GRACE

After twenty years of shaving himself every morning, a man in a small Southern town decided he had enough. He told his wife that he intended to let the local barber shave him each day. He put on his hat and coat and went to the barber shop, which was owned by the pastor of the town's Baptist church.

The barber's wife, Grace, was working that day, so she performed the task. Grace shaved him and sprayed him with lilac water and said, "That will be $20." The man thought the price was a bit high, but he paid the bill and went to work.

The next morning the man looked in the mirror and his face was as smooth as it had been when he left the barber shop the day before. "Not bad," he thought, "At least I don't need to get a shave every day."

The next morning the man's face was still smooth! Two weeks later the man was STILL unable
to find any trace of whiskers on his face. It was more than he could take, so he returned to the barber shop.

"I thought $20 was high for a shave," he told the barber's wife, "but you must have done a great job. It's been two weeks and my whiskers still haven't started growing back." The expression on her face didn't even change, expecting his comment. She responded, "You were shaved by Grace. Once shaved, always shaved."

PLANT YOUR GARDENS

It's time to plant our gardens. As you plant, may I suggest the following rules for your garden planting:

PLANT three rows of squash:
1. Squash gossip
2. Squash criticism
3. Squash indifference

PLANT three rows of peas:
1. Purity
2. Patience
3. Perseverance

PLANT six rows of lettuce:
1. Let us be unselfish and loyal
2. Let us be faithful to duty
3. Let us search the scriptures
4. Let us not be weary in well-doing
5. Let us be obedient in all things
6. Let us Love one another

NO GARDEN is complete without turnips:
1. Turn up for church,prayer service, and Bible study
2. Turn up with a smile, even when things are difficult
3. Turn up with determination to do your best for God's cause.

After planting, may you "Grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ". 2 Peter 3:18

A Touching Story

With a timid voice and idolizing eyes, the little boy greeted his father as he returned from work, "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"

Greatly surprised, but giving his boy a glaring look, the father said: "Look, son, not even your mother knows that. Don't bother me now, I'm tired."

"But Daddy, just tell me please!? How much do you make an hour," the boy insisted.

The father finally giving up replied: " Twenty dollars per hour."
"Okay, Daddy? Could you loan me ten dollars?" the boy asked.

Showing restlessness and positively disturbed, the father yelled:
"So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right?? Go to sleep and don't bother me anymore!"

It was already dark and the father was meditating on what he had said and was feeling guilty. Maybe he thought, his son wanted to buy something.

Finally, trying to ease his mind, the father went to his son's room.
"Are you asleep son?" asled the father.
"No, Daddy. Why?" replied the boy partially asleep.
"Here's the money you asked for earlier," the father said.

"Thanks, Daddy!" rejoiced the son, while putting his hand under his pillow and removing some money.

"Now I have enough! Now I have twenty dollars!" the boy said to his father, who was gazing at his son, confused at what his son just said. "Daddy could you sell me one hour of your time?"

God is My Victory and He is Here

A lthough things are not perfect
B ecause of trial or pain
C ontinue in thanksgiving
D o not begin to blame.
E ven when the times are hard
F ierce winds are bound to blow
G od is forever able
H old on to what you know.
I magine life without His love
J oy would cease to be
K eep thanking Him for all the things
L ove imparts to thee.
M ove out of "Camp Complaining"
N o weapon that is known
O n earth can yield the power
P raise can do alone.
Q uit looking at the future
R edeem the time at hand
S tart every day with worship
T o "thank" is a command.
U ntil we see Him coming
V ictorious in the sky
W e'll run the race with gratitude
X alting God most high.
Y es, there will be good times and yes some will be bad, but...
Z ion waits in glory...where none are ever sad!

"Too blessed to be stressed!" The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything. Be Blessed!!

Say Grace!!

A friend of mine came over my house and we shared some funny stories. I feel like writing all of 'em in my blog but can't recall all at the moment. So, here's one of them!

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that the accident of evolution had created. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself.

As he walked alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look, just in time to see a 7-foot grizzly charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw the bear closing in on him. He tried to run even faster, so scared that tears were coming to his eyes. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer.

His heart was pumping frantically as he tried to run even faster, but he tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up and saw the bear right on top of him raising his paw to kill him.

At that instant, he cried out, "Oh my God!"

