Joshua - by Joseph F. Girzone

Excerpts from the book "Joshua - A parable for today" by Joseph F. Girzone:


1. God´s presents:

Joshua watched them, smiling, with obvious satisfaction at the simplicity of the children´s delight. Then, at once, they turned to Joshua, hugged him, and told him how much they loved him.

He bent down, put his arms around them, and told them that he loved them too.
"Your Father in heaven has given you many presents, just like these little birds, but all alive and free singing for you all day long, and even at night, like the nightingale. You should notice these beautiful creatures and let them remind you how much your Father loves you."

"Do you know God, Joshua ?" the blond-haired girl asked him.
"Yes, I do know him. We are good friends !"

2. Church and religion:

"Josh", Herm asked, "what do you think of church and religion ?"

"Real religion is in people´s hearts, not in buildings. Jesus tried to teach this lesson once before when he told the woman at the well that the time was coming when men would woship neither on Mount Garizim nor in Jerusalem, but would worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

Unfortunately, that lesson never caught on. Religious leaders always felt they had to organize people and structure the practice of religion in such a way that they would become highly respected mediaries with God, and religion then became the practice of what religious leaders told one to do and deteriorated into the measurable observance of manmade laws.

Religion doesn´t have to be like that. Jesus taught that people are free, free to enjoy being God´s children, free to grow and become the beautiful people God intended !"

3. Vision

Each person looks at life through a different vision. Three men can look at a tree. One man will see many board feet of valuable lumber worth so much money. The second man will see it as so much firewood to be burned, to keep his family warm in the winter. The third man will see it as a masterpiece of God´s creative art, given to man as an expression of God´s love and enduring strength, with a value far beyond its worth in money or firewood.
What we live for determines what we see in life and gives clear focus to our inner vision.

4. Solitude

"Joy comes to those who do not fear solitude."

I like being by myself. And I´m never really alone. People stop in all during the day. And besides, God is with us all the time, and He´s real, though we don´t think of that very much.

5. God´s Love

God´s love is like the warmth of the sun, which touches every object in creation at the same moment.

I think that you can best find God if you look within yourself. The most powerful revelation of God´s presence and his love lies within you. If you take the time and talk to God, you will find Him, and in finding Him you will find the greatest joy of your life. He will reveal himself, and in possessing Him you will understand all else.

6. Daily Life

Look in the mirror when you go to your room tonight and you will see an evolution of wonders far more exciting than a miracle. The whole course of each day is filled with endless wonder, which we take for granted because it all flows so smoothly as the ordinary cause of life. But each tiny event, and each moment of time, is a miracle of creation.

Service - Anne Sullivan & Helen Keller

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"There is no higher purpose than service to others."
- Socrates (Peaceful warrior)


Note: Listen to this song and start reading ;)


"Helen Keller is one of the most remarkable persons born in the nineteenth century. She managed to overcome the double handicap of blindness and deafness, and to take an active part in the life of the world.

Of course, she could never have accomplished this alone. Just as remarkable as Miss Keller was her teacher, Anne Sullivan, the young woman who undertook to lead her out of the darkness and enable her to have a normal life.

The dark and silent world in which her brilliant mind was imprisoned became increasingly unbearable. It is no wonder that she later called the day Miss Sullivan came to be her teacher "the most important day in my life".

Nine months after learning her first word, Helen was able to write complete sentences in her letters. Seldom had a devoted teacher been so splendidly rewarded. It is true Helen Keller was an unusually gifted, eager pupil. But the accomplishment of releasing this child´s mind was Anne Sullivan´s.

As a result of the devotion of Anne Sullivan, Helen actually copied the unselfish service of her teacher and spent her busy life in the service of other handicapped people."

As I read the beautiful story of Helen Keller, I was pretty impressed about how she managed to develop a life-loving attitude although she lived in an imprisoned world, without being able to see and hear. In her biography Helen describes the beauty of simply touching flowers or feeling the warmth of the rays of the sun on her skin. Further on it is inspiring for us, who have the ability to see and hear, to appreciate our senses to the full extent.

The reason why Helen achieved all her educational goals and reached the highest academic heights was because of the great woman, her life long teacher and companion:
Anne Sullivan.

She simply dedicated her life to make the life of Helen better. She really understood, that by simply showing love, patience and compassion one can set free unknown territories in others. Even for a deaf-blind child like Helen !

The following excerpt from Helen Keller´s autobiography simply shows how beautiful and loving the service of Anne Sullivan was:

Miss Sullivan put her arm gently around me and spelled into my hand: I love Helen.
"What is love ?" I asked. She drew me closer to her and said, "It is here," pointing to my heart.

Her words puzzled me very much, because I did not understand anything at that time unless I touched it. I smelled the flowers in her hand and asked half in words and half in signs a question which meant, "Is love the sweet smells of flowers ?" "No," said my teacher.

I thought again. The warm sun was shining on us, and pointing in the direction from which the warmth came, I asked again, "Is this love ?".

I thought it was very strange that my teacher could not show me the meaning of love.
One day she came up with an answer:

"Love is something like the clouds that were in the sky before the sun came out. You can´t touch the clouds, you know, but you feel the rain and you know how glad the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day. You can not touch love either, but you know the sweet feeling that it pours into everything. Without love you would not be happy or want to play."


This whole story shows me once again that love is the greatest power on this planet.

And at the end of her biography Helen mentions all the people that had an influence on her life. One of ´em was Bishop Brooks. She describes what she learned from him:

"Once when I was puzzled to know why there are so many religions, he said:

There is only one religion, Helen - the religion of love. Love God with your whole heart and soul, love the people in the world as much as you can, and remember that the possibilities of good are greater than the possibilities of evil.

There you have the key to heaven !"


Yours,
Martin

True success

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Success

To laugh often and love much;

To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love this Faith !

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Faith and Basketball

In my opinion the game of Basketball has a lot in common with our Christian Faith. The cornerstones of a good Basketball team are teamwork, selflessness and compassion. Championship teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls or the Boston Celtics are role models for those three great principles.

Teamwork, selflessness and compassion are found many times in the Holy Bible as well. The most popular simile might be Jesus and His 12 disciples. This group of men showed us that Faith is definetly something that needs to be shared with each other. Through Christian Fellowship we are also able to develop a deeper relationship with God and Jesus.

And although Jesus was, speaking in terms of Basketball, the superstar of the team, he always cared for his companions and in the end even died for them and eventually, which is far more important, for you and me also:

That is love (compassion) and selflessness at its highest level.

Coming back to Basketball, the motto of the Boston Celtics championship team of last years season was "Ubuntu": An african symbol for togetherness. As a result, superstars like Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce layed down their pride and really cared about making their teammates better. They achieved their goal of finally winning a championship by sacrificing their personal needs for the sake of the team. To me this is compassionate and selfless Basketball.

As a fan of Jesus and also as a fan of the game of Basketball, I´m gettin´ always filled with great joy when I watch the videoclips of the "NBA Cares" - campaign. A national wide initiative in which NBA Stars like Kobe Bryant or Dirk Nowitzki demonstrate their love for the community and really care about not so fortunate people. They send out the message: Basketball is far more than just a game.



Long story short, Faith and Basketball stand for:

- Teamwork,
- Selflessness, and
- Compassion.

"I love this game !" is an official slogan of the NBA and it is an often used phrase by Basketballfans all over the globe.

So let´s add a new slogan to our treasury of words:

"I LOVE THIS FAITH !"

Be blessed !