The Ant and The Contact Lens

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb.


As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens . "Great", she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry."

She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!



The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would do all of us some good to say, "God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him....I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. (Phil.. 4:13)

How to Dance in the Rain

It was a busy morning, about 8:30 , when a gentleman in his 80's arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.
I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.
The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health.

He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease.
As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late.

He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.
I was surprised, and asked him, 'And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?'

He smiled
As he patted my hand and said,
'She doesn't know me,
But I still know who she is.'
I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought,

'That is the kind of love I want in my life.'
True love is neither
Physical, nor romantic.
True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.

The "Glue" that Binds Us Together

A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio... And I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned.... But I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.

He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is... How He spoke the universe into being... How He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire.. . Etc. Etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.)... And I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking... 'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'

Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart..how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.

And then I lost my breath. And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!!

It was because he started talking about laminin. I knew about laminin. Here is how Wikipedia describes them: 'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see... Laminins are what hold us together.. LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what they LOOKED LIKE.

But now I do. And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)... Here is what the structure of laminin looks like... AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it... If you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...




Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!! Amazing. The glue that holds us together..... ALL of us.... Is in the shape of the cross. Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.

'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible And invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in Him all things HOLD TOGETHER. ' (Colossians 1:15-17)

Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool. Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together... One cell to another... By the cross. You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything Other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin 'glue' would look like long before Adam breathed his first breath!!

An Eccelsiastes for Sam

Originally written a month before moving into the new church building......



“For every season there is a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecc. 3:1

With wisdom did the Lord design
Our calendar as planned:
Each day as in an hourglass-
A tiny grain of sand.

In December starts a pattern
As we share the Savior’s birth,
And we realize He can satisfy
Our short time here on Earth.

The New Year’s opportunities
To start anew confront us,
To bury hatchets, heal wounds,
And flee the wrongs that hunt us.

For every soul not based on love
Instead is based on fear.
One is peace and happiness.
The other, turmoil and tears.

We resolve to love all ways we can
But soon we see—we blew it.
With our might, all by ourselves,
We’d fall. Oh, yes, we knew it.

Easter dawns; we sigh, relieved.
And hope is ours once more.
For Christ has died to give us life
In the Spirit, with blessings galore!

So awaken each morning and celebrate life;
Warm your soul with heavenly “son”-ing.
Our time is divine and love is our goal.
Let’s go! God’s time clock is running.

-Diane Olson Schroeder, 3/27/1994; revised 6/13/2009

Hi Dad!

Hi, Dad !!



After living what I felt was a 'decent' life, my time on earth came to the end. The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what I thought to be a court house.



The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat by the defense table. As I looked around I saw the 'prosecutor.'He was a villainous looking gent who snarled as he stared at me. He definitely was the most evil person I have ever seen.



I sat down and looked to my left and there sat My Attorney, a kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed so familiar to me, I felt I knew Him. The corner door flew open and there appeared the Judge in full flowing robes. He commanded an awesome presence as He moved across the room. I couldn't take my eyes off of Him.



As He took His seat behind the bench, He said, "Let us begin." The prosecutor rose and said, "My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this man belongs in hell." He proceeded to tell of lies that I told, things that I stole, and in the past when I cheated others.



Satan told of other horrible perversions that were once in my life and the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank. I was so embarrassed that I couldn't look at anyone, even my own Attorney, as the Devil told of sins that even I had completely forgotten about.



As upset as I was at Satan for telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at My Attorney who sat there silently not offering any form of defense at all. I know I had been guilty of those things, but I had done some good in my life - couldn't that at least equal out part of the harm I'd done? Satan finished with a fury and said, "This man belongs in hell, he is guilty of all that I have charged and there is not a person who can prove otherwise."



When it was His turn, My Attorney first asked if He might approach the bench. The Judge allowed this over the strong objection of Satan, and beckoned Him to come forward. As He got up and started walking, I was able to see Him in His full splendor and majesty. I now realized why He seemed so familiar; this was Jesus representing me, my Lord and my Savior.


He stopped at the bench and softly said to the Judge, 'Hi, Dad,' and then He turned to address the court. 'Satan was correct in saying that this man had sinned, I won't deny any of these allegations. And, yes, the wages of sin is death, and this man deserves to be punished.'Jesus took a deep breath and turned to His Father with outstretched arms and proclaimed,



'However, I died on the cross so that this person might have eternal life and he has accepted Me as his Savior, so he is Mine.' My Lord continued, saying , 'His name is written in the Book of Life, and no one can snatch him from Me. Satan still does not understand. This man is not to be given justice, but rather mercy."



As Jesus sat down, He quietly paused, looked at His Father and said, "There is nothing else that needs to be done. I've done it all." The Judge lifted His mighty hand and slammed the gavel down. The following words bellowed from His lips.. "This man is free. The penalty for him has already been paid in full. Case dismissed." As my Lord led me away, I could hear Satan ranting and raving, "I won't give up, I will win the next one."


As Jesus gave me my instructions where to go next, I asked Him, "Have you ever lost a case?" Christ lovingly smiled and said, "Everyone that has come to Me and asked Me to represent them has received the same verdict as you, ~Paid In Full~"

Grandparenting

Grandparenting..... Some old, some even older! ! !

1. She was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup, under the watchful eyes of her young granddaughter, as she'd done many times before. After she applied her lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, "But Grandma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!" I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye...

2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 62.My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you start at 1?"

3. After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmotherchanged into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded towash her hair.. As she heard the children getting more and
more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, shethrew a towel around her head and stormed into their room,putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left theroom, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice,"Who was THAT?"

4. A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter whather own childhood was like: "We used to skate outsideon a pond I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from atree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wildraspberries in the woods." The little girl was wide-eyed,taking this all in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten toknow you sooner!"

5. My grandson was visiting one day when he asked,"Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?
"Imentally polished my halo and I said, "No, how are wealike?'' "You're both old," he replied.

6. A little girl was diligently pounding away on hergrandfather's word processor. She told him she waswriting a story. "What's it about?" he asked."I don't know," she replied. "I can't read."

7. I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned hercolors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point outsomething and ask what color it was. She would tell me andwas always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued. Atlast, she headed for the door, saying, "Grandma, I thinkyou should try to figure out some of these, yourself!"

8. When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin,we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep fromattracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in..Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use Grandpa.Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights."

9. When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasinglyreplied, "I'm not sure.""Look in your underwear, Grandpa," he advised, "mine saysI'm 4 to 6."

10. A second grader came home from school and said to hergrandmother, "Grandma, guess what? We learned how tomake babies today." The grandmother, more than a littlesurprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's interesting," she said,"how do you make babies?""It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' andadd 'es'."

11. Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about apublic servant," said a teacher. The small boy wrote:"The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." Theteacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don'tyou know what pregnant means?" she asked."Sure," said the young boy confidently. 'It meanscarrying a child."

12. A grandfather was delivering his grandchildren totheir home one day when a fire truck zoomed past.Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog.The children started discussing the dog's duties."They use him to keep crowds back," said one child."No," said another. "He's just for good luck." A third child brought the argument to a close. "They usethe dogs," she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrants."

13. A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived."Oh," he said, "she lives at the airport, and when we wanther, we just go get her. Then, when we're done having hervisit, we take her back to the airport."

14. Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me goodgood things, but I don't get to see him enough to get as smartas him!

Beautiful Photo

This is a beautiful photo of a giant American flag in Arizona The photo is authentic, UN-Touched and was taken on regular Kodak 35mm film. The person who took the picture couldn't believe the image created by the suns rays. Nice of them to share it with the world! Read what it says under the picture...

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us, delete this.
For the rest of us...pass this on