God and the Teacup

(Author Unknown)

     There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked “May we see that? We’ve never seen a cup quite so beautiful.”

     As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, “You don’t understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, “Don’t do that.” “I don’t like it!” “Let me alone,” but he only smiled, and gently said; “Not yet!”

     Then. WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I’m getting so dizzy!

     “I’m going to be sick” I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly; ‘Not yet.’

     He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then ….. then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. “Help! Get me out of here!”

     I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, ‘Not yet’.

     When I thought I couldn’t bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! “Ah, this is much better,” I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ‘Oh, please,Stop it, Stop, I cried.

     He only shook his head and said. ‘Not yet!’.

     Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering “What’s he going to do to me next?”

     An hour later he handed me a mirror and said ‘Look at yourself.’ And I did. I said, “That’s not me; that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful!”

     Quietly he spoke: “I want you to remember, then,’ he said, ‘I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never wo uld have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.”

     The moral of this story is this: God knows what He’s doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay He will mold us and make us, and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.

     So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to “stink”, try this …. Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter!

Bopsy

(Author Unknown)

The 26-year-old mother stared down at her son who was dying of terminal leukemia. Although her heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of determination. Like any parent she wanted her son to grow up and fulfill all his dreams. Now that was no longer possible. The leukemia would see to that. But she still wanted her son’s dreams to come true.

     She took her son’s hand and asked, “Bopsy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be when you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?”

     “Mommy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.”  Mom smiled back and said, “Let’s see if we can make your wish come true.”

     Later that day she went to her local fire department in Phoenix, Arizona, where she met Fireman Bob, who had a heart as big as Phoenix. She explained her son’s final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her six-year-old son a ride around the block on a fire engine.

    Fireman Bob said, “Look, we can do better than that. If you’ll have your son ready at seven o’clock Wednesday morning, we’ll make him an honorary fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! And if you’ll give us his sizes, we’ll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat–not a toy one- -with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear and rubber boots. They’re all manufactured right here in Phoenix, so we can get them fast.”

     Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Bopsy, dressed him in his fire uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck. Bopsy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven.

     There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Bopsy got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different fire engines, the paramedic’s van and even the fire chief ’s car. He was also video taped for the local news program. Having his dream come true, and with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, Bopsy lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible.

     One night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically and the head nurse, who believed in the Hospice concept that no one should die alone, began to call the family members to the hospital. Then she remembered the day Bopsy had spent as a fireman, so she called the fire chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Bopsy as he made his transition.

     The chief replied, “We can do better than that. We’ll be there in five minutes. Will you please do me a favor? When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire? It’s just the fire department coming to see one of its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room? Thanks.”

     About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital, extended its ladder up to Bopsy’s third floor open window and 14 fireman and two firewomen climbed up the ladder into Bopsy’s room. With his mother’s permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they loved him.

     With his dying breath, Bopsy looked up at the fire chief and said, “Chief, am I really a fireman now?”

     “Bopsy, you are,” the chief said. With those words, Bopsy smiled and closed his eyes one last time.

The “U” in Jesus

This Jesus Poem came to me from my e-friend, Ann.

-r.

THE U IN JESUS

Before U were thought of

or time had had begun,

God stuck U

in the Name of His Son.

And each time U pray,

you’ll see it’s true,

You can’t spell out JesUs

and not include U.

You’re a pretty big part

of His Wonderful Name,

For U, He was born;

that’s why He came.

And His great Love for U is

the reason He died.

It even takes U

to spell crUcified.

Isn’t it thrilling

and splendidly grand

He rose from the dead,

with U in His plan?

The stones split away,

the gold trUmpet blew,

And this word ResUrrection

is spelled with a U.

When JesUs left earth at His

upward Ascension,

He felt there was one thing

He just had to mention.

“Go into the world

and tell them it’s true;

That I love them all

Just like I love U.”

So many great people

are spelled with a U,

Don’t they have a right to

know JesUs too?

It all depends now on

what U will do,

He’d like them to know,

But it all starts with U.

The Seed

This Inspirational Story was sent to me by my good friend, Mary. She is the sacristan for St. Elizabeth Church in Wyandotte. MI.

   -r.

The Seed

(Author Unknown) 

     A successful Christian business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.   Instead of choosing one of his directors or his children, he decided to do  something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

      He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you.”  The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued, “I am going to  give each one of you a SEED today — one very special SEED. I want you to  plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what  you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the  plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”

     One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a  seed. He went home and, excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three  weeks some of the other executives began to talk about their
seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

     Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others  were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.  Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had  killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil. He so wanted the seed to grow.

     A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought  their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she asked! him to be honest about what  happened.  Jim felt sick at his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing  moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot  to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of  plants grown by the other executives.

      They were beautiful — in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on  the floor and many of his colleagues laughed. A few felt sorry for him!  When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. 

     “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO.  “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”

     All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front.

     Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will  have me fired!”   When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed. Jim told him the story.

     The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then  announced to the young executives, “Behold your next Chief Executive! His  name is Jim!”   Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be  the new CEO, the others said.

     Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it and bring it back to  me today.   “But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead — it was not possible  for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.

     ”When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed  for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty  to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be  the new Chief Executive!”