The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world
?
?
Nov 9, 2005?
Today??™s Announcements:
?
? Happy Birthday goes out to Joyce Smith.? Hope your grandbabies bring you lots of hugs and kisses today.
?
Writers and readers alike, I need your votes for the Halloween Contest.? Even though you have until Nov 10th, please don??™t all 1200 of you wait until the last day.? Have pity on me please.? But most importantly, support the writers you have come to know and love.? Please vote!
?
?
?
Now on to the good stuff..........
?
?
?
Today's Queue Stories ~**~**~**~
?
WHY PARIS IS BURNING And What You Can Do About It
Johann Christoph ArnoldNovember 8, 2005
To many of us, the riots that started two weeks ago in France seemed like a "French problem." We didn't think they would affect us, and we hoped they'd be over soon. But since beginning in the bleak high rises that surround Paris and house its poor (mostly Muslims of African descent), they have spread across the country, and even into Germany and Belgium. In some quarters there is such fear that people are even speaking about a "European intifada."
Whether that comparison is a good one or not, we should all be concerned with what is happening in France. As in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the underlying
reason for the violence is the enormous and growing gap between the world's rich and its poor.
This is not a passing concern: it is a crying injustice that ought to touch every heart. Humanly seen, there is very little we can do other than pray like never before for the thousands who are suffering on all sides. But that is something. And each of us can also help prevent such violence from breaking out elsewhere: we can love our next-door neighbors as ourselves, not only in word, but in deed.
Let the news media worry about the riots' effect on the global economy. Sadly, as with every other disaster and tragedy these days, that seems to be their foremost concern. But let us not forget that even if those in power measure everything according to its political and financial
impact, there is another, far more important dimension to all this: the human aspect.
In the end, the riots are all about the oppression of the poor and underprivileged--the same sort of oppression that caused the French Revolution two hundred years ago. Today, as then, those who enjoy economic security are simply not willing to share with those who are less fortunate.
That is why lawlessness and violence are on the rise, not only in France, but around the world. We have made an idol of success and look down on those who do not achieve it. We value people's money and
things above their souls, and in the process, we are making human life cheaper and cheaper.
Unless we are ready to change this in our own lives, it is hypocritical to wish for an end to the violence in France. One day, the Bible says, each of us will go from this world to the next, and then the question will not be, "What impact did you have on the global economy?" but "What did you do to help alleviate human suffering? Did you feed the hungry? Did you clothe the naked? Did you visit those in prison? Did you shelter the stranger?" In the end, these are the most
important questions.
"In my house there are many mansions and the streets are paved with gold. That is what they told me,??? said Emmett.
"Where are the mansions at?" I asked, with eyes opened wide.
"They didn't say. All they said was that they belonged to God."
Emmett and I, along with 18 other boys, continued walking toward SpringParkElementary School. Every morning we orphans lined up at the orphanage office, picked up our brown paper bag lunches, and walked down the white rock road leading to the schoolhouse located next door to the orphanage.
All day long, I thought about those mansions and the streets that were paved with gold. "Where could all those gold streets be?" I thought to myself. After hours of thinking, I began to disbelieve what Emmett had told me. After school, I walked up to Mrs. Cherry and asked her if she
had ever heard of such a thing.
"Yes, Roger, it is true."
I ran from the classroom, down the long hallway, and all the way back to the orphanage. I hurried into the Library, threw my schoolbooks down on the table, and grabbed a Bible from the bookshelf. I flipped from page to page as quickly as I could, hoping to find where the mansions were located. After thirty minutes or so, I had found nothing. However, later that night while watching television a new door was open to me. I could hardly believe it when I looked up and saw the mansion on television. It was white with five or six large pillars located
in the front. It was located on top of a large hill, almost to heaven, just as the story had said.
Late that night when everyone was asleep, I woke Emmett. He and I, and two other boys began our search. As we made our way into downtown Jacksonville, we asked everyone we met if they had seen or heard of such a place. Within hours, the four of us stood before the mansion. As we made our way up the driveway, I checked the ground, but found nothing beneath our feet except dirt.
"Where is the golden road?" I kept asking.
"It must not be made yet," Emmett kept saying.
About half way up the hill, we saw car headlights coming toward us. The four of us jumped into the bushes. We watched as the car made its way up the hill. It drove around the mansion, and then drove back down the hill disappearing into the night.
Slowly we made our way up to the large structure. To our surprise, there was no front door in the opening. "Hellooooooo,"
I spoke into the darkness, as I stuck my head inside.
Very carefully, we walked inside and stood silently.
"It's sure a lot dark in here," said Emmett.
I struck several matches and noticed a stack of newspapers in the corner. We rolled several of them tightly together and made a paper torch. As the room lit up, we were amazed at the fancy, carved wooden balconies, which led up to the second level. There were five statutes of full-grown men still housed in wooden slatted crates. Along the walls were carved wooden
borders with pictures of angels holding harps. The remaining stack of wooden wall panels were stamped ???shipped from Africa??? on the back of each board. I shook my head in amazement as I walked around the large room with forty-foot high ceilings.
???Where is all gold?" I kept asking.
???Why would God want gold anyway? Asked Emmett.
???GOD, I found the
gold!" Yelled one of the boys who had come with us.
As we hurriedly made our way into a small bathroom, sure enough there was the gold. There were two golden faucets on each of two sinks, as well as on the shower. Even the toilet had golden handles, and a golden toilet paper ring was attached to the wall. We all stood in amazement. Not one of us said a word.
"Look, even the bolts holding down the toilet are made of gold," said Emmett.
Sure enough even the bolts were made of gold. This was truly the mansion
mentioned in the Bible.
???Why would God have to use the bathroom? Asked Emmett.
???I don??™t know,??? said one of the boys. ???But even if he did why would he have to use a toilet with gold on it???? He continued.
We just stood there pondering that question.
Cautiously I opened the cabinet door, looked under the sink, turned off the water valve, and then crawled inside. Emmett held the torch as I loosened the faucet with my fingers and removed
it from the sink base. As I climbed out from under the sink, the three boys were standing there watching the golden faucet glimmer in the torch light.
"This will give us what we need when we grow up and get big, cause we ain't gonna have nobody to help us like other kids do," I whispered to them.
"WHAT THE HELL YOU BOYS DOING?" yelled a man's voice from the darkness behind us.
Shaking and gasping for breath, we turned but saw no one.
"What you got there?" said the man.
Slowly I held up the golden faucet in the flickering light.
"We...we got, uh??¦ We got the gold from the sink," I said.
"Give me that damn faucet you little freak," said the man, as he walked into the light of the torch.
I backed against the wall holding onto the faucet as tightly as I could. "But we just want this little bit of gold for when
we get big," I told him.
This is the new house for the Pastor," the man advised us.
"But why does the Pastor have to have all this gold when we are hungry?" I asked him.
"These fixtures were especially made in China for this HOUSE!??? he screamed at me.
I started to run but was grabbed by the hair of my head. The large man and I fell to the floor where he began wrestling the faucet from my hands. I felt the skin on my hands tear as he pulled the faucet from my tightly held grip. I placed my bloody hands over my face and I yelled "GOD DON'T NEED ALL THIS GOLD. We just wanted a little bit for later."
I fell to my knees, placed my head down onto the floor and I began to cry uncontrollably. Everything became silent. I looked up and saw the man standing there staring at me.
"You stupid little bastard. Get out of here
and don't come back!"
He raised his arm and threw the golden faucet towards me, as hard as he could.
I watched in slow motion, as the flickering faucet twisted end over end through the air. I screamed with pain as the sharp golden object struck my leg and embedded itself into my knee. I screamed again with joy as I reached down and pulled the golden treasure from my right kneecap. I pulled it to my chest where I hugged it as tightly as I could.
"Oh, God in your house there are many mansions,??? I screamed loudly.
I could taste my blood as I continually kissed the treasure. I cried in pain as I hobbled from the mansion and ran, as best I could, all the way back to the orphanage. The other three boys had disappeared into the darkness.
Somewhere on the orphanage grounds, out in the field by the blackberry bushes, is buried that golden faucet. The one made in China for the man on earth who represented God. That one little bit of gold would have given us a chance at a future, or so we thought. We kids had no mother
or father to help or direct us. We owned not one shirt, one pant not even our shoes belonged to us. We owned absolutely nothing at all. Our hopes, all our dreams for a future were nothing more than a wish and we knew it. We were the four hungry little boys who had no future. Little boys who stole the Gold from the Mansion of God.
Roger Dean Kiser
trampolineone @earthlink.net
Roger Dean Kiser is the author of thebook
"Orphan, A True Story ofAbandonment, Abuse and Redemption."Roger also writes non-fiction shortstories which he displays on hiswebsite "The Sad Orphan" located at:www.rogerdeankiser.comRoger's short stories have also beenpublished in: Chicken Soup, Heartwarmers ? Heartwarmers of Love, ACool Collection I and II (Israel),
"The Bully" was made intoa short film by Nicholas Delfinoand has been entered into several major film festivals in the United States.
?
~**~**~?
Childhood Revisited
Monika Pant
?
In the late sixties of the last century, in a quaint little town, Lucknow, where modernity vies with antiquated old-world Nawabi culture, grew a little girl, the older of two children. Ours was a modest middle-class family, and
all around were ordinary middle-class families. Shy and timid, I remember always being bullied at school and not even having the courage of reporting to anyone, teachers or my parents. I felt that that was how life was lived. Still, somehow, I made friends with girls older than me as I often had nothing to say to girls of my age. My only refuge were books??¦books from the school library, from friends and, of course, whenever I was asked by my parents or relatives to choose a gift, or a prize for getting good marks at school, it would always be books. Enid Blyton world was my world. I dreamed of a school like Whyteleafe where I was ???the naughtiest girl in the school??™. I studied in LaMartiniere Girls??™ College, a school which came quite near to my childhood dream, only that I was not in the boarding.
I remember always floating into a dreamland, perhaps the first place one visits when one wants to write. Then I started writing for my school magazine. I still remember two poems I wrote in class five or six, one about a puppy and another about the rainbow. I remember my childhood insecurities when my parents would fight and though I would rather forget those days, I know they have given me the determination to never subject my own children to such traumas, and have also made me more sensitive to the feelings of others. There are other memories, though, of long summer afternoons during the vacations spent in childhood games with cousins, stealing pickles with them while the adults were asleep, and giggling with triumph on successfully managing to ???escape??™ from those brats who happened to be
our younger siblings. Those days of carefree abandon, when the only major problem on the horizon was the daily homework, make childhood so special??¦when dreams are real and reality a dream.
?
Monika Pant
mpant65@sify.com
I am an English teacher, teaching senior students in La Martiniere Girls' College Lucknow. I have been a teacher for about 10 years now .I am hoping someone, somewhere would just give me an opening and I could leave everything and just write...(Am I echoing the sentiments of all writers?) My interests are writing and reading, drawing, singing, music enlivens me and issues around me disappoint me. I have just about gone through some cycles of chemotherapy,( My doctor is
hopeful of my recovery) and that has opened my eyes to the beauty of life, a lifetime, which is too, too short to accomplish all that I have to do, and I have had the privilege to see beyond the outer facade of people. I have a caring husband who is an Urdu poet and two lovely daughters who are very creative. Love , Monika
?
~**~**~?
?
?
? As the Sand of the Sea: wave beaten, had for lunch, spit out, drug through the mire, washed ashore; then stomped on.
? ? Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble
at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
? ? ? ? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.? Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
? ? ? Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.? For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.? As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses
full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.? They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
? ? ? Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? Jeremiah 5:22-31.
____________
? ? ? Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God, Hosea 1:10.
? ? ? And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.? I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
? ? ? And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; And the
earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.? And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God, Hosea 2:19-23.
?
? ~ Changing Your Scars from Sand to Stars ~
Joyce C. Lock?
? ? ? If you haven't personally felt the waves roaring, your foundation shaking, the earth around you quaking ~ you may have already been there, done that, and found the Living God and His Kingdom.
? ? ? But, more than likely, you're experiencing more sea than anyone one person should experience in an entire lifetime.? You may be in the process of discovering that nothing
you've ever been taught or believed in has prepared you for overcoming spiritual warfare.
? ? ? By your dependence upon the faith and teachings of others, or even by your study of God's word using anything but scripture's definitions, you may be discovering that not even God's word works to overcome these battles.? And, by lack in truly knowing God, you may, thereby, have also been the source of tribulation for others.
? ? ? However, if none of the above applies, you may be no threat to Satan at all.
____________
? ? ? The ultimate purpose of tribulation is to bring us to the place of entering the Kingdom of God, Acts 14:22, because, without it, we could never be that camel making it through the eye of a needle, Luke 18:25.? We are equipped with such strong instincts of survival that we actually have to come to the end of ourselves to find something even better.
? ? ? Like it or lump it, this is how it is.? There is no longer peace by following the religious status quo.? We are leaving the church age and entering the age of the Kingdom of God, preparing for Jesus' return, and setting up His Kingdom to where God will again dwell with man.? God wants His throne back, in YOUR heart and life.? (Don't worry about what someone else is doing.)
? ? ? As previously shared, I once asked God how many prophecies have to come to pass.? His response was, "As many as it takes."
? ? ? The Kingdom of God does not come to all at the same time, Luke 17:20.? So, yes, you are experiencing conflict and dissention (whether verbalized or not) with family, friends, church members, etc. ~ as you are not all arriving at the same place, spiritually, at the same time, Matthew 10: 36.? However, the sooner you enter the Kingdom of God, the sooner your tribulation will be over.
? ____________
? ? ? And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.? And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.? And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your
redemption draweth nigh.
? ? ? And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.? So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.? Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.? Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my
words shall not pass away, Luke 21:25-33.
?
____________
? ? ? I have heard said (and you can decide whether you believe it or not) that we knew, before we came to earth, our coming would be for the end times; that we were hand picked for such a time as this and agreed to come (knowing, in advance, that it would be incredibly hard), and that we are a very courageous
people.
? ? ? Sure, most of the people I know are currently experiencing what feels like the sand of the sea ... and even Jesus was spiritually stomped on when accused of befriending publicans and sinners.? Yet, He, too, knew where wisdom lay.
? ? ? God wants you to know that He does not see you as weak and sickly, at all.? You were created in His image and He is not sick.? Additionally, you are His chosen.? No matter how many horrors have come your way, you never gave up on God and that makes Him very proud!? That's what true love is.? Only, now is the time to take up your cross and walk; redeeming the time, Ephesians 5:16-17.
? ? ? There is only one entry to the Kingdom of God.? You have to start all over, in your knowledge, as a little child, Mark 10:15.
? ? ? Once you finally realize and come to terms with the fact that man does not know the answers, 1 Corinthians 2:11, it is no longer so hard to run to the One who knows how to defeat Satan every time.? Throw out those survival instincts.? They don't work in spiritual warfare.? Throw out everything you thought you knew and let God teach you all over again, John 6:45.? One more time, for such a time as this, Ye must be born again, John 3:3, 5.
? ? ?
Abraham believed God and God counted that as righteousness and friendship, James 2:23, and, with friendship, you are no longer left standing in the dark, John 15:15.
? ? ? Scripture always works once God has revealed to you His intent for the words given.? God will answer, once you ask the right question with the right motive (James 4:3), and He promises, if you ask first, Matthew 7:9-11, that He will not allow Satan to trick you, I John 2:27.
? ? ? Don't do anything until you have received instruction from God.? Then, do it without fear, as Satan cannot touch you as long as God's anointing is on your every step ~ because, Satan cannot defeat God.? Therein is your confidence.
? ? ? Then, as you experience the Kingdom of God, begin sharing it with others.? The purpose of our creation, for such a time as this, is to have the honor of leading the procession in bringing God's children home.? So, here is your chance.? Change your scars from sand to stars.
?
They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Daniel 12:3
For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. Hebrews
My Heart Song - What a beautiful story.? It has made me stop and think of how I grew up and there is such an obvious comparison that I was literally taken aback. As each paragraph unfolds and the pain you must have certainly felt shows such sharp relativity and comparability as I view my owon life. To know that someone else has experienced what I have has released some of the pressure of feeling as athough I was the only one that experienced these events.? Bless you for sharing that and thank you even more for opening my eyes.
?
God Bless
Pop Warner?
?
?
Another Senior Moment by Sharlett Hunt:? Beautiful story Sharlett!? About six years ago at where I was working, a friend of my principal partner (my boss) came from a far state in Nigeria for a visit (they were two old men in the legal world; they were jolly friends in the past).? After their good old days talk, my boss??™s friend was about leaving.? He reached the lift and remembered that he forgot his eyeglasses.? He returned to the office to search for his glasses.? He told my boss the purpose of his returned mission and my boss said to him ???see for yourself, you can see that your glasses is not on my desk???, although the glasses was just right in front of my boss on his great law table.? Immediately the visitor sighted it he was about taking the glasses when my boss said, ???no, no, that is not your glasses they are mine???.? My boss immediately grabbed the case and pocketed.? His friend knew very well that the glasses does not belong to
my boss.? He had no further comment than to plead for us to forward back to him his glasses when found.? Few hours after the visitor had left my boss got into his usual law research and needed his eyeglasses.? He put his hand in his pocket of his native attire, brought out the glass case, opened it and took out the glasses.? He put it on his face.? Next, he screamed ???oh dear me, these are not my glasses???.? Well, I cannot describe the scenario to you through writing, it was so funny.? His facial expression was funny knowing that he had done what he always accuse others for, the forgetful memory problem.? Well, he is fond of that and I hardly ague with him whenever we both get into such problems in the office.? I always had to accept since he was my boss, a big time lawyer who used to argue the
Nigerian-Bakassi case in the Hughes.
