Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Difficult Decision.

Post 104 - - - - - Wednesday, 3 January 2007.

Hello Everyone ~~ I hope the world is treating you well. No complaints here – as there’s

nobody to complain to. Tomorrow my son is bringing his two little dogs for me to mind while

he goes away for ten day’s holiday with his friend and her son. The dogs are very cute

little Maltese Terriors, so I hope we will get on well. I can complain to them !! Though

all is going well for me, so far this year. All the extra festive eating has my diabetes a

bit the worse for wear, but as I told a cousin in a birthday e-mail, I’m back on a diet of

bread and water. I don’t think so !!! Hope my doctor is not reading this !!

The first item was sent to me by a friend of long standing and is quite amazing.

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church’s pastor slowly stood up, and

walked over to the pulpit and before he gave his sermon for the evening, he briefly

inroduced a guest minister who was at the service that evening.

In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his

dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church

and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service.

With that an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak. “A father, his son and a

friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast,” He began, “When a fast approaching storm

blocked any attempt to get back to shore.

The waves were so hig, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep

the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.”

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were for the first

time snce the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story.

The aged minister continued with his story, “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most

excruciating decision of his life: to which boy would he throw the end of the life line? He had only

seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he, also, knew that

his son’s friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of the waves.

As the father yelled out, “I love you, Son!” he threw the life line to his son’s friend. By the time the

father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging

swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered.”

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words

to come out of the old minister’s mouth.

“The father,” he continued, “ knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear

the thought of his son’s friend stepping into eternity without Jesus. Therefore he sacrificed his son

to save the son’s friend.”

How great is the love of God that he should do the same for us. Our heavenly Father sacrificed His only begotten Son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take a hold of

the life line he is throwing out to you in this service.”

With that the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.. The pastor

again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at the end. However,

no one responded to the appeal.

Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side.

“That was a nice story,” politely stated one of them, “but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father

to give up his only son’s life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.”

“Well, you’ve got a point there,” the old man replied glancing down at his worn Bible and a big smile

broadened his narrow face He once again looked up at the boys and said, “ It sure isn’t very realistic,

is it ? But I am standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been

like for God to give up His Son for me.

You see . . . I was that father, and your Pastor is my son’s friend.”

I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn’t, than to live my life as if

there isn’t and die to find out there is.

<><><><> Long, but I hope you enjoyed the story. Now for a few jokes - - - -

A man is in bed with his wife when there is a rat-a-tat-tat on the door. He rolls over and looks at his clock,

and says , “It’s half past three in the morning.” “I’m not getting out of bed at this time,” he thinks to himself.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” says his wife.

So he drags himself out of bed and goes downstairs. He open the door and there is a man standing there.

It didn’t take the homeowner long to realize the man was drunk.

“Hi there,” slurs the stranger. “Can you give me a push??”

“No, get lost. It’s half past three. I was in bed,” says the man and slams the door. He goes back up to bed

and tells his wife what happened and she says, “Dave, that wasn’t very nice of you. Remember that night we broke down in the pouring rain on the way to pick up the kids from the baby sitter and you had to knock on

that man’s house to get us started again? What would have happened if he had told us to get lost?”

“But the guy was drunk,” says the husband.

“It doesn’t matter,” says the wife. “He needs our help and it would be the right thing to help him.”

So the husband gets out of bed again, gets dressed and goes downstairs.

He opens the door, and not being able to see the stranger anywhere, he shouts, “Hey, do you still want

a push? And he hears a voice cry out, “ Yeah, please.” So still being unable to see the stranger, he

shouts, “Where are you?” And the stranger replies, “I’m over here on your swing.”

<><><><>

That one was sent to me by Tammy a while back. Thanks Tammy.

A man appeared before St. Peter at the pearly gates. “Have you ever done anything during your lifetime

on earth of particular merit?” St Peter asked.. “Well I can think of one thing,” the man offered.

“On a trip to the Black Hills out in South Dakota, I came upon a gang of bikers who were threatening

a young woman. “I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn’t listen.

“So I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker and smacked him on the head, kicked his

bike over, ripped off his nose ring, and threw it on the ground. I yelled, “Now back off !”

St Peter was impressed, “When did this happen ?” he asked.

“Couple of minutes ago !!”

<><><><>

A resident in a posh hotel breakfast room called over the head waiter one morning and read from the

menu. “I’d like one under cooked egg so that it’s runny, and one over cooked egg so that it’s tough and

hard to eat. I’d also like the grilled bacon which is a bit on the cold side, burnt toast, butter straight

from the freezer so it’s impossible to spread, and a pot of very weak, lukewarm coffee.”

“That’s a complicated order sir,” said the bewildered waiter. “It might be quite difficult.”

