Faithfulness' Reward

     "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward."

     ~ Matthew 10:42

True Normal

     "As an orthopedic surgeon, he treated many patients with deformities, and his daily encounters reminded him that normal had very little to do with the way one's bones were shaped. It had a lot more to do with the heart."

     ~ Eric Wilson & Theresa Preston

(October Baby by Eric Wilson and Theresa Preston, page 67)

The Patriot Who Acknowledges God

     "The patriot who feels himself in the service of God, who acknowledges Him in all his ways, has the promise of Almighty Direction."

     ~ Francis Scott Key

Good Lies

     "Like all good lies, the story contained a lot of truth."

     ~ Anthony Horowitz

True American Patriotism

     "Do not let anyone claim tribute of American patriotism if they even attempt to remove religion from politics."
   ~ General George Washington

Everything I Need

I asked for strength and

God gave me difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for wisdom and

God gave me problems to solve.

I asked for prosperity and

God gave me brawn and brains to work.

I asked for courage and

God gave me dangers to overcome.

I asked for patience and

God placed me in situations where I was forced to wait.

I asked for love and

God gave me troubled people to help.

I asked for favors and

God gave me opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted.

I received everything I needed.

My prayers have all been answered.

~ Author Unknown

Blessed Beyond Measure

When I look at this world

And see lives filled with hurt,

I remember 

All the pain I've never felt.

I wonder God, why not me?

My life has been so easy.

I'm no better, I know,

It's simply grace You chose to show.

I've been blessed 

By the hand of God,

And though I fail, He blesses anyhow.

There are no words to tell

Just how good God has been.

I've been blessed, so blessed,

I'm blessed beyond measure.

When I look at my life

My children and my wife,

I'm so thankful

For all He has given me.

I wonder God, why me?

I don't deserve such blessing.

I'm no better, I know,

It's simply grace You chose to show.

I've been blessed
By the hand of God
And though I fail, He blesses anyhow.
There are no words to tell
Just how good God has been.
I've been blessed, so blessed,
I'm blessed beyond measure.

Lord, as the years of time roll on and on,
To each promise You've been true.
But the greatest blessing in my life
Is to spend each day with You.


I've been blessed
By the hand of God
And though I fail, He blesses anyhow.
There are no words to tell
Just how good God has been.
I've been blessed, so blessed,
I'm blessed beyond measure.

I've been blessed,
Abundantly blessed,
Beyond measure.

Cheer Up, Boys!

"Cheer up, 'tis no use to be glum, boys, -
'Tis written, since fighting begun,
That sometimes we fight and we conquer,
And sometimes we fight and we run."

~ Old Pierre

(From "The Chronicle of the Drum" [part 1] by William Makepeace Thackeray)

America for Me

'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down

Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,

To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,-

But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!

My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be,

In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars,

Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air;

And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;

And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;

But when it comes to living there is no place like home.

I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled;

I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled;

But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day

In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way!

I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack:

The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.

But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free,- 

We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.

Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me!

I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea,

To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,

Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

~ Henry Van Dyke

What Might Have Been

Then she took up the burden of life again,
Saying only, 'it might have been.'
Alas for them both, and alas for us all,
Who vainly the dreams of youth recall,
For of all sad words of lips or pen,
The saddest are these - 'it might have been.'

     ~ Whittier

Trust

     "When you don't know the Why, trust the Who."

     ~ Pastor Guy Beaumont

A Man's Duty

     "There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do, if he chooses, and that is, his duty; not by manoeuvring and finessing, but by vigour and resolution."

     ~ Mr. (George) Knightley

The Works of Jesus

     "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."

     ~ John 21:25

Never Walk Alone

Never Walk Alone

Arms stretched out wide

Barely hanging on to life,

Left to suffer on Your own.

You came for all mankind

To bridge the great divide,

And somehow ended up alone.

Because of all the blood and tears You shed

I will never know that kind of loneliness.

Your Spirit never leaves me,

Even when I'm hurting,

I don't have to bear that burden on my own.

You carried all the pain and

Burried all the shame when

You made that rugged tree Your righteous throne.

Because of You I'll never walk alone.

You came here as a man

I know You understand

What it's like to walk these roads.

My problems don't compare

To that crown You had to wear

Still You take them as Your own.

