COURAGEOUS CHOICES By Tim Kemmel

Two people immediately come to mind when I think about preparing our kids to make courageous choices. Jerry and Cheryl are parents of three beautiful daughters. Their girls have been the beneficiaries of a loving and stable spiritual environment. But even with all this godly teaching and understanding, with all this love and security, Jerry and Cheryl knew that without courage their daughters could easily fall to outside pressures.

Just about the time their oldest daughter, Shelly, blossomed into a beautiful young woman, they decided to do something memorable to help her maintain courage. It was easy for them to develop a plan because they knew what character traits they were trying to encourage.

They took some of their own gold jewelry, had the jeweler form it into a key, strung the key on a chain, and made it into a necklace. They washed their car, dry-cleaned Jerry's suit, and bought a simple corsage. Then Jerry took his daughter out on her first "adult" date.

They enjoyed an elegant dinner in one of their town's finest restaurants. During the meal Jerry talked to Shelly about the courage she would need to stay morally pure. When dessert was served, Jerry took out the gift-wrapped jewelry box containing the necklace. But before she put it on, he told her its significance.

The gold symbolized her purity and the key symbolized the key to her heart. She was to wear it as a reminder of the moral purity that God wanted her to bring to her honeymoon bed. Every time she went on a date, and anytime she might be tempted to compromise her purity, this gold key around her neck was to remind her of God's view of marriage. Then, on the night of her honeymoon, she could take it off and give it to her husband. With it she could let him know that she had preserved her
purity as a gift for him.

Maybe that's why I like Jerry and Cheryl so much. They realize that courage doesn't come easy; but regardless of its cost, it must be transferred to their children.

APPLES Author Unknown

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner.

In their rush, with tickets and brief-cases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one. He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl
whose apple stand had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved goodbye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did.

The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping, and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets, and helped set the display up once more. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $20 for the damage we did. Are you okay?"

She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.

She continued, "Are you Jesus?"

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"

Do people mistake you for Jesus?

That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Let us live like we are worth the price He paid.

WHAT GOD HAS EVER DONE FOR ME by Melanie Schurr

"What has God ever done for me?" grumbled an angry twenty-three year old man named Victor. "I mean, why should I believe this so-called God guy loves me as you say He does when He hasn't done anything to help me or my life?!"

"Oh?" said his uncle sitting next to him on the bus. "What do you feel has gone wrong in your life that God caused?" he continued.

Victor snapped, "I didn't say God caused it, but He sure didn't do anything to help me out! I had to deal with some pretty bad things all on my own, and, no thanks to Him, I fixed them all on my own too!"

His uncle nodded slightly and replied, "I assume you are referring to the hard time you began having when you got involved in street drugs and heavy drinking?"

"That's part of it," responded Victor as he glared out the bus window.

His uncle turned to look at him, and then said, "Did your parent's teach you, or tell you to get involved with these dangerous substances that can affect how you think and behave?"

"Of course not!" snapped Victor.

"I'm guessing they tried warning you, but you chose not to obey, correct?" responded his uncle as he straightened himself out in his seat. He continued, "And they probably taught you the importance of eating right, taking care of your health, staying close to God, and being careful about the friends you chose, right?"

Victor hesitated, then angrily replied, "Alright!, They were MY choices, not my parent's! I take full responsibility for my actions!"

Victor's uncle again turned to look at him, then quickly replied, "Do you? About everything?"

Victor looked puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

His uncle straightened his back one more time, and replied, "Do you also take responsibility for the fact it was YOU who turned your back on God? You keep asking what has God done for you, but it would seem to me that the question really is, what have YOU done for God lately?"

Victor immediately snapped at his uncle, "Hey, I prayed out to God a few times to make all the bad things go away, but He didn't!"

His uncle nodded, reached for Victor's hand, and said, "He (God)
didn't, or YOU didn't?"

Victor quickly replied, "I kept on drinking, doing drugs, being disrespectful to my family, and other things I probably shouldn't have, but God could have stopped me, made all the bad things go away, and He didn't! He ignored me, or maybe He doesn't even exist at all so that's why He did nothing!"

As he held his nephew's hand, Victor's uncle calmly responded, "Victor, God is not a puppet master who pulls our strings so we will do what He wants us to do. He loves us so much that He gave us free- will. Even though you may have wanted God to take all the bad things away, your actions and choices revealed that you really didn't want anything to change. How do I know that? Because isn't it true you kept on drinking, taking drugs, and being disrespectful to your family?"

Victor was at a loss for words.

"Words are often shallow, Victor. It is our actions which prove what is really in our heart. What do you think your actions have showed God? Have they showed Him you love Him and want to be close to Him; that you want Him to be Lord of your life? Or, do they show Him that you want to ignore His commands, and remain in the lifestyle you have been living, and only call on Him when the going gets tough?"

The look on Victor's face began to change. The anger and resentment he had been holding in so long toward his family and God suddenly seemed to melt away. "I guess I had been blaming my parents and God, when I should have been blaming my self," he said quietly. Real life application: Many people blame God for what they themselves have chosen. We must remember, when we choose the action, we also choose the consequence.

As a loving Heavenly Father, God wants the best for us, and He is willing and able to deliver us from even the most dire circumstances. However, we need to also want it for ourselves, not just through lip-service, but through word AND deed.

YOU ASK WHY I FOLLOW THIS JESUS? Author Unknown

You ask why I follow this Jesus?
Why I love Him the way I do?
When the world's turned away from His teachings
And the people who serve Him are few.

It's not the rewards I'm after
Or gifts that I hope to receive
It's the Presence that calls for commitment
It's the Spirit I trust and believe.

The Lord doesn't shelter His faithful
Or spare them all suffering and pain,
Like everyone else I have burdens,
And walk through my share of rain.

Yet He gives me a plan and a purpose,
And that joy only Christians have known,
I never know what comes tomorrow,
But I do know I'm never alone.

It's the love always there when you need it;
It's the words that redeem and inspire,
It's the longing to ever be with Him
That burns in my heart like a fire.

So you ask why I love my Lord Jesus?
Well, friend, that's so easy to see,
But the one thing that fills me with wonder is
Why Jesus loves someone like me.

PURSUE KINDNESS By Whitney Von Lake Hopler

Every time you interact with another person - which likely happens many times a day - you have an opportunity to be kind to him or her. If you choose kindness, God's love will flow between you, blessing you both. Here are some ways you can strive to be more kind:

Rely on God's strength rather than your own. Ask God to give you compassion for others and enable you to help them in ways they need help.

Take time to thank God for His presence in your life and the many kind ways He interacts with you. Be willing to freely give others the gift of your kindness, as you recall how freely God has blessed you.

Never underestimate the value of a particular person or act of kindness. Each time you reach out to others with kindness, you effort is worthwhile, Not only that, but God will be pleased.

Never overestimate your own role in situations. You must be humble to be an effective servant.

Ask God to show you ways in which He would like you to extend kindness to people you regularly encounter (such as family, friends, co-workers) as well as people you randomly meet. Devise a plan for performing acts of kindness for each of the people you know, taking into account their needs and desires. Pray to be ready to offer
kindness to people you don't know when opportunities arise.

Pay special attention to the needs of people who are poor, since God identifies with them. Explore ways that you can help the poor, such as volunteering at a food pantry or homeless shelter and simplifying your lifestyle to use the Earth's resources more responsibly.

With the Holy Spirit's help, forgive people who have hurt you.

When serving others, respect their dignity and privacy.

Don't expect other people to repay you when you're kind to them, but know that God will always reward you somehow for your kindness.