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Hours of Operation
The
Child Care Center
is designed for children between the ages of
2 to 5.
We are
open
Monday - Friday from
7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For more information about our facility,
please call us at
(941) 484-4415.
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When Jesus Came to Dinner |
Ruth looked at the envelope again. There
was no stamp, no postmark, only her
name and address. She read
the letter one more time...
Dear Ruth,
I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I’d
like to stop
by for a visit.
Love Always,
Jesus
Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table.
“Why would the
Lord want
to visit me? I’m nobody special. I don’t have anything to
offer.” With that
thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen
cabinets. “Oh my goodness, I really
don't have anything
to offer. I’ll have to run down to the store and buy something
for dinner.”
She reached for her purse and counted out its contents - seven
dollars and forty
cents.
“Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least.” She threw
on her coat
and hurried
out the door. A loaf of french bread, a half-pound of sliced
turkey, and
a carton of milk --leaving Ruth with a grand total of twelve cents to last her
until
Monday. Nonetheless, she
felt satisfied as she headed home, her meager
offerings tucked
under her arm.
“Hey lady, can you help us, lady?” Ruth had been so absorbed in
her dinner plans,
she
hadn’t even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man
and a woman,
both of
them dressed in little more than rags. “Look lady, I ain’t got a
job, ya know,
and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now
it’s getting
cold and we’re
getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us, lady, we’d
really
appreciate it.”
Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and,
frankly, she was
certain
that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to.
“Sir, I’d like to
help you, but
I’m a poor woman myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some
bread,
and I’m having an important guest for dinner tonight and
I was planning on serving
that to Him.” “Yeah, well,
OK lady, I understand. Thanks anyway.” The man put his
arm
around the woman’s shoulders, turned and headed back into the
alley.
As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her
heart. “Sir, wait!” The
couple stopped and turned as she ran
down the alley after them. “Look, why don’t
you take this
food. I’ll figure out something else to serve my guest.” She
handed
the man her grocery
bag. “Thank you lady. Thank you very much!” “Yes, thank you!”
It
was the man’s wife, and
Ruth could see now that she was shivering. “You know,
I’ve got
another coat at home.
Here, why don’t you take this one.” Ruth unbuttoned
her jacket
and slipped it over the
woman’s shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and
walked back to
the street. without her
coat and with nothing to serve her guest.
“Thank you lady! Thank
you very much!”
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and
worried too. The
Lord was
coming to visit and she didn't have anything to offer Him. She
fumbled
through her purse
for the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope
in her mailbox. “That’s odd.
The mailman doesn’t usually come twice in one day.
” She took the
envelope out of the box
and opened it.
Dear Ruth,
It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal
and thank you too
for the beautiful coat.
Love Always,
Jesus
The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no
longer noticed.
~ Author Unknown ~ |
Who to Save?
After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church’s
pastor once again
slowly
stood up, walked over to the pulpit, and gave a very brief
introduction of
his childhood
friend. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit to
speak,
“A father, his son,
and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast,” he
began, “when a fast
approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to shore.
The
waves were so high,
that even though the father who was an experienced
sailor, he
could not keep the boat
upright, and the three were swept into the
ocean.”
The old man hesitated for a moment, making
eye contact with two teenagers who
were, for the first time since the service began, looking
somewhat interested in
his
story. He continued, “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to
make the most
excruciating decision of his life to which boy he would throw
the other end of the
line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew
that his son was
a Christian, and he also knew that his son’s friend was not. The
agony of his
decision
could not be matched by the torrent of waves. As the father
yelled out,
‘I love you, son!’
he threw the line to his son’s friend. By the time he pulled the
friend back to the capsized
boat, his son had disappeared beyond the raging
swells into the
black of night. His body
was never recovered.”
By this time, the two teenagers were sitting straighter in the
pew, waiting for the
next
words to come out of the old man’s mouth. “The Father,” he
continued, “knew
his son
would step into eternity with Jesus, and he could not bear the
thought of his
son’s friend stepping into an eternity without
Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son.
How great is
the love of God that He should do the same for us.” With that,
the old
man turned and
sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.
Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were
at the old man’s
side.
“That was a nice story,” politely started one of the boys, “but
I don't think it was
very
realistic for a father to give up his son’s life in hopes that
the other boy would
become
a Christian.”
“Well, you’ve got a point there,” the old man replied, glancing
down at his worn
Bible.
A big smile broadened his narrow face, and he once again looked
up at the
boys and
said, “It sure isn’t very realistic, is it? But I’m standing
here today to tell
you that THAT
story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God
to
give up His Son for
me. You see, I was the son’s friend.”
~ Author Unknown ~ |
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15 Things that God Won’t
Ask
God won’t ask what kind of car you drove,
but will ask how many people you drove who didn’t have transportation.
God won’t ask the square footage of your house,
but will ask how many people you welcomed into your house.
God won’t ask about the fancy clothes you had in your closet,
but will ask how many of those clothes helped the needy.
God won’t ask about your social status,
but will ask what kind of class you displayed.
God won’t ask how many material possessions you had,
but will ask if they dictated your life.
God won’t ask what your highest salary was,
but will ask if you compromised your character to obtain that
salary.
God won’t ask how much overtime you worked,
but will ask if you worked overtime for your family and loved ones.
God won’t ask how many promotions you received,
but will ask how you promoted others.
God won’t ask what your job title was,
but will ask if you performed your job to the best of your
ability.
God won’t ask what you did to help yourself,
but will ask what you did to help others.
God won’t ask how many friends you had,
but will ask how many people to whom you were a true friend.
God won’t ask what you did to protect your rights,
but will ask what you did to protect the rights of others.
God won’t ask in what neighborhood you lived,
but will ask how you treated your neighbors.
God won’t ask about the color of your skin,
but will ask about the content of your character.
God won’t ask how many times your deeds matched your words,
but will ask how many times they didn’t.
~ Author Unknown ~
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Ten Cents
Several years ago a pastor friend of mine moved to Houston,
Texas. Some weeks
after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his home
to the downtown
area.
When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally
given
him ten cents
too much change.
As he considered what to do, there alternately appeared to him
little angelic
figures
sitting on his shoulders and whispering instructions into his
ears.
One said, “You better give the dime back. It would be wrong to
keep it.” On the
other
shoulder a voice said, “Oh forget it. It’s just ten cents. Who
would worry about
this little
amount? Anyway the bus company already gets too much fare. With
there
millions
everyday they will never miss it. Accept it as a gift from God
and keep quiet.”
When his stop came he paused momentarily at the front door, and
handing the
driver
the dime he said, “Here. You handed me to much change.” The
driver replied,
“Aren’t
you the new pastor in town? I have been thinking lately about
going to church
somewhere.
I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you ten cents
to much
change.” When my
friend stepped off the bus he literally grabbed the nearest
light
pole, and held on, and
said, “O God, I almost sold your Son for ten cents.”
~ Joanne Morris ~ |
$20 Dollars
A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20
dollar bill. In the room
of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 dollar bill?” Hands
started going up. He said,
“I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do
this.” He proceeded to
crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, “Who still wants it?”
Still the hands were up
in the air.’ |
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“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?”
And he dropped it on the ground and started to
grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now
crumpled and dirty. “Now who
still wants it?” Still the hands went into the air.
“My friends, you have all learned a very
valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money,
you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was
still worth $20. Many times
in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt
by the decisions we make
and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we
are worthless. But no
matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never
lose your value in God’s
eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you
are still priceless to Him.
~ Author Unknown ~ |
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