The stories with stars beside them are true stories. Some stories are still under construction.
How Much Do Miracles Cost?
Tess went to her bedroom and pulled a glass
jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured all the change out on the floor. and counded it carefully. Three
times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Carefully placing to coins back in the jar
and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way several bolcks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big
red Indian sign above the door.
She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her
some attention, but he was to bussy at this moment.
Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing...
She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound
she could muster. No good...
Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged
it on the glass counter. That did it!
"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an
annoyed tone of voice. "I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a
reply to his question.
"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,
" Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really really sick... and I want to buy him a miracle."
"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.
"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside
his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?"
"We don't sell miracles here, little girl, I'm sorry,
but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little.
"Listen I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't
enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs."
The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man.
He stooped down and asked the little gir, "What kind of miracle does your brother need?"
"I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes swelling
up. "I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my
money."
"How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago.
"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered audibly.
"And it's all the money I have, but I can get more if I need to."
"Well, what a coinidence," smiled the man. "A dollar
and eleven cents - the exact price of a miracle for little brothers."
He took the money in one hand and with the other hand he
grasped her mitten ans said, "Take me to where you live. I want to see if I have the kind of miracle you need."
That well dressed amn was Dr. Carlton Armstrong,
a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home
again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that led them to this place.
"That surgery... ," her Mom whispered, "...was a real miracle.
I wonder how much It cost?"
Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle
cost... one dollar and eleven cents... plus the faith of a child.
A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of
a higher law.
The Value of $20
A well-known speaker started off his seminar
by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like the $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said,
"I'm going to give this $20 bill to one of you, but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the 20 dollar bill.
He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" and he dropped
it on the floor and he started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now who
wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, we have all learned a valueble lesson. No matter what I did
to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrese in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives we
are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come aour way. We feel
as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or
clean, crumpled or finely crased, you are priceless to those who LOVE YOU. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do
or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. You are special - Don't EVER forget it!"
Paid The Price
There once was a man named
George Thomas, pastor in a small New England town.
One Easter Sunday morning he came to church carrying
a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to
speak. "I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy come toward me swinging a bird cage. On the bottom of
the cage were three wild birds, shivering with cold and fright. I stopped the lad and asked, "What you got there son?"
"Just some old birds," came the reply.
"What are you gunna do with them?" I asked.
"Take em' home and have fun with em'," he answered.
"I'm gonna tease em' and pull out their feathers to make em' fight. I'm gonna have a real good time."
"But you'll get tired of those birds sonner or
later. What will you do?"
" Oh, I got some cats," said the little boy. "They
like birds. I'll take em' to them."
"How much do you want for those birds son?"
"Huh?!?!?! Why, you don't want them birds, mister.
They're just plain old field birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!"
"How much?" I asked again.
The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy
and said, "$10?!?!" I reached in my pocket and took out a $10 bill. I placed it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy
was gone. I picked up the cage and gently carried it to the alley where there was a tree ans a grassy spot. Setting the cage
down, I opend the door and by softly tapping the bars, persuaded the birds out setting them free."
Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the
pulpit,and then the pastor began to tell this story.
"One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation.
Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he as gloating and boasting. "Yes, sir, I just caught the world full of people
down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got em' all."
"What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked.
Satan replied, "Oh I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna
teach them how to marry and divorice each other, how to drink and smoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns
and bombs and kill each other. I'm gonna have fun!"
"And what will you do when you're done with them?"
Jesus asked.
"Oh I'll kill em'," satan glared proudly.
"How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked.
"Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good.
Why, you'll take them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and kill you. You don't want those people!"
"How much?" He asked again.
Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood,
tears and your life."
Jesus said, "DONE!" then He paid the price."
The pastor picked up the cage, opened the door
and walked from the pulpit.
Dart Test
A young lady named Sally, relates an experence
she had in a seminary class, given by her teacher, Dr.Smith. She says that Dr.Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons.
One particular day, Sally walked into the seminary
room and knew they were in for a fun day.
On the wall was a big target and on a near table
were many darts. Dr.Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry,
and he would allow them to throughdarts at the persons picture.
