In the great iron foundries in making Bessemer steel, the process of purification is watched through a spectroscope, in which the changing colors of the flames show exactly when the metal is perfectly ready for its uses. When the flame becomes a certain precise shade of color then the great crucible is tilted and the metal poured into molds. So the great Divine Refiner, the loving Christ sits down by the crucible of our discipline and chastening, watches intently to see when the fire has done its work; and when this is reached, the metal is removed from the flames. Not a pang, a pain, or a sorrow that is not necessary to our purifying will He permit.

A New York merchant who is very wealthy is afflicted with blindness, caused by the atrophy of the optic nerve. He so greatly desires to recover his sight that he has offered a reward of a million dollars to anyone that will restore him the use of his eyes. A very poor young man, who is afflicted in the same way, has been hired by this wealthy merchant to permit the experiments which are suggested to him to be tried on his eyes. He stands in the rich man's place with the added interest that if the experiments are successful, he will recover his own sight, as well as lead to the recovery of his employer. But suppose it were turned around, and the rich man were to give up his wealth, and his own sight, and his life even, to stand in the place of this poor man, and bring recovery and comfort to him, how infinitely more striking and interesting it would be! But Christ did more than that for us. He had the glory of heaven, and riches beyond our dreams; and yet He became poor and lonely and outcast, and suffered and died upon the cross in our stead; went down into the grace for us; but, blessed be God--He broke the bands of death asunder, and stands glorified in heaven, the pledge that all who sleep in Jesus shall have similar victory!

I was BORN in the 70-80's. The last SANE generation! We are the last generation that played on the streets. we were the first to play video games, saw cartoons with no color & went to the Apapa amusement park. We were the last to record songs off the radio via cassettes, we are the pioneers of walkman, discman & chat rooms. We were d last to see beta max video players. We had d legendary Video cas...sette player, played the Atari, gameboy, game gear, sega game and looked left and right b4 crossing d streets. We wore G-shock & Casio digital wrist watches, played ten- ten, boju-boju, catcher, dan malio, suwe, wheel, rolled tyre on d streets, n had no idea wat d internet was. We are the generation of the Thunder Cats, the Transformers, Scooby doo n scrappy doo, Voltron, clue club, capt caveman, big foot n wild boy, Super Ted, Willi Willi, seaseme street, contact, g force, jumbo, ovide video, muppet babies, speed racer, he-man,yogi bear, atom ant, mighty mouse, terra hawks, casper n d angels, fraggle rock & Tales by the Moonlight. Traveled in cars without seat belts nor air-bags, auto transmission cars were thrilling to see, if ur daddy didnt hav a peugeot 504 2.0 or 505 evolution, den u neva arrive. lived without cell phones. Rode our bicycles down the streets without brakes. Icecream vans patrolled the streets & cable channels were free. We never had Yahoo but still kept in touch. We donned our sunday clothes to go watch films @ the National Theatre. walked around our homes barefoot n used our nails to remove broken bottle pieces from underneath our feet and neva needed spirit nor iodine. We were the ficticious yabbers with the likes of "u mess akara wear coat, u mess all d fish in river Niger say r we safeeeeee". We did not have Sony play station, X box, nor DSTV, rather we waited till 4pm for dear NTA to start TELE MATCH, Had no flat screens, VCD, DVD, Blu Ray disc, surround sound, mp3. mp4 players, iPod, ipad, computers & the Internet. There was no LASTMA but yellow fever, no BRT buses but Molue. But nevertheless we had a GREAT Time!!! ... Feel free to post this, if you are from this generation.(i wish things can go back to the way they used to be,where we don't live in greed)

Change comes to this world when we take a step in the direction of solving other people's need... Jesus went about doing good... but he had to be looking out for problems before he could notice them and solve them... God is a solution provider.... and he never leaves a generation without solution providers... I say count me In Lord God..." let me be a shadow in your light, Just a small reflection of a greater love, let me be a shadow in your light... that falls on the lost and the lonely"

Change comes to this world when we take a step in the direction of solving other people's need... Jesus went about doing good... but he had to be looking out for problems before he could notice them and solve them... God is a solution provider.... and he never leaves a generation without solution providers... I say count me In Lord God..." let me be a shadow in your light, Just a small reflection of a greater love, let me be a shadow in your light... that falls on the lost and the lonely"

Now the nature of work I cannot exactly express because it is a divine thing and is judged by a divine standard. One must consider in all work, two things; first, the object for which it is performed. All work should have a high and unselfish intent – without this it perishes and is not considered work at all- not at least by the eternal judges invisible. If it is work, truly and nobly done in every sense of the word, it carries with it its own reward, and the laurels descend from heaven ready for wearing, - no earthly power can bestow them.

A boy in Boston, rather small for his years, worked in an office as errand boy for four gentlemen who did business there. One day they were chaffing him a little about being so small, and said to him, "You never will amount to much--you never can do much business--you are too small."

"Well," said he, "small as I am I can do something which none of you four men can do."

"Oh, and what is that?" they asked.

"I don't know as I ought to tell you," he replied.

But they were eager to know and urged him to tell them what he could do that none of them were able to do.

"I can keep from swearing," said the little fellow.

There were some blushes on four manly faces, and there seemed to be very little anxiety for further information on the point.

A gentleman relates overhearing a conversation between a father and his son who was an architectural student in a certain university. The father told him that he must study to please the people if he would succeed in building up a profitable profession. The boy replied: "I cannot consent to try to please people who have no artistic knowledge or natural sense of beauty. I would rather be great than be rich. Millionaires there are in plenty, some of them both useless and vulgar. I am willing to be poor all my life if I can do something toward educating the people to high ideals for their homes and public buildings." That young man could not have paid a higher compliment to his teacher. There is no grander work in the world than to put high ideals into the minds and hearts of young men and women. The youth with high ideals will in the end rise far above the one who has low ones.

In the window of a small store in Gettysburg, PA, was a sign with these words, "If you can't stop in, smile as you go by." It takes 73 muscles to frown--14 to smile. No wonder the grouchy people are always tired. It has been said if you laugh every day it is equal to 10 minutes of exercise.

Jupiter has bestowed far more passion than reason – you could calculate the ratio 24 to 1. He set up two raging tyrants in opposition to reason’s solitary power: anger and lust. How far reason can prevail against the combined power of these two, the common life of man makes quite clear. Reason does the only thing she can and shouts herself hoarse, repeating formulas of virtue, while the other two bid her go hang herself, and are increasingly noisy and offensive, until their last ruler is exhausted, gives up and surrenders.

attitude

In 1979, McCann-Erickson had handled Coca-Cola's advertising for almost twenty-four years. When asked to come up with a presentation for a new ad campaign, McCann discovered that all Coke ads as far back as 1900 showed Coke drinkers smiling. Their new ads continued the old successful theme of "have a Coke and a smile."

Be at home oh my soul, oh blessed secret of the true life that glorifies the Lord Not always does the busiest soul best serve him But he that rests upon his faithful word Be all at rest, let not your heart be rippled For many wavelets mar the image fair which the still pool reflects of heavenly glory And thus the image he would have you bear. Be all at rest my soul for rest is service To the still heart God does his secrets tell Thus you will learn to wait and watch and labor strengthened to bear since Christ in you does dwell For what is service but the life of Jesus Lived through a vessel of earth's fragile clay Loving and giving and pouring forth for others A living sacrifice from day to day

But in aiming for the best we forget that our best is not good enough and the success we crave is ugly if we arrive at it with half of our being eroded

We need to give ourselves a chance... some benefit of the doubt....to grow.... make mistakes.. Learn.... forgive ourselves for being human... take our life a step at a time... this is the secret on arriving safe and whole.

