Paul Long's Ramblings

Really nice! David Garibaldi: Jesus Painting from Thriving Churches on Vimeo .

A nice inspirational story. A Promise Kept By Kristi Powers In a world where so many lives are being torn apart by divorces and heartaches, comes a story of a father and a daughter, and a promise that was kept. My father was not a sentimental man. I don't remember him ever "ooohhing" or "ahhing" over something I made as a child. Don't get me wrong; I knew that my dad loved me, but getting all mushy-eyed was not his thing. I learned that he showed me love in other ways. There was one particular time in my life when this became real to me... I always believed that my parents had a good marriage, but just before I, the youngest of four children, turned sixteen, my belief was sorely tested. My father, who used to share in the chores around the house, gradually started becoming despondent. From the time he came home from his job...

Got his last week in my inbox. No comments except that I loved the story very much ... Someone To Watch Over Me By Saralee Perel Gracie, my beautiful 13-year-old shepherd/collie mix, has found her purpose. Six years ago, when I came home from a Boston hospital after my spinal cord injury, I was wearing a huge rock-solid brace that went from my chin to the middle of my chest. When my husband Bob helped me to our couch, Gracie hopped up to give me her usual 3 million "Yippee you're home!" kisses. But before she landed her sloppy tongue on my face, she abruptly stopped herself upon seeing my brace and, I believe, sensing my pain. And in that instant, I was no longer her caregiver. I was in her care. Ever since then, Gracie's reason-to-be has been to watch over me. Although she's nearly deaf now, she feels the vibration on the floor when I get out of bed. She rouses herself from her heated doggie bed. As I head to the bathroom, she leads the way as if saying, "I...

For the record I have not been following "American Idol". Stopped watching after the season where the cute Jasmine Trias (the one with the flower behind her ear) got kicked out :-) Not sure what season that was ... Anyway once in a while I watch the show (if it is playing in the background) and I thought this guy was good. Did not realize he was a "worship pastor"! (never heard of that term either ...) Interesting ANS report and I wish Kriss all the best in his ministry ... ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com Thursday, May 21, 2009 Hometown Acoustic Rock Worship Leader Wins American Idol Competition By Michael Ireland Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service LOS ANGELES, CA / CONWAY, AR (ANS) -- More than 100 million votes were cast in the American Idol final to catapult a Southern hometown Christian worship leader to stardom against a West Coast glam-ro...

I like this story very much! :-) A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time. This story teaches two lessons: 1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can...

This story came in an e-mail list (mostly jokes) ... so it was unexpected. I like it as I have been "promoting" finding ways of showing love to our neighbours (e.g. via my "Pastors Notes" column). I thought story was a great illustration. The sack lunches I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. "I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap," I thought. Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation. "Where are you headed?" I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. "Petawawa. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan." After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. ...

"Dr. Haiwan" sent me this via e-mail. Thought it was a "jolly good yarn" (this seems to be a common Kiwi phrase :-) ) and would pass it on. Nice "feel good" motivational story though I think the concept of using this dog to "preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul' (???) is overdoing things. ----------- This is 'Faith' This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 3 legs - 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which need to be amputated. He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him. His first owner also did not think that he can survive. Therefore, he was thinking of 'putting him to sleep'. By this time, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him. She was determined to teach and train this dog to walk by himself. Therefore she named him 'Faith'. In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfing...