Thanks!

LOL!

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he
was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For
each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in
the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to
the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before
him, he looked back at the footprints in the
sand. He noticed that many times along the
path of his life there was only one set of foot-
prints. He also noticed that it happened at the
very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the
LORD about it. "LORD, you said that once I
decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all
the way. But I have noticed that during the
most troublesome times in my life, there is only
one set of footprints. I don't understand why
when I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied, "My precious, precious
child, I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering, when
you see only one set of footprints, it was then
that I carried you."

Author Unknown

Just bumping by to say hello
I hope you/everyone came through the earthquake alright.
Scarry stuff.

The Year in Pictures 2003

Lori ..... thank you for doing a great job on the thread today.
I have a question .... how did you get the earthquake to hit while I was away?

how did you get the earthquake to hit while I was away?

LOL! Quite impressive, huh? Wait 'til you see what I do with the lighting bolt tomorrow. ;-)

I wasn't able to be here much because my dsl kept cutting in and out. And, I certainly can't equal you in the meet and greet department. I don't know how you do it every day.

12-23-03

ALMOST TIME FOR CHRISTMAS
Joyce Wilde

It is a almost time for Christmas
And everyone is gay
Wishing each other the joys
They feel in their hearts today
I have much joy in my heart
And thanks and gratitude, too,
For my many, many friends
And the things you say and do.
The Lord gives all of us trials
Hoping to make us strong,
And without the help of each other
We would probably all go wrong.
This year is closing much brighter
Than at one time I thought it might.
It has been your thoughts and faith and prayers
That are helping to make things right.
The Lord has heard your petitions,
My life has been spared for a time.
I am grateful for all of your prayers,
And to Him who has listened to mine.
Adversity must come to all,
But it is easier to understand
When things have turned out right again,
That the Lord did have a plan.
We all need to be reminded
We agreed to the joy and the pain
That must be suffered in this life
So we could live with Him again.
So at this Christmas season,
Since we've received the plan from above,
Let's put second the things of the world
And start with the Savior's gift of love.

"I don't know how you do it every day."

Ahhh .... thank you. The greatest people are FReepers and it is a pleasure to see them daily and get a chance to say hello.

~~Lighting~~ LIGHTENING bolt.

I need your help today!
Due to being in meetings all day, I only found one poem for today's thread. So how about some potpourri?
Would you tell us about your most memorable Christmas? I'll start.

When I was 16, my Dad had bleeding ulcers, went through 3 surgeries and was out of work for 4 months. My mother was very creative and talented so even tho money was tight, she and my Dad had planned a good Christmas. (I'm sure there was a little help from my aunts and uncles).

Do you remember being 16? Everything embarrassed me at that age.

I answered the door 3 days before Christmas and people from the church came bearing gifts. A gift for each of us five children and all the fixings for a wonderful Christmas dinner. Of course, I was embarrassed that friends would think we needed charity.

When my Mother got home, she asked what I'd said to them, I said something like "I dunno. Okay, I guess."

My Mother used this as a teaching experience. First, people from our church were helping others that they felt needed help. Second, we should be thankful that there were people who cared about us. Third, by the act of giving, our friends felt good about themselves. I was reminded of the times I had taken canned food to school to put in Christmas baskets and how good I had felt to be able to help someone else.

Anyway at sixteen, this was a most embarrassing experience but also very memorable.

Okay .... your turn.

Hello Jim. Welcome to Free Republic.

I hope you will stop by and get acquainted.
Amy's Place is not just about poetry. We have tried to create a place for Freepers to come by and relax. Enjoy some jokes, chatting with friends, sharing stories, listening to music and even some poetry.
We want to talk about whatever you would like to talk about.

How about sharing your most memorable Christmas with us?

Mornin', everybody ! Happy Christmas Eve Eve !
A little cooler today - 46 degrees. Yesterday at this time it was 63 ...

Have a cup while you Freep !

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9

Lord, give me courage to confess,
To bare my sinful heart to Thee;
Forgiving love You long to show
And from my sin to set me free. —D. De Haan

Confession to God always brings cleansing from God.