Sally's friend drew a picture of someone who had
stolen her boyfriend. Another friend drew a picture of his little brother, Sally drew a picture of her former friend, putting
a great deal of detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally was pleased with the overall effect she had
acheived.
The class lined up and began throwing darts. Some
of the students thew their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn,
and was filled with disappointment when Dr.Smith, because of his time limits, asked the students to return to their seats.
As Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any darts at her target, Dr.Smith
began removing the target from the wall.
Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus. A
hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus, holes and jagged marks covered His face and His
eyes were pierced.
Dr.Smith said only these words...
"In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brotheren, ye have done it unto
me.
~Matthew 25:40~"
No other words were nessary; tears filled the eyes
of the students focused only on the picture of Christ.
The Heart
"Tomorrow
morning," the surgeon began, "I'll open your heart..."
"You'll
find Jesus there," the boy interrupted.
"The
surgeon looked annoyed, "I'll cut your heart open," he continued, "to see how much damage has been done..."
"But
when you open up my heart you'll find Jesus there," said the boy.
The
surgeon looked to the parents, who sat quietly. "When I see how much damage has been done. I'll sew your heart and chest
back up, and I'll plan what to do next."
"But
you'll find Jesus there. The hymns all say He lives there. You'll find Him in my heart."
The
surgeon had had enough. "I'll tell you what I'll find in your heart. I'll find damaged muscles, low blood supply, and a weakened
vessel. And I'll find out if I can make you well."
"You'll find Jesus there too. He lives there." The surgeon left.
The surgeon sat in his office, recording his notes from the surgery, "...damaged aorta, damaged pulmonary vein, widespread
muscle degeneration. No hope for transplant, no hope for cure. Therapy: painkillers and bed rest. Prognosis:," here he paused,
"death within one year." He stopped the recorder, but there was more to be said. "Why?" he asked aloud. "Why did you do this?
You've put him here; You've put him in this pain; and You've cursed him to an early death. Why?"
The LORD answered and said, "The boy, My lamb, was not meant for your flock for long,for he is a part of My flock, and
will be forever. Here. in My flock, he will feel no pain, and willbe conforted as you cannot imagine. His parents will one
day join him here, and they will know peace, and My flock will continue to grow."
The surgeons tears were hot, but his anger was hotter. "You created that boy, and You created that heart. He'll be dead in
mounths. Why?"
The LORD
ansered, "The boy, My lamb, shall return to My flock, for he has done his duty: I did not put My lamb with your flock to lose
him, but to retrieve another lost lamb."
The surgeon wept. The surgeon sat beside the boys bed; the boys parents sat across from him. The boy awoke and wispered, "did
you cut open my heart?"
"Yes," said the surgeon.
"What did you find?" asked the boy.
"I found Jesus there!" said the surgeon.
God Works In Mysterious Ways
On a Saturday night several weeks ago a pastor was working late, 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
the phone ring many times. He though 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, ans she said that
it hadn't rung at there house. They brushed it off as a fluke and went on their merry ways.
The following Monday,
the pastor recieved a call at the church office, which was the phone he used that Saturday night. The man that he spoke with
wanted to know why he had 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
okay. Let me tell you my story... . You see, I was planning to commit suicide on Saturday night, but before I did I prayed
to God, '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 phone caller ID, and it said, 'Almighty God.' I was afraid to answer!"
The reason why
it showed on the man's caller ID that the call came from 'Almighty God' is because the church the pastor attends is called
Almighty God Tabernacle!!!
The Big Wheel
In September 1960, I
woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three
months to seven years; their sister was two.
Their Dad had never been more than a presence they
feared. whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds. he did manage
to leave $15 a week to buy groceries. Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings; but no more food
either. If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certianly knew nothing about it.
I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand knew
and then put on my best homemade dress. I loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job. The seven of
us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town. No luck. the kids stayed crammed into the car and tried
to be quietwhile I tried to convince whomever would listen to someone that was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have
a job. Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had
been converted to a truck shop. It was called 'The Big Wheel'. An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out
of the window from time to time at all those kids. she needed someone on graveyard shift 11 at night until 7 in the morning.
She paid 65 cents an hour and I could start that night.
