inspirational readings...

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inspirational readings...

Postby vintage_dog » Thu Jun 30, 2005 10:40 am


...Life is beautiful, don't mess it up...

If the population of the Earth was reduced to that of a small town with 100 people, it would look something like this:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans (northern and southern)
8 Africans


52 women
48 men


70 coloured-skins
30 caucasians


89 heterosexuals
11 homosexuals


6 people would own 59% of the whole world wealth
and all of them will be from the United States of America
80 would have bad living conditions
70 would be uneducated
50 underfed
1 would die
2 would be born
1 would have a computer
1 (only one) will have higher education


When you look at the world from this point of view,
you can see there is a real need for solidarity,
understanding, patience and education.

Also think about the following:

This morning, if you woke up healthy, then you are happier
than the 1 million people that will not survive next week.

If you never suffered a war,
the loneliness of the jail cell, the agony of torture,
or hunger, you are happier than 500 million people in the world.

If you can enter into a church (mosque) without fear of jail or death,
you are happier t han 3 million people in the world.

If there is a food in your fridge,
you have shoes and clothes,
you have bed and a roof,
you are richer then 75% of the people in th e world.


If you have bank account, money in your wallet and some coins in the money-box,
you belong to the 8% of the people on the world, who are well-to-do.


If you read this you are three times blessed because:

1. somebody just thought of you. Image

2. you don't belong to the 200 million people that cannot read.
3. and... you have a computer!


As somebody once said:

work as if you don't need money,
love as if you've never been hurt,
dance, as if nobody can see you,
sing, as if no one can hear,
live, as if the Earth was a heaven.


Image



"A person should like be a stalk of rice, the more it is loaded with grain, the more it is bowed down"

"Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage.
You have to fail in order to practice being brave."
Last edited by vintage_dog on Sun Aug 14, 2005 11:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby handyboy » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:19 pm

what an eye opener!!!
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Postby marcus » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:16 pm

sad but true...
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Postby Oldfogey » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:44 pm

Francis,

Thanks for helping keep things in perspective! :)
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Postby Killer Mike » Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:12 pm

we're still lucky somehow :)
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Postby Doc Jr 8156 » Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:48 pm

Sapientia Aedeficat! Thank you Francis, for reminding us everything is not as important as the gift of life itself. Godspeed.
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Postby rtsyrtsy » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:29 am

Doc Jr 8156 wrote:Sapientia Aedeficat!


Paki translate. :D
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Postby m_shoe_maker » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:33 am

rtsyrtsy wrote:
Doc Jr 8156 wrote:Sapientia Aedeficat!


Paki translate. :D


Doc Jr, medicine ba yan :?:
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Postby marty_e » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:42 am

Its something like "he sees wisdom", tama ba doc jr?
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Postby Killer Mike » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:07 pm

May the Spirit of God always hover over the young minds that are formed in this world. :)
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Postby m_shoe_maker » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:08 pm

Mike wrote:May the Spirit of God always hover over the young minds that are formed in this world. :)


Killer, ikaw ba yan :?: :D
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Postby Killer Mike » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:19 pm

m_shoe_maker wrote:
Mike wrote:May the Spirit of God always hover over the young minds that are formed in this world. :)


Killer, ikaw ba yan :?: :D

di ba bagay :?: :lol: i'm a benedictine u know... :D
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The BRICK

Postby vintage_dog » Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:52 am

THE BRICK

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting. "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" The young boy was apologetic. "Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," He pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..."

With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. "It's my brother, "he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please
help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy
for me."

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling
lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the
wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh
scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.
"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger.
Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy! push his
wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very
noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door.

He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: "Don't go through
life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your
attention!" God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes
when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's our
choice to listen or not.
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Postby botching » Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:27 pm

A GLASS OF MILK

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry.

He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked
hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then
asked, How much do I owe you?

You don't owe me anything, she replied. "Mother has taught us never to
accept pay for a kindness."

He said..... "Then I thank you from my heart."

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but
his faith in God and man was strong also.. He had been ready to give up
and quit.

Many years later that same young woman became critically ill. The local
doctors were baffled! They finally sent her to the big city, where they
called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the
name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes.
Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.

Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at
once.

He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save
her life. From that day he gave special attention to her case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for
approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill
was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would
take The rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and
something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these
words.....

"Paid in full with one glass of milk"
(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed: "Thank You, God, that Your love has spread broad through human hearts and hands."

There's a saying which goes something like this: Bread cast on the waters
comes back to you. The good deed you do today may benefit you or someone you love at the least expected time. If you never see the deed again at least you will have made the world a better place - And, after all, isn't that what life is all about?

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to
burn.....

GOOD FRIENDS ARE LIKE ANGELS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEE THEM TO KNOW THEY ARE THERE
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Postby bb3 » Sat Jul 16, 2005 7:00 pm

botching wrote:The good deed you do today may benefit you or someone you love at the least expected time. If you never see the deed again at least you will have made the world a better place - And, after all, isn't that what life is all about?


amen to that!
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Postby vintage_dog » Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:53 pm

In an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, author of The
Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren said:


People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond, in a
nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever,
and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going
to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me. I
may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillion of
years in eternity.