Because of all the blood and tears You shed

I will never know that kind of loneliness.

Your Spirit never leaves me,

Even when I'm hurting,

I don't have to bear that burden on my own.

You carried all the pain and

Burried all the shame when

You made that rugged tree Your righteous throne.

Because of You I'll never walk alone.

You carried all the pain and

Burried all the shame when

You made that rugged tree Your righteous throne.

Because of You I'll never walk alone.

Lord, because of You I'll never walk alone.

I'll never walk alone.

God's Complete Forgiveness

     "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee."

     ~ Isaiah 44:22

The Christian Founding of America

     "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religion but on the gospel of Jesus Christ."

     ~ Patrick Henry

Courage

"Here I take my stand. Remain where thou art, and if thou shalt attempt to diminish by one step the distance now between us, thou shalt see that the Jewish maiden will rather trust her soul with God than her honour to the Templar!"

~ Rebecca

Lasagna Casserole

Ingredients:

1 12 oz. package egg noodles
1 lb. sausage
1 lb. frozen peas
1/4 lb. frozen broccoli
2 cloves (or tsp) garlic
21 oz. Pizza sauce
3/4 cp. grated Parmesan Cheese
1 cp. shredded cheddar/mozarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Bring one quart water to boil. Add noodles and cook for ten minutes. In the mean time, begin browining sausage. Also boil frozen peas and broccoli (should take 5-10 minutes). When sausage has been browned, add garlic and sautee for 2 minutes, then add sauce. When vegetables and noodles have finished, drain them. Spray a 9x12inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Layer into the pan vegetables, then sauce mixture, then noodles, then cheeses. Should have three layers. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve.

True Christianity

"A Christian is not someone who has a belief, but someone who has a relationship with the living God. You come to know Him."

~ Kirk Cameron

Tortilla Pizzas

1 8-inch Flour Tortilla
1/4 cup Pizza Sauce
1/2 cup Shredded Cheese
Leftovers (meat, veggies, etc)

Spread pizza sauce on tortilla, top with shredded cheese and leftovers. Broil on low for 5 minutes.

Pieces of the Puzzle

"Piece by piece, each fit perfectly until the puzzle was complete. It could not have happened without the help of an unseen power."

~ Billy Colman

He Must Increase

"As we move ourselves out of the way more and more and allow Christ full and complete access to our existence, the power of Christ alive inside us explodes like a brilliant fireworks display in our lives."

~ Eric & Leslie Ludy

Psalm 119:126

"It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law."

~ Psalm 119:126

Psalm 78:3-7

"We will not hide them from their childron, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; sho should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:"

~ Psalm 78:3-7

The Ugliness of War

"...I hate the whole thin - the horror, the pain, the ugliness. War isn't a khaki uniform or a drill parade - everything I've read in old histories haunts me. I lie awake at night and see things that have happened - see the blood and filth and misery of it all. And a bayonet charge! If I could face the other things I could never face that. It turns me sick to think of it - sicker even to think of giving it than receiving it - to think of thrusting a bayonet through another man."

~ Walter Blythe

Pain and Death

"I don't think I'm afraid of death itself - it's of the pain that might come before death - it wouldn't be so bad to die and have it over - but to keep on dying!"

~ Walter Blythe

Real Progress

"About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers...."

~ Calvin Coolidge

Truth

"Well, if you won't accept Tennyson as an authority, perhaps you will believe the words of a Greater than he. 'Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.' I believe that, Anne, with all my heart. It's the greatest and grandest verse in the Bible - or in any literature - and the truest, if there are comparative degrees of trueness. And it's the first duty of a man to tell the truth, as he sees it and believes it."

~ Gilbert Blythe

True Wisdom

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

~ Jim Elliot

Let Me Be A Woman

"We are women, and my plea is; let me be a woman, holy through and through, asking for nothing but what God wants to give me, receiving with both hands and with all my heart whatever that is."

~ Elisabeth Elliot

I Surrender All

All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
O the joy of full salvation!
Glory, Glory to His name!

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

Enjoyment

"It's been by experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will."

~ Anne Shirley

O Come, Let Us Adore Him

O, Come all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

O Sing, choirs of angles,
Sing in exultation,
Sing ye bright host of heaven above.
Glory to God, all glory in the Highest;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.