderful thing, the only problem that I have come to notice is that many people have unconsciously substituted progress for attaining goals and meeting targets. Please understand; I do believe that attaining goals and meeting targets are progressive steps, but it doesn't encapsulate what progress is. The Encarta dictionary defines progress as, “development, usually of a gradual kind, toward achieving a goal or reaching a higher standard”. Note that by this definition progress is not just a goal, it is a process, a lifestyle of attaining higher standards not just meeting new goals.

WORK IT, NOT HOPE IT

"Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife." - Franz Schubert

While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport, I had one of those life-changing experiences that you hear other people talk about - the kind that sneak up on you. This one occurred right "under my nose".

Straining to locate my friend among the passengers deplaning through the jet way, I noticed a man coming toward me carrying two light bags. He stopped right next to me to greet his family. First he motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he laid down his bags. They gave each other a long, loving hug. As they separated enough to look in each other’s face, I heard the father say, “It’s so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!” His son smiled somewhat shyly, averted his eyes and replied softly, “Me, too, Dad!” Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe nine or ten) and while cupping his son’s face in his hands said, “You’re already quite the young man. I love you very much, Zach!” They too hugged a most loving, tender hug. While this was happening, a baby girl (perhaps one or one-and-a-half) was squirming excitedly in her mother’s arms, never once taking her little eyes off the wonderful sight of her returning father. The man said, “Hi, baby girl!” as he gently took the child from her mother.

WASTED EFFORT

"A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life." - Muhammad Ali


One of the most potent forces on earth is the power of words. We are told in the scriptures, that the worlds were framed by words. Infact, Jesus described the words he spoke, he said "the words that I speak to you they are spirits and they are life". However, I have come to discover one wasteful use of words, chief among many other wasteful uses, is the act of COMPLAINING.

A monk joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first 10 years his superior called him in and asked, "Do you have anything to say?" The monk replied, "Food bad." After another 10 years the monk again

CHEERLEADERS WANTED

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy." - Norman Vincent Peale

Cheerleader

Motivation is a very powerful force, in fact some times more powerful than physical strength or ability, a man with a cheerful spirit, or that is been cheered on, has more energy reserve than one that is physically stronger but depressed. In my opinion we are all in need of cheerleaders at every stage of life, sometimes it could be our spouses, our children, a friend, a mentor, a colleague or even just the guy next door.

There was a fire in the big city, and the firemen flung their ladders together, and went up in their brave fashion to the topmost floor of the building; to rescue the people that were trapped. One after another was rescued by the brave firemen. Had all been rescued? it seemed. But no! As the firemen looked up they saw a white face at the highest window of the burning building.

A CHILD IS BORN

The birth of a child is generally a joyous occasion, not just because of the great satisfaction it gives to the parents, but in my opinion, what carries the greatest joy is the potential of what this child holds. The potential of greatness, a solution to a question that has confronted his family and humanity at large. If the truth be told every time God sends a child into this planet he always has a clear mission and purpose in mind. However whether they fulfil that mission or purpose is another matter entirely.

History records for us an interesting footnote. It was during the dark winter of 1864. At Petersburg, Virginia, the Confederate army of Robert E. Lee faced the Union divisions of General Ulysses S. Grant. The war was now three and a half years old and the glorious charge had long since given way to the muck and mud of trench warfare. Late one evening one of Lee’s generals, Major General George Pickett, received word that his wife had given birth to a beautiful baby boy. Up and down the line the Southerners began building huge bonfires in celebration of the event. These fires did not go unnoticed in the Northern camps and soon a nervous Grant sent out a reconnaissance patrol to see what was going on. The scouts returned with the message that Pickett had had a son and these were celebratory fires. It so happened that Grant and Pickett had been contemporaries at West Point and knew one another well, so to honor the occasion Grant, too, ordered that bonfires should be built.

What a peculiar night it was. For miles on both sides of the lines fires burned. No shots fired. No yelling back and forth. No war fought. Only light, celebrating the birth of a child. But it didn’t last forever. Soon the fires burned down and once again the darkness took over. The darkness of the night and the darkness of war.

I know of one child who truly came to put out the fires on both sides of the divide and settle the conflict between divinity and humanity. He came to bury the hatchet that sin introduced into man’s relationship with his maker. Unlike General Pickettt’s son, the peace and celebration he brings does not just last for one night, its spans into eternity. His name is Jesus Christ. Why not receive him today.

CALL HEAVEN

 I have come to observe that there are many constants and variables in life, one of such constants is that everyone needs help, no matter how rich and mighty or lowly and poor, everyone requires help. The variable is that we cannot predict when, how often or what manner of help we would require in the journey of life, but as for help all will need it at some point in time.

There was a woman at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication for her daughter. She returned to her car to find that she had locked the keys inside the car when she went into the pharmacy and was now unable to get into her car to drive home. She didn’t know what to do and started to panic, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened and that she did not know what to do. The baby sitter told her to find a coat hanger and see if that would open the door. The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been thrown down on the ground, possibly by someone else who also had locked their keys in their car. Then she looked at the hanger and said, "I don’t know how to use this."

THE FOLLY OF UN-FORGIVENESS

"Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde

Un-forgiveness

How beautiful and yet how rare is forgiveness! Christ taught His disciples to forgive their enemies, and in this respect as in all others, He is our great example. He said amid the agonies of the crucifixion, "Father forgive them." A deaf mute being asked, "What is forgiveness?" took a pencil and wrote, "It is the odor which a flower yields when trampled upon," and Sir William Jones has given us the following extract from the Persian poet Sadi - The sandal-tree perfumes when riven, The axe that laid it low; let man, who hopes to be forgiven, forgive and bless his foe.

In a world where over 50% of our movies center on revenge and hate, bitterness and the ability to Rambo your enemy is fashionable, and the virtue of forgiveness seems old fashioned. But if truth be told few things make a man truly great as the power to forgive. If in doubt ask Nelson Mandela.