This is the warm-up act, the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice
on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and
for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life
is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just come out
of one or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this
is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God
is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life
happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal
of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest,
with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and
valleys - you go through a dark time, then you got to the mountaintop,
back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills
and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track,
and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad
that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your
life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If
you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which
is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get
rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of
thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for
her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her
character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a
testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people...You have to learn to
deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning
to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a
sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very
wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal
with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for you to
own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He
wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me
two different passages that helped me decide what to do, Corinthians 9
and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our
lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway
through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we
set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan - to plant
churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate
the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid
me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It
was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or
am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if
I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love
You better ...God didn't put me on earth just to fulfil a to-do list. He's
more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called
human beings, not human doings.
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Postby romel » Thu Jul 28, 2005 5:38 pm

Sir VD/Francis,
Thanks a lot. Hindi ka lang pang-audio, pang-sports pa! God bless us all.
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Postby vintage_dog » Sun Aug 14, 2005 11:18 pm

The university professor challenged his students with this question.

"Did God create everything that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created
evil, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works
define who we are, then God is evil".

The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite
pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once
more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question
professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never
been cold?"

The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to
the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of
heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or
transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or
transmit energy. Absolute zero (- 460 degrees F) is the total absence
of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that
temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe
how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not
exist either Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can
study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break
white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each
color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break
into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a
certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this
correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when
there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already
said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's
inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence
everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but
evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it
does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is
just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe
the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or
love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what
happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's
like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that
comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.
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Postby vintage_dog » Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:52 pm

Ten things GOD won't ask:

1...God won't ask what kind of car you drove;
He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.

2...God won't ask the square footage of your house,
He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3...God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet,
He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4...God won't ask what your highest salary was,
He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

5...God won't ask what your job title was,
He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

6...God won't ask how many friends you had,
He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7...God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived,
He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8...God won't ask about the color of your skin,
He'll ask about the content of your character.

9...God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation,
He'll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the gates of Hell.

10...God won't ask how many people you shared this with,
He'll ask if you were ashamed to mention his name to your friends.
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Postby Quiel » Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:14 am

I was helping my son with a short story and stumbled into this.

****

Think Twice

Jack took a long look at his speedometer before slowing down: 73 in a 55 zone. Fourth time in as many months.
How could a guy get caught so often?When his car had slowed to 10 miles an hour, Jack pulled over, but only partially. Let the cop worry about the
potential traffic hazard.
Maybe some other car will tweak his backside with a mirror. The cop was stepping out of his car, the big pad in hand. Bob? Bob from Church? Jack sunk farther into his trench coat. This was worse than the coming ticket. A
Christian cop catching a guy from his own church. A guy who happened to be a little eager to get home after a long day at the office. A guy he was about to play golf with tomorrow. Jumping out of the car, he approached a man he saw every Sunday, a man he'd never seen in uniform.
"Hi, Bob. Fancy meeting you like this." "Hello, Jack." No smile.
"Guess you caught me red-handed in a rush to see my wife and kids."
"Yeah, I guess. Bob seemed uncertain. Good "I've seen some long days at the office lately. I'm afraid I bent the rules a bit-just this once." Jack toed at
a pebble on the pavement "Diane said something about roast beef and
potatoes tonight. Know what I mean "I know what you mean. I also know that you have a reputation in our precinct." Ouch. This was not going in the right direction. Time to change tactics "What'd you clock me at?" "Seventy. Would you sit back in your car please?" "Now wait a minute here, Bob. I checked as soon as I saw you. I was barely nudging 65." The lie seemed to come easier with every ticket "Please, Jack, in the car."
Flustered, Jack hunched himself through the still-open door. Slamming it shut, he stared at the dash board. He was in no rush to open the window.
The minutes ticked by. Bob scribbled away on the pad. Why hadn't he asked for a driver's license? Whatever the reason, it would be a month of Sundays before Jack ever sat near this cop again
A tap on the door jerked his head to the left. There was Bob, a folded paper in hand. Jack rolled down the window a mere two inches, just enough room
for Bob to pass him the slip.
"Thanks." Jack could not quite keep the sneer out of his voice. Bob returned to his police car without a word. Jack watched his retreat in the mirror. Jack unfolded the sheet of paper. How much was this one going to cost? Wait a
minute. What was this? Some kind of joke? Certainly not a ticket.
Jack began to read: "Dear Jack, Once upon a time I had a daughter. She was six when killed by a car. You guessed it-a speeding driver. A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free. Free to hug his daughters. All three of them. I only had one, and I'm going to have to wait until Heaven before I can ever hug her again. A thousand times I've tried to forgive that man. A thousand times I thought I had. Maybe I did, but I need to do it again. Even
now. Pray for me. And be careful. My son is all I have left. Bob" Jack turned around in time to see Bob's car pull away and head down the road. Jack watched until it disappeared. A full 15 minutes later, he, too, pulled away and drove slowly home, praying for forgiveness and hugging a surprised wife and kids when he arrived.
Life is precious. Handle with care...

Drive safely and carefully. Remember, cars are not the only thing recalled by their maker.
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