Take My Son

Hi all! Happy not-so-new-month of February. I hope the month's been going real smooth for you, and if it hasn't...hang in there.

On this post i just want to pass across a very important message (many of you might have heard it before--but i know there are tons who are yet to.) ^_^

To be very honest, i wish i could say i came up with this story illustration---but i absolutely did not. :D I happened to be privileged enough to stumble across it a number of years ago and decided to share it. But then, i digress....;) Look, all i can tell you is it's beautiful (at least to me) and the ending is so very unexpected...

Take my Son

 

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war.  He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door.  A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.

He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life.  He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art."  The young man held out this package. "I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this."

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man.  He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me.  It's a gift."

The father hung the portrait over his mantle.  Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings.  Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel.  "We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?"

 

There was silence.

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, "We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one."

But the auctioneer persisted. "Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?"

Another voice angrily. "We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!"

But still the auctioneer continued. "The son! The son! Who'll take the son?"

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I'll give $10 for the painting." Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

"We have $10, who will bid $20?"

"Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters."

"$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?"

The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son.

They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!"

A man sitting on the second row shouted, "Now let's get on with the collection!"

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I'm sorry, the auction is over."

 

"What about the paintings?"

"I am sorry.  When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will.  I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned  Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.

The man who took the son gets everything!"

God gave His son over 2,000 years ago to die on the cross.  Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 

"The son, the son, who'll take the son?"

Because, you see, whoever takes the Son...gets everything.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE (John 3:16)...that's love.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You know what's so striking about the truth? The fact that it IS truth!!!

Too often we find ourselves trying so hard to 'get in' on all the amazing, desirable, 'good stuff' God has made available to us on earth; yet,we try even harder to skip out or avoid the things that please Him the most. Our selfishness makes it easy for us to make zero effort at valuing that which our generous and extra loving father holds dear to His heart; all too many of us are interested in is 'getting' and the only things some of us give a second glance at are the flashy, mega-flambuoyant and impressive trimmings of things that often lack any real substance.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Please, think on it. In the end, our individual relationships with Christ is all that really matters. Plus, the only way we're going to gain access to everything that's worth anything, is through Him.

It's pretty short and simple story. Hope you enjoyed it and kindly SHARE IT WITH SOMEONE (PLEASE)!

You never know just who might need to hear these words----right about now. :)

God bless.

xxx, Kwiksie~

Learning To Listen

Hi you blessed bunch! How are you doing?! :) Kinda missed writing for you though...

Well, i'd just like to share a recent experience i had when struggling to find the best way possible to solve an issue.
Or rather, a dilemma.

A dilemma i was faced with while attempting to figure out my next step in this life journey of mine. And in case you've not sniffed out the hint...yes, it was a very important choice i had to make.
So i had it all figured out yeah. These were my plans, such and such is what i intended to do in so and so time and whether or not it was scriptural; as long as it was what i wanted it was fine.
But you see, it really wasn't.
The entire thing started getting so messy, nothing was working out as it was supposed to. Stuff i needed to make my great dream(s) come true were just not available! It was frustrating i tell you.
I fought and i fought and i wouldn't listen if it wasn't my headstrong will speaking. I even  tuned up my stubborness and selective hearing but the effects were still unsatisfactory.
Yeah. I was at a cross-road alright, Problem is, i wasn't even sure if i was meant to choose a path anymore. I'd spent so much time confusing myself, both sides seemed wrong.
But even that thought didn't sit right in my heart.
So, eventually, i chose to do what i was supposed to from the very beginning. I chose to talk to God.
I mean, He'd spoken initially but immediately after...i took off! I figured there were still some parts of the conversation left hanging but, y'know' i just filled in the blanks with what i considered appropriate. And convenient. Without His final consent. Such silliness...i know right?

I guess that's where i missed it.

Soon enough though, when i got my priorities straight and my reasoning faculty was once again functioning optimally, i let Him calm and lead me. His reassuring and yet firm voice was all the soothing i'd need. Things became a lot less turbulent when it was to His voice, and not mine, my heart paid heed.

In the end, the confusion i aided my assumptions in creating offered zero comfort so i figured waiting for His time was of much more worth...and believe you me, it was.

Trusting God and trusting in Him is always more fulfilling and useful. Than worrying about the future, living in fear or worry about what might go wrong or not go very right, doubting His complete ability to deal perfectly with all that concerns me (you, your familiy, etc). Methinks sometimes we all need a refresher course in faith, trust, humility and obedience. I suppose this was mine...

Lesson learned. :)

Proverbs 14:26// Proverbs 3:7// Ephesians 3:20// Proverbs 3:5// Psalm 106:1

xxx, kwiksie~

Life: It Isn't Your's To Take.

Hi people. Hope you’ve all been well? Long time no post… ;)
Come to think of it, it has been quite some time since I’ve been active here hasn’t it? Well, I sincerely apologize for that; I let a lot of activities get in the way of my ‘blogging’ time. Lol.

A lot of things have been happening these past few months that have been weighing on my heart to a high degree, not just with me mind you, but on a larger scope. I mean, I’ve got loved ones who informed me that they’re yet denied a college education, all thanks to the exceedingly untrustworthy and, sad to say, highly decomposed state of the educational system in my beloved country and as if that hardly encouraging update on their affairs wasn’t bad enough, just yesterday I was hit with the very much unpleasant news that yet another two people known to me, from my high school this time, have passed away. To top these few, there are all the various goings-on around the globe; the unrest in this country, the natural disaster in that, the economic meltdown in so-so region, the rise in the crime rates in another…the troubles seem endless sometimes, don’t they?

Yes, they do.

To be honest, they tend to overwhelm a person----heck, I’d be overwhelmed myself if I didn’t have Christ! It’s the truth! Because there is just so much that we emotionally fragile human beings can deal with on our own and when the issues, which most certainly will arise, exceed our ‘i-can-handle-it’ meter, we break down. End of story.

But you see, our stories don’t all have to be tragedies; and neither do we all have to play the victim. Who was it that said; “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”? See that there is very useful advice. Now anyone telling you it’ll be easy to turn that sour lemon into a nice, refreshing, tasty drink…is a massive liar. Of course it won’t be easy, but you can never say a task was challenging if you never made an attempt at it now can you? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

You know what I’ve learned over time? No human being is to be praised nor blamed for my position or predicament. You heard me (or read me) correctly; no one. You want to know why? Because the conclusion of this journey I call my life, whether pleasant or disheartening will be resulting from my decisions. There will be people, factors, situations and experiences that will serve either as stepping stones or stumbling blocks along the way to boost or possibly break me, but where I end up is as a result of the critical choices I’d have made on the way. I simply must take responsibility for them. Of course, God is always faithful and gracious to reward they who completely rely on Him, seek His will and follow His leading. 

i.e The ‘right’ choices that prove profitable in the long run and we can take pride in must be the ones that obey, please and honor Him on every level and in every way. (Philippians 1:11// Galatians 6:14// 2Corinthians 10:17-18 and 1 Corinthians 10:31). Anything outside that is bound to flop…eventually.

Very often, I get to hear some very moving life stories. Either via the media, or someone repeating a story they’d heard or when an individual chooses to share a personal experience with me. You know sometimes it can feel like there are a lot of forces viciously working against you and the temptation to melt into a pool of pity arises, but then you hear of some really pathetic, almost unbelievable experiences of the next person which just totally break your heart and you wonder; “How did they hold it together this long?”, “What must they have felt?”, etc. It’s happened to me countless times, there I am feeling thoroughly sorry for myself for some mean hand fate’s dealt to me…till someone’s much more harrowing situation jerks me back to being thankful for whatever good thing I’ve got going in my life.

There’s ALWAYS something to be grateful for that should keep you going!!!

I’m sick and tired of the way ‘giving up’, ‘giving in’ and ‘getting beat’ by circumstances has become the new fad. 

Oh, and you want to know the ultra-modern, fast spreading ‘cheap exit’ we seem to have come up with when ‘we’ve just had enough and can’t take it anymore!’? Suicide.

Sure, hit me with all the ‘it’s MY life!’, ‘you just don’t understand’, ‘there’s nothing else one can do’, ‘it’s the only way’ or better yet, ‘you’ll do the same if you were in their shoes’ that you’ve got. You know what I say?

WRONG! WRONG!! WRONG!!!

You know why? Because it is wrong, that’s why.

First of all, it’s not your call. You did not create yourself nor give yourself life (Genesis 2:7); God did. Imagine if when the first Apple product was produced, it was configured to pack up after a stipulated period of time during which it ought to have performed a series of tasks for its owner, despite the fact that the device had the ‘ability’ to permanently shut itself down whenever it ‘chose’; only for many of the products in question to so ‘choose’ to shut down without accomplishing any of the tasks they were designed and produced to. Would you consider that fair to the producer, who would suffer staggering loss? Would the devices have added any value to their numerous owners who never got to take advantage of all they had to offer? Do you think the producer will be pleased that his prized creation would have to go to the junk heap, without fulfilling that for which it was made? No, I seriously doubt that.

God, you see, took the time and love to make you and give you life. He made you in His image, gave you His breath, sacrificed His ONLY son (John 3:16) and then provided the manual by which He wanted you to operate on this earth, so that you would add value to the numerous people who’d need to take advantage of the truth and knowledge of Him that you’d have to offer. He owns all that you are…how then can it be ‘right’ for you to deny Him of what is His right? 

Think about it...please.

xxx, Kwiksie~

To Be Continued On Next Post…