An 8-year-old girl went to her dad, who was working in the yard, and asked him, "Daddy, what is sex?"

The father was taken aback, but he decided that if she is old enough to ask the question, then she is old enough to get a straight answer. He proceeded to explain everything about the birds and the bees.

When he finished explaining, the little girl was just looking at him with her mouth hanging open. The father asked her, "Could you tell me why you asked me about that?"

The little girl replied, "Mom told me to tell you that dinner would be ready in just a couple of secs."

[forwarded by Gretchen Patti]

"Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."

My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. "This," he said, "is not a slip. This is lingerie." He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip.

It was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached. "Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is the occasion."

He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me.

"Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."

I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister's family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special. I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed my life.

I'm reading more and dusting less.

I'm sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them. I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event--such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom.

I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party-going friends. "Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary.

If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now. I'm not sure what my sister would have done had she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted. I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food.

I'm guessing--

I'll never know. It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with--someday. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write--one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is...a gift from God.

Save a place for me

I just recently heard this song for the first time. The words are so true.


Save A Place For Me
------Matthew West

Don't be mad
If I cry
It just hurts so bad, sometimes
'Cause everyday it's sinking in
And I have to say goodbye all over again

You know I bet it feels good to have the weight of this world off your shoulders now
I'm dreaming of the day when I'm finally there with you

(Chorus)
Save a place for me
Save a place for me
I'll be there soon
I'll be there soon
Save a place for me
Save some grace for me
I'll be there soon
I'll be there soon

I have asked the questions why
But I guess the answers for another time
So instead I pray, with every tear
And be thankful for the time I had you here

A post Valentine

BEING VALENTINE


"When I found the one my heart loves, I held him and would not let him go..." (Song of Songs 3:4)

Another Valentine's Day is past. No doubt the usual enormous quantity of cards, flowers and candy was bought and exchanged. It is said that only Christmas exceeds Valentine's Day in the number of holiday cards sent.

The true identity of Saint Valentine is not known. One legend holds that he was a kindly priest of the third century who continued to perform marriages despite an imperial ban. It seems that the Roman Emperor Claudius was upset at the number of men who refused to serve in his army because of their desire to stay home with their wives, so he outlawed marriage. And Fr. Valentine was beheaded for his trouble. Another tale tells of a medieval monk named Valentine who carried messages back and forth between men in prison and their loved ones. Many stories attach to this holiday, but the fact is we don’t know about St. Valentine.

But we know about love. We know how wonderful it is — and sometimes how disappointing. We know how naturally it comes to us — and how difficult it can often be. We know much we want it — and what risks it may carry. I asked a friend who had spent his career as a general surgeon what the most difficult kind of surgery had been for him. "Fixing hearts," he said, "because I know the cost of failure." He could as well have been describing love.

There is risk in giving love and risk in receiving it. Often the kids in orphanages where I've shared in ministry stand back when we arrive. They have had their hearts broken before, being abandoned by those they loved, and they don't know if they want to go there again. One can hear the fear in their voices when they ask if we're coming back to see them again, can feel it in the tightness of that last hug as we board our bus to leave. Yet love we must. It's a risk we have to take for life to be healthy and full. The title alone of psychologist Smiley Blanton's book gives the whole picture: "Love or Perish."

So love. Love God with all your heart. Take the chance on what that might mean for you. Love your neighbor — and your spouse and your parents and your kids — in the same measure as you do yourself. Valentine's Day is past, but today is still a time, as Solomon said, to hold them and not let them go.

By Dr. Michael Halleen

Harvesters of signs

By Dr. Michael A. Halleen

(God) took (Abraham) outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars-if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."(Genesis 15:5)

God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would be founders of a great nation and a blessing to the earth. They had kept their part of the bargain and gone where God told them to go. They had trusted and believed. But the years had piled up like sand in the desert and no child had been born to them. True, God had brought them into a new land as promised, but what good was that if there was no one to leave it to?

The story of Sarah and Abraham is a story of barrenness - not only of their inability to have children, but also of a world in which our prayers go unanswered, our deepest hopes remain unborn. As for Abraham, so also for us the time comes when we want action. Abraham, speaking for us all, says to God, in essence, "The land is fine, Lord, but what about the child you promised?"

We who worship the God of Abraham and Sarah and believe that the promised blessing is also for us feel the urgency in his question. We have asked it from the depths of our hearts too. Why am I unable to find a meaningful job? Where is the good health for which I've prayed? Will there ever be someone to love me? How long must we live in fear of terrorism?

As Abraham's question cut through the night air, God gave him a sign. He took him outdoors, beneath a sky powdered with stars, and said again that he and Sarah would have descendants to outnumber the lights of heaven. It was not an explanation but simply a reiteration of the promise. It meant Don't give up! Keep the faith! I'm still around!

Faith is a gift, something we receive rather than achieve. Some receive it in great measure, others less so. But all of us, like Abraham, are called to be observers of signs. When he grew tired of waiting, he saw in the stars something that helped him persevere. Our signs may be more subtle - a kind word, a gentle hand, a beautiful thing that reminds us of the Creator's love. Harvest those signs. Share them. Each one, great or small, helps us in the long and difficult wait for the fulfillment of God's promises.

Being thankful --Perspective

'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world 's wealthy. '

'And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. '

'If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. '

'If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world. '

'If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world. '

'If your parents are still alive and still married ..you are very rare.'

'If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair. '

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Kinda puts our life in perspective --Huh

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church

in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October

excited about their opportunities. When they saw

their church, it was very run down and needed

much work. They set a goal to have everything

done in time to have their first service

on Christmas Eve


They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls,

painting, etc, and on December 18

were ahead of schedule and just about finished.


On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving

rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.


On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.

His heart sank when he saw that the roof had

leaked, causing a large area of plaster about

20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall

of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit,

beginning about head high.


The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,

and not knowing what else to do but postpone

the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was

having a flea market type sale for charity, so he

stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,

handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth

with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross

embroidered right in the center. It was just

the right size to cover the hole in the front

wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.


By this time it had started to snow. An older

woman running from the opposite direction was

trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor

invited her to wait in the warm church for

the next bus 45 minutes later.




She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor

while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put

up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor

could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and

it covered up the entire problem area.


Then he noticed the woman walking down the center

aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor,"

she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"

The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check

the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into

it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had

made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria .


The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor

told how he had just gotten "The Tablecloth". The

woman explained that before the war she and

her husband were well-to-do people in Austria .


When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.

Her husband was going to follow her the next week.

He was captured, sent to prison and she never saw her

husband or her home again.


The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;

but she made the pastor keep it for the church.

The pastor insisted on driving her home. That

was the least he could do. She lived on the other

side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn

for the day for a housecleaning job.


What a wonderful service they had on Christmas

Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the

spirit were great. At the end of the service, the

pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door

and many said that they would return.


One older man, whom the pastor recognized

from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the

pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he

wasn't leaving.


The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on

the front wall because it was identical to one

that his wife had made years ago when

they lived in Austria before the war and how

could there be two tablecloths so much alike?


He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he

forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was

supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and

put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home

again all the 35 years between.


The pastor asked him if he would allow him to

take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten

Island and to the same house where the pastor

had taken the woman three days earlier.


He helped the man climb the three flights of

stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on

the door and he saw the greatest Christmas

reunion he could ever imagine.


True Story - by Pastor Rob Reid

who says God does work in mysterious ways.