From: sherrys_inspirational+noreply@googlegroups.com
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:01:21 +0000
Subject: Digest for sherrys_inspirational@googlegroups.com - 2
Messages in 2 Topics
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Today's Topic Summary
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Group: sherrys_inspirational@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/sherrys_inspirational/topics
- Inspirational 04/20/10 God Lives Under The Bed! [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/sherrys_inspirational/t/ddf5b49d596c2580
- Inspirational 04/19/10 The Sunday Basket [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/sherrys_inspirational/t/3e314a613942d225
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Topic: Inspirational 04/20/10 God Lives Under The Bed!
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/sherrys_inspirational/t/ddf5b49d596c2580
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From: "Sherry's Inspirational List" <sherrysinspirationallist@hotmail.com>
Date: Apr 19 08:26PM -0400
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/sherrys_inspirational/msg/6c9ab2a64d45bf6b
Sherry's Inspirational list
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to be the channel, not the source, through
which we pray God's blessings may flow to others. Our ministry is not to
provide counseling, advice, or doctrinal interpretation. For this we refer
you to local spiritual leaders who may know and deal with your needs more
personally. It is our prayer that God may truly bless your day through the
inspiration we seek to channel your way. In Him, Sherry and Jim Heard
When forwarding / copying, please include the entire message.
God Lives Under The Bed!
Written by Kelly Adkins
I envy Kevin. My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed. At least
that's what I heard him say one night.
He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, 'Are
you there, God?' he said. 'Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed....'
I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin's unique perspectives
are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long
after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world
Kevin lives in.
He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties
during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2); there are few ways in
which he is an adult.
He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he
always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed,
that Santa Clause is the one who fills the space under our tree every
Christmas and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.
I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever
dissatisfied with his monotonous life?
Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to
walk our cocker spaniel, return to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for
dinner, and later to bed.
The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly
over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child.
He does not seem dissatisfied.
He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple
work.
He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before
dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for
his next day's laundry chores.
And Saturdays - oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my Dad takes
Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and
speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside. 'That one's
goin' to Chi-car-go!' Kevin shouts as he claps his hands.
His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights.
And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips.
He doesn't know what it means to be discontent.
His life is simple.
He will never know the entanglements of wealth of power, and he does not
care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. His needs
have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be.
His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working. When
he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in
it.
He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job
until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax.
He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure.
He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when
you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue.
Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry
when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere.
And he trusts God.
Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to Christ, he comes as
a child. Kevin seems to know God - to really be friends with Him in a way
that is difficult for an 'educated' person to grasp. God seems like his
closest companion.
In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity, I envy the
security Kevin has in his simple faith.
It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge
that rises above my mortal questions.
It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap. I am.
My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances - they all become
disabilities when I do not trust them to God's care.
Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has
spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and
soaking up the goodness and love of God.
And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed
at how close God really is to our hearts, I'll realize that God heard the
simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.
Kevin won't be surprised at all!
"Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child shall in no wise enter therein." -Luke 18:17
"Voorwaar Ek sê vir julle, elkeen wat die koninkryk van God nie soos 'n
kindjie ontvang nie, sal daar nooit ingaan nie." -Luke 18:17
*******************************************************************
In His Service, <>< Sherry and Jim Heard
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Topic: Inspirational 04/19/10 The Sunday Basket
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/sherrys_inspirational/t/3e314a613942d225
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From: "Sherry's Inspirational List" <sherrysinspirationallist@hotmail.com>
Date: Apr 18 10:54PM -0400
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/sherrys_inspirational/msg/17ebe9c765859c0e
Sherry's Inspirational list
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to be the channel, not the source, through
which we pray God's blessings may flow to others. Our ministry is not to
provide counseling, advice, or doctrinal interpretation. For this we refer
you to local spiritual leaders who may know and deal with your needs more
personally. It is our prayer that God may truly bless your day through the
inspiration we seek to channel your way. In Him, Sherry and Jim Heard
When forwarding / copying, please include the entire message.