December 23, 2003

River Of Forgiveness

Read: 1 John 1:5-9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9

Bible In One Year: 1 John 1-2

According to Greek mythology, King Augeus owned a stable with 3,000 oxen. Their stalls had not been cleaned out for 30 years—hence our English word Augean, which refers to something exceedingly filthy from long neglect. Hercules, the mythical strong man, was commanded to clean the Augean stable in a single day.

When Hercules first saw the stable, he was dismayed by its size, filthiness, and stench. Then he noticed that it was located between two great rivers, the Alpheus and the Peneus. He put his great strength to work and diverted the rivers so they flowed through the building. Within a short time the stable was rinsed clean.

The story is a myth, of course, but myths by their very nature preserve the yearnings of the cultures that embrace and perpetuate them. The story reflects, I believe, our own longing for someone to wash from our lives the accumulated waste and filth of the years.

There is a powerful river of forgiveness that flows from the cross of Christ. No defilement, even though Augean, can withstand its cleansing flow. When we humbly confess our sins, all of our unrighteousness is washed away (1 John 1:9). We can be sure that our "sins, which are many, are forgiven" (Luke 7:47). —David Roper

Lord, give me courage to confess,
To bare my sinful heart to Thee;
Forgiving love You long to show
And from my sin to set me free. —D. De Haan

Confession to God always brings cleansing from God.

Hello everybody!
Hope everyone has a SUPER GREAT Christmas and New Year!
Happy Hanukkah to all the Jewish Freepers!
This will my last day to post on FR until 2004 as I am going to be off from work from 12/24/03 until 01/02/04.
YIPPIE!
Tomorrow I’m gonna see “The Return of the King” and then I’m going over to my parents’ house for Christmas Eve dinner and to open presents (a family tradition ever since I was a kid)
I need to make some wishes for all my Friends on FreeRepublic for this Christmas and for the coming year.
I wish everyone the happiest of Christmases and may God bless you all!
I wish 2004 will be a year a triumph and prosperity for each and every one of you. May this election year be a successful one for President Bush and for all good people running for office.
May all good Americans be celebrating victory on Nov. 2 this year.
May the terrorists be made small while true patriots become tall!
May God continue to bless President and Mrs. Bush; the Troops; All our elected officials; and all that post and lurk on Free Republic; and may God continue to bless America!

And may God Bless You!

Have a great Christmas, a Happy New Year.
Please be safe on your journey. See you next year.

I suspect this is making the rounds in email, but here it is anyway:

Hot off the wires:

At New York's Kennedy airport today, an individual later
discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested
trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler,
a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Attorney general John
Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the
notorious al-gebra movement. He is being charged by
the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

"Al-gebra is a fearsome cult,", Ashcroft said. "They
desire average solutions by means and extremes, and
sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute
value. They use secret code names like "x! " and "y"
and refer to themselves as "unknowns", but we have
determined they belong to a common denominator of the
axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.

"As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, there
are 3 sides to every triangle," Ashcroft declared.

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said,
"If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math
instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.

"I am gratified that our government has given us a sine
that it is intent on protracting us from these math-dogs
who are willing to disintegrate us with calculus disregard.
Murky statisticians love to inflict plane on every sphere
of influence," the President said, adding: "Under the
circumferences, we must differentiate their root, make
our point, and draw the line."

President Bush warned, "These weapons of math instruction
have the potential to decimal everything in their math on
a scalene never before seen unless we become exponents of
a Higher Power and begin to factor-in random facts of vertex."

Attorney General Ashcroft said, "As our Great Leader would
say, read my ellipse. Here is one principle he is uncertain
of: though they continue to multiply, their days are numbered
as the hypotenuse tightens around their necks."

Merry Christmas Everybody and God Bless Our Troops!

Racum Almost Missed Christmas, by Debbie Williamson (for FReeper kids)

Once upon a time there was a little raccoon. His name was Racum. Racum was just an ordinary raccoon, who loved to play with his friends and eat good food like chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies. He, like all his other raccoon friends, loved Christmas. He loved to receive presents and he loved to give presents, especially to his Mother and Father.

Racum, however, almost slept through Christmas one year. That was a year that he would never forget. This was how the tale went:

One year, I believe it was the year 1985, it turned very cold, very fast. Racum had been gathering some kindling out in the Big Dark Forest for his Mother. Normally, Racum's Father gathered it but, he was working late at the steel factory in the little village beside the forest.

While out gathering the kindling, Racum had accidentally knocked over a pot of honey that their neighbour, Mama_Bear, had been preparing for her family. The Bear family had to have a lot of food to eat at this time of the year, because they were getting ready for their long winter sleep.

Racum didn't want to get into any trouble with Mama_Bear, so he started eating the honey that he had spilled. Well, the honey tasted so good that Racum cleaned up the whole pot.

After eating the honey, Racum became very drowsy. He wanted to go to sleep. He found a little hole in the ground and curled up. Soon, he was fast asleep.

Racum's Mother and Father were very worried when he did not come home that night. They contacted the local police force, immediately.

Mr. Fox, the sly police chief, had stopped by the Raccoon family's house to see if he could find anything out about the missing Racum. After questioning Mrs. Raccoon, Mr. Fox came to the conclusion that Racum had run away, therefore, he would not conduct a search.

"Why dear, I don't believe that old sly fox at all!" cried Mrs. Raccoon.

"Nor do I," commented Mr. Raccoon. "Our son, Racum may do some strange things but, run away! No, I'll never believe that."

The days grew colder and the nights got darker. There was no sign of poor little Racum at all. Both Mr. and Mrs. Raccoon and most of the animals in the Big Dark Forest had searched the forest floor, the caves and the trees. Every stick of the forest had been searched, except of course for the little hole that Racum had crawled into.

It was getting very close to Christmas, (just two days away). Meanwhile, up in the far away North Pole, Santa Claus was checking his list twice to make sure that everything was in order for his big journey.

"Sly Fox," one of Santa's elves had called.

"Check!" said Santa. "All presents for Sly have been accounted for. The detective kit and the sheriff's badge."

"Racum Raccoon," called the elf.

"Check!" murmured Santa. "Oh wait! Isn't Racum the little raccoon that went missing?"

"Oh yes," the elf said. "I seem to recall something about that."

"If nobody else can find him," said Santa. "And if Racum is out there in the Big Dark Forest, then maybe I had better find him."

"How?" asked the elf. "How will you ever find Racum in the Big Dark Forest?"

"Very simple," said Santa. "I will use the big old heavy sleigh bells."

"Oh Santa!" the elf exclaimed, joyfully. "You're marvellous! Those sleigh bells are so loud, they will even wake a bear up in hibernation."

Santa and all his elves got everything ready for their long trip. The elves had to put all the presents on the sleigh and shine up the big old heavy sleigh bells.

It was now Christmas Eve. Racum's Mother and Father were standing by the Christmas tree, both crying for their lost son.

"Oh, I wish somebody would do something to find our little Racum," sobbed Mrs. Raccoon.

"Now, now, dear," comforted Mr. Raccoon.

Just as Mr. and Mrs. Raccoon were putting the angel on their Christmas tree, they heard a very loud noise.

"Jingle, jingle, jingle," rang out Santa's big old heavy sleigh bells.

The Raccoon family were very scared.

"What was that?" asked Mr. Raccoon above the noise. "I'd better go outside and check this out."

Just as Mr. Raccoon was about to leave, the front door opened. In walked little Racum, his arms full of kindling.

"Merry Christmas, Mother and Father," declared Racum. "I'm very sorry that I am so late with the kindling."

"Oh Racum!" Mrs. Raccoon cried. "Oh my poor little Racum. I am so glad that you are alright!"

Racum's Mother and Father hugged him. They all stood by the tree and each one said their own little prayer of thanks to the angel.

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" came the sound of Santa's merry voice. "Merry Christmas."

"Thank you, Santa," shouted the Raccoons. "Merry Christmas to you, too!"

Racum told his Mother and Father all about his adventures with Mama_Bear's pot of honey and how Santa Claus' big old heavy sleigh bells had woke him up out of the deep sleep that he had been in.

"Well, you'd better go tomorrow and apologize to Mama_Bear," suggested Racum's Father.

"Won't they still be hibernating?" asked Racum.

"With all the noise of Santa's big old heavy sleigh bells?" laughed his father.

The Raccoon family started to laugh.

"This is the best Christmas ever," said Mrs. Raccoon, happily.