His Mysterious Ways

by Bob Robison

Jobs were hard to find in New York City in 1930. Just 19, I was fresh off the boat from Sweden and didnt speak any English.

When I'd boarded the train in my hometown of Karlskrona, Sweden, a woman next to me had asked, Where are you going?

America, I said. To make a new start.

My cousin Lars works in New York City, she informed me. At the Steinway piano factory. Look him up when you get there. She wrote on a piece of paper, handed it to me and said, God be with you.

It was a sweltering New York day when I set out in search of the factory. I had no idea where it was. I wandered the city for hours, showing people that scrap of paper, which bore four words: Lars Olsen-Steinway Piano. Nobody was able to help me.

I was disappointed, and so tired. When I saw a parked car I opened the door and slid into the front seat. Where I was from anyone could rest in someone elses wagon or cart. I hoped the same was true here.

I soon fell asleep, but was jolted awake by the blast of a whistle. Workmen streamed out of a nearby building. One of the yelled at me, in English. What is he so upset about? I answered instinctively in Swedish that I was sorry. Amazingly, he responded in Swedish, What are you doing in my car? I explained, then showed him that piece of paper. The man smiled. He said the whistle I had heard announced the end of the workday at Steinway & Sons. Then he walked me around the corner and introduced me to someone who got me a job as a painter.

By now youve probably guessed. The man who owned the car was Lars Olsen.

If One Day..

by Ntsiab Si Vaj

if one day my tears are running
because i’m so hurt inside
i know you will be there
and i wouldn’t have to hide.

if one day i see beauty
that no one cares to see
i know you will be there
to cherish it with me.

if one day i grow old
and nothing seems worth while
i know you will be there
to share with me your smile

if one day my eyes give up
and i couldn’t see the stars at night
i know you will be there
to share with me your sight.

because God loves me so much
he sent someone true
he knows deeply of friendship
and he saw it in you.

The Difference Between Strength and Courage

It takes strength to be certain,
It takes courage to have doubts.

It takes strength to fit in,
It takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain,
It takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to hide your own pains,
It takes courage to show them.

It takes strength to stand guard,
It takes courage to let down your guard.

It takes strength to conquer,
It takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to endure abuses,
It takes courage to stop them.

It takes strength to stand alone,
It takes courage to lean on a friend.

It takes strength to love,
It takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive,
It takes courage to live.

by David L. Griffith

What Is...

What Is…
What is within …
What is within the depths of my soul …
What is …

What created what is.

What lies without …
What lies in the serenity of a morning
hike through the forest, along side a
mountain stream, slowly and steadily
cascading a bed of mountain stone.
What is mighty and majestic as
the roar and tumble of the ocean’s
tide at storm.
What is as gentle as the touch of the gardener,
tending the rose.

What is …

Gentle, Calm, Mighty,
and Majestic from the depths of my soul
to the world around me…

God is All-Surrounding.

Magnificent, Unfathomable, Astonishing…
His vastness is beyond comprehension…
His mercy unceasing …
His love…undying.

Robin M. Ferguson

5 min

yo peeps!

There won't be proper cf tomorrow, but there'll be 5 min prayers @ laman maluri as usual :)

see you guys tomorrow!

Happy Mother's Day!!

To All the mothers in the world:

- Happy Mother's Day!

(this happens to be our cf blog's 100th post ~ imagine how special mom's are :)

Announcement

Cf meeting will be cancel (next week)

Take Down Goliath!

Take Goliath Down

by Max Lucado

Goliaths still roam our world. Debt. Disaster. Dialysis. Danger. Deceit. Disease. Depression. Super-size challenges still swagger and strut, still pilfer sleep and embezzle peace and liposuction joy. But they can't dominate you. You know how to deal with them. You face giants by facing God first.

Focus on giants—you stumble.

Focus on God—your giants tumble.

You know what David knew, and you do what David did. You pick up five stones, and you make five decisions. Ever wonder why David took five stones into battle? Why not two or twenty? Rereading his story reveals five answers. Use your five fingers to remind you of the five stones you need to face down your Goliath. Let your thumb remind you of ...

1. THE STONE OF THE PAST

Goliath jogged David's memory. Elah was a déjà vu. While everyone else quivered, David remembered. God had given him strength to wrestle a lion and strong-arm a bear. Wouldn't he do the same with the giant? A good memory makes heroes.

"Remember His marvelous works which He has done" (1 Chron. 16:12). Catalog God's successes. Keep a list of his world records. Has he not walked you through high waters? Proven to be faithful? Have you not known his provision? How many nights have you gone to bed hungry? Mornings awakened in the cold? He has made roadkill out of your enemies. Write today's worries in sand. Chisel yesterday's victories in stone. Pick up the stone of the past. Then select ...

