Wednesday, April 18, 2012

A BASKET OF WATER





The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson.

Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible.  His grandson who wanted to be just like him tried to imitate him in any way he could.


One day  the grandson asked, 'Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close  the book. What good does reading the Bible do?'

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, 'Take this old wicker coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water.'

The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he could  get back to the house.  The grandfather laughed and said, 'You will have to move a little faster next time,' and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the old wicker basket was empty before he returned home.  Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was 'impossible to carry water in a basket,' and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, 'I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water.  You can do this.  You're just not trying hard enough,' and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, 'See Papa, it's useless!'

'So you think it is useless?' the old man said.   'Look at the basket.'

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket looked different.  Instead of a dirty old wicker coal basket, it was clean.

'Son, that's what happens when you read the Bible.  You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from  the inside out.'

Moral of the wicker basket story:
Take time to read a portion of God's word each day;
it will affect you for good even if you don't retain a word.

Thought for Today:  
God's Love is like the ocean, you can see its beginnings
but not its end.
I really like this story because I don't retain things too well
anymore...age may have something to do with it but I figure my brain  just gets overloaded!
God isn't concerned about my brain anyway;
He's more concerned about my heart.





























Sing Praise To The Lord

Mark

HE DID NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH





Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.


He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Sing Praise To The Lord

Mark

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
 

He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
                Isaiah Chapter 53





Isaiah 53
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