Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 23, 2009
I guess I’ve always liked good news. When I was a student at Central College in Iowa, I worshiped at our Campus Church. Each week there was a pretty heavy prayer of confession that was usually preceded by recounting some really bad news stories of the previous week. Eventually a group of us
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Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 23, 2009
Before Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Archbishop Desmond Tutu stood in front of the South African Embassy in Washington D.C. one afternoon and said, “Those of you inside, are you listening? Do you hear me? You have already been defeated. Do you understand that? You have already lost and
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Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 23, 2009
There is a community here in the United States where a Christian Church had such blaring music and so many mission trips and so many children and families that people in the neighborhood issued a petition to make the church quieter. They went to a Jewish neighbor and asked him to sign the petition.
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Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 22, 2009
When that mighty ship sank with a loss of over 1500 passengers, it was referred to as an act of God. Yet the reality is that the Titanic was allowed to sail with only 16 lifeboats – enough for only the ship’s crew - instead of the minimum 48 that had been recommended. If there had been 48 lifeboats
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Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 22, 2009
Consider also this letter found on a dead American Soldier in Italy during one of the great wars: “Look God, I have never spoken to you; but now I want to say ‘How do you do’, You see, God, they told me you didn’t exist, and like a fool I believed all of this; Last night, from a shell hole, I saw
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Contributed by Freddy Fritz on Dec 19, 2009
Receiving confirmation for a significant event or activity is often important. When I was in the South African Air Force serving as an Air Traffic Controller, I used to tease the permanent force guys mercilessly. At a certain time each year they would receive news of promotions and new assignments.
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Contributed by Gaither Bailey on Dec 15, 2009
It never fails to happen. You are just sitting down to dinner, have just said the blessing and are ready to dive into your favorite meal and the phone rings. You answer to discover it is a telemarketer wanting to tell you that you have been chosen to receive a special opportunity. What really
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Contributed by Gaither Bailey on Dec 15, 2009
History books report that WW II began on Sept 1, 1939 when German armies invaded Poland. The original plan was to invade on August 26th. The order was sent out to stand down because of a last minute change in plans. All units but one received the news. That unit moved forward on the 26th,
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Contributed by Gaither Bailey on Dec 15, 2009
A young customs official noticed a woman crossed the border every day riding a motorcycle with a wooden box strapped on the back. He suspected she was smuggling something; but, each time he searched the box there was nothing but sand. Later, a more
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Contributed by Gaither Bailey on Dec 15, 2009
DIRECTION SIGNS
In my time with the children a few weeks ago I spoke with them about road signs. As I prepared this message, I thought about how we have become a nation of signs: Some of them are helpful and some are not. Some signs cause us to pause and ask, “What were they thinking?”
Some
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Contributed by Gaither Bailey on Dec 15, 2009
Have you seen the insurance commercial on TV that shows a talking pot hole? “Did I do that? Let me call someone for you! Oh, I don’t have a cellphone.” The talking pothole just causes problems and does nothing to fix them. People have built all sorts of roads: roads of commerce and conquest.
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SCRUBS CHRISTMAS VOICEOVER
The cast of the TV Show Scrubs have done a number of satirical looks at various things. The did a voice over of "Charlie Brown’s Christmas" and Dr. Cox does the Linus soliloquy which originally was the story of Christmas from the gospel. This post-modern version [IMHO]
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Consider "The Christmas Pledge" in Jo Robinson and Jean Staehali’s book Unplug the Christmas Machine. They write, "Believing in the true spirit of Christmas I commit myself to:
• Remember those who truly need my gifts
• Express my love in more direct ways than gifts
• Examine my holiday activities
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CHRISTMAS PANTS
I told you about a pair of guys who had exchanged the same pair of moleskin pants for over a decade. Each year they tried to outdo one another with the only rules being they couldn’t damage the pants and they had to use scrap material. I’d left the story with Kunkel having received
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Pete Peterson was the first U.S. ambassador to Vietnam after the war. But it wasn’t his first time in Hanoi. Peterson was a POW from 1966 to 1972 at the prison camp named "Hanoi Hilton". When asked how he could return to the land where he’d endured years of starvation, brutality and torture, he
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One cannot escape any number of jokes and misunderstandings when it comes to the concept of prayer. Most of us have heard about the child who believed God’s name was Harold because each week they prayed, "Our Father who art in heaven, Harold be thy name". Likewise, there is the story of the
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Contributed by Gaither Bailey on Oct 30, 2009
While pulling out of her driveway, Georgene noticed a mangled ball of fur laying in the street. She pulled the car back into the driveway and walked over to discover that her son’s cat had been run over by a car. Not wanting to upset Billie, she decided to dispose of the “remains” and deal with
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Contributed by Terry Barnhill on Oct 26, 2009
What Is Heaven?
By Terry Barnhill
What is heaven,
and why such hope upon it?
Heaven is already here
By faith in Christ who brought His kingdom near.
"Carpe diem," said ancient Horace,
"quam minimum credula postero."
"Seize the day trusting not in tomorrow."
Our hope is in the promises of
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Contributed by Terry Barnhill on Oct 24, 2009
Consider little Suzie. Little Suzie was finishing her prayer one night and said:
Dear God,
Please take care of mommy, take care of daddy, take care of my sister and my brother, and please, God, take care of yourself, because if you don’t, we’re all sunk. – Amen!
Suzie
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