Mom's Empty Chair

MOM'S EMPTY CHAIR

A woman's daughter had asked the local minister

to come and pray with her mother.

When the minister arrived,

he found the woman lying in bed with her head

propped up on two pillows.

An empty chair sat beside her bed.

The minister assumed that the woman

had been informed of his visit...

'I guess you were expecting me, he said.

'No, who are you?' said the mother.

The minister told her his name and then remarked,

'I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew

I was going to show up..'

'Oh yeah, the chair,' said the bedridden woman

'Would you mind closing the door?'

Puzzled, the minister shut the door.

'I have never told anyone this,

not even my daughter,' said the woman.

'But all of my life I have never

known how to pray.

At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer,

but it went right over my head...'

I abandoned any attempt at prayer,'

the old woman continued, '

until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me,

' Prayer is just a simple matter

of having a conversation with Jesus.

Here is what I suggest..

'Sit down in a chair;

place an empty chair in front of you,

and in faith see Jesus on the chair.

It's not spooky because he promised,

'I will be with you always'..

'Then just speak to him in the same way

you're doing with me right now...'

'So, I tried it and I've liked it so much

that I do it a couple of hours every day.

I'm careful though. If my daughter saw me talking

to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown

or send me off to the funny farm.'

The minister was deeply moved by the story and

encouraged the old woman to continue on the journey.

Then he prayed with her, anointed her with oil,

and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called

to tell the minister that her mama

had died that afternoon.

Did she die in peace?' he asked.

Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock,

she called me over to her bedside,

told me she loved me and kissed me on the cheek.

When I got back from the store an hour later,

I found her .

But there was something strange about her death.

Apparently, just before Mom died,

she leaned over and rested her head on the chair

beside the bed. What do you make of that?'

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said,

'I wish we could all go like that.'

Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.

I asked God for water, He gave me an ocean.*

I asked God for a flower, He gave me a garden.*

I asked God for a friend, He gave me all of YOU...

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

Happy moments, praise God.

Difficult moments, seek God.

Quiet moments, worship God

Painful moments, trust God.

Every moment, thank God. 

Here's a few thoughts for today . . .

"When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say,

"Jesus, could you get that for me?" 


When you are down to nothing, God is UP to something!


Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!

Think About Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark: 

 Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark . 

ONE:

Don't miss the boat.

TWO:

Remember that we are all in the same boat!

THREE:

Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark . 

FOUR:

Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. 

FIVE:

Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

 

SIX:

Build your future on high ground. 

SEVEN:

For safety's sake, travel in pairs. 

EIGHT:

Speed isn't always an advantage.. The snails were on board with the cheetahs. 

NINE:

When you're stressed, float awhile. 

TEN:

Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

 

ELEVEN:

No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting. 

Do you trust Jesus?

It's one thing loving Jesus, but when it comes to trusting him --- well that's often much harder for people to do, and yet without trust there can be no real submission. Check out this short video.

The Beauty of Mathematics

Give me sun, sea and sand today!

Another grey day! I know we need rain badly, but if only it could come at night and let the day be full of sunshine! I'm not really grumbling, just dreaming of how great it would be to spend a few days lazing on a sunny shore somewhere, like this one in the Bahamas. 

I could go swimming with dolphins to take away the stresses of modern living. This would be cool in every sense.

This is my idea of the perfect beach to stumble on. Long stretches of fine, silver sand, a sun lounger and a bit of shade. I could chill out with my wife very happily on this beach, and the idea of having it to ourselves for a while, whilst it may be a bit selfish, would be perfect.

Well, actually, I might just be prepared to share it with you, dear reader, should you care to join us!

A Question of Fairness: Old age pension vs. Allowances to Illegal Immigrants

This makes you wonder what will be left for our kids - NOT A LOT!

OH BRITAIN , where did we go wrong ?

 
We're "broke" and can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless etc. Are you aware of the following?
 
The British Government provides the following financial assistance: -
 
BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER Weekly allowance £106
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS / REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN Weekly allowance £250
 
BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER Weekly Spouse allowance £25
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS / REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN Weekly Spouse allowance
£225
 
BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER Additional weekly hardship allowance £0.00
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS / REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN Additional weekly
hardship allowance £100
 
BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT £6,000
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS / REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT
£29,900
 

Please read all and then let all your contacts know, so that we can lobby for a decent state pension.

 

After all, the average pensioner has paid taxes and contributed to the 

growth of this country for the last 40 to 60 years.

