STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Sept 13, 2005? 

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A very special anniversary wish goes out to Bob and Karen Johnston of Starfish.

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Now on to the good stuff..........

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Today's Queue Stories
~**~**~**~

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This is the happy ending I was praying for.

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Found!

by Sharlett F. Hunt

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?  Searching on the Internet daily for my cousin had become priority.?  Thank God they had several websites where you could list loved ones as missing or found and I hounded them all.?  I became like a person obsessed!

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?  I wasn't sleeping and was waking up at odd hours throughout the night thinking about finding my cousin.?  I thought if I could just see pictures of her neighborhood, I could get an idea of whether or not she was able to live through this horrible storm.?  I guess I was convinced that she had decided to try to ride out a category 4 or 5 hurricane which Katrina became.?  Verna was hard headed and I prayed that she had evacuated but was so afraid that she hadn't.? 

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?  I would read all the news I could find on Biloxi and look at every picture.?  I would see my cousin in every face as I combed through the destruction that used to be homes and businesses.?  And I prayed for her safety.

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?  I even tried to find out about the status of the VA Hospital in Biloxi because she had told me that it was close to her house so I felt that would calm me if I knew it was okay.?  I wondered if I would ever be able to meet her in person and tell her how much her friendship means to me, how she got me through a couple bad times and how some of her emails would make me smile all day.?  In my heart I knew she was okay so four days into not being able to find her, I started thanking God for her safety, over and over.

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?  The next day the miracle happened!?  I was doing my daily searching and going from site to site to see if Verna's name had mysteriously appeared on any as safe when lo and behold, I did a search and her name came up!?  Not as found but as reported missing by another person.?  I knew then that I was not alone in looking for her.

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?  The person who had done the report lived in Arizona and listed her email address so I excitedly emailed her!?  Come to find out, she is another cousin of Verna's that I have never met and possibly mine also!?  She informed me of another cousin in Mobile, Al. who was safe and might be able to find out something.?  I had the hope I had been looking for.?  I also had another friend.?  Maybe another coincidence??  I know for a fact that God does indeed, work in mysterious ways, His miracles to perform.? 

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?  The very next morning I woke up very early and knew I needed to check my email.?  I had received an email from the cousin in Arizona!?  I opened it, read it,? and started dancing around the living room!?  Verna was safe at her son's house and I was elated and praising God for all He has done for me and mine!? 

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?  There were times throughout all this when I pictured my poor cousin in the very worst scenario possible, maybe trapped underneath a pile of rubble someplace, screaming for help.?  Worse yet, not even able to scream.?  When I thought these thoughts, I would quickly turn to something positive and know I had to wait and see, in this case, and not draw conclusions and just trust in God.?  That always works for me when there is nothing else to hold on to, only God is there, holding? my hand, willing me not to worry, to allow Him to handle it.?  And all I have to do is let Him.

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Sharlett Hunt

Sharlette863 @aol.com

About Me:
I was born in Alabama, the middle of seven children. At about age four we moved to Central Florida and I have lived here most of my life. I am a Viet Nam Era Veteran. I have always enjoyed writing and as I get older it seems to come more naturally to me. I believe everyone has many stories inside them and some are blessed to be able to share them.

~**~**~? 

LESSONS IN HUGGING

By: Joseph J. Mazzella

? ? ? ?  Life??™s biggest lessons aren??™t learned all at once. They are taught and learned time and time again over years and years. I realized this today when I was with my youngest son in the store. We were walking back and forth looking for something both good tasting and good for you when he suddenly reached over, wrapped his arms around me, and gave me a hug. This made me smile with both laughter and joy. I realized then that even though I hadn??™t been able to teach my son everything over the years, I had at least been able to teach him how to hug.

? ? ? ?  I am so delighted too that all of my children have learned this lesson so well over the years. My daughter??™s hugs brighten my days and uplift my soul. I have been blessed a million times over by the love and joy she so freely shares with me. My two sons??™ hugs always bring happiness to my heart as well. It makes me feel good to know that they have learned two of the most important things in life: how to choose love and how to spread joy.

? ? ? ?  Remember then that every loving act you do, smile you share, and hug you give teaches all those around you as well. The lessons they share are priceless. Little by little, time after time, and year by year they teach the minds, hearts, and souls of all you touch. They spread God??™s love and life??™s joy everywhere. They show all who are watching how to love, how to give, and how to live.

? ? ? ?  I hope that someone was watching when my son gave out his own lesson in hugging. A single hug can warm a hundred hearts. Hugs like love, joy, laughter, and smiles travel from heart to heart and from soul to soul until they circle the world. They make us more like the angels and Earth more like Heaven. They help us to give lessons in God??™s love and wisdom each time we simply open our arms and wrap them around another.

Joseph J. Mazzellajoecool @ wirefire.com

Joe lives in West Virginia with his wife and three children. Various dogs and cats have adopted Joe and his family for their own. Joe enjoys his family, beauty, love and hearing from his email friends. Joe likes to take the time to smell the roses and enjoy the beauty around him as he goes about his daily life.

~**~**~? 

Mask of Knowledge
Sandra Lewis Pringle

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?
Or am I trying to please men?
If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant
of Christ."
Galatians 1:10

?  Paul, obviously, in his writings, in his sermons, did not candy coat the Word of God to please those who listened.?  His sermons were effective, and spread throughout the churches of early Christianity with power, ringing truth into the ears of those who had never heard.

? ?  He knew the truths of God, and how only the truth of God can set people free, truly free.

? ?  A reader wrote to me this week, concerning her husband's healing from
Stage 4 cancer, a true miracle.?  Instead of resigning themselves to the hopeless diagnosis of the doctor, she and her husband have been steadfastly
standing on the healing Word of God, believing, and he is almost completely healed, verified by MRI scans.

? ?  They ran into a former pastor this week, who was appalled at his recovery, and urged them not to overlook the wisdom of the doctors.?  If they had
accepted the truth of the doctor, her husband may very well be dead today.

? ?  We have the truths of God in our hearts, minds, and spirits.?  Any time we go against those truths, there will be consequences to pay, which end up hurting
us or those we love.? 

? ?  Even pastors can become confused and lost in their teachings.?  Some never emphasize the importance of the Holy Spirit working in our lives, which is as of equal importance as our Lord, Jesus Christ.

? ?  We cannot afford to sit in churches where the sermons are doctored up,
in fear of stepping on somebody's toes.

? ?  Sin is sin and leads to destruction, and death.? ?  The Word of God is very plain.

? ?  There are commands to follow which lead to happy, prosperous, and successful lives.?  The prosperity from God will last, and will not be as a slippery landslide, ready to tumble, at the first winds of a storm.

? ?  Revelation from God comes through the Holy Spirit, and no other way.
Any pastor who is teaching without revelation knowledge, is not hearing from Christ, but is relying either upon human knowledge, or "borrowing"
the words of others, misrepresenting himself.

? ?  Salvation comes by faith alone.?  The Gospel of Christ and our deliverance is completed in His grace.

? ?  Religion says that we have to do this, or we have to do that.?  Christ Jesus says that we have to believe.?  It is plain, it is simple.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Jesus said to her, "I Am the Resurrection and the Life.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies;
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  and whoever lives and believes in Me, will never die,
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Do you believe this?"
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  John 11:25

Those who attempt to make the Gospel of Christ anything other than simple, misunderstand themselves, and they are in need of mind renewal.

? ?  Walking in His love brings light, which brings true revelation.?  Those who are teaching without true revelation are leading sheep astray, and are following a path which they have not been called upon.? 

? ?  Walking in the light of Christ enables us to see His true vision for us.?  We are able to see clearly, and understand clearly.

? ? ?  Revelations of Christ are available daily.?  If we seek His wisdom, seek Him, we are always learning, and being shown new truths.

? ? ?  Those who do seek daily, are able to understand, more readily, whenever one is speaking from true personal revelation, and when one is not.?  The mask cannot cover truth.?  Many pulpits are surrounded by darkness.

? ? ?  God's Word is ever present, in the now.?  He is able to guide and direct those now, in this time, by His present Word.?  He is the everlasting God through all generations and always has a "present" Word.

? ? ?  We must listen to those teachers who are not trying to please men, their sinful natures, by taking the position that God overlooks sin, by the greatness of His love.

? ? ?  Our Lord Jesus Christ did not hang upon the Cross at Calvary, after having been beaten and tortured, because sin could be washed by sympathy and
understanding.

? ? ?  It takes the blood of Jesus Christ to wash and cleanse sin, and nothing less.? ?  There is no other Way.? ?  We must open our hearts, minds, and spirits to Jesus Christ, and commit ourselves to following Him, each and every day.?  We are Pilgrims in a foreign land, ever walking, ever learning, ever seeking,
hoping to share in God's harvest of souls.


?© 2005?  Sandra Lewis Pringle

SLPENT1@aol.com

~**~**~? 

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ValueSpeak

A Weekly Column

By Joseph Walker

valuespeak@msn.com

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IN PRAISE OF THE P-WORD

Joe Walker

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  The P-word has been in the news lately.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  You know, that one word.?  The one that makes certain folks ??“ especially those who work in the national media and in Hollywood ??“ squirm.?  Many of them would be more comfortable broadcasting all seven of George Carlin??™s?  ???Seven Words You Can??™t Say on Televison??? than broadcasting one news story, television program or feature film in which the word ???prayer??? is used in something other than a punch line.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  And yet during the past week we??™ve seen that word a lot in stories about an 11-year-old boy who was lost in the mountains during a Scouting encampment.?  We heard about the prayers that were being offered in his behalf during the four days he was lost, and we heard about the prayers that were answered when he was found.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  ???People say that the heavens are closed and that God no longer answers prayers,??? the boy??™s mother said shortly after a tearful reunion with her son. ???We are here to unequivocally tell you that the heavens are not closed, prayers are answered and children come home.???

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Hear that sound??  That??™s the sound of serious squirming in news rooms and Hollywood.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Of course, I squirmed a little when I heard her say that, too ??“ but not because I??™m at all uncomfortable with her message.?  Like more than 70 percent of Americans, I believe.?  Prayer is part of my daily life, and I??™ve seen answers to prayer that would make your knees bend.?  But as she made the statement, my mind went immediately to the family of another Scout who was lost in the same mountains last year ??“ and never found.?  They are praying people, too, and they have spent hours on their knees pleading with God in behalf of their lost boy.?  Why was one set of prayers answered so extraordinarily, while the other prayers have so far been met with silence?

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  I don??™t pretend to know why.?  God alone knows, and so far, He??™s not telling.

But I??™m in awe of the response to this year??™s miracle by the family of last year??™s tragedy.?  The father was one of the first to volunteer to help with the search for this year??™s lost Scout.?  His expertise in organizing and conducting mountain searches, gained after a year of bitter experience, was invaluable to the process of searching and finding.?  And this year??™s family expressed profound appreciation for the emotional support last year??™s family offered throughout the anxious hours, helping them to cope with feelings and emotions only they could understand.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Other than this year??™s family, no one was more joyful at the happy outcome than last year??™s family.?  They celebrated the miracle with bittersweet tears of joyful sorrow.?  Then they dried their tears, rolled up their sleeves and prepared to resume their search for their still-lost son.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Praying all the while.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  How do you maintain such faith under such dire circumstances??  Another question for which I have no answer.?  Clearly, faith isn??™t for wimps.?  It isn??™t like science, with definitive answers and predictable absolutes.?  There is no such thing as The First Law of Thermofaith, holding that for every act of prayerful faith there is an equal and opposite positive reaction.?  It doesn??™t work that way.?  If it did, we wouldn??™t need faith, would we??  We could just pray and get whatever we want.?  And we all know what happens to children who get everything they want, don??™t we??  Who wants to live in a world with a bunch of spiritually spoiled brats?

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  When it comes right down to it, faith is about bending our will to God??™s, trusting that His eternal perspective is infinitely superior to our limited, mortal view.?  Building and maintaining faith isn??™t easy ??“ it never has been.?  That??™s why it??™s so inspiring when we see how others flex their faith and speak openly and publicly about stuff like . . . you know . . . the p-word.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Even if it makes some powerful people squirm.

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Writers Feedback

Carol - Nurturing Your Dreams - This is a very good letter....it inspires me.... have a nice day

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Sylvain

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Announcements

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I received this from Joyce,? a member of the group and am sending it on to you.....

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REGAP Lifeline: Fosters needed for Katrina animal refugees (fwd)
Mickey Jones
mjones36@ford.com
313-594-3592
Transport Provided to Anywhere - Room Desperately Needed for the Animal
Victims of Katrina

There is transportation provided, with people ready and waiting, for
upwards of 200 dogs and 150 cats so far rescued from the devastation
of hurricane Katrina. What these animals need is a place to go.
Kennels, boarding, vets offices, shelters with any extra space,
foster homes and rescues. Even one or two open kennels would greatly
help.

From what we know, all animals have been vaccinated and are in good
health considering the conditions. There are dogs and cats of every
breed and size.
Some are in groups of two, three or four, hailing from the same
fily, while some are solitary. ANY KENNEL SPACE AVAILABLE CAN
CERTAINLY BE USED.
These drivers are willing to move these animals ANYWHERE they need
to go. Absolutely anywhere.

The current safe houses for these animals are being inundated and
some of these
pets will have to be euthanized if they are not moved
to make room for the incoming animals.

Please feel free to pass on this information everywhere. Every
forum, every list, every community.

REMEMBER THESE ANIMALS WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO YOU.

If you know anyone, anywhere, that is willing to take in even one
cat or dog please have them contact Lynda at the information
provided below.

They are also asking for ANY kind of donations for the animals -
money, food, bedding, water, etc.

Please Contact Lynda V. at: 203 515 3024 (cell)
Home: 203 227 5308
Email: Lynda@portone.com
Pleas ontact at any time, day or night. These volunteers, rescuers and shelter! workers are working around the clock.

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REGAP Lifeline is dedicated to providing you with current greyhound advocacy
news, upcoming events, REGAP volunteer opportunities and special announcements.
Michigan REGAP thanks you for
your support.

Speaking For Those Who Cannot Speak For Themselves

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SENIOR WRITERS

Chief Writer: Sharon Bryant

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? Agee, Vance;? Apted, Violet;? Baker, Kathy; Batt, Al;?  Berry, Nell;

Boda, Ginger;? ? Buhagiar, Victor; Cassady, B.J.;?  Cavalera, Robyn; Crider, Mark;? 

Deming, Barb; Doherty, Maria; Goodier, Steve; Halley, Ellie Braun;

Harris, Kathy Anne;? Hunt, Sharlette;? 

Jacobson, Gary;? Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Jenkins, Pamela;

Liles, Norma; Lock, Joyce; Mazzella, Joe;? Ojeigbe, Georgewaters;

?  Petry, Dianna Doles; Roberts, Susan;?  Shiveley, Debra; Shaw, Bob; Sims, Richard; Swarner, Ken; Vaknin, Sam; Verhoeff, Jan

Walker, Bill; Walker, Joe;? Warner, Gorden K;

Whirity, Kathy;? White, Robert;

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STORYTIME TAPESTRY STAFF

Publisher: Carol Roach-founder

Moderator: Thelma Hartselle-co founder

Moderator: Clara Westerfer

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