In a story about some of the worst Mother’s Day gifts ever given, the Houston Chronicle repoted a story about Jerry
Maltz giving his wife an iron. He got the message when she gave him an ironing board for Father’s Day.
“The only
investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the
money I have given to the Lord.”—J. L. Kraft (head of Kraft Cheese Corporation)
“The person who waits to do a great deal of good
at once will never do anything.”—Samuel Johnson
“Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.”—J.B.
Phillips
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to
gain what he cannot lose.”—Missionary Jim Elliott
$1.00 spent for lunch lasts five hours. $1.00 spent for a neck-tie lasts five weeks. $1.00 spent for a cap lasts five months. $1.00 spent for an auto lasts five years. $1.00 spent for a railroad lasts five decades. $1.00 spent in God’s service lasts for eternity.—Roger W. Babson
The story is told of a man who had a horrible dream. He
said, “I dreamed that the Lord took my Sunday offering and multiplied it by
ten, and this became my weekly income. In no time I lost my color TV, had to
give up my new car and
couldn’t make my house payment. After all, what can a
fellow do on $10 a week?”
If the Lord took your offering, multiplied it by ten, and
made that your weekly income, how much would you make?
When 67-year-old carpenter Russell Herman died in 1994, his will
included a staggering set of bequests. Included in his plan for distribution
was more than two billion dollars for the City of East St. Louis, another
billion and a half for the State of Illinois, two and a half billion for the
national forest system, and to top off the list, Herman left six trillion
dollars to the government to help pay off the national debt. That sounds
amazingly generous, but there was a small problem—Herman’s only asset when he
died was a 1983 Oldsmobile.
”A father gave his little girl two dollars and said, “You can do
anything you want with one of the dollars, but the other dollar belongs to God.”
With joy she ran to the candy store. On the way she
tripped and one dollar fell into the storm drain. She got up and said, “Well
Lord, there goes Your dollar.”
1. Don’t
buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that
you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999
times.
2. Avoid all things useful. The new silver polish advertised to save hundreds
of hours is not going to win you any brownie points.
3. Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry
you can afford, she doesn’t want.
Marquis de
Lafayette was a French officer who provided invaluable assistance to George
Washington and the struggling American army. After the war was over, he
returned to France and resumed his life as a farmer of many estates. In 1783,
the harvest was a terrible one, and there were many who suffered as a result.
Lafayette’s farms were unaffected by the devastating crop failures. One of his
workers offered what seemed to be good advice to Lafayette, “The bad harvest has
raised the price of wheat.
In 1995 the nation was stunned when news broke that an elderly woman
named Oseola McCarty had donated $150,000 to the University of Southern
Mississippi for their scholarship fund. This eighty-seven-year-old woman
had been forced to drop out of school in the sixth grade to care for
her family. For more than sixty years she made a living washing clothes
for hire in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, saving as much as she could from
her meager pay.
The Baptist preacher Dr. George W. Truett accepted an
invitation from a church to preach the dedication sermon for their new
building. He arrived at the church about ten minutes before the service started,
and was told that the church needed to raise $6,500 by the next day in order to
finish paying for the building. The church officers told him that they were
depending on him to raise the money.
Dr. Truett preached the sermon then said, “These men bid me
to tell you that you must give $6,500 in cash, which is all due tomorrow. Will
you provide it?”
Robert Arthington lived in
a single room, cooked his own meals, and shared his friendship with students
who were in need. Yet he gave tremendous amounts of money during his
lifetime to Christian missions. When he died, his estate was worth about five
million dollars which he willed to missions.
Fortune magazine
reported that the nation’s top twenty-five philanthropists gave away more than
$1.5 billion in 1996. The most generous was George Soros, president of Soros
Fund Management, who donated $350 million last year.
Of the top twenty-five philanthropists, only
four inherited fortunes. Most attributed their generosity in part to religious
backgrounds. And most were donors even before they became wealthy.
Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College
The story is told of a man who was asked, “Are
you a believer in the Christian religion?”
“Oh, certainly!”
“You are a member of some church, then, I suppose?”
“Member of a church? No, indeed. Why should I be a member of a
church? It is quite unnecessary; the dying thief wasn’t a member of a church,
and he went to Heaven.”
“But of course you have been baptized; you know the command—”
“Been baptized? Oh, no; that is another needless ceremony! I am as
safe as the dying thief was, and he never was baptized.”
For her special day Janet received an expensive tube of
Retin-A from her two teenage daughters. When she shared about her gift at a
luncheon with friends, they were all impressed that her girls were resourceful
enough to finagle a prescription medication to help diminish wrinkles. Realizing
this was such a unique gift, the ladies were curious as to what they gave her
for last Mother’s Day. Without a moment’s hesitation Janet replied, “The
wrinkles!”
Four brothers left home for college and became successful doctors
and lawyers. Some years later, they chatted after having dinner together. They
discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother who lived far
away in another city.
In the late 1800’s George Mueller operated an orphanage that at
one time had 1,000 orphans. One morning there was no food to eat, but he called all the children and staff
together and prayed thanking God for the provision of food, even though no
food was on the table. A few moments later a baker knocked on the door. He told Mr. Muller that God had led him to bake bread the night before and give it to the orphanage. Before the bread was given to the children, a milkman knocked on the door. He said that his milk truck had broken down and he wanted to give the milk to the orphanage.
When a young woman’s mother’s office got a fax
machine, the daughter suggested sending their correspondence by fax instead of
using the post office. Although she told her many times that it was a faster and
less expensive way to communicate, her mother continued to send her mail by
weekly letters. At Christmas, however, her mother showed that she now had a
full grasp of the technology. She faxed a $100 bill with the note: “Merry
Christmas, Darling. You’re right—it is cheaper to fax than to mail. Love, Mom.”
The story is told of a woman who had finished
shopping and returned to her car. She found four men inside the car. She
dropped her shopping bags, drew a handgun, and screamed, “I have a gun, and I
know how to use it! Get out of the car.”
Those men did not wait for a second invitation; they
got out and ran like crazy. The woman, somewhat shaken, loaded her shopping
bags and then got into the car. But no matter how she tried, she could not get
her key into the ignition. Then it dawned on her: her car was parked four or
five spaces away!
A man on vacation was strolling along outside
his hotel. Suddenly, he was attracted by the screams of a woman kneeling in
front of a child. The man knew enough to determine that the child had swallowed
a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held him up, gave him a few
shakes, and a quarter dropped to the sidewalk. “Oh, thank you sir!” cried the
woman. “You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?”
“No, ma’am,” replied the man. “I’m
with the Internal Revenue Service.”
A young boy, on an errand for his mother, had just bought
a dozen eggs. Walking out of the store, he tripped and dropped the sack. All
the eggs broke, and the sidewalk was a mess. The boy tried not to cry.
A few people gathered to see if he was okay and to tell
him how sorry they were. In the midst of the words of pity, one man handed the
boy a quarter.
Then he turned to the group and said, “I care twenty-five cents
worth. How much do the rest of you care?”
