Inspirational Stories #5

IF JESUS CAME TO YOUR HOUSE

If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two,

If he came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do.

Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room to such an honered Guest,

And all the food you'd serve to Him would be the very best,

And you keep assuring Him you're glad to have Him there,

That serving Him in your own home is joy beyond compare.

But when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door,

With arms outstreched in welcome to your heavenly Visitor?

Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in?

Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been?

Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn't heard?

And wish you hadn't uttered that last, loud, hasty word?

Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out?

Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?

And I wonder if the Savior spent a day or two with you,

Would you go right on doing the things you always do?

Would you go right on saying the things you always say?

Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?

Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace?

And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?

Would you sing the songs you always sing and read the books you read,

And let him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed?

Would you take Jesus with you every where you'd planned to go?

Or would you, maybe, change your plans for just a day or so?

Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends?

Or would you hope they'd stay away until His visit ends?

Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on?

Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?

It might be interesting to know the things that you would do,

If Jesus Christ in person came to spend some time with you.

[Computers for Christ - Chicago]

Pathway of Pain

If my days were untroubled and my heart always light,

Would I seek that fair land where there is no night?

If I never grew weary with the weight of my load,

Would I search for God's peace at the end of the road?

If I never knew sickness and never felt pain,

Would I search for a hand to help and sustain?

If I walked without sorrow and lived without loss,

Would my soul seek solace at the foot of the cross?

If all I desired was mine day by day,

Would I kneel before God and earnestly pray?

If God sent no winter to freeze me with fear,

Would I yearn for the warmth of spring every year?

I ask myself these and the answer is plain,

If my life were pleasure and I never knew pain,

I'd seek God less often and need Him much less,

For God is sought more often in times of distress.

And no one knows God or sees Him as plain,

As those who have met Him on the "Pathway of Pain."

-Author Unknown

The Road of Life

At first I saw God as my observer, my judge,

Keeping track of the things I did wrong,

So as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die,

He was our sort of like a president.

I recognized His picture but I didn't really know him.

But later on, when I met Christ

It seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride.

But it was a tandem bike,

And I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal.

I don't know just when it was that He suggested we change places,

But life has not been the same since.

When I had control, I knew the way,

It was rather boring and predictable,

It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead,

He knew delightful long cuts up mountains,

And through rocky places at breakneck speeds,

It was all I could do to hang on!

Even though it looked like madness,

He said, "Pedal!"

I worried and was anxious and asked,

"Where are you taking me?"

He laughed and didn't answer,

And I started to learn to trust.

I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure.

And when I'd say, " I'm scared!"

He'd lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed,

Gifts of healing, acceptance, and joy.

They gave me gifts to take on my journey,

My Lord's and mine.

And we were off again.

He said, "Give the gifts away;

They're extra baggage, too much weight."

So I did to the people we met,

And I found that in giving I received,

And still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him, at first,

In control of my life,

I thought He'd wreck it;

but he knows bike secrets,

Knows how to make it bend to make sharp corners,

Knows how to jump to clear high rocks,

Knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places,

And beginning to enjoy the view,

And the cool breeze on my face,

With my delightful constant companion,

JESUS CHRIST.

And when I'm sure I just can't do anymore,

He just smiles and says . . . . "Pedal."

-Author Unknown

Struggles

A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. On the day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. It just seemed to be stuck. Then the man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, He would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

© 1997 mcpumpkin@geocities.com

Sign My Guestbook View My Guestbook