I Know Who Holds Tomorrow

I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine,
For its skies may turn to grey.

I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

Ev'ry step is getting brighter,
As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter;
Ev'ry cloud is silver lined.

There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eyes,
At the ending of the rainbow,
Where the mountains touch the sky.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

I don't know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty;
But the One Who feeds the sparrow,
Is the One Who stands by me.

And the path that be my portion,
May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me,
And I'm covered with His blood.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand..=)

~ Ira Stanphill

Love is a Costly Thing

She was lying on the ground. In her arms she held a tiny baby girl. As I put a cooked sweet potato into her outstretched hand, I wondered if she would live until morning. Her strength was almost gone, but her tired eyes acknowledged my gift. The sweet potato could help so little--but it was all I had.

Taking a bite she chewed it carefully. Then, placing her mouth over her baby’s mouth, she forced the soft warm food into the tiny throat. Although the mother was starving, she used the entire potato to keep her baby alive.

Exhausted from her effort, she dropped her head on the ground and closed her eyes. In a few minutes the baby was asleep. I later learned that during the night the mother’s heart stopped, but her little girl lived.

Love is a costly thing.

God in His love for us (and for a lost world) "spared not His own Son" to tell the world of His love. Love is costly, but we must tell the world at any cost. Such love is costly.

It costs parents and sons and daughters. It costs the missionary life itself. In his love for Christ the missionary often must give up all to make the Savior known. If you will let your love for Christ cost you something, the great advance will be made together.

~ D. Hillis

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all..

The steadfast love of our Lord never ceases..

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end
They are new every morning, new every morning
Great is Thy faithfulness, O Lord,
Great is Thy faithfulness..=)

Today my heart sings of Your great goodness and faithfulness, dearest Lord.
Thank You for Your sacrificial love which never ceases.
There is nothing we can do to make You love us more, there is nothing we can do to make You love us less.
Thank you Lord..:)

The Power of God

For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God.
For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God..

~ 2 Corinthians 13:4

Thirsty?

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

~ John 4: 13-14

In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust..
Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

~ Psalm 71: 1a, 3

All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.
For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.
Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
..O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

~ Psalm 86: 9-13, 15

Precious Lord, thank you for always helping me to claim Your promises as unchanging and powerful truths. They never fail to proclaim Your unfailing grace, love and mercy each time i reflect upon them. Continue to unite my heart to fear Your name alone..that was the Psalmist's heart's desire. Please move within my soul and make that my heart's desire too.

Thank you so much for everything..especially for pouring forth fresh purpose and planting a new vision within my heart.

Obeying Your still small voice -- that is all that really matters..

Thank you for teaching me what that really means, dear Lord.

I truly owe it all to You.

The world's great heart is aching,
Aching fiercely in the night.
And God alone can hear it--
And God alone can give light.

The men to hear the message
And speak the living Word.
And you and I, my brother,
And the missions who have heard.

We grovel among trifles
And our spirits fret and toss.
While above us burns the vision
Of Christ upon the Cross.

And the blood of Christ streaming
From his pierced hands and side.
And the lips of Christ are saying
Tell the lost that I have died.

No power of man shall thwart us
No strongholds shall dismay.
When God commands obedience
And love has led the way.

~ Anon.

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

~ Luke 19:10

Last Words

Fearful Last Words:

Cardinal Borgia: “I have provided in the course of my life for everything except death, and now, alas, I am to die unprepared.”

Elizabeth the First: “All my possessions for one moment of time.”

Kurt Cobain (suicide note): “Frances and Courtney, I’ll be at your altar. Please keep going Courtney, for Frances. For her life will be so much happier without me. I love you. I love you.”

Ludwig van Beethoven: “Too bad, too bad! It’s too late!”

Thomas Hobbs: “I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.”

Anne Boleyn: “O God, have pity on my soul. O God, have pity on my soul.”