2. THE STONE OF PRAYER

Note the valley between your thumb and finger. To pass from one to the next you must go through it. Let it remind you of David's descent. Before going high, David went low; before ascending to fight, David descended to prepare. Don't face your giant without first doing the same. Dedicate time to prayer. Paul, the apostle, wrote, "Prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long" (Eph. 6:18 MSG).

Prayer spawned David's successes. His Brook Besor wisdom grew out of the moment he "strengthened himself in the Lord his God" (1 Sam. 30:6). When Saul's soldiers tried to capture him, David turned toward God: "You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble" (Ps. 59:16).

Invite God's help. Pick up the stone of prayer. And don't neglect ...

3. THE STONE OF PRIORITY
Let your tallest finger remind you of your highest priority: God's reputation. David jealously guarded it. No one was going to defame his Lord. David fought so that "all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's" (1 Sam. 17:46-47).

David saw Goliath as a chance for God to show off! Did David know he would exit the battle alive? No. But he was willing to give his life for the reputation of God.

What if you saw your giant in the same manner? Rather than begrudge him, welcome him. Your cancer is God's chance to flex his healing muscles. Your sin is God's opportunity to showcase grace. Your struggling marriage can billboard God's power. See your struggle as God's canvas. On it he will paint his multicolored supremacy. Announce God's name and then reach for ...

4. THE STONE OF PASSION

David ran, not away from, but toward his giant. On one side of the battlefield, Saul and his cowardly army gulped. On the other, Goliath and his skull-splitters scoffed. In the middle, the shepherd boy ran on his spindly legs. Who bet on David? Who put money on the kid from Bethlehem? Not the Philistines. Not the Hebrews. Not David's siblings or David's king. But God did.

And since God did, and since David knew God did, the skinny runt became a blur of pumping knees and a swirling sling. He ran toward his giant.

Do the same! Let your ring finger remind you to take up the stone of passion.

One more stone, and finger, remains:

5. THE STONE OF PERSISTENCE

David didn't think one rock would do. He knew Goliath had four behemoth relatives. For all David knew, they'd come running over the hill to defend their kin. David was ready to empty the chamber if that's what it took.

Imitate him. Never give up. One prayer might not be enough. One apology might not do it. One day or month of resolve might not suffice. You may get knocked down a time or two ... but don't quit. Keep loading the rocks. Keep swinging the sling. David took five stones. He made five decisions. Do likewise. Past. Prayer. Priority. Passion. And persistence.

Next time Goliath wakes you up, reach for a stone. Odds are, he'll be out of the room before you can load your sling.

From Facing Your Giants, by Max Lucado.

Announcement

There will be cf meeting tomorrow(5/5/2010).
Same place and time.
Bring scissors and coloured pen.
Meet u there....

Self Control (by Cindie York)

Titus 2:12 (NLT)
And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God.

Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance and patient endurance leads to godliness. (II Peter 1:6) Self-control is also a fruit of the Spirit and those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh and its passions and desires. The Bible tells us to walk in the Spirit and to live in the Spirit.

Every temptation is an opportunity to do good. We are all given two choices: to resist temptation or give in to temptation. Our bodies are the temple of God. Christ dwells in the body of every believer who accepts Him as Lord and Savior and asks for the pardon of sins. God gives us the power to overcome temptation. As we grow in wisdom and knowledge of God's word, we can better recognize the tricks of the devil. Red flags go up. As we mature in Christ, the deeper we grow in the Lord, the easier those flags are to recognize and the easier it gets to walk away from tempting situations.

We need to embrace holiness and sanctification once again. Today's society has become so immoral and more and more Christians are being deceived. It seems that self-control is becoming a thought of the past. The church world has just become so compromising when it comes to sinful living and behavior. Many people are turning a blind eye or deaf ear to condemnation. We must learn once again that it is essential in our Christian walk to be bigger than the tempter. We must again show the lost and dying world that there are still Christians who have self-control.

Remember to resist the devil and he will flee from you. We do not have to submit to the tricky devises of the enemy. Again, one word RESIST!!

7 Minutes With God (CF 28/4)

SEVEN MINUTES WITH GOD

How to Plan a Daily Quiet Time by Robert D. Foster

It was in 1882 on the campus of Cambridge University that the world was first given the slogan:

"Remember the morning watch."

Students like Hopper and Thornton found their days "loaded" with studies, lectures, games and bull sessions. Enthusiasm and activity were the order of the day. These dedicated men soon discovered a flaw in their spiritual armor -- a small crack which if not soon closed, would bring disaster.

They sought an answer and came up with a scheme they called the morning watch -- a plan to spend the first minutes of a new day alone with God, praying and reading the Bible.

The morning watch sealed the crack. It enshrined a truth so often obscured by the pressure of ceaseless activity that it needs daily rediscovery: To know God, it is necessary to spend consistent time with Him.

