History

There was once a hat-seller who passed by a forest. The weather was very hot and he decided to take a nap under one of the trees, so he left his whole basket of hats by the side.A few hours later, he woke up and realized that all his hats were gone.Then he heard some monkeys on top of the tree and he looked up. To his surprise, the tree was full of monkeys. They had taken all his hats!The hat-seller sits down and try to think of how he can get the hats down. He started to think and scratched his head. The next moment, he realized that the monkeys were doing the same thing.Next, he took down his own hat and fanned himself. The monkeys did exactly the same! An idea struck him - he took his hat and threw it on the floor. And the monkeys did the same too. Happily, he collected all his hats back.Fifty years later, his grandson also became a hat-seller and also got to hear the monkey story from his grandfather. One day, just like his grandfather, he passed by the same forest. Feeling very hot, he took a nap under the same tree and left the hats on the floor.Again, when he woke up, he realized that all his hats were gone. He looked up and found that the monkeys had taken all his hats. Remembering what his grandfather had told him, he started scratching his head and the monkeys followed.He took down his hat and fanned himself and again the monkeys followed.Now, very convinced of his grandfather's idea, he threw his hat on the floor... but to his surprise, the monkeys still held on to all the hats!Then one bold monkey climbed down the tree, grabbed the hat on the floor, and sneered ... "you think say na only you get grand-papa??"

IS PACKAGING IMPORTANT TO YOU?

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said,

"With all your money you give me a Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.
When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words… " PAID IN FULL".

How many times do we miss blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. Sometimes we don't realize the good fortune we have or we could have because we expect "the packaging" to be different. What may appear as bad fortune may in fact be the door that is just waiting to be opened.

I trust you enjoyed this. Pass it on to others and remain blessed.

Where is GOD?

Two brothers were extremely mischievous and their parents were at their wits' end. So they asked their pastor to talk with the boys.
The pastor sat the younger one down first. He wanted him to think about God, so he started the conversation by asking, "Where is God?" The boy didn't respond, so he repeated the question in a stern tone. Again he gave no answer. Frustrated, the pastor shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted, "Where is God?!"
The boy bolted from the room, ran home, and hid in his closet. His brother followed him and asked, "What happened?"
The younger boy replied, "We're in big trouble now. God is missing, and they think we did it!"
Sounds a bit like Adam and Eve, who were filled with guilt and tried to hide from God (Genesis 3:10). They had known the Lord's close fellowship, but now they were afraid to face Him. God pursued them, though, and asked, "What is this you have done?" Instead of repenting, Adam blamed God and Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.

How do we respond when we've sinned against God? Do we hide, hoping He won't notice? If we are His, He'll pursue us. The wisest choice is to come out of our hiding place, confess our sin, and have our fellowship restored.

culled from Our Daily bread, Nov. 3rd 2007.