Prince Henry of Wales: “Tie a rope round my body, pull me out of bed, and lay me in ashes, that I may die with repentant prayers to an offended God. O! I in vain wish for that time I lost with you and others in vain recreations.”

Socrates: “All of the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth. If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.”

Sigmund Freud: “The meager satisfaction that man can extract from reality leaves him starving.”

Tony Hancock (British comedian): “Nobody will ever know I existed. Nothing to leave behind me. Nothing to pass on. Nobody to mourn me. That’s the bitterest blow of all.”

Phillip III, King of France: “What an account I shall have to give to God! How I should like to live otherwise than I have lived.”

Luther Burbank: “I don’t feel good.”

Voltaire (skeptic): “I am abandoned by God and man! I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months’ life. Then I shall go to hell; and you will go with me. O Christ! O Jesus Christ!” (The talented French writer once said of Jesus, “Curse the wretch!” He stated, “Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror ...Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.”) He also boasted, “In twenty years Christianity will be no more. My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to rear.” Some years later, Voltaire’s house was used by the Geneva Bible Society to print Bibles.

Philosophical Last Words:

Aldus Huxley (humanist): “It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than ‘Try and be a little kinder.’”

Karl Marx: “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!”

Napoleon: “I marvel that where the ambitious dreams of myself and of Alexander and of Caesar should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant—Jesus—should be able to stretch his hands across the centuries, and control the destinies of men and nations.”

Leonardo da Vinci: “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”

Tolstoy: “Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six.”

Benjamin Franklin: “A dying man can do nothing easy.”

Grotius: “I have lived my life in a laborious doing of nothing.”

Unexpected Demise:

H. G. Wells: “Go away: I’m alright.”

General John Sedgwick (during the heat of battle in 1864): “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist——!”

Bing Crosby: “That was a great game of golf.”

Mahatma Ghandi: “I am late by ten minutes. I hate being late. I like to be at the prayer punctually at the stroke of five.”

Diana (Spencer), Princess of Wales: “My God. What’s happened?” (per police files)

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.: “Never felt better.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt: “I have a terrific headache.”

Sal Mineo: (stabbed through the heart): “Oh God! No! Help! Someone help!”

Jesse James: “It’s awfully hot today.”

Lee Harvey Oswald: “I will be glad to discuss this proposition with my attorney, and that after I talk with one, we could either discuss it with him or discuss it with my attorney, if the attorney thinks it is a wise thing to do, but at the present time I have nothing more to say to you.”

Unusual Last Words:

Vincent Van Gogh: “I shall never get rid of this depression.”

James Dean: “My fun days are over.”

Oscar Wilde: “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go . . .”

W. C. Fields: “I’m looking for a loophole.”

Louis XVII: “I have something to tell you . . .”

Assurance of Salvation:

Jonathan Edwards: “Trust in God and you shall have nothing to fear.”

Patrick Henry: “Doctor, I wish you to observe how real and beneficial the religion of Christ is to a man about to die . . .” In his will he wrote: “This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ which will give them one which will make them rich indeed.”

John Owen: “I am going to Him whom my soul loveth, or rather who has loved me with an everlasting love, which is the sole ground of all my consolation.”

D. L. Moody: “I see earth receding; heaven is opening. God is calling me.”

Lew Wallace (author of Ben Hur): “Thy will be done.”

Alexander Hamilton: “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy.”

William Shakespeare: “I commend my soul into the hands of God my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ my Savior, to be made partaker of life everlasting; and my body to the earth, whereof it was made.”

Martin Luther: “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit! Thou hast redeemed me, O God of truth.”

John Milton (British poet): “Death is the great key that opens the palace of Eternity.”

Sir Walter Raleigh (at his execution): “So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lieth.”

General William Booth (to his son): “And the homeless children, Bramwell, look after the homeless. Promise me . . .”

David Livingstone: “Build me a hut to die in. I am going home.”

Charles Dickens: “I commit my soul to the mercy of God, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I exhort my dear children humbly to try and guide themselves by the teaching of the New Testament.”

