More Inspirations
Who Will You Be Held Accountable For?"
One day a woman named Louise fell asleep
in her bed and dreamed a dream.
She dreamed that someone from hell wrote her a letter
and it was to be deliverd by a messenger.
The messenger passed between the lakes of
burning fire and brimstone that occupies hell,
and found his way to the door that
would lead him to the outside world.
Louise dreamed that the messenger walked into her house,
came inside, and woke her up.
He gave her the message,
saying only that a friend had written it to her from hell.
Louise, in her dream, with trembling hands took the letter and read:
My friend,
I stand in judgment now,
and feel that you are to blame some how.
On earth, I walked with you day and day,
and never did you point the way.
You knew the Lord in truth and glory,
but never did you tell the story.
My knowledge then was very dim;
You could have led me safe to Him.
Though we lived together on the earth,
you never told me of the second birth,
and now I stand this day condemned,
because you failed to mention Him.
You taught me many things, that's true,
I called you "friend" and trusted you,
but I learn now that it's too late,
you could have kept me from this fate.
We walked by day and talked by night,
and yet you showed me not the light.
You let me live, and love, and die,
you knew I'd never live on high.
Yes, I called you a "friend" in life,
and trusted you through joy and strife,
and yet on coming to the end,
I can not, now, call you "my friend."
Marsha
After reading the letter, Louise awoke.
The dream was so real in her mind that sweat dropped from her body in pools.
She seemed to still smell the brimstone and smoke in her room.
As she comtemplated the meaning of her dream,
she realized that as a Christian, she had failed in her duty to
" go out to all the world and preach the gospel ."
As she thought of that, she promised herself that the next day,
she would call Marsha and invite her to church with her.
The next morning she called Marsha and this was the conversatition:
Yes, Bill, is Marsha there?
Louise, you don't know?
No, Bill, know what?
Marsha was killed last night in a car accident!
I thought you had known.
Fellow Christian, is this your testimony?
Are you witnessing to your friends that you are with every day?
OR will there be a friend of yours in hell,
asking you why you did not tell them about JESUS?
Deep letter, don't you think?
How many of your friends will hold you accountable for not telling them about Jesus and His love?
It is every Christians mission to share the gospel message with all.
It is not just the pastors, deacons, sunday school teachers job,
it is our job, each and every Christians job to do so.
Jesus does not ask you to tell the world, he commands us to tell the world!
God's purpose in our life was not just to "get us saved"
if it was, once we accepted Christ into our life
and received His gift of salvation He would have taken us on to heaven.
His purpose is for us to tell the world of His Son Jesus!
Author
Unknown
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Youth is not a time of life
it is a state of mind.
It is not a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips and supple knees,
it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination,
a vigor of the emotions, it is a freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.
This often exists in a man of fifty more than in a boy of twenty.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years,
people grow old only by deserting their ideals.
Years wrinkle the skin; but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear, despair -
these are the long long years
that bow the head and
turn the growing spirit back to dust.
Whether seventy or sixteen,
there is in every being's heart the love of wonder,
the sweet amazement at the stars and the starlike things and thoughts,
the undaunted challenge of events,
the unfailing childlike appetite for what is next,
and the joy in the game of life.
You are as young as your faith and as old as your doubt;
as young as your self confidence,
as old as your fear; as young as your hope
and as old as your despair.
(Anonymous)
"The Donut"
(Unknown Author)
There was a boy by the name of Steve who was attending Seminary in Utah.
In this Seminary, classes are held during school hours.
Brother Christianson taught Seminary at this particular school.
He had an open-door policy and would take in any student that had
been thrown out of another class as long as they would abide by his rules.
Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period and no other teacher wanted him,
so he went into Brother Christianson's Seminary class.
Steve was told that he could not be late, so he arrived just seconds
before the bell rang and he would sit in the very back of the room.
He would also be the first to leave after the class was over.
One day, Brother Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him.
After class, Brother Christianson pulled Steve aside and said,
"You think you're pretty tough, don't you?"
"Steve's answer was, "Yeah, I do."
Then Brother Christianson asked, "How many push-ups can you do?"
Steve said, "I do about 200 every night
." "200? That's pretty good, Steve!"
Brother Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"
Steve replied, "I don't know... I've never done 300 at a time."
"Do you think you could?" Again asked Brother Christianson.
"Well, I can try," said Steve. "Can you do 300 in sets of 10?
I need you to do
300 in sets of 10 for this to work. Can you do it?