The Sunday Basket
by Vickie Baker
The basket changed hands...
We're not talking any old ordinary basket here. We're talking the Sunday
Basket.
Years ago, I had given it to my mom as a Christmas present. The basket
contains a platform to store a pie or various other items beneath, while
having lots of room for other stuff. It proves invaluable for toting food
back and forth on Sundays when my mom and I get together.
The basket changed hands on Mother's Day.
I felt both sad and elated. Sad that my mother is slowing down, and that
even after her knee heals, she probably won't be able to do as much for
herself as she once could. But I also felt elated, because for the first
time since my accident 18 years ago, I would be the one to fix Sunday dinner
for her instead of vice versa. By "fix," I mean delegate and supervise.
That's what I "do."
For three months worth of Sunday's we had dined at my house. In my bedroom,
to be exact -- where I was doing time in bed to heal a pressure sore.
Fortunately, my problem had cleared up. This time, instead of doing Sunday
at my place, I enlisted the aide of two cousins who live about an hour away,
plus two of my attendants.
My cousins came over, helped load up the basket with the dinner that one of
my attendants had shopped for and another had prepared. The three of us
drove over to my mother's house. She had just been sprung from the hospital
the day before. Joint replacement surgery on her left knee had knocked a
little of the get-up-and-go out of this 83 year-old dynamo whose social life
still runs circles around mine.
It felt nice to be in the position of "doing" instead of "being done for,"
even if it did take four able-bodied people to help me pull off this simple
act. There are many things this quadriplegic can still do -- writing,
drawing and tandem skydiving to name a few -- but shopping, cooking and
driving have not yet made it to my I-Did-It! list.
Though I feel guilty because I can't do more, I am grateful that God
provided my mother with so many caring neighbors. Frequently, they drop in
bearing gifts of homemade cookies or homegrown produce. One of her
next-door neighbors even offered to plant her tomatoes this year. When my
mom said that she wasn't up to having her garden because she couldn't easily
water it, this sweet soul said she would do that too! By that
afternoon the plants were in the ground.
My mom's neighbor on the other side -- a friend for over 30 years -- is a
true lifeline. She gets her groceries and helps her morning and night with
the "ted hose" she must wear for three weeks to help prevent blood clots.
Her first night home, my mom spent two grueling hours getting these
stockings off by herself. When she casually mentioned this to Maxine the
next day, the response was, "You didn't call me?!"
Another thoughtful neighbor offered to change my mom's sheets since the
provision of home health care for people leaving the hospital seems to be a
thing of the past. This dear friend even dashed back to transfer the sheets
to the dryer, and again to fold and put them away.
My mother and my cousins and I had a delightful Mother's Day.
To complete the role reversal, I left all the yummy leftovers for my mom and
took the Sunday Basket with me. Besides acting as my chauffeur that
afternoon, my cousins ran errands for my mom, served dinner, did the dishes,
plus a myriad of other tasks.
Me? I delegated and supervised. That's what I do.
"And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that
thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and
how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity,
and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore." - Ruth 2:11
"En Boas antwoord en sê vir haar: Aan my is alles omstandig vertel wat jy
aan jou skoonmoeder gedoen het ná die dood van jou man, en dat jy jou vader
en jou moeder en jou geboorteland verlaat het en na 'n volk getrek het wat
jy gister en eergister nie geken het nie." - Ruth 2:11
*******************************************************************
In His Service, <>< Sherry and Jim Heard
To subscribe please send an email to:
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We invite you to visit our website at:
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<http://groups.google.com/group/Sherrys_Inspirational>
Our mailing address is:
Sherry's Inspirational List, 950 Eagles Landing Parkway #186, Stockbridge GA
30281, USA
Donations can be made online at www.paypal.com <http://www.paypal.com/> ;
address payments to
sherrysinspirationallist <mailto:sherrysinspirationallist@hotmail.com> @
hotmail.com.
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