The guest replied sarcastically, “It can’t be that difficult because that is exactly what you brought

me yesterday.”

<><><><>

“What time does the library open?” the man on the phone asked.

“Nine a.m.” came the reply. “And what’s the idea of calling me at home in the middle of the night to

ask a question like that ?”

“Not until nine a.m ?” the man asked in a disappointed voice.

“No, not till nine a.m !” the librarian said. “Why do you want to get in before nine a.m ?”

“Who said I wanted to get in?” the man sighed sadly. “I want to get out !!”

<><><><>

My girlfriend told me I should be more affectionate, So I got two girlfriends.

<><><><>

A husband stepped on one of those penny scales that tell your fortune and weight and dropped in a coin.

“Look at this,” he said to his wife, showing her a small white card. “It says I’m energetic, bright,

resourceful and a great lover.” “Yeah,” said his wife nodded, “ and it’s got your weight wrong too.”

<><><><>

My mother-in-law was bitten by a mad dog in the street. “Oh, that’s terrible/”

“Yes it was terrible to watch the dog die slowly in convulsions.”

<><><><>

Just a few quotes - - -

No one will ever win the battle of the sexes. There’s too much fraternising with the enemy.

- - - Henry Kissinger.

Few things are more satisfying than seeing your childre have teenagers of their own.

- - - Doug Larson.

Before most people start boasting about their family tree, they usually do a good pruning job.

- - - O. A. Battista.

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king

among his. - - - Helen Keller.

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.

- - - Theodore Hesburgh.

Well, that’s it for tonight. Stay well and stay happy my friends. Cheers, Merle.

Post 104 - - - - - Wednesday, 3 January 2007.

<><><><>

16 comments:

Peter said...

Hi Merle, you're right I will still be going to Perth for Jenna's wedding so will see you probably on the way home late March or early April.

Karen said...

Halloo Merle!

The joke about the push is so funny, I haven't heard that before!

Helen Keller was such an amazing woman, that is one of my favorite quotes of hers.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy the dogs!

Love & hugs!

David Edward said...

quite a blessing - esp the first story ( do we know its roots, is it TRUE?)

and thank you for praying for Minerva.

Leann said...

the story is ture I heard it a while back on TBN or CBN or Insp.thanks for the story and the jokes they are so funny."a merry heart workth like medisine."God bless you .I will have to tell you a few jokes I know some day when I have more time.have a great day.

Bob said...

Hi Merle, I'm glad you see you're fit and raring to go after all your Christmas stuffing. The dogs should be good company for you, I'm always complaining to mine and they don't seem to mind a bit as long as they get their dinners on time. I'm still off work so there isn't a lot to report at the moment so I've been doing some posting in the Hiking Gardener instead. Anyway take care, Bob.

TJ said...

loved all you jokes and such this go round!!
Cheers to you my friend!!
:-D
don't spoil the granddogs too bad...lol!

Kila said...

Have fun with the dogs!

I absolutely agree with the last quote.

audrey` said...

Enjoy the granddogs' company =)
(Borrow this term from Tammy)
HeHe.

Take care, Merle.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Merel,

Good jokes, and I hope you enjoy your little tail wagging guests.

Janice~

Unknown said...

I hope your diabetes get back “on target” soon. Have fun with the dogs!

Puss-in-Boots said...

Hi Merle

Don't go with the bread and butter for the diabetes, just have low fat stuff - much tastier.

Hope you have fun with your little guests. As long as you feed them and give them some attention, they'll listen to anything you say to them.

Take care
xoxo

Jim said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jim said...

Hi Merle -- You are still going strong and I'm reading weak!
A belated (please) Happy New Year!
May I please get back in your good graces and get my spot back between Janice and Judy, please, please.

Congratulations on your anniversary on the Herons Nest and the Third Try. I'd like to visit you some time, I think you must live on your computer.
Your blogs are very refreshing to me.
..

Granny said...

Good jokes as always. Hope all goes well with you.

Pamela said...

Oh, Merle, I just loved the church sermon! Such a wonderful, perfect and thought provoking story! One for the ages! :)

Oh dear, you are going to have fun with those two little terrors I mean terriors...hehe! :)

Bread and water huh...isn't that a high carb diet for a diabetic! hehe!

Take care dear friend! Thanks for the laughs!

Carole Burant said...

Hello dear Merle!! I think we're all trying to recover from all the eating we did during the holidays! lol I actually look forward to just having a sandwich for dinner these days! That first story in your post had me in tears but it's the perfect way to explain the sacrifices God made for us. Loved all the jokes too...especially the "give me a push" one! hehe You'll certainly have fun taking care of those two little dogs:-) Take care dear friend!! xoxo