The Ragman

Good morning again friends.....The sand sculptures were simply amazing were they not? Today let's consider this...

Almighty God

On a Saturday night several weeks ago, the pastor was working late at Almighty God Tabernacle, his church, and decided to call his wife before he left for home. It was about 10:00 PM, but his wife didn't answer the phone.

The pastor let it ring many times. He thought it was odd that she didn't answer, but decided to wrap up a few things and try again in a few minutes. When he tried again she answered right away. He asked her why she hadn't answered before, and she said that it hadn't rung at their house. They brushed it off as a fluke and went on their merry ways.

The following Monday, the pastor received a call at the church office, which was the phone that he'd used that Saturday night.

The man that he spoke with wanted to know why he'd called on Saturday night. The pastor couldn't figure out what the man was talking about. Then the man said,

"It rang and rang, but I didn't answer."

The pastor remembered the mishap and apologized for disturbing him, explaining that he'd intended to call his wife. The man said, "That's OK. Let me tell you my story. You see, I was planning to commit suicide on Saturday night, but before I did, I prayed, "God, if you're there, and you don't want me to do this, give me a sign now." At that point my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID, and it said, 'Almighty God'. I was afraid to answer."

Aaron and BaBiDaNsTaR....Today, and every day this year, 85 people across the United States of America alone, end their life. The despair that grips all of them is beyond words to express. Despair, and the empty hole it flows from, is an awful thing to behold. I do thank our glorious Lord for the wonderful word.....

HOPE

Whispering Hope (Turn On Your Audio)

http://www.smickandsmodoo.com/aaa/lyrics/whisperinghope.htm

New Hope Music

http://newhopemusic.com/howawesome.htm

The Acorn Planter

Out Of Desolation....

In the 1930s a young traveler was exploring the French Alps. He came upon a vast stretch of barren land. It was desolate. It was forbidding. It was ugly. It was the kind of place you hurry away from.

Then, suddenly, the young traveler stopped dead in his tracks. In the middle of this vast wasteland was a bent-over old man. On his back was a sack of acorns. In his hand was a four-foot length of iron pipe.

The man was using the iron pipe to punch holes in the ground. Then from the sack he would take an acorn and put it in the hole. Later the old man said to the traveler,

"I've planted over 100,000 acorns. Perhaps only a tenth of them will grow."

The old man's wife and son had died, and this was how he chose to spend his final years.

"I want to do something useful," he said.

Twenty-five years later the now-not-as-young traveler returned to the same desolate area. What he saw amazed him. He could not believe his own eyes. The land was covered with a beautiful forest two miles wide and five miles long. Birds were singing, animals were playing, and wild flowers perfumed the air.

The traveler stood there recalling the desolation that once was; a beautiful oak forest stood there now - all because someone cared.

"My deep definition of sovereignty--He is God, and we are not!"

Greetings again friends. This is a slight change of pace from the stories. But tonight take a few minutes, turn on your audio and enjoy the Letter From Home!


Father's Love Letter

http://www.fathersloveletter.com/fllpreviewlarge.html

"A LOVING PERSONALITY DOMINATES THE BIBLE, walking among the trees of the garden and breathing fragrance over every scene. Always a Living Person is present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting Himself wherever His people have the receptivity necessary to receive the manifestation." A. W. Tozer

BaBiDaNsTaR....not across the world my friend; across the United States of America ALONE, 85 individuals destroy themselves every day of every year. Every one of these souls of anquish reach for a path to end their suffering....they cannot face another day. Worldwide totals....I know not, but today over 1 million people will die across the world. This I do know....

"For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nothing in death or life, in the realm of superhuman powers, in the world as it is or the world as it shall be, in the forces of the universe, neither the height above us nor the depth beneath us, nor any created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God shown to us in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I Will Take Your Place

During the Civil War, George Wyatt was drafted into a unit, soon to be called into battle. This was a sad day for Wyatt, for he had a lovely young bride and baby that he might never see again. It would be impossible for her to care for their farm. It was a problem for which Wyatt could not find an easy answer. He would have to go to war or face prison. There seemed to be no satisfactory choice for him.