Isaac Watts (hymn-writer): “It is a great mercy that I have no manner of fear or dread of death. I could, if God please, lay my head back and die without terror this afternoon.”

Andrew Jackson: “My dear children, do not grieve for me . . . I am my God’s. I belong to Him. I go but a short time before you, and ...I hope and trust to meet you all in heaven.”

Daniel Webster (just before his death): “The great mystery is Jesus Christ—the gospel. What would the condition of any of us be if we had not the hope of immortality? . . . Thank God, the gospel of Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light.” His last words were: “I still live.”

~ The Evidence Bible

What will your last words be?

He is Risen

"Come, see the place where the Lord lay," with joy and gladness. He does not lie there now. Weep, when ye see the tomb of Christ, but rejoice because it is empty. Thy sin slew him, but his divinity raised him up. Thy guilt hath murdered him, but his righteousness hath restored him. Oh! he hath burst the bonds of death, he hath ungirt the cerements of the tomb, and hath come out more than conqueror, crushing death beneath his feet. Rejoice, O Christian, for he is not there -- he is risen.

~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

~ 1 Peter 1:3-5

I firmly believe that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and self-seeking and every thing that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Ghost will come and fill every corner of our hearts; but if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and self-seeking and pleasure and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God; and I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else.

The work of the Spirit is to impart life, to implant hope, to give liberty, to testify of Christ, to guide us into all truth, to teach us all things, to comfort the believer, and to convict the world of sin.

~ Dwight Lyman Moody

Spiritual Power

If we had the Spirit sealing our ministry with power, it would signify very little about talent. Men might be poor and uneducated, their words might be broken and ungrammatical; but if the might of the Spirit attended them, the humblest evangelist would be more successful than the most learned of divines, or the most eloquent of preachers.

It is extraordinary power from God, not talent, that wins the day. It is extraordinary spiritual unction not extraordinary mental power, that we need. Mental power may fill a chapel but spiritual power fills the church with soul anguish. Mental power may gather a large congregation. but only spiritual power will save souls. What we need is spiritual power.

~ Charles H. Spurgeon

..Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

~ Zechariah 4:6b

Beautiful Things Happen

O God

Such beautiful things happen

When I meet You day by day

In quietness and confidence.

There is a deep inner wholeness

And the assurance of Your guidance.

I am not so easily disturbed

By changing circumstances.

I am less dependent on others

And more dependent on You.

My eyes may be full of tears

But my heart is full of joy.

In discovering Your hidden treasures

I learn how deeply I am treasured by You.

When day by day I am responsive

To Your whispered secrets

You do more for me in one day

Than I could do for myself in a lifetime.

~ Ruth Harms Calkin ~

For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?

God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

~ 2 Samuel 22:29-33 ~

God is waiting to be put to the test by His people in prayer. He delights in being put to the test on His promises. It is His highest pleasure to answer prayer, to prove the reliability of His promises.

God shapes the world by prayer. The prayers of God's saints are the capitol stock of heaven by which God carries on His great work upon the earth.

The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be; the mightier the forces against evil.

Around us is a world lost in sin, above us is a God willing and able to save; it is ours to build the bridge that links heaven and earth, and prayer is the mighty instrument that does the work.

~ E.M. Bounds

The Power of Prayer

Prayer has divided seas, rolled up flowing rivers, made flinty rocks gush into fountains, quenched flames of fire, muzzled lions, disarmed vipers and poisons, marshalled the stars against the wicked, stopped the course of the moon, arrested the rapid sun in its great race, burst open iron gates, conquered the strongest devils, commanded legions of angels down from heaven. Prayer has bridled and changed the raging passions of man, and routed and destroyed vast armies of proud, daring atheists. Prayer has brought one man from the bottom of the sea, and carried another in a chariot of fire to heaven; what has prayer not done!

~ Anonymous

Do we pray?

