Daily Archives: April 19, 2004

Wishing to encourage her young son’s progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted an old friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked “NO ADMITTANCE”. When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing.

Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy’s ear, “Don’t quit. Keep playing.” Then leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child, and he added a running obligatio. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed what could have been a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was so mesmerized that they couldn’t recall what else the great master played. Only the classic “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

Perhaps that is the way it is with God. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results are not always graceful flowing music. However, with the hand of the Master, our life’s work can truly be beautiful. Next time you set out to accomplish great feats, listen carefully. You may hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear, “Don’t quit. Keep playing.” May you feel His arms around you and know that His hands are there helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces. Remember, God does not seem to call the equipped; rather, He equips the “called.”

Originally written by Loren Eiseley and retold by Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen in their book “Chicken Soup for the Soul”

A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.

As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at time, he was throwing them back into the water.

Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said,

“Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you are doing.”

“I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it’s low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen.”

“I understand,” my friend replied,

“but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can’t possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don’t you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?”

The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied,

“I made a difference to that one!”

A true story by Josh and Karen

Zarandona Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff.

In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda’s eye and knocked out her contact lens. Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn’t there. Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff.

She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth. “She thought, “Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and you know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me. “Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, “Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?”

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it. Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, “Lord, I don’t know why You want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat it, and it’s awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I’ll carry it for You.”

I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, “God, I don’t know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it’s awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will.”

God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

A minister passing through his church in the middle of the day. Decided to pause by the altar and see who had come to pray.

Just then the back door opened, a man came down the aisle. The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn’t shaved in a while. His shirt was kinda shabby and his coat was worn and frayed. The man knelt, he bowed his head, then rose and walked away.

In the days that followed, each noon time came this chap, each time he knelt just for a moment, a lunch pail in his lap.

Well, the minister’s suspicions grew, with robbery a main fear. He decided to stop the man and ask him,
“What are you doing here?”

The old man said, he worked down the road. Lunch was half an hour. Lunchtime was his prayer time, for finding strength and power.

“I stay only moments, see, because the factory is so far away; as I kneel here talking to the Lord, this is kinda what I say:

Just came again to tell you,
Lord, how happy I’ve been,
since we found each other’s friendship and You took away my sin.
Don’t know much of how to pray, but I think about you everyday.
So, Jesus, This is Jim checking in.”

The minister feeling foolish, told Jim, that was fine. He told the man he was welcome to come and pray just anytime. Time to go, Jim smiled, said “Thanks.” He hurried to the door. The minister knelt at the altar, he’d never done it before.

His cold heart melted, warmed with love, and met with Jesus there. As the tears flowed, in his heart, he repeated old Jim’s prayer:
“I just came again to tell you, Lord, how happy I’ve been, since we found each other’s friendship and You took away my sin. I don’t know much of how to pray, but I think about you everyday. So, Jesus, This is me checking in.”

Past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn’t come. As more days passed without Jim, he began to worry some.

At the factory, he asked about him, learning he was ill. The hospital staff was worried, but he’d given them a thrill. The week that Jim was with them, brought changes in the ward. His smiles, a joy contagious. Changed people, were his reward.

The head nurse couldn’t understand why Jim was so glad, when no flowers, calls or cards came, not a visitor he had. The minister stayed by his bed, he voiced the nurse’s concern: No friends came to show they cared. He had nowhere to turn.

Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a winsome smile;
“the nurse is wrong, she couldn’t know, that in here all the while everyday at noon
He’s here, a dear friend of mine, you see, He sits right down, takes my hand, leans over and says to me:

“I just came again to tell you,
Jim, how happy I have been,
since we found this friendship, and I took away your sin.
Always love to hear you pray,
I think about you each day,
and so Jim,
this is Jesus checking in.”

If this blesses you, pass it on…
Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
May God hold you in the palm of His hand – and angels watch over you.

by Margaret Fishback Powers
(Note: I received an email several months ago claiming that Mary Stevenson was the true creator of this story. Personally I have no way to check who the true author is, so I list both of them here.)

One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:
one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life
there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened
at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it:
“LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.”

The LORD replied:
“My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.