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A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of
the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of
hardened clay vessels. It was like someone had rolled
balls of clay and left them out in the sun to bake.
They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man,
so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he
strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls
one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the
clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a
beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining
clay vessels. Each contained a similar treasure. He
found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or
so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.
He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown
maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden
treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of
dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of
thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe
even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It
doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't
always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
We see that person as less important than someone more
beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we
have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden
inside that person.
There is a treasure in each one of us. If we take the
time to get to know that person, then the clay begins
to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine
forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out
that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships
because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.
- Anon
Why You Need the Church
Bishop E. Earl Jenkins "The many parts make up only one body." 1 Corinthians 12:12 TLB There's a wonderful story about Jimmy Durante, one of the truly great entertainers. He was asked to do a show for World War II veterans. He told them he was very busy, but if they wouldn't mind his doing one short monologue and immediately leaving for his next appointment, he'd come. They agreed. But when Jimmy got on stage he went through the short monologue - then stayed, and stayed. Soon he'd been on stage 15, 20, then 30 minutes. Finally he took a last bow and left. Backstage someone stopped him and said "I thought you had to go after a few minutes. What happened?" Jimmy answered, " You can see for yourself if you look on the front row." In the front row were two veterans, each of whom had lost an arm in the war. One had lost his right arm and the other had lost his left. Together, they were able to clap, and that's exactly what they were doing, loudly and cheerfully. That's a picture of what's supposed to happen in church: "But the many parts make up only one body when they are all put together. So it is with the 'body' of Christ." But to enjoy its benefits you have to go, and when you get there you must reach out to others so that you can know, and be known. Pew-sitting, back-of-the-head fellowship won't cut it! Someone sitting next to you has 20/20 vision where you have blind spots. You need their counsel, correction and comfort. And they need yours. When that happens, the church is working like it's supposed to.
Before U were thought of or time had begun,
God stuck U in the name of His Son.
And each time U pray, you'll see it's true,
You can't spell out JesUs and not include U.
You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name,
For U, He was born; that's why He came.
And His great love for U is the reason He died.
It even takes U to spell crUcified.
Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand
He rose from the dead, with U in His plan?
The stones split away, the gold trUmpet blew,
and this word resUrrection is spelled with a U.
When JesUs left earth at His upward ascension,
He felt there was one thing He just had to mention.
"Go into the world and tell them it's true
That I love them all - Just like I love U."
So many great people are spelled with a U,
Don't they have a right to know JesUs too?
It all depends now on what U will do,
He'd like them to know, But it all starts with U.
I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
'Oh excuse me please' was my reply.
He said, 'Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you.'
We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.
But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
'Move out of the way,' I said with a frown.
He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.
While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said,
'While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.
Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.
Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.
He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.'
By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.
I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
'Wake up, little one, wake up,' I said.
'Are these the flowers you picked for me?'
He smiled, 'I found 'em, out by the tree.
I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue.'
I said, 'Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way.'
He said, 'Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway.'
I said, 'Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.'
FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?
So what is behind the story?
Do you know what the word FAMILY means?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU
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