Someone we love is sinking deep in sin,
This dear one, from God, has turned away;
When we learn someone has chosen to reject Him,
It must not be because we did not pray.

We must reach out to that someone in love,
With a need to bring them back today;
If they fail and miss Heaven above,
It must not be because we did not pray.

There may be sin in fun and pleasures we seek,
Many temptations will lure the soul away;
Sin leaves the soul, mind and body weak,
It must not be because we did not pray.

Time is passing from us each day and hour,
Sin has a very high cost to someday pay;
Satan will devour the soul with his power,
It must not be because we did not pray.

We must pray and leave the outcome to God,
Be loving and forgiving as we go our way;
If one life returns to God on this journey we trod,
We can rejoice because we "did" pray.

~ Leona I. Miller

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints..

~ Ephesians 6:18

Just think:
You are here not by chance but by GOD's choosing.
His hand formed you and made you the person you are.
He compares you to no one else; you are one of a kind.
You lack nothing that His grace cannot give you.
He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfil His special purpose for this generation.
You are GOD's servant in GOD's place at GOD's perfect time..:)

Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

~ Psalm 147:1,3-11

The Gift

I heard today
Of a decrepit native woman
Who walked mile after mile
Under the blistering sun
To bring a small gift of embroidery
To the missionary she deeply loved.

Hour after hour she trudged
Over rough, rugged roads
Clutching tightly her small gift.
Her weary body sagged
Her vision blurred
Her bare feet bled from the jagged rocks.

Grateful but overwhelmed
The missionary wept.
The trembling old woman spoke softly:
"Please understand.
The walk is part of the gift."

My Lord
My commitment to You is for life.
I give myself to You unreservedly
To do with me as You please.
But may I not forget
That the tears, the fears
The strain and the pain
The sunless days
The starless nights
Are all part of the whole.
In my total commitment
I give full consent:
The walk is part of the gift.

~ Ruth Harms Calkin

Give Thanks

Give thanks

with a grateful heart,

Give thanks

to the Holy One,

Give thanks

because He's given

Jesus Christ His Son

And now let the weak say

I am strong

Let the poor say

I am rich

Because of what

the Lord has done

for us

Give thanks.. =)

The world needs men and women..
a.. who cannot be bought;
b.. whose word is their bond;
c.. who put character above wealth;
d.. who possess opinions and a will;
e.. who are larger than their vocations;
f.. who do not hesitate to take chances;
g.. who will not lose their individuality in a crowd;
h.. who will make no compromise with wrong;
i.. whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
j.. who will not say they do it "because everybody else does it";
k.. who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
l.. who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning, and hardheartedness are the best qualities for winning success;
m.. who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
n.. who can say "no" with emphasis, although all the rest of the world says "yes".

~ L.M. Groves

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

~ Micah 6:8

I Trust You

O God, I trust You.

I don't understand

I cannot begin to comprehend

The wisdom of Your way

In my torn and tangled life

But I am steadfastly believing

That Your plan for me today

Must be --

Surely it must be

As kind

As loving

As profitable

As Your plan for me

In joyful days now past.

You are the same

Yesterday

And today

And forever

So, dear God

I trust You.

~ Ruth Harms Calkin ~

..Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.

~ Psalm 69:29b

God is not looking for brilliant men, is not depending upon eloquent men, is not shut up to the use of talented men in sending His Gospel out in the world. God is looking for broken men, for men who have judged themselves in the light of the Cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to an end of themselves, and whose trust and confidence is not in themselves but in God.

~ H.A. Ironside

I have an unquenchable desire to slow down and find my life going deeper in my walk with Christ.
I want to meet Him in the depths of my soul, away from the stress and press of everything on top.
A relationship with Christ is the key to fulfilling our deepest longings.
All of life is about filling the void that sin and separation from Him have created within.
Filling the emptiness with piles of things, earthly friendships, satisfying experiences, and sensual encounters ultimately proves to achieve less than what we had hoped for.
Christ is the only one who fits.