 

Sad isn't it?

Great Security Advice about Hotel Key Cards

Ever  wonder what is on your magnetic key card? 

Answer:
A.  Customer's name
B.  Customer's partial home address
C.  Hotel room number
D.  Check-in date and out dates
E. Customer's  credit card number and expiration date! 

When  you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for  any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner.. An  employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device,  access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your  expense.

Simply  put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee  reissues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest's  information is electronically 'overwritten' on the card and the previous  guest's information is erased in the overwriting  process.

But  until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a  drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!

The  bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them.  NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them  into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you  for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of  valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any  simple scanning device card reader.

For the  same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the  card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it  home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic  information strip!

If you  have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then  try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the  card.

Information  courtesy of:  Metropolitan Police Service.

PLEASE  Share this information with your friends and family . 

God is Our Only Sure Hope and Trust

People today are no different to the people of yesterday when it comes to whom they choose to ally themselves with, whether in the political or scientific arena, or in matters of education, health and finance. There have always been those who fail to put their faith in God, preferring to put it instead into the things of this world.


People rely on government legislation to protect the moral decisions they want made and maintained, but no amount of legislation can alter the way people choose to think nor change their hearts. The futility of relying on governments is so aptly demonstrated by the misuse of the Human Rights Act. The only sure means of protecting and upholding moral decisions is to seek and follow God's leading in all matters. 


People seek to prolong life and seek a greater and better quality of life by placing their trust in medicine, irrespective of faith and moral living. The futility of this is demonstrated in the tremendous rise in instances of sexually transmitted diseases, threatening the very continuance of the human race. People abuse their bodies by excessive use of alcohol and by drug addiction, by smoking and by sexual immorality, and then place their faith in medicine to get them out of the mess that they've got themselves into.


We live in a scientific and technological age, surrounded by a sea of gadgets and technology that sometimes threatens to engulf us. People enjoy the benefits that all of this brings with it, and they regard science as the means of improving life, and even, in some cases, of creating life. Many people place their trust in astrology and horoscopes, and in science in general, rather than seeking answers in the Bible.


Education is essential in order to progress the human race, and it's natural that each successive generation seeks to become better educated, yet education alone is insufficient. People often act as though University and College degrees and other qualifications can guarantee their future, without considering what God has planned for their future.


Whether individuals or governments, separately or collectively, people have placed their faith in financial security whereby they seek to amass as much money as they can for themselves, ignoring --- or at least forgetting --- that whilst it is a good thing to be wise with our money, we must trust God for our needs. Only when we place our trust in Him can we be assured of the outcome. We only need to look at the financial crashes of the last few years to understand the futility of placing our faith and trust in the money market and in consumerism.


We can trust God implicitly, and so the only sure place for our faith is to place our faith in Him, knowing that we can trust Him both in and for all things.

Open Letter to the Prime Minister & Deputy Prime Minister

Dear Mr. Cameron and Mr Clegg,

Please find below our suggestion for fixing the UK's economy.

Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the 'Patriotic Retirement Plan'.

There are about 10 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them £1 million each severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire.
Ten million job openings - unemployment fixed

2) They MUST buy a new British car.
Ten million cars ordered - Car Industry fixed

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage -
Housing Crisis fixed

4) They MUST send their kids to school/college/university -
Crime rate fixed

5) They MUST buy £100 WORTH of alcohol/tobacco a week .....
And there's your money back in duty/tax etc

It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances

If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know.

Also..
Let's put the vulnerable elderly folk  in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.

This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.

They'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc and they'd receive money instead of paying it out.

They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance.

Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.

A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell.

They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.

They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counselling, pool and education.

Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ's and legal aid would be free, on request.

Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with gardens.

Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls.

There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.

The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised. Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week.  Live in a tiny room and pay £600.00 per week and have no hope of ever getting out.

Think about this (more points of contention):

COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Appleby almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the county of Cumbria?

And, they even tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 125,000 illegal immigrants wandering around our country.
Maybe we should give each of them a cow.


The above was sent to me in an email. I thank the unknown person who came up with the answers to the ills of this nation.

Noah's Ark teaches you all you ever need to know.

Noah's  Ark

Everything you need to know, you can learn from Noah's  Ark. 
1. Don't miss the boat. 
2.  Remember that we are all in the same boat! 
3. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the  Ark.  
4. Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. 
5. Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done. 
6. Build your future on high ground. 
7. For safety's sake, travel in pairs. 
8.  Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs. 
9. When you're stressed, float awhile. 
10. Remember, the  Ark  was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. 
11. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

Most people walk in and out of your life.......

but FRIENDS leave footprints in your heart.

