Archive for April 2005
What Matters in Life
Posted April 29, 2005
on:By Internet – sent by Rev. Richard Cooke
2005-02-18
Some people understand life better And they call some of these people
“retarded”…
At the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or
mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard
dash.
At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a
relish
to run the race to the finish and win.
All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt,
tumbled
over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the
boy cry.
They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and went
back…… every one of them.
One girl with Down’s Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said,”This
will
make it better.”
Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line.
Everyone
in the stadium stood, the cheering went on for several minutes.
People who were there are still telling the story… Why? Because
deep down
we know this one thing:
What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What
matters
in this life is helping others
win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.
A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle”
RevRECooke
I’m Amy with the Universal Life Church and it’s Seminary. I’ve been a member of ULC for many years and my site has created a terrific ULC Forum. We are also members of the ULC Minister’s Association and have the most extensive catalog of Universal Life Church materials.
Carl’s Garden
Posted April 29, 2005
on:Does Evil Exist
Posted April 24, 2005
on:Does Evil Exist?
By Internet Story – sent in by Stephen T
2004-12-09
The university professor challenged his students with this question…Did God create everything that exists?
A student bravely replied “yes, he did!”
”God created everything?” The professor asked.
“Yes sir,” the student replied.
The professor answered, “If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are then God is evil.”
The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that Christian faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question professor?”
“Of course,” replied the professor.
The student stood up and asked, “Professor, does cold exist?”
“What kind of a question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?” The students snickered at the young man’s question.
The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat. “The student continued. “Professor, does darkness exist?”
The professor responded, “Of course it does.”
The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.” Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?”
Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”
To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”
The professor sat down. The young mans name – Albert EINSTEIN.
I’m Amy with the Universal Life Church and it’s Seminary. I’ve been a member of ULC for many years and my site has created a terrific ULC Forum. We are also members of the ULC Minister’s Association and have the most extensive catalog of Universal Life Church materials.
The Seven Wonders of the World
Posted April 23, 2005
on:A Higher Calling
Posted April 21, 2005
on:Funeral Story
Posted April 20, 2005
on:Wedding Stories
Posted April 18, 2005
on:Universal Life Church
Posted April 14, 2005
on:NOW THAT’S GOD
Posted April 14, 2005
on:By Internet – sent by Rev. Richard Cooke
2005-01-20
It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through.
Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we
Didn’t see some rain soon…we would lose everything. It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes.
I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year-old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn’t walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort … trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour: walking carefully to the woods, running back to the house.
Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen…as he was obviously doing important work and didn’t need his Mommy checking up on him). He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked, being very careful not to spill the water he held in them … maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face, but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site.
Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him…he didn’t even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn lying on the ground; obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy’s hand. When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree.
I followed him back to the house to a spigot to which we had shut off the water. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift “cup,” as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came clear to me: The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn’t ask me to help him. It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him.
His little eyes just filled with tears. “I’m not wasting,” was all he said. As he began his walk, I joined him…with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, other drops…and more drops…and more suddenly joined them. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.
Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. Those miracles don’t really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can’t argue with that… I’m not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm…just like the actions of one little boy saved another.
I don’t know if anyone will read this…but I had to send it out. To honor the memory of my beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon… But not before showing me the true face of God, in a little, sunburned body.
*~THAT’S GOD ~*
Have you ever been just sitting there and all of a sudden you feel like doing something nice for someone you care for?
THAT’S GOD! He speaks to you through the Holy Spirit
Have you ever been down and out and nobody seems to be around for you to
Talk to?
THAT’S GOD! He wants you to speak to Him.
Have you ever been thinking about somebody that you haven’t seen in a long time and then next thing you know you see them or receive a phone call from them?
THAT’S GOD! There’s no such thing as coincidence.
Have you ever received something wonderful that you didn’t even ask for, like money in the mail, a debt that had mysteriously been cleared, or a coupon to a department store where you had just seen something you wanted, but couldn’t afford.
THAT’S GOD. . He knows the desires of your heart. .
Have you ever been in a situation and you had no clue how it is going to get better, but now you look back on it?
THAT’S GOD! He passes us through tribulation to see a brighter day.
In all that we do, we need to totally give HIM Thanks and our blessings will continue to multiply.
NOW THAT’S GOD!!!!!!!!
Don’t tell GOD how Big your storm is.
Tell the storm how Big your GOD is!
HAVE A BLESSED DAY
GOD LOVES YOU
I’m Amy with the Universal Life Church and it’s Seminary. I’ve been a member of ULC for many years and my site has created a terrific ULC Forum. We are also members of the ULC Minister’s Association and have the most extensive catalog of Universal Life Church materials anywhere on the net.
Why I Became Ordained
Posted April 12, 2005
on: