Hello, I am new here

[islandboy]

THANK  YOU,  FATHER
by Bill Carr

In humbleness, we thank You, Father,
For the goodness You have shown,
For the blessings and compassion,
For comfort when we walk alone.

Thank You for our daily bounty,
For the love we share each day.
Thank You for the right to worship,
Each in our own chosen way.

Thank You for your hand that guides us,
Right from wrong, in all we do.
May we grow in understanding,
Always grateful---thanking You.

[islandboy]

MY  NAME  IS  AMERICA
 By  William Arthur  Ward

I am a country...
but I am more than a country. I am over two hundred years old, but my mountains, forests, and rivers are ageless. Before I was a dream in the minds of mortal men, the land was a beautiful reality in the hands of a beneficent Creator.

I am a nation...
but I am more than a nation. I am a republic of fifty sovereign states, each with its own heritage and individual greatness, each a vital part of one indivisible whole--the United States of America.

I am a government...
but I am more than a government. I am a symbol of plenty, a model of representative government, a hallmark of freedom, justice, and independence to hundreds of millions throughout the world.

I am a melting pot...
but I am more than a melting pot. I am a haven for the oppressed, a living adventure in brotherhood, a community of compassion, and a dynamic example of liberty under law, opportunity with responsibility, and democracy through equality.

My name is America!

[islandboy]

WHAT  MAKES  AMERICA?
By Garnett Ann Schultz

What makes America wondrous and grand?
The smile of a child and a kind helping hand,
The soft glow of summer beneath a blue sky,
A moon round and golden as evening draws neigh.

What makes America lasting and real?
A hope and a faith and a dream that's ideal,
A land filled with wonders, a mountain, a stream,
A nation of people with courage supreme.

What makes America?  Living and zest,
Baseball and football, the dearest and best,
A freedom unequaled wherever you go,
Our dream for the future, to live and to grow.

What makes America?  So many things--
A brighter tomarrow that each dawning brings,
A peace and a love and a home bright and free,
These make America so dear to me.

[islandboy]

"This is my country," I say with pride,
Whether it's desert, vast and wide,
Or mountains, pine covered, or iceberg bound,
Wherever my native home is found.
This is my country!  And all I do
Should built it stronger, finer, more true,
Should hold its flag, colors unfurled,
In honor in any part of the world.
This is my country!  Wherever it be,
Let all its people be honest and free.

By Mabel Jones Gabbott

[islandboy]

THE   LIFE  WORTH  LIVING
by  Henry Van Dyke

There is a life that is worth living now as it was worth living in the former days, and that is the honest life, the useful life, the unselfish life, cleansed by devotion to an ideal. There is a battle that is worth fighting now as it was worth  fighting then, and that is the battle for justice and equality: to make our city and state free in fact as well as in name; to break rings that  strangle real liberty and keep them broken; to cleanse, so far as in our power lies, the fountains of our national life from political, commercial and social corruption; to teach our sons and daughters, by precept and example, the honor of serving such a country as America.... that is work worthy of the finest manhood and womanhood. The well-bred are those who are bred to be proud of that work; the well-educated are those who see deepest into the meaning and the necessity of that work. Nor shall their labor be naught, nor the reward of their sacrifice fail them; for high in the firmament of human destiny are set the stars of faith in mankind, and unselfish courage and loyalty to the ideal.

[islandboy]

AMERICA
by Marie A. Florian

She lies between two oceans;
She boasts of mountains high,
Rich woodlands dot her landscapes
While rivers flow nearby.
She offers grassy prairies
With gently rolling hills;
There's fertile soil for farming
And busy textile mills.
Her people have a birthright
That not all lands can boast...
Yes, freedom is her motto;
It's  heard from coast to coast.
Though men fought hard to gain her,
This country that we love,
She's been from the beginning
A gift from God above.
Her red-striped flag waves proudly
With one star for each state;
Liberty and compassion
Are what have made her great.
Let's never take for granted
This land that is so blest;
May each of us pray for her
And give to her our best.

[nChrist]

Hello Islandboy,

These are very nice and inspirational posts. Thank You for sharing.

Love In Christ,
Tom

[islandboy]

Thanks for your comment Tom. I am trying to add some uplifting poems and stories, to lift spirits and hope in people that no doubt are as worried as I am about the future in this country. Thanks be to God, that He is with us as these terrible days unfold. We must remain strong in faith and support each other though words and good deeds in the face of all this evil.

[nChrist]

Thanks for your comment Tom. I am trying to add some uplifting poems and stories, to lift spirits and hope in people that no doubt are as worried as I am about the future in this country. Thanks be to God, that He is with us as these terrible days unfold. We must remain strong in faith and support each other though words and good deeds in the face of all this evil.

Things are definitely getting worse by the day, and I honestly do believe that we are living in the last days of this Age of Grace. I don't think that Christians will be here much longer, and we all need encouragement every day. These are days that God told us about.

Love In Christ
Tom

1 Corinthians 15:50-58  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.


1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.  14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

[islandboy]

WHAT  WILL  IT  MATTER:
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no days, no hours or minutes. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will all expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived. It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Your gender, skin color, ethnicity will be irrelevant.
So what will matter: How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage and sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters.

[islandboy]

How many of you know someone or of someone (relative, friend or stranger) that might be thinking or saying this:

Loneliness---"The most devastating malady of our time."  Wrote one person: "I'm cut off, sad, just putting in time. I eat alone, sleep alone and talk to myself. There isn't anyone around to hear me or taking the time to find out whether I am alive or dead."

If you know someone who lives alone. Is in a nursing home or disabled. Unable to drive, see well, or get out much, or see you on a regular basis. Please take time to talk on the phone and visit them. Your life may be busy, but when there is something you want to do, don't you always seem to find the time?  And if you can find that time for yourself, then you can find time for others.

[nChrist]

How many of you know someone or of someone (relative, friend or stranger) that might be thinking or saying this:

Loneliness---"The most devastating malady of our time."  Wrote one person: "I'm cut off, sad, just putting in time. I eat alone, sleep alone and talk to myself. There isn't anyone around to hear me or taking the time to find out whether I am alive or dead."

If you know someone who lives alone. Is in a nursing home or disabled. Unable to drive, see well, or get out much, or see you on a regular basis. Please take time to talk on the phone and visit them. Your life may be busy, but when there is something you want to do, don't you always seem to find the time?  And if you can find that time for yourself, then you can find time for others.

Amen!

Hello Islandboy,

I appreciate you posting this for everyone to consider. I have my wife, so I'm not alone, but I do fit into the category of being disabled and not being able to do much. I know quite a few who are alone except for Christ and occasional visits. For some, the Internet and forums is their contact with the outside world. Some have told me how it feels to be lonely and it's heartbreaking. It's a satisfying ministry to help fill the void that many people have - one that would make God happy. It's ironic that many people involved in this type of loving ministry are ill or suffering with their own disability of some sort.

Love In Christ,
Tom

[islandboy]

SIMPLE  THINGS   by   Bea Bourgeois

" But Mom, if you didn't have television, what did you do?"  Questions like that not only encourage my resident gray hairs to increase and multiply; they also set me to pondering. What, indeed, did we do? What kept us amused, entertained, and occupied in the thirties and forties? How did we ever manage to wander happily through childhood without "Captain Kangaroo,"  "Sesame Street," and "The Pink Panther?"
True, there were no Saturday morning cartoons. We did not have sophisticated equipment to record the family's breakfast conversations. We did not have a doll who repeated tinny recorded messages at the pull of a string in her back, nor did our dolls come complete with boyfriend and luxury jetliner to whisk them to a Caribbean resort.
What most of us did have, though, was a fairly active imagination. Surrounded by adults who had just scratched their way through a crushing depression, we never questioned the slogan, "Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without."  Our society had a tangible sense of permanence about it, and very few items were disposable. We learned to recycle just about everything, long before that  became the fashionable thing to do.

[islandboy]

Our primitive walkie-talkies were not battery operated; instead, they were imaginary telephones made out of empty oatmeal or salt boxes held together with a long piece of string. Our rag dolls were born because Mother had enough material left over after sewing someone's Sunday best. After the mitten supply was completed, we used the excess yarn to make six-inch-high dolls, hung lovingly on the Christmas tree. And what delight when the last of the thread slid off sturdy wooden spools so we could have them to make soldiers or dolls or whirring moon spinners. The wooden spool, alas, will soon be just another memory.
Apparently we took our pleasures in simple things. A bag of marbles provided an instant variety of games; a jackknife was all we needed to draw a circle in the dirt and challenge a chum to a round of mumblety-peg. A piece of chalk---or a broken brick---drew a splendid hopscotch diagram; and everbody scooted around to find a smooth, flat stone to use for a "lagger." Indoor boredom was combatted by learning to wind string into a cat's cradle or other intricate patterns on your two hands. Wooden tops were wound over and over until the color faded, and were spun regularly on the kitchen floor. And we spent hours advancing from ordinary up-and-down yo-yoing to such fancy show-off tricks as walk the dog, rock the baby, or around the world.

[islandboy]

As the family finances improved, we were allowed a few more store-bought toys. Yes, it has become a dull cliche' to remark "they don't make'em like they used to," but there's a certain truth there nonetheless. Our dolls were soft and lovable, and they wore white peasant blouses and checked pinafores--made out of real material. How well I remember carefully dressing Shirley Temple in a black velvet coat with matching tam! And Sonja Henie--how I loved changing her elegant fur-trimmed skating costumes. My special favorites, though, were Storybook Dolls--little bisque people five or seven inches tall. My mother and sister added to my collection every Christmas or birthday, or as a reward for a successful piano recital. There were dolls for each month of the year, dolls fashioned after nursery rhyme folk, dolls who were dressed as Quaker maids or Western girls. Saturday's child, who must work for a living, even had her own broom and sensible cotton apron. I doubt that Barbie in her satin lounging pajamas could ever have such charm.
It seems to me that our toys were made of sturdy stuff and that they had that elusive something called character. One of our delights was a tumbling acrobat, brightly painted, whose hands joined to a piece of string stretched between two wooden sticks. Squeeze the sticks together, and he did a series of incredibly agile tricks. Today the same fellow is made of plastic and so are his sticks. He not only lacks character, he breaks.