I raced home and called the teenager down the street
that babysat for people. I bargained her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive in her pajamas
on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal. That night when the
little ones and I knelt to say our prayers we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at 'The big Wheel'.
When I got home in the mornings I woke up the babysitter
and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money - fully half of what I averaged every night. As the weeks went by heating
bills added a strain to my meager wage. The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny ballons and began to leak.
I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.
One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the
car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires! There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful
brand new tires. had angels taken up residence in Indiana? I wondered. I made a deal with the local service station.
In exchange for him mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office. I remembered it took me longer to scrub the floor
than it did for him to do the tires.
I was now working six nights instead of five and
it still wasn't enough. Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids. I found a can of red
paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa
to deliver on Christmas morning. Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants
and soon they would be too far gone to repair.
On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking
coffee in 'The Big Wheel'. These were the truckers, Les, Frank and Jim and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were
hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine. The regulars all just sat around
and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.
When it was time for me to go home at 7 o'clock
on christmas morning I hurried to my car. I was hoping the kids wouldn't wake up before I managed to get home and get the
presents from the basement and place them under the tree. (We had cut down a small ceder tree by the side of the road down
by the dump.) It was still dark and I couldn't see much, but there appeared to be some dark shadows in the car!?! Something
certainly looked different, but it was hard to tell what. When I reached the car I peered warily into one of the windows.
Then my jaw dropped in amazment. My old battered Chevy was filled with boxes of all shapes and sizes. I quickly opened the
driver's side door, scrambled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of
the top box. Inside was a whole cases of blue jeans size 2-10! I looked another box: It was full of shirts to go with
the jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes: There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of grocries. There
was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegtables and potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and
flour. There was a whole bag of lawndry supplies and cleaning items. There were five toy trucks and one beautiful
little doll. as I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life,
I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.
Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago
December. And they all hung out at The Big Wheel truck shop.
Carrot, Egg or Coffee
A young women went to her mother and told
her about her life and how things were hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up.
She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved another one arrose. Her mother took her to the
kitchen. she filled three pots with water. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she
placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners.
She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. then she ladled the
coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs and coffee," she replied.
She brought her closer to feel the carrots. she
did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed
the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted the rich aroma.
The daughter asked, "Wha's your point mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these objects
had faced the same adversite - boiling water - but each reacted diffrently. The carrotwent in strong, hard and unrelenting.
However, after being subject to the boiling water it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its outer shell had
protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee
beans were unique, however. After they were boiling in the water, they disolved and canged the water. "Which are you?" she
asked her daughter, "When adversity knock on your door how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? Think
of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose
my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after
death, a break-up, financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same,
but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually
changes the hot water, the very circumstances that bring the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases its fragrance
and flavor. If you are like a bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hours are darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level? How do you handle
adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"
Don't tell God how BIG the storm is. Tell the storm how BIG
your God is! ~ Unknown
The best things in life aren't things. ~ Unknown
Have a Piece of Cake
Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or, "Why did God have todo
this to me?" Here is an explenation.
A daughter is telling her mother how everything
is going wrong. She's failing Algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her, and her best friend is moving away.
Meanwhile, her mother is baking a cake. She asked
her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, "Absolutely mom, I love your cake!"
"Here have some cooking oil," her mother offers.
"Yuck," says her daughter.
"How about a couple of raw eggs?"
"Gross mom!"
"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking
soda then?"
"Mom, those are all yucky!"
To which her mother replies: "Yes all those things
seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! God works the
same way, many times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for the good! We just
have to trust him and eventually, they will all make something wonderful!"
"God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every
spring and a runrise every moring. When ever you want to talk He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe,
but he chose your heart."
The Fence
Once upon a time two brothers, who lived on adjoining farms, fell into conflict.
Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally
it exploded into anexchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.
One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with
carpenter's tool box. "I'm looking for a few days work," he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there
I could help with? Could I help you?"
"Yes," said the older brother, "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek
at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, he's my younger brother. Last week there was a medow between us and he took his
bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well he many have done this to spite me, but I'll do him
one better. See that pile of lumber by the barn? I want you to build me a fence, an eight foot fence so I won't need