Just then, time stopped... The bear froze; the forest was silent; even the river stopped moving. A bright light shone upon the man, and a voice came out of the sky, saying, "You deny My existence all of these years; teach others I don't exist; even credit My creation to a cosmic accident, and now do you expect Me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist, ever so proud, looked into the light and said, "It would be rather hypocritical to ask to be a Christian after all these years. But could you make the bear a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice.

As the light went out, the river ran, the sounds of the forest continued, and the bear put his paw down. The man breathed a sigh of relief. Then the bear brought both paws together, bowed his head and said: "Lord, I thank you for this food, which I am about to receive."

HONK If You Love Jesus!

My friend got a hella funny letter from his Grandma the other day. She writes:

The other day, I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly sassy that day, because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting; so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.

Boy, I'm glad I did! What an uplifting experience that followed!! I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good He is...and I didn't notice that the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed! I found that LOTS of people love Jesus!

Why, while I was sitting there, the guy behind me started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, "For the love of GOD!! GO! Jesus Christ, GO!" What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!

Everyone started honking! I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all these loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love!

There must have been a man from Sydney back there because I heard him yelling something about a "sunny beach"... I saw another waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. I asked your teenage cousin, in the back seat, what that meant. He said that it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something.

Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back. Your cousin burst out laughing... why, even he was enjoying this religious experience!

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed.

I waved to all my sisters and brothers, grinning, and drove on through the intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again, and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared; so I slowed the car down, leaned out of the window, and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!

Much LOVE,
Grandma.

Today God is First!

My goodness! Miss me? I haven't kicked this blog for ages and I just realized how I miss writing all the much. How are you blessed people?? It's two-o-and-eleven! I think year by year will pass by just like day by day "Oh ermm.. Yesterday was 2010 and tomorrow is 2012." Scary yet amazing, isn't it? Oh folks, it's been 20 years I've come to this earth. Twenty years since the time of amazing, undeserved, and life changing grace upon grace. Thanks to be the God. I pray and I believe this year ahead, we will faithfully walk from glory to glory! Can I hear Amen? :)

Too often we forget to start a day with God. We put more focus on coffee and the quick breakky without acknowledging the word of God is the most important thing to be consumed. If only I had more time! Have you heard those words echo in your mind? Welcome to the life in the twenty-first century, when your schedule nearly bursts with activities and relationships that demands your attention 24/7. Family, faith, study, career commitments often leave us feeling overburdened, overworked, overwhelmed. And you questioning, how to discover a bright spot in all busyness?? It's simply easy! Wake up early and spend time with God. You will get a spiritual pick-me-up once you apply this positive habits that connect you to what's most important. What better use of your time?

I made a commitment 2 years ago to always put God on the top of my to do list because it says on Psalm 84:11 "The Lord God is our light and protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right." Every moment I spend a quality time with God is always be the best time of my day. He revives me, restores me, re-energizes me, and renew me all over again. Having devotionals is like having spiritual vitamins or a protein bar for producing divine character on the run. I know this because I experience it myself. It's addictive!

How do you know people's mind and people's heart if you do not have any communication with them. You would not know them from the inside out. The only thing you know is those people are exist. That's all. It is appeared the same with us and God. We wouldn't know God's mind, God's heart, God's vision if we do not talk to Him. Ahh, God's mind is just too massive for me to understand, I have done a lot of ministries and His heart is just for those sinners who haven't found God. No! It's a totally wrong way of thinking. God says, it's all about YOU! Yes you people who reading this! You are in God's mind. You are in God's heart. And you are in His vision. God wants nobody but you. Where's on earth you can find another love that shows on the cross? For me cross is the symbol of perfect love. He wants you to love Him back. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28. "Come to Me! Come Come Come!" Come to Jesus! He wants you to come to Him and spend time with Him. That's what you are created for, to love God.

God is so personal. He meets us where we are; in your bed, in your kitchen, in your work-desk, in your smile, in your laugh, in your cry, in your lunch, in your dinner, in your happy moments, in your lowest point of life, in everywhere. Our full schedule doesn't affect His presence with us. He is right there, waiting for you to carve out a few minutes so that He can give you a glimmer of hope and a nugget of wisdom from timeless truths of God's Word. He longs to give you rest and refreshment.Your willingness drew Him near. He saw your ultimate desires, He does feel you and want to take its place.

Now, if you have read this, you know His desires and His feeling about you, Would you like to bear with Him for just a few minutes?

God bless!