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Wandering Down 'Memory Lane'

Sometimes I wonder why, the older we get, the more we tend to wander down 'Memory Lane'. I think that often, when we look around in the present, we find much about life that seems too unfamiliar for comfort, and so this turns our thoughts to more comforting times.

So much has changed over the last few decades! Not only have tremendous advances been made in terms of things that are available to people but also there is a massive change in the way that people are. I recall that when I was growing up we would see images in our comics --- remember The Eagle? --- which portrayed the future.Pictures depicting the Space Age would show people with some sort of communication device fixed to their ears. Now we have Bluetooth! Computers, once forecast that only a handful would ever be built in the UK, are now commonplace in almost every home, young and old alike. Digital cameras allow us to take a photograph and upload it to our computer, and then send it by email to someone on the other side of the world, the whole operation taking only a matter of a few minutes. When I was a boy I would have marvelled at the idea of these things, yet never dreamt that they could ever come to reality, let alone be a normal part of everyday life in my lifetime.

Of course, such advances have been made for every generation probably, but sometimes it becomes easy to feel a little left behind by it all, and when that happens then we begin to feel uncomfortable. That's when we retreat a little down Memory Lane! What's happening is that our stability seems to be threatened by the fading of the familiar, and so we attempt to re-establish it by refreshing ourselves with thoughts of more stable days.

How easy it can be, in times such as these, when you feel that society has been turned upside down and inside out, when their is so little respect, when your views appear to count for less and less, to feel insecure about the future. Yet the future is one area that you can find security in! By accepting Jesus Christ into your life and walking with Him every day you find that not only does the present become calmer and more positive, the future is assured and so you realise that there is nothing to fear except fear itself.

Suddenly you start to look at things in a different light, and then you see far more positive things than negative. Reach out to others in a positive way and they will respond accordingly. Keep saying bad things about the 'youth of today' and you will create a self-fulfilling prophesy as far as your dealings with young people are concerned.

Yes, Memory Lane is a great place to wander down for a change, every now and then, but not to go down it and fail to come back! Whatever happens in the world around you there is always one great piece of stability. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! He never changes towards us. He's always there for us to walk in His footsteps, never alone, but with Him as our companion. What could be more stable and, yes, more familiar, than that?

The Centrality of Prayer

     The centrality of prayer is something that should be on the hearts of every Chris tian, for it is our means of communicating with God the Father which, if it remains neglected, results in our dis tancing ourselves from Him. It seems that the vast majority of churches of all denominations share the mutual concern of reducing numbers. In my own denomination for example, many of the churches house older congrega tions which, if they continue to fail to attract and keep younger members, will eventually result in further closures. The bottom line in many instances will mean closure within twenty-five years, a very short period in relation to the life of churches.

But, this need not be the case.  The answer is in the hands of Ministers, leaders and congregations, members and adherents alike, and that answer is prayer.  Even as I write I suspect that some people will smile knowingly and think, if not say out loud, that it's all very well to say that but what about action! There is a saying that When we work, we work; but when we pray, God works! If you pray for His vision for your church, believing beyond doubt that God hears and answers your prayers, then you will know what you need to do to attract people to church once again.

Of course times have changed from the heady days of Revival! The rapidly dwindling congregations shout out that fact. But do you look for excuses rather than answers, looking at the condition of our society and blaming that for the empty seats?  Was society far better  during pre-revival days than now? Surely, one of the greatest reasons for Revival is the need for it, and if the condition of today's Society does not cry out in need then I cannot imagine when it will. In many respects it can be said that large numbers of society are spiritually dead and undoubtedly in the direst need of Revival. What is Revival about, but breathing new life into something which is dead? 

We claim that God is all powerful and yet, by our weaknesses, we limit Him to what we can see and understand in terms of human logic. We ask Him for all manner of things and yet fail to step boldly into His presence. We offer excuses for seemingly unanswered prayer when the real reason is the weakness of our own faith.

If we pray to God hoping that He will answer our prayer rather than believing that He will, then what can we expect? Prayer must hold a central posi tion in our walk with God, petitioning Him with all that will serve to glorify Him and waiting upon His response to instruct us in His way. We should all heed Paul's advice in I Thessalonians 5:17 to Pray without ceasing, but always ensuring that we pray in the firm conviction of our faith.