The secret Of Greatness is Love. As simple and profound as this may sound this is the greatest truth in have discovered in my Journey so far. The greatest Leaders in world history are those that believed in the greatness of humanity and went ahead to sacrifice to bring out this greatness. The power of love is sacrifice, the opposite of love is selfishness, the enemy of Love is Fear and the establishing factor in Love is commitment.

you came to me flying on the weather of fortune

you blinded the haters with the light in your soul

then filled mine with melody

as i heard it i could also taste it

it was cool as ice mixed with honey

God made you for me

To hide me from the wicked

then he charged me to guard your destiny to the death...

The merfolk speak of you in sacred tones

And ... the legend goes that you have the blood of the stars... it is whispered in the heavens that you were born for great deeds

If we listen, our hearts will tell us things that we can only see in our dreams. A bitter heart can only be gladdened by more sorrow making itself its own prey. Joy would last longer if we only enjoyed it instant by instant. It sets our heart to muse on things that are seemingly beyond our reach and if we are not afraid of heights (which most often we are) we will let her take us to where the rainbow ends. Riding the ninth wave is only for those that defy the storm by mimicking its dangerous rhythm methodically. i leave my muse here to amuse myself to a lonely sleep. I beg God to have mercy on me and grant me a short cut away from all my sins and permanently in his courtyard as a porter in his dwellings.

I feel like writing someone a letter. Yes all of us want to touch and be felt. But is this not just another of the endless human cravings. That man would ever desire that which he cannot get. one thing yet is truer than others and that is that in life there are more colors than the retina can rectify...color can heals us when we admire them and can make us lose ours when we but adore them over and over again for each person is a myriad of living colors that wants to be adored for being so adorned.

Right now I don’t know what to say but I will say something... what’s on my mind? Let me guess... ok i got it. it is a tale of true love... of how it conquered me... an saved me...from me... and success... how it almost blinded me from the light and the cross that I left behind while searching for me. Sometimes we realize it late in life that we miss greatness while trying to achieve greatness. but there is a story of hope that in my weakness, there is still strength to hope and love beyond the borders of our own capacity.

An artiste is a prince in a kingdom of the surreal. Fire Breathing Dragons of the imagination are his toys. She is a princess, a teacher, Music and most anything. An artist is light and a source of true meaning in the midst of a mechanized system.

Well of honesty shalt not a man speak so highly of himself for that shall be the Jury of the gods who canst only but confer such lofty estate upon mortals

but when of reason a man hast come of years... pure judgment with clear conscience may well stand to refute this saying and crown whomsoever she wills…. RESH

My story is an adventure... slaying of dragons... rescuing people from the evil grip of the evil necromancer called FEAR.... galloping through blight and weather in search of greater deeds... I discover that I am a savior in my own capacity and Glory is my calling... we fight under the shade of his great mercy.... and we win trophies for our king.... Here we come in the name of the Mighty King of the kings of the earth

Nicholas Barsan, from Queens, New York, was identified as "the world's greatest real estate salesman" in 1987 by Success Magazine. The year before, he had earned more than $1,000,000 by selling more than $27 million worth of real estate. The amazing part of Barsan's story is that he was a Romanian immigrant and had been selling houses for only four years. He said, "To me, nothing is impossible...Attitude is number one with me."

Word Choice

A good thing to remember,

A better thing to do-

Work with the construction gang,

Not with the wrecking crew.

During his first day on the job, an employee asked one of his new colleagues what it was like working in this office. The seasoned employee responded with a question of his own. He asked, “What was it like working at the place from which you came?” The new recruit quickly spit out his disdain for the former place of employment. He replied, “It was a terrible job. I didn’t enjoy the work or the people for whom I worked.” The wise colleague then responded, “Well, unfortunately, I’m afraid you’ll find it pretty much the same here.” We may change places and faces, but unless we change our attitude, life will remain much the same.

Who Switched the Price Tags? Tony Campolo, 1986, p. 109