Jesus Loves you BUT I am his favorite!

While watching a little TV on Sunday, I watched a
church in Atlanta honoring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many
years. He was 92 at that time and I wondered why the church even bothered to ask
the old gentleman to preach at that age.

After a warm welcome, introduction of this speaker, and as the applause quieted
down, he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly, with great effort and
a sliding gate to the podium. Without a note or written paper of any kind he
placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then quietly and slowly he
began to speak....

"When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to
tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of
preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one
thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my
trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and
pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me... the only thing that would comfort was
this verse.........

"Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
we are weak but He is strong.....
Yes, Jesus loves me...
The Bible tells me so."

When he finished, the church was quiet. You actually could hear his foot steps
as he shuffled back to his chair. I don't believe I will ever forget it.

A pastor once stated, "I always noticed that it was the adults who chose the
children's hymn 'Jesus Loves Me' (for the children of course) during a hymn
sing, and it was the adults who sang the loudest because I could see they knew
it the best."

"Senior version of Jesus Loves Me"

Here is a new version just for us who have white hair or no hair at all. For us
over middle age (or even those almost there) and all you others check out this
newest version of Jesus Loves Me.

JESUS LOVES ME

Jesus loves me, this I know,
Though my hair is white as snow
Though my sight is growing dim,
Still He bids me trust in Him.
(CHORUS)
YES, JESUS LOVES ME.. YES, JESUS LOVES ME..
YES, JESUS LOVES ME, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.

Though my steps are oh, so slow,
With my hand in His I'll go
On through life, let come what may,
He'll be there to lead the way.
(CHORUS)

When the nights are dark and long,
In my heart He puts a song.
Telling me in words so clear,
"Have no fear, for I am near."
(CHORUS)

When my work on earth is done,
An d life's victories have been won.
He will take me home above,
Then I'll understand His love
(CHORUS)

I love Jesus, does He know?
Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say,
That I love Him every day.
(CHORUS)


God bless you!

Cornea Transplant - looking through the eye of a donor

Three years ago I had a corneal transplant, in many ways it was a life changing experience. Because of an injury I received at birth I had known for many years that one day I would either be totally blind or have to have surgery. So, it came as no real surprise when the decision was made that the time had come for the transplant. The surgery is done as an outpatient, is painless and other than the fact that you are awake the entire time is pretty uneventful. The recovery time is hellish and seems to last forever. The stitches to attach the new cornea remain in your eye for a year or more and every time you blink you can feel them. Needless to say I made it through the surgery and recovery, while life changing this is not what changed me the most.
In order for me to receive a new cornea someone had to make the decision to be an organ donor. Yes, someone had given me the ultimate gift. Before death they made the unselfish decision to donate their organs so that others could have a better life.
When I was told that it was time for the transplant I delayed the surgery for several months in order to get my “mind” right. I am sure most of you will not understand the thought process I had to go through in order to accept this precious gift. All that I could think was – someone has to die so that I can see. While I was grateful that the procedure was available it was still not easy to come to the point that I could accept it graciously. This was not life or death surgery like a heart transplant and I think that maybe why it was so hard for me to accept – I could live with site in only one eye.
After much prayer I did receive the transplant and every day I am thankful to the person that made the decision to be an organ donor.
If you are not an organ donor please consider taking the necessary steps to become one. Thank goodness in death we will not need any of our earthly “parts” but there just might be someone that is still on this journey that does.

Remember Me

"The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
"When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the Bed of Life and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
"Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.
"Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless pain,
"Give my blood to the teen-ager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
"Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week
"Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a clay to make a crippled child walk.
"Explore every comer of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday, a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
"Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
"If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice against my fellow man.
"Give my sins to the devil, give my soul to God.
"If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you.
"If you do all I have asked, I will live forever!"
-- by Robert N. Test.