Daily Bible Reading

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Old Testament: Genesis 24:1-67

New Testament Matthew 9:14 - 9:38

Psalms/Proverbs Psalm 8:1-9

Based on NIV Seasons of Reflections

Messages referring to the Bible Reading:

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
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WHAT IS MAN?

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How to Read the Bible Book by Book
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Customer Review: This book provides specific guidance for reading each book of the Bible by providing an introduction and summary of each book. This title also tries to tie together the big picture and how each book fits ... [Buy from Amazon]

ARE YOU HAPPY?

"Daddy, are you happy?" the little girl asked. Her father surprised by the question replied, "Why yes, I believe I am."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Well, because I am here with you and that makes me happy," he replied.

"So when you are not with me are you still happy?"

Now, thinking this to be a trick question, the father pauses for a moment and says, "Yes, I am happy then, but even more so when we are together."

"So being with someone is all you need to be happy?" she asked.

"No, there's more to it than that," he replied. "Why are you asking all of these questions?"

"I was watching television while you and Mom were at work and the lady asked that question, "Are you happy?" So I thought I'd find out what it meant to be happy. I've been asking people all day."

"You have? What did you learn?"

"Well, Mom says she's happy when she is at home. Mr. James next door is happy when he is working in his garden. Grandmom says, she's happy when she's singing with the choir."

"You see, everyone is happy with different things," Dad added.

"Except for Mrs. Drake. She said she'll be happy when God calls her home."

"That's her faith and love of God."

"But if those things make people happy, then they are only happy when they are doing them."

Dad thought about what she said and then added, "Well, people can't be happy all the time."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well, what makes you happy?" Dad asked of her. "Are you happy all the time?"

"I am happy all the time, because I'm happy to be alive," she said looking up at her father.

Her statement hit him hard. He was nearly breathless. He reached down for her hand and kissed it gently. Then running his fingers over the top of her pale, nearly hairless head, he stopped for a moment, reached down for her chin and gently kissed her on the cheek.

He had forgotten. He wasn't looking at the world through her eyes, the eyes of a child fighting for her life. Cancer had stripped her of all the things a healthy young child takes for granted. The irony of it all is the child had learned the greatest lesson of all. The lesson it normally takes a lifetime to learn.

There is nothing more valuable than life itself. Most of us who are blessed with good health our entire life search for happiness in the stuff of life. We are unhappy when we don't have the things that make us happy.

I discovered this when my own son, Keith had cancer. I remember there was this invisible line drawn between us. Up to that point when he had cancer I could share my fatherly wisdom with him. My own experiences helped me to relate to his. That is until he faced life and death. There I stood on one side of the line and he on the other. I could not say, "I know what you are going through."

I learned to look at life through his eyes and still do to this day. For he has been down the road a bit ahead of me, not by years, but by the reality of almost losing his life.

Ask him, "Are you happy?"

He'll reply, "I'm alive!"

Everything else are gifts. You can't get much happier than that!

"Are you happy?"

By Bob Perks,
mailto:Bob@BobPerks.com

Note from Bob Perks: Please don't remove my name and contact info! If you are about to copy this story to share with your friends, please leave my name, email address. It is a copyrighted story and cannot be edited in any manner. Thanks!

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Precious Memories
by Alan Jackson; Price: $9.76 (49% off)
Customer Review: A few decades ago nearly every country singer had at least one--often more--gospel albums in their catalog. Today, aside from gospel veteran Amy Grant, who balances the sacred and secular, and Randy Travis, that concept has long faded. For Alan Jackson, however, treating the musical past as present has been a way of life, as it is with these 15 tim... [read more]

Categories: daily-thoughts happiness perspective attitude alive

Look at your Hands

An old man, probably some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the park bench. He didn't move, just sat with his head down staring at his hands. When I sat down beside him he didn't acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if he was ok.

Finally, not really wanting to disturb him but wanting to check on him at the same time, I asked him if he were ok. He raised his head and looked at me and smiled.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking," he said in a clear strong voice.

"I didn't mean to disturb you, sir, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were ok?" I explained to him.

"Have you ever looked at your hands?" he asked. "I mean really looked at your hands."

I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point he was making. Then he smiled and related this story:

"Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands, though wrinkled, shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life.

They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor. They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child my mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots.

They dried the tears of my children and caressed the love of my life. They held my rifle and wiped my tears when I went off to war. They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent.

They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special.

They wrote the letters home and trembled and shook when I buried my parents and spouse and when I walked my daughter down the aisle. Yet, they were strong and sure when I dug my buddy out of a foxhole and lifted a plow off of my best friends foot.

They have held children, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn't understand. They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried and raw.

And to this day when not much of anything else of me works real well these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer. These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of my life.

But more importantly it will be these hands that God will reach out and take when he leads me home. And He won't care about where these hands have been or what they have done. What He will care about is to whom these hands belong and how much He loves these hands. And with these hands He will lift me to His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of Christ."

No doubt I will never look at my hands the same again. I never saw the old man again after I left the park that day, but I will never forget him and the words he spoke.

When my hands are hurt or sore or when I stroke the face of my children I think of the man in the park. I have a feeling he has been stroked and caressed and held by the hands of God.

I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel His hands upon my face.

Thank you, Father God, for for these hands and this life.

Author Unknown

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Precious Memories
by Alan Jackson; Price: $9.76 (49% off)
Customer Review: A few decades ago nearly every country singer had at least one--often more--gospel albums in their catalog. Today, aside from gospel veteran Amy Grant, who balances the sacred and secular, and Randy Travis, that concept has long faded. For Alan Jackson, however, treating the musical past as present has been a way of life, as it is with these 15 tim... [read more]