"Not long after the draft notice, an old friend of Wyatt's dropped by. His name was Walter Pratt. Pratt was a hunter and had been an outdoors man all of his life. He had cut out a small piece of land in Montana and came back home to find a bride and get married. He wanted to raise his family in that beautiful wilderness.

"When Pratt arrived at the Wyatt home, he found a family broken in spirit. After hours of intermittent shouting, pacing, talking, and crying, they finally became silent, having said it all. There seemed to be no answer to their dilemma. Pratt broke the utter stillness and said, 'I'll take your place! I'll go and you can stay.' Wyatt said, 'That's impossible! My name is on that draft notice. I have to go. There's no way to get off of that list.' So, Wyatt asked Pratt to forget about it and spend the night in their home and use the daylight hours to do his business.

"They finally went to bed, but alas, sleep failed them all. The night was short. In a few hours, Wyatt got up without a word and went out into the morning sunlight to cut stove wood for cooking and warming the house that morning. His young bride began tending to their restless infant while Pratt was alone, standing in the living room engrossed in thought.

"A knock came to the door. Startled, Pratt said, 'I'll get it!' When he opened the door, the men asked, 'George Wyatt?' Pratt knew right away who they were and answered, "Yes, What can I do for you?" The men spelled out their mission: they had come to take him to the court house to sign in and get suited up for the Confederacy. With his hand still on the door, Pratt looked back and called out, 'Bye, honey!' He closed the door before she could answer and left the farm house with the men.

"At the Court House Walter Pratt signed the enlistment papers, using the name of George Wyatt, and took Wyatt's gun, clothes, and horse. He went into battle and was killed in action. His body was buried on the battlefield.

"After a few months, the conflict had grown more hopeless. The frantic Draftsmen were going to every house and demanding every man to prepare to go to war. They came to the farm house of George Wyatt. Wyatt met them at the door and asked what they wanted. They said they were drafting every man that was alive into the army. Wyatt smiled and told them he didn't have to go with them because he was dead. They asked what he meant. Remembering that on the day of his draft, Walter Pratt had gone to the Court House and signed in as George Wyatt, he repeated, 'I don't have to go. I'm dead. Check your records and you'll see I'm right.'

"Sure enough, when the confused officers went to the courthouse to check their records, they confirmed that a Judge had recorded the death of George Wyatt and confirmed that he was buried on the field of battle.

They could no longer draft him because their own records said he was dead. Wyatt was dead to the Confederacy, like you are dead to sin, if indeed you have been crucified with Christ. The Confederacy had no authority over a dead man. And likewise sin has no authority over you. Why? Because the record says that you are dead. Christ went to the cross in your place. He signed your name and took your sins upon Himself and died in your stead. It went down on your record that you died on a cross, in the service of law and sin.

Circle of Love

You know, he almost didn't see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road. But even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.

Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe, he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt.

It was that chill which only fear can put in you. He said, "I'm here to help you ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan."

Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid.

Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. She asked him how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She had already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped.

Bryan never thought twice about the money. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance that they needed, and Bryan added "...and think of me".

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The cash register was like the telephone of an out of work actor. It didn't ring much.

Her waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase. The lady noticed that the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude.

The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.

After the lady finished her meal, and the waitress went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, the lady slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. She wondered where the lady could be, then she noticed something written on the napkin under which was 4 $100 bills. There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote. It said "You don't owe me anything, I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do Do not let this chain of love end with you." Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day.

That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard. She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, "Everything's gonna be all right; I love you, Bryan."

Dear friends...Last year a saint died and joined the great cloud of witnesses on the other side. His name was pastor Richard Wurmbrand. If you have read his book you know what a remarkable expression of our Father's grace Bro. Wurmbrand is!

Witnesses who have touched "the miraculously distinguished Son of God."

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"Walk in the Spirit..." (Galatians 5:16).

I am sorry I would have liked to paint the beautiful shining faces of Christians in Communist jail. Their faces shone, and it was quite an achievement for the glory of God to shine on the face of a Christian in Communist jails. We did not wash (I had not washed in three years), but the glory of God can shine even from behind a crust of dirt. They had triumphant smiles on their faces.