~ Joseph M. Stowell

An Undivided Heart

Lord, put in me a new spirit
Remove my heart of stone
And give to me a heart of flesh
That trusts in You alone.

Oh, That I may fear Your name
Each day right from the start
Oh, Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

I want a gaze that never waivers
Or loses sight of the goal
To keep its focus on obeying You
With mind and body and soul.

Help me to walk in submission to Christ
In whole and not in part
Oh, Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

I want Your joy to be my greatest strength
Your salvation my impassioned praise
Your holiness to be my way of living
For all the rest of my days.

Keep me steadfast in doing Your work
And following the course that You chart
Oh, Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

Teach me to daily die to self
And to spend much time in prayer
That I may be discerning of those around me
And treat them with genuine care.

I want to be totally true to You
To wear your righteousness as my mark
Oh, Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

I want to live the time You've given me
Committed fully to Your purpose and call
Lord, consume me with Your awesome presence
Cause me on my knees to fall.

And bow to Your desire for my life
Let no circumstance keep us apart
Oh, Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

~ C. Godfrey

'Not called!' did you say?
'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin.
Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help.
Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there.
Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.

~ William Booth

When the child of God
Looks into the Word of God
And sees the Son of God
He is changed by the Spirit of God
Into the image of God
For the glory of God.

~ Warren Wiersbe

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

~ 1 Peter 3:8,9

Love is

Love is swift, pure, tender, joyful, and pleasant. Love is strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, vigorous, and never self-seeking. For when a man is self-seeking, he abandons love. Love is watchful, humble, and upright. Love is not fickle and sentimental, nor is it intent on vanities. It is sober, pure, steadfast, quiet, and guarded in all the senses. Love is submissive and obedient to superiors, mean and contemptible in its own sight, devoted and thankful to God, trusting and hoping in Him even when not enjoying His sweetness; for none can live in love without suffering.

~ Thomas À Kempis

Lift up your eyes.
Your Heavenly Father waits to bless you in inconceivable ways to make your life what you never dreamed it could be.

~ Anne Ortlund

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

~ Jeremiah 29:11

With eternity's values in view..

Live near to God, and so all things will appear to you little in comparison with eternal realities.

~ Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me.
Lay any burden on me, only sustain me.
Sever any tie but the tie that binds me to Thy service and to Thy heart.

~ David Livingstone

I refuse

I refuse to be discouraged,
To be sad, or to cry;
I refuse to be downhearted,
And here's the reason why:
I have a God who's mighty,
Who's sovereign and supreme;
I have a God who loves me,
And I am on His team.
He is all-wise and powerful,
Jesus is His name;
Though everything is changeable,
My God remains the same.
My God knows all that's happening;
Beginning to the end;
His presence is my comfort;
He is my dearest Friend.
When sickness comes to weaken me,
To bring my head down low,
I call upon my mighty God;
Into His arms I go.
When circumstances threaten to rob me of my peace;
He draws me close unto His breast,
Where all my strivings cease.
When my heart melts within me,
And weakness takes control;
He gathers me into His arms,
He soothes my heart and soul.
The great "I AM" is with me.
My life is in His hand.
The "Son of the Lord" is my hope.
It's in His strength I stand.
I refuse to be defeated.
My eyes are on my God;
He has promised to be with me,
As through this life I trod.
I'm looking past all my circumstances,
To Heaven's throne above;
My prayers have reached the heart of God
I'm resting in His love.
I give God thanks in everything.
My eyes are on His face;
The battle's His, the victory mine;
He'll help me win the race.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me..=)

What If?

What if God couldn't take the time to bless us today because we couldn't take the time to thank Him yesterday?

What if God decided to stop leading us tomorrow because we didn't follow Him today?

What if we never saw another flower bloom because we grumbled when God sent the rain?

What if God didn't walk with us today because we failed to recognize it as His day?

What if God took away his message because we failed to listen to the messenger?

