I am sure most of you have seen this, but for those who haven't.......
"One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along a beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from the mans' life. For each scene, the man noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to him, the other to the LORD.
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When the last scene of the mans' life flashed across the sky, 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 footprints. He also noticed that the sigle set of footprints happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life.
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The angered man questioned the LORD about this. 'Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you , you would walk with me all of my days. 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 you would leave me when I needed you most.'
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The LORD replied, 'My precious, precious child. I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see the one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
Melbourne, Australia. Winner of the First Trek Survivor Trivia Show, and Bearer of the Steve Long Pink Elephant Stamp of Learning. :)
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If you want controversial...
"...and the LORD said 'Let there be light!', and there was light, and he could see for flipping miles!" (Spike Mililgan, I think).
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"...and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes, and Who is this God Person Anyway?"
- The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (dec.)
In a more serious vein, I like Isaiah 40:31, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."
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LUGTrek isn't really dead. Not as long as we remember it.
I'm with the " I think therefore I am"crowd
BUT:
"God,grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,The good fortune to run into the ones I do,And the eyesight to tell the difference."
One of my favourite anecdotes regarding faith goes something like this:
There was a man whose house was surrounded by flood waters, which crept steadily upward. He stood on the porch of his house, looking out over the rising waters, but he was not afraid, for he knew the Lord would watch over him.
A Jeep splashed up his driveway, and a soldier called out, "We're evacuating the area! Get in the Jeep, and I'll take you to higher ground!"
The man refused, saying, "I have faith that God will protect me."
Several hours later, the flood waters had filled the first floor of his house, and he sat in an upper window, praying to God to save him. A man in a boat called in through the window, "Get in my boat, and I'll take you to dry ground!"
The man again refused, calling out that God would help him.
The next morning, the flood had risen so high that he had to go up onto the roof. As he clung to the chimney, a helicopter hovered over him and a rope ladder dropped down. "Climb up and we'll take you to safety," called the pilot."
"No, I will be OK. The Lord will watch over me."
Not long after that, the man drowned as the water rose above the roof of his house. He awoke to find himself at the Gates of Heaven, where Saint Peter was there to greet him. He looked sternly at Peter, and said, "Where was God in my hour of need? I prayed to Him to succor me, but He left me to perish!"
A Voice came from beyond the Gates, saying, "I sent you a Jeep, a boat and a helicopter! What more did you want?"
Here is the full text of the Serenity Prayer -- I didn't have it at the location where I posted from earlier. This is not to start a debate on the validity of God or other theological issues, only to provide the source of a quote that has been mentioned in this thread.
I've also included the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
Bob
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The Serenity Prayer
(Attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, 1926)
God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
Taking, as Jesus did, the sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it.
Trusting that you will make all things right
If I surrender to your will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with You
Forever in the next.
Amen.
The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me a channel of Thy peace;
That where there is hatred, let me bring love.
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
That where there is error, I may bring truth;
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
That where there is despair, I may bring hope;
That where there are shadows, I may bring light;
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek, rather to comfort than to be comforted.
To understand, than to be understood;
To love, than to be loved;
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.
Amen.
The Greatest Quote (may be controversial)
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