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Let Me Close With This Story, At First You May ... PRO
Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Oct 31, 2002 (message contributor)
Let me close with this story, at first you may not catch my point, but hang in there, when I land you will see a wonderful point.
I had been teaching in Virginia, and I resigned my position and accepted a pastorate of a mission work in eastern Kentucky. The area was very poor, and the little church had little to offer.
We had to move into the government housing, and one of the conditions of our lease was we were not allowed to have a dog or a cat.
My youngest son, then 3, loved animals and wanted a dog. I was ashamed to tell my son, I made so little money, that we had to live in the housing project and he could not have a dog.
One day, riding home from church in our Pinto station wagon, my youngest son, Joshua asked me, "Daddy, why can everybody at church have a dog, and I can’t have one?"
I could not answer him? Had I made the right choice leaving teaching school to pastor a church that had averaged 3 the year before? I was glad it was dark, I cried and felt I had failed my two sons.
Linda and noticed there was a clause in the lease that we were allowed to have an aquarium. So we saved our pennies and saved until we could buy
the aquarium. I made a shelf out of some scrape lumber. We purchased several little fish and had enough money to buy a little crab.
The boys loved the crab. It had one big pincher and one small pincher. It would crawl up the grass and sit right at the top of the aquarium and wave it’s one big pincher back and forth. My boys would stand and wave back to our pet crab.
The little crab was a joy to our home. When company would come, the first things the boys would do was to introduce the people to the crab and wave at it, and the crab would wave back.
We came in from service one day, and my oldest son started crying. They went to the side of the aquarium and my boy didn’t wave. I knew something was wrong, and there our pet crab was there dead.
I got the net and pulled the dead crab’s body out of the tank. It was pretty quiet, as we prepared for the funeral. We got a nice cup and place the lifeless body into the cup. I sure didn’t have the words to comfort my sons?
The telephone rang, and this old lady was on the phone. She could talk all night. I sat the cup down on the table and I talked to her. I later explained the death of the crab to her and while we were talking, the boys went over to the fish tank, they just stood in front of the tank, they seemed hopeless.
I heard this terrible scream, my oldest son was screaming to the top of his voice. I dropped the phone and ran into the room, there Marty and Joshua stood waving at the aquarium, there was the crab on top of the grass waving at them, and they were waving back.
What we thought was the dead crab was the old shell. The crab had a new shell. The new shell was bigger and brighter in color. The...
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Where's The Faith? PRO
Contributed by Karl Eckhoff on Nov 13, 2003
Blow the trump and ring the bell; Dress it up and make it sell; Fill it with the rich and well; And count the heads. We’re doing well! But where’s the faith? Read the creed and get it right; Hold it fast with all your might; Close the door and bolt it tight; We’ve no need for ...read more
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Martin Luther Once Had A Dream Where He Was In ... PRO
Contributed by Timothy Smith on Jan 29, 2005
Martin Luther once had a dream where he was in his house and saw Jesus coming up the walk toward his door. Luther examined his surrounding and realized that everything was an absolute mess. Clothes were thrown over the furniture, old food was sitting out, trash was everywhere. And he thought, "How ...read more
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Experts Say That 3 People Die Every Second. If ... PRO
Contributed by Joseph Marshall on Aug 25, 2002
Experts say that 3 people die every second. If this fact is true, then 180 people die every minute, 10,800 people die every hour, 259,200 people die every day, and 94,608,000 people die every year. Of the six billion people on earth today, experts also sayt that 2/3 of them have never heard the ...read more
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The Little Boy And The Circus PRO
Contributed by Ely Lambert on Aug 26, 2002
The Little Boy and the Circus A little boy who lived far out in the country in the late 1800s had reached the age of twelve and had never in all his life seen a circus. You can imagine his excitement, when one day a poster went up at school announcing that on the next Saturday a traveling circus ...read more
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During Telemachus' Life The Gladiatorial Games ... PRO
Contributed by Karl Eckhoff on Nov 13, 2003
During Telemachus’ life the gladiatorial games were very popular. People were fascinated by the sight of blood and gore upon the arena floor. And that alone was enough to bring the criticism of bishops and priests from within the church. But worse than all of this was the fact that most of the ...read more
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