The idea caught fire. "A remarkable period of religious blessing" followed, and culminated in the departure of the Cambridge Seven, a band of prominent athletes and men of wealth and education, for missionary service. They gave up everything to go out to China for Christ.

But these men found that getting out of bed in time for the morning watch was as difficult as it was vital. Thornton was determined to turn indolence into discipline. He invented an automatic, foolproof cure for laziness. It was a contraption set up by his bed: "The vibration of an alarm clock set fishing tackle in motion, and the sheets, clipped to the line, moved swiftly into the air off the sleeper's body." Thornton wanted to get up to meet his God!

The intimacy of communion with Christ must be recaptured in the morning quiet time. Call it what you want -- the quiet time, personal devotions, the morning watch, or individual worship -- these holy minutes at the start of each day explain the inner secret of Christianity. It's the golden thread that ties every great man of God together -- from Moses to David Livingstone, the prophet Amos to Billy Graham -- rich and poor, businessmen and military personnel. Every man who ever became somebody for God has this at the core of his priorities: time alone with God!

David says in Psalm 57:7, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed." A fixed and established heart produces stability in life. Few men in the Christian community have his heart and life. One of the missing links has been a workable plan on how to begin and maintain a morning watch.

I want to suggest that in order to get under way, you start with seven minutes. Perhaps you could call it a daily "Seven-Up". Five minutes may be too short, and ten minutes for some is a little too long at first.

Are you willing to take seven minutes every morning? Not five mornings out of seven, not six days out of seven -- but seven days out of seven! Ask God to help you: "Lord, I want to meet You the first thing in the morning for at least seven minutes. Tomorrow when the alarm clock goes off at 6:15 a.m., I have an appointment with You." Your prayer might be, "Morning by morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation" (Psalm 5:3)

How do you spend these even minutes? After getting out of bed and taking care of your personal needs, you will want to find a quiet place and there with your Bible enjoy the solitude of seven minutes with God.

Invest the first 30 seconds preparing your heart. Thank Him for the good night of sleep and the opportunities of this new day. "Lord, cleanse my heart so You can speak to me through the Scriptures. Open my heart. Fill my heart. Make my mind alert, my soul active, and my heart responsive. Lord, surround me with Your presence during this time. Amen."

Now take four minutes to read the Bible. Your greatest need is to hear some word from God. Allow the Word to strike fire in your heart. Meet the Author! One of the Gospels is a good place to begin reading. Start with the Book of Mark. Read consecutively -- verse after verse, chapter after chapter. Don't race, but avoid stopping to do a Bible study on some word, thought, or theological problem which presents itself. Read for the pure joy of reading and allowing God to speak -- perhaps just 20 verses, or maybe a complete chapter. When you have finished Mark, start the Gospel of John. Soon you'll want to go ahead and read the entire New Testament.

After God has spoken through His Book, then speak to Him -- in prayer. You now have two and a half minutes left for fellowship with Him in four areas of prayer that you can remember by the word ACTS.

A -- Adoration. This is the purest kind of prayer because it's all for God -- there's nothing in it for you. You don't barge into the presence of royalty. You begin with the proper salutation. So worship Him. Tell the Lord that you love Him. Reflect on His greatness, His power, His majesty, and sovereignty!

C -- Confession follows. Having seen Him you now want to be sure every sin is cleansed and forsaken. Confession comes form a root word meaning "to agree together with". Apply this to prayer. It means to agree with God. Something happened yesterday you called a slight exaggeration -- God calls it a lie! You call it strong language -- God calls it swearing. You call it telling the truth about somebody in church -- God calls it gossip. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18)

T -- Thanksgiving. Express your gratitude to God. Think of several specific things to thank Him for: your family, your business, your church and ministry responsibilities -- even thank Him for hardships. "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (I Thessalonians 5: 18).

S -- Supplication. This means to "ask for, earnestly and humbly." This is part of your prayer life where you make your petitions know ton Him. Ask for others, then for yourself. Why not include other people around the world such as missionaries, students studying abroad, friends in distant places, and above all the people of many lands who have yet to hear about Jesus Christ.

Let's put these seven minutes together:

1/2 Prayer for guidance (Psalm 143:8)

4 Reading the Bible (Psalm 119:18)

2 and a 1/2 Prayer:

a) Adoration (I Chronicles 29:11)

b) Confession (I John 1:9)

c) Thanksgiving (Ephesians 5: 20)

d) Supplication (Matthew 7:7)

_________________________________________________

This is simply a guide. Very soon you'll discover that it is impossible to spend only seven minutes with the Lord. An amazing thing happens -- seven minutes become 20, and it is not long before you're spending 30 precious minutes with Him. Do not become devoted to the habit, but to the Savior.

Do it not because other men are doing it -- not as a spiritless duty every morning, nor merely as an end in itself, but because God has granted the priceless privilege of fellowship with Himself. Covenant with Him now to guard, nourish, and maintain your morning watch of seven minutes.