What if God didn't send His only begotten Son because He wanted us to be prepared to pay the price for sin?

What if the door of the church was closed because we did not open the door of our heart?

What if God stopped loving and caring for us because we failed to love and care for others?

What if God would not hear us today because we would not listen to him yesterday?

What if God answered our prayers the way we answer His call to service?

What if God met our needs the way we give Him our lives?


Precious Lord, thank you so much for Your great faithfulness and unfailing grace that You grant to us every single day of our lives without fail. Thank you for being all that You are to us..a mighty, prayer-answering God..an amazing and beautiful Saviour. Great and powerful is Your name..and thankful are our hearts to love You as our blessed Redeemer, our God..

So Little Time

So little time to say the things
You'd really like to say -
Before you even find the words,
The time just slips away.

So little time to do the things
You feel that you must do.
So treasure, like the purest gold,
The time God's given you.

So little time to dream your dreams,
For youth has passed its prime,
And all too soon you realize
That there's ... so little time.

So little time to reach the height
To which you're bound to climb,
For swiftly pass the waning years,
And there's ... so little time.

So little time to pass regrets,
And less, to make amends,
Yet God can heal the deepest wounds
In chosen, cherished friends.

So little time to share God's love
And beauty here on earth,
And know, before His endless time,
Their meaning and true worth.

Oh, yes, there is so little time
To seek the hidden door
That opens up to Heaven's time,
Where time's forevermore.

~ Author Unknown

For what is your life?
It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away..

~ James 4:14

The Race

"Quit, give up, you're beaten"
They shout at you and plead
"There's just too much against you
This time you can't succeed".

And as I start to hang my head
In front of failures face
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race

And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene
Or just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being

Children's race, young boys
Young men, now I remember well
Excitement sure, but also fear
It wasn't hard to tell

They all lined up so full of hope
Each thought to win that race
Or tie for first, or if not that
At least take second place

The fathers watched from off the side
Each cheering for his son
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he could be the one

The whistle blew and off they went
Young hearts and hopes afire
To win and be the hero there
Was each young boy's desire

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd
Was running near the lead and thought
"My dad will be so proud"

But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped

Trying hard to catch himself
With hands flew out to brace
And amid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face

But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face
Which to the boy so clearly said
"Get up and win the race"

He quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit that's all
And ran with all his might and mind
To make up for the fall

So anxious to restore himself
To catch up and to win
His mind went faster than his legs
He slipped and fell again

He wished then that he had quit before
With only one disgrace
"I'm hopeless as a runner now
I shouldn't try to race"

But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his father's face
That steady look which said again
"Get up and win the race"

So up he jumped to try again
Ten yards behind the last
If I'm going to gain those yards he thought
I've got to move real fast

Exerting everything he had
He regained eight or ten
But trying hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again

Defeat, he lay there silently
A tear dropped from his eye
There's no sense running anymore
Three strikes, I'm out, why try?

The will to rise had disappeared
All hope had fled away
So far behind so error prone
A loser all the way

"I've lost, so what", he thought
I'll live with my disgrace
But then he thought about his dad
Whom soon he'd have to face

"Get up" the echo sounded low
"Get up" and take your place
You were not meant for failure here
"Get up", and win the race

With borrowed will "Get up" it said
"You haven't lost at all"
For winning is no more than this
To rise each time you fall

So up he rose to run once more
And with a new commitment
He resolved, that win or lose
At least he shouldn't quit

So far behind the others now
The most he'd ever been
Still he'd give it all he had
And run as though to win

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling
Three times he'd rose again
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place
Head high and proud and happy
No falling, no disgrace

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line, last place
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race

And even though he came in last
With head bent low, unproud
You would have thought he'd won the race
To listen to the crowd

And to his dad he sadly said
"I didn't do too well"
"To me you won", his father said
"You rose each time you fell"

~ Cara-May Harvey

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

~ Philippians 3:13-14