I need you to tell me you can do it," Brother Christianson said.
Steve said, "Well... I think I can... yeah, I can do it."
Brother Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday."
Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room.
When class started, Brother Christianson pulled out a big box of donuts.
Now these weren't the normal kinds of donuts,
they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls.
Everyone was pretty excited-it was Friday,
the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend.
Brother Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked,
"Cynthia, do you want a donut?" Cynthia said, "Yes."
Brother Christianson then turned to Steve and asked,
"Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?
" Steve said, "Sure," and jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten.
Then Steve again sat in his desk.
Brother Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.
Brother Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked,
"Joe do you want a donut?" Joe said, "Yes.
"Brother Christianson asked,
"Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?"
Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut.
And so it went, down the first aisle,
Steve did ten pushups for every person before they got their donut.
And down the second aisle, till Brother Christianson came to Scott.
Scott was captain of the football team and center of the basketball team.
He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship.
When Brother Christianson asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"
Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own pushups?"
Brother Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."
Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."
Brother Christianson then turned to Steve and asked,
"Steve, would you do ten pushups so
Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?"
Steve started to do ten pushups.
Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn't want one!"
Brother Christianson said,
"Look, this is my classroom, my class,
my desks, and my donuts.
Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it."
And he put a donut on Scott's desk.
Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little.
He just stayed on the floor between sets because
it took too much effort to be getting up and down.
You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow.
Brother Christianson started down the third row.
Now the students were beginning to get a little angry.
Brother Christianson asked Jenny,
"Jenny, do you want a donut?"
Jenny said, "No."
Then Brother Christianson asked Steve,
"Steve, would you do ten pushups so Jenny
can have a donut that she doesn't want?"
Steve did ten, Jenny got a donut.
By now, the students were beginning to say "No"
and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks.
Steve was also having to really put forth a lot of
effort to get these pushups done for each donut.
There began to be a small pool of sweat
on the floor beneath his face,
his arms and brow were beginning to
get red because of the physical effort involved.
Brother Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve
to make sure he did ten pushups in a set because
he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's
work for all of those uneaten donuts.
So Robert began to watch Steve closely.
Brother Christianson started down the fourth row.
During his class, however, some students had wandered in
and sat along the heaters along the sides of the room.
When Brother Christianson realized this;
he did a quick count and saw 34 students in the room.
He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.
Brother Christianson went on to the next person
and the next and the next.
Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time.
He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.
Steve asked Brother Christianson,
"Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"
Brother Christianson thought for a moment,
"Well, they're your pushups.
You can do them any way that you want."
And Brother Christianson went on.
A few moments later,
Jason came to the room and was about
to come in when all the students yelled,
"NO! Don't come in! Stay out!"
Jason didn't know what was going on.
Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."
Brother Christianson said,
"You realize that if Jason comes in you will
have to do ten pushups for him."
Steve said, "Yes,
let him come in." Brother Christianson said,
"Okay, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now.
Jason, do you want a donut?" "Yes."
"Steve, will you do ten pushups so that Jason can have a donut?"
Steve did ten pushups very slowly and with great effort.
Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.
Brother Christianson finished the fourth row,
then started on those seated on the heaters.
Steve's arms were now shaking with each pushup
in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity.
Sweat was dropping off of his face and, by this time,
there was not a dry eye in the room.
The very last two girls in the room were cheerleaders
and very popular.
Brother Christianson went to Linda,
the second to last, and asked,
"Linda, do you want a doughnut?
Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you.
" Brother Christianson asked Steve,
"Steve, would you do ten pushups so that
Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?"
Grunting from the effort,
Steve did ten very slow pushups for Linda.
Then Brother Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan.
"Susan, do you want a donut?"
Susan, with tears flowing down her face, asked,
"Brother Christianson, can I help him?"
Brother Christianson, with tears of his own, said,
"No, he has to do it alone,
Steve, would you do ten pushups so
Susan can have a donut?"
As Steve very slowly finished his last pushup,
with the understanding that he had
accomplished all that was required of
him, having done 350 pushups,
his arms buckled beneath him and
and he fell to the floor.
Brother Christianson turned to the room and said.
"And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ,
plead to the Father,
"Into thy hands I commend my spirit."
With the understanding that He had done
everything that was required of Him,
he collapsed on the cross and died.
And like some of those in this room,
many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten.
" My wish is that you might understand and fully comprehend
all the riches of grace and mercy that have
been given to you through the sacrifice of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance."
2 Peter 3:9
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