I know about Christians who were released from Communist prisons. I was one who was stopped several times on the street by passers by asking, "Sir, what is it in you? You look like such a happy man. What is the source of your happiness’?" I told them that I came from many years in Communist jails.

Beyond the difficulties of your life

They could not understand this because they could not think beyond the difficulties of their own lives. They had not learned to walk in the Spirit and to experience the presence of God. So many would think, "If only you knew what a life I have - a husband who batters me, a wife who nags, children who break my heart - there are so many things." There are many material difficulties, tempests in your soul. I know these difficulties exist.

Horev was a Russian Christian who was in jail for many years. His father died in the same jail. Horev wrote in a letter, which he smuggled out from prison, that he was placed in a cell with common criminals. What they did to Christians is unimaginable.

The criminals beat Horev until he fell unconscious. When he came to, he heard them talking among themselves, "We should grease some rope and hang him tonight." The others refused, because that was too complicated. They had better cut his throat and then place the bloody knife in his hand so it would look like suicide. That was the talk among them. You could believe it, because they did these things.

Another World

Then, walking in the Spirit, Horev envisioned another world for himself and said, "How beautiful it will be after they have cut my throat." He saw the angels receiving him, taking him in their arms to bring him to the bosom of Abraham. He saw himself encountering the martyrs of old. He enjoyed these things. He slept the whole night very quietly.

The next day, the criminals again beat him, and in the evening they talked about killing him. Horev said to himself, "But my father has died in this place. What an honor for me, and what a joy for my father, that I was not afraid and that I walked in his footsteps and will see Jesus." In thinking about this world that he envisioned for himself, he slept again quietly. It continued on like this until the eighteenth day, when he was moved from that jail. What he wrote is so beautiful: "I had to leave the cell. The criminal who had intended to cut my throat came to me, shook my hand, and said, "Truly, there is something supernatural in you."

A Page Of Christ


What in the world does a criminal know about the supernatural? Horev was a page of the Bible, "an epistle of Christ ...written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the Living God" (2 Corinthians 3:3). The criminal knew from Horev, not from the Bible, that Horev belongs to Another. He has a divine nature. "There must be a God," the criminal said. "Every time we spoke about you, you were asleep and we did not think that you heard us. You kept your eyes closed. Why did you not jump at us? How could you sleep quietly and peacefully? Only one who really believes in eternal life can do this."

The criminal continued, "When you were taken for walk in the prison yard, you could have reported to the guard about us and requested to be placed in another cell. That is what is usually done, but you never did it. Why’? Why did you come back? Why did you not seek help with any man except with your God? Why did you pray on your knees every morning and every evening? You knew that we could kill you, as we have killed so many. Why did you give yourself quietly every day into our hands’? This is incomprehensible for us. Really, you have something supernatural in you." Once again he shook Horev’s hand and that is how they parted.

Horev did not live in this world.

So whatever your circumstances - which initial be terrible for some of you - don't live this life. Live the new life, the eternal life, the timeless life, to which we are called by Jesus.

We were in prison cells with believers sentenced to death. As often as the door was unlocked, the prisoner did not know if he would be taken to a bath, to an interrogation or to be shot. Yet there was such a peace. There was no difference for him because he knew he had eternal life.

I belong to the family of God. I have the nature of God. Because I also have the nature of a man, I know I may live sixty or eighty years. Since I have the nature of God, who in the world can kill me? Men can change only my outward form, but I will live in other circumstances.

We saw this peace - the peace of those who understood that godly nature - and I plead with you for this. You have your difficulties. You have your crosses. Trust in the God who makes faces to shine and know that in Him you have eternal life.

Sincerely, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand

Jesus To The Communist World

BaBiDaNsTaR....my friend, this I think may be a long thread. There are many excellent stories to give us hope in a world with little hope!

