Now as a mom, all I could think of was, “Be careful. Don’t get bitten. You might get rabies.” But Steven was so amazed by this one squirrel. He had his mouth full of sticks and was trying as hard as he could to take the piece of candy Steven offered him. After much trouble the squirrel was finally able to grab the candy and keep all of the sticks and scamper up a tree to eat his treat.

While seeing this picture I thought of the old proverb: “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” But that squirrel sure was trying hard.

It even made me think of how many people try to “eat their cake and keep it too.”

People want to have the eternal salvation God offers but not give up the ways of the world. Some Christians don’t want to give up their drinking alcohol, pornography, swearing, gossiping, lust, etc. They are hanging on to those ways because they like the way it feels, because their friends do it, because they just don’t see anything wrong with it, etc. You might even have another reason.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” Romans 12:2 (NLT)

We cling on to old stuff we have when God is trying to give us something sweeter, something better than what we’re hanging on to. Sometimes we’re holding on to it for dear life, like if we let it go nothing else will come our way that will even be close to what we had before.

Our humanness says, “Be careful. You might get bitten. You might fail. You might (fill in the blank).”

We must let go of what we’re holding on to before God can put anything else into our hands!

Here are a few examples: (names have no likeness to any real person or situation)

♦ Joe finds out that his job has been eliminated and he gets laid off. When he finds another job it’s even better than he had before, giving him a pay increase.

♦ John has owned his own business for many years but the business goes bankrupt. He starts another business that becomes a multi-million dollar business.

♦ Mr. and Mrs. Smith lose their house to foreclosure being unable to make the mortgage payments. The next house they buy is better than the one they had before and in a better neighborhood and their mortgage payments are lower.

♦ Pastor Bill feels like he’s been in a sinking ship at his church. Attendance is down. Giving doesn’t even meet the bills. The church decides to close and Pastor Bill begins to work for another church and many souls are saved through his ministry there.

In all of those situations we cling on to what we had, sometimes rebelling or becoming depressed over the situation. We have the attitude that we’ll stay until the ship sinks.

If we recognize that some of these situations could be God moving us into a different job, neighborhood or even church we don’t have to “go down with the ship” but instead we can move on without hesitation. We can release the old to obtain the new.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

No matter who we are, our human side wants to rebel, to look for a better way.

Alcoholics Anonymous has a great saying, “Let Go and Let God.” This saying actually means to totally surrender your life to God, allowing Him to shape our lives like the potter shapes the clay into a beautiful bowl.

If you have never “let go and let God” now is the time, it’s not too late. He can shape your life into a beautiful masterpiece.

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.

Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go there.

He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit and, when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, trust me, this had never happened before in this church).

By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick. About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his eighties with silver-gray hair and a three-piece suit, a godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves that you can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor? It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can’t even hear anyone breathing.

The minister can’t even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won’t be alone.

Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control, he says, “What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget. Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read.”

How true it is! We need to each of us stop and ask ourselves “What kind of testimony do I give through my actions?”

“Lord, I can’t go on,” he said. “I have too heavy a cross to bear.”

The Lord replied, “My son, if you can’t bear it’s weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then open another door and pick any cross you wish.”

The man was filled with relief. “Thank you, Lord,” he sighed, and did as he was told.

As he looked around the room he saw many different crosses; some so large the tops were not visible. Then he spotted a tiny cross leaning against a far wall.

“I’d like that one, Lord,” he whispered.

And the Lord replied, “My son, that’s the cross you brought in.”

“What food might this contain?” The mouse wondered – he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap – alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house – like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer’s wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember – when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the Spirit of God cannot work through you,
Where the Wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the Army of God cannot protect you,
Where the Hands of God cannot mold you.

The Will of God will never take you,
Where the Love of God cannot enfold you,
Where the Mercies of God cannot sustain you,
Where the Peace of God cannot calm your fears,
Where the Authority of God cannot overrule for you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the Comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
Where the Miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the Omnipresence of God cannot find you.

Everything happens for a purpose.
We may not see the wisdom of it all
now but trust and believe in
The Lord that everything is for the best.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, and some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

After all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

“If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

“Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it’s just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups … and then began eyeing each other’s cups.

“Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee.”

Enjoy your coffee.

♦ What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

♦ What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

♦ What if we flipped through it several times a day?

♦ What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

♦ What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?

♦ What if we gave it to kids as gifts?

♦ What if we used it as we traveled?

♦ What if we used it in case of an emergency?

♦ What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?

This is something to make you go…hmmm…where is my Bible?

And one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don’t ever have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill!

Well, God has a tendency to work the same way. Do you ever feel like God is calling you from Heaven with the charge to tell the entire world about Jesus, and all you can do is look up at Him, shrug your shoulders, give Him a nervous smile, and hold up the worthless contents of your pockets? I’ve often wondered what God would plan on doing with some pocket lint, an old receipt, a half-used chap stick, and a hershey’s kiss. But I figure that it’s worth a shot to hand it over and see what He might try. Just like a little boy with a lunch he wanted to share.

Have you ever noticed that when the 5,000 were fed in John 6:1-15, it was with a child’s lunch? (It was 5,000 families, not individuals, by the way.) Even though that food as it sat in his small hands was not capable of doing much of anything, he trusted that the Man he had been following and watching do miracles for the past few days would be able to make good use of it- in ways he hadn’t though of.

And Jesus sure did make good use of it! Don’t ever feel like you have nothing to offer. If the Bible tells us that our treasures are in Heaven, why would He make certain possesions or talents a requirement to serve Him? He only requires that you make yourself willing to be used. So I encourage you empty out your pockets- and open up your heart- to the Ultimate MacGyver; with Him, there are no limits to what a little bit of your everyday can do.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first Man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man’s parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the
morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything.”

“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”

“Tell me,” the first man asked the voice, “what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”

“He prayed that all your prayers be answered.”

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.

“What you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself”