A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. “Did God create everything that exists?”

A student bravely replied, “Yes he did!”

“God created everything?” The professor asked.

“Yes sir, he certainly did,” the student replied.

The professor answered, “If God created everything; then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil.”

The student became quiet and did not respond to the professor’s hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, “May I ask you a question, professor?”

“Of course”, replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, “Professor Does cold exist?”

“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?”

The other students snickered at the young man’s question. The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 IF) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.”

The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?”

The professor responded, “Of course it does.”

The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”

Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?”

Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”

The professor had nothing to say and sat down.

Golfer Arnold Palmer once played a series of exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia. The king was so impressed that he proposed to give Palmer a gift. Palmer demurred; “It really isn’t necessary, you’re Highness. I’m honored to have been invited.”“I would be deeply upset,” replied the king, “if you would not allow me to give you a gift.”

Palmer thought for a moment and said, “All right. How about a golf club? That would be a beautiful memento of my visit to your country.”

The next day, delivered to Palmer’s hotel, was the title to a golf club. Thousands of acres, trees, lakes, clubhouse, and so forth.

The moral of this story is: In the presence of a King, don’t ask for small gifts!

2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses.

6. You go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner

7. You make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial “9″ to get an outside line.

8. You’ve sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.

10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o’clock news.

11. Your boss doesn’t have the ability to do your job.

12. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.

13. Every commercial on television has a website at the bottom of the screen.

14. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

15. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.

16. You start tilting your head sideways to smile.

17. You’re reading this and nodding and laughing.

18. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

19. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

20. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t a #9 on this list.

AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

So many times in my day I can reflect on how good God is to me. Today I was pondering “Friends”. No silly, not the sitcom, but how blessed I am to have so many friends. Have you ever sat to think for a moment about how many people you call friend? Some people say they have few friends, but many acquaintances.

I am not sure I like people to be suspended there. Kind of a purgatory before the friendship;? Not for me, nope, I like to make friends.

To see the best in people and appreciate what they are. As Pastor Jeremy Hollstrom said two Sunday’s ago, “Keep looking at the heart”, I am still learning to apply that one.

Dale Carnegie wrote: “Do you know the most important trait a man can have? It is not executive ability; it is not a great mentality; it is not kindness, nor courage, nor a sense of humor, though each of these is of tremendous importance. In my opinion, it is the ability to make friends, which, boiled down, means the ability to see the best in a man.”

To all my friends, You know who you are, Thank you! Thank you for enhancing my life, and bringing out the very best in me. Thank you for your encouragement, and your correction at the perfect time when I need it. Thank you for being there when I need a good laugh, or a good cry. Thanks for listening to my hair brained ideas and helping me develop the good ones into something great. Thanks for being like Christ in my life, and looking for the best in me. You have an important trait, when you see the best in others.

God Bless You,

Don

This is an eye opener; some probably never thought nor looked at this Psalm 23 in this way, even though they say it over and over again.

The Lord is my Shepherd
That’s Relationship!

I shall not want
That’s Supply!

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

That’s Rest!

He leadeth me beside the still waters
That’s Refreshment!

He restoreth my soul
That’s Healing!

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
That’s Guidance!

For His name sake
That’s Purpose!

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
That’s Testing!

I will fear no evil
That’s Protection!

For Thou art with me
That’s Faithfulness!

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me
That’s Discipline!

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies
That’s Hope!

Thou annointest my head with oil
That’s Consecration!

My cup runneth over
That’s Abundance!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life That’s Blessing!

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
That’s Security!

Forever
That’s Eternity!

Face it, the Lord is crazy about you.

Send this to the people you are crazy about.

I thought this was pretty special, just like YOU !!!

What is most valuable, is not what we
have in our lives, but WHO we have in our lives!