Another Way to Win

Kay Poe and Esther Kim have been best friends since they were seven years old. Among other things they have in common, the two young ladies from Houston both compete at the highest levels in taekwondo. How good are they? Esther and Kay advanced to the finals in the Women's Olympic Flyweight division at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials on May 20 in Colorado Springs.

"I don't think of her as just a friend. I think of her more as a sister," Kay says. "We've grown up together, and we always push each other and help each other out the best we can training wise." What a story was unfolding! Reporters and photographers were poised to record the outcome of so intense a competition between two girls who have been close for so long. But a sports story would soon be overshadowed by a far more important friendship story.

Kay had dislocated her left kneecap in her semi-final match of the round robin tournament. Though ranked number one in the world at her sport, it was questionable that she could compete against her best friend. She could barely stand, so it was a foregone conclusion that Esther would win, travel to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and represent the United States in the international competition these two had trained and worked toward for so long.

On the day of the match, Esther Kim shocked the crowd by forfeiting rather than defeat her friend in an unfair competition. In allowing the better taekwondo fighter to represent the United States in Sydney, she won a personal battle over ego and selfishness. Amidst frequent stories of cheating and taking unfair advantage in order to win at any price, Esther showed how to win by losing.

"Even though I didn't have the gold medal around me," said Esther, "for the first time in my life, I felt like a real champion." Her generosity of spirit was honored with the Citizenship Through Sports Award and with an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2000 Olympic Games from the International Olympic Committee.

In the Bible, Paul wrote about giving up certain "rights" for the sake of people he loved (see 1 Corinthians 9:1-15). Parents do it all the time for their children. And occasionally friends make magnanimous gestures like Esther's.

The next time you are inclined to bemoan the selfishness of the masses, recall this story of a twenty-year-old athlete's largess. The next time you have the chance to show magnanimity, let it inspire you to rise to the level of her example.

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"But you object, a heart like mine can offer Christ so little--at best, so poor and pinched and stingy a hospitality and such meagre fare; for I have nothing worthy of Him to set before Him, only a kind of affection, real enough at times, but which, at others, can and does so easily forget; only a will, quite unreliable, deplorably unstable; only a faith that is the merest shadow of what His real friends mean when they speak about faith, I know. But, there was once a garret up under the roof, a poor, bare place enough. There was a table in it, and there were some benches, and a water-pot; a towel, and a basin in behind the door, but not much else--a bare, unhomelike room. But the Lord Christ entered into it. And, from the moment, it became the holiest of all, where souls innumerable ever since have met the Lord God, in High Glory, face to face. And, if you give Him entrance to that very ordinary heart of yours, it too will transform and sanctify and touch with a splendour of glory." A.J.Gossip

"The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in His temple all cry 'Glory!'"

lbiagm...This is the deal. Our Lord says, "Let none appear before Me empty handed." This is your mission, find a story that stirs us on to higher things. Bring it to this thread for all of us to enjoy. Are you up to the challenge?

A Little Girl's Prayer

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but inspite of all we could do she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator) and no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates.

"And it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed.

As in the West it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

"All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can; sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

Please God!

During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God," she prayed,"send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby'll be dead, so please send it this afternoon." While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of corollary, "And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"

As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen"? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything. The Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hotwater bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the verandah, was a large twenty-two pound parcel! I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.

From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the... could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out - yes! A brand-new, rubberhot water bottle! I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.

If God Has Sent The Bottle He Must Have Sent The Dolly!

Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!"

Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!

Looking up at me, she asked, "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months! Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before - in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that afternoon."

"Before they call, I will answer!"
Isaiah 65:24

"When you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, You want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

Hi there again friends....Is our God awesome or what? I only found the story of the water bottle and dolly yesterday...my how it blessed my heart. I nearly went into cardiac arrest, but managed to pull myself together. Today will you take a few minutes and consider the power of ten? And then, perhaps you can take a stroll into the Pi ratio that pours from the Author of the Circle, the Lord Elyon.

Re-Arrange One Single Digit!

http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/pi/pi.html

"God is an infinite fathomless depth of never-ceasing love." William Law

The Power Of Ten

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/.../index.html

Coming up.....A Child's Prayer