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Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
9:03:06 AM EST
IN GOD WE TRUST...EVEN ON A PENNY, THOSE WORDS ARE TRUE OR FALSE, YOU DECIDE.
You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about.
Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband's employer's home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house
The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.
As the three of them w ere about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband.
He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.
Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.
He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?
Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.
A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. Sh e had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?
"Look at it." He said. "Read what it says." She read the words "<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = U1 /><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />United States of America"
"No, not that; read further."
"One cent?" "No, keep reading."
"In God we Trust?" "Yes!" "And?"
"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!
When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. Yes, God, I get the message.
It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And, God is patient..
The best mathematical equation I have ever seen:
1 cross
+ 3 nails
--------
4 given
That's the whole gospel message simply stated. Take 60 seconds give this a shot! Let's just see if Satan stops this one.
All you do is -
1. Simply say a small prayer for the person who sent you this, (Father God bless this person in whatever it is that you know he or she may be needing this day.)
2. The n send it on to five other people. Within hours five people have prayed for you, and you caused a multitude of people to pray to God for other people .....
THANKS TO ONE OF MY AOL BUDDIES FOR SENDING ME THIS MESSAGE IN AN E-MAIL...
Written by huffstutterr
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Saturday, November 3, 2007
4:43:00 PM EDT
Picture from huffstutterr's AOL Pictures Public Gallery
 "AUTUMN OF REALITY, AUTUMN OF MY MIND...Photos by R.L.Huffstutter" from huffstutterr's AOL Pictures Public Gallery. a nondenominational, nodemonological, nodemonormagical, nononsensicaCathederal of my mind...everybody has a church? No, but some of us do. This is mine. It is non-demon-ational,non-partisan, non-damnational. l, nosceinceTo discuss my own spirituality or your spirituality is akin to unzipping the fly to my brain and exposing whatever nonsense there is to examine. Therefore, I will not participate in such an exhibit. Suffice to say that I am as fascinated by the heavens and stars as the first man who ever gazed toward the heavens. My theory about how it was created is probably nor better or no worse than the first theory ever recorded in thought or on the walls of some cave in symbols I am not smart enough to understand. Thus the discussion about how advanced we are. True, there were no lights in the cave of yesteryear, those primitive dwelling havens and hovels of our primal ancestors, but are we able to read, in a New York minute, what their opinions about the four-legged animals were? Were they smarter than we are? More later. Work in progress.
Written by huffstutterr
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Thursday, November 1, 2007
8:29:40 AM EDT
Violence is always defeat’
by Bill Bowder
Pope for peace: Benedict XVI is driven through Naples on Sunday | http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/index.asp?id=46354
REPRESENTATIVES from the world’s main religions, who were meeting in Naples this week, have issued a statement saying that to practise violence in God’s name is to curse God.
“To those who still kill, to those who still sow terrorism and wage war in the name of God, we say: Stop! Do not kill! Violence is always a defeat,” said the representatives, who included European and African political leaders, in their final communiqué on Tuesday from the three-day International Meeting of Prayer for Peace.
The meeting had been organised by the Roman Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio, an organisation inspired by the late Pope John Paul II’s World Day of Prayer for Peace at Assisi in 1986.
This week’s gathering was attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury; Pope Benedict XVI; Romano Prodi, the President of Europe’s Council of Ministers; and heads of state from Tanzania and Malawi.
In their statement, the leaders said: “From Naples we can say, stronger than before, that anyone who uses the name of God to hate the other, to practise violence, or to wage war is cursing the name of God. As Benedict XVI told us, ‘Never can evil and violence be justified by invoking the name of God.’”
They called for dialogue: “a world without dialogue is a world without hope. . . We need the globalisation of the spirit, which reveals to us what we no longer see; the beauty of life and of the other, in all circumstances, even the hardest.” Prayer would open “a new era of freedom from fear” as the ancient wisdom of religions taught that it was an active power in history.
At the conference, U Uttara, a Buddhist monk from Burma, said that the monks had come out to ask the regime to end the inequality, extreme poverty, brutal repression and ugly corruption in Burma. “We hear that military have tortured those monks of peaceful protests during the time of the curfew, and the death tolls have been risen to thousands.”
Yona Metzger, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, said religion “nurtured” wars, and proposed a United Nations of the Religions, which would mediate between faiths. “In particular, it should embrace the heads of religious communities that have a profound influence on their congregations; and especially to facilitate contact between countries that do not have diplomatic relations with one another.”
“Address gun crime.”
In a survey of more than 3000 members of churches across the UK, which was conducted by Premier Christian Media in association with the Metropolitan Black Police Association and Hope for London, 89 per cent said gun and violent crime was an issue the Church should address. Prayer was “imperative”, including prayer walks and praying for police officers.
Eighty-three per cent of those polled said that churches were particularly effective if they worked in partnership with Christian agencies, while 65 per cent thought they were best working with the police. About half wanted to be part of a Christian response to violent crime.
The article above has been reprinted from CHURCH NEWS FOR educational and informational purposes only.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/index.asp?id=46354 |
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8:23:18 AM EDT
HOW DO THESE INDIVIDUALS MAINTAIN THEIR COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE? THESE PEOPLE CONSIDER THEMSELVES TRUE CHRISTIANS. ONE OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IS BASED ON JUDGING NOT, LEST WE BE JUDGED. ANOTHER DOCTRINE, OF COURSE, IS FOR A GROUP OF RIGHTEOUS MEN TO VISIT A WAYWARD OR BACKSLIDDEN BROTHER AND LET HIM KNOW THAT UNLESS HE CHANGES HIS WAYS, HE CAN CONSIDER HIS MEMBERSHIP IN THE CHURCH CANCELLED. THESE ARE TWO OPPOSING DOCTRINES. WHAT IS ONE TO DO? WILL PRAYING HELP US CHOOSE WHICH DOCTRINE WE SHOULD ADOPT IN OUR LIVES. |[TIME OUT WHILE I PRAY ABOUT THIS MATTER. PLEASE ALLOW ME TO PRAY FOR FIVE MINUTES AND RETURN SO I CAN RELATE HOW PRAYER HAS HELPED ME RESOLVE THIS DILLEMA]
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
Sunday, September 30, 2007
8:25:41 PM EDT
Picture from iltmmmc's AOL Pictures Public Gallery
 "Royal Lake Park, Fairfax, Virginia - September 2, 2007" from iltmmmc's AOL Pictures Public Gallery.
THE MYSTERY OF THE CATERPILLAR AND THE BUTTERFLY IN THE SCHEME OF LIFE, DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE.....................
Written by huffstutterr
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