How much does a miracle cost?

This gem was shared on Facebook by Jeanelle Knecht. Thanks Jeanelle!

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A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet.

She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.

Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall’s Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.

She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing.

She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!

“And what do you want?” the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven’t seen in ages,” he said without waiting for a reply to his question.

“Well, I want to talk to you about MY brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really, really sick … and I want to buy a miracle.”

“I beg your pardon?” said the pharmacist.

“His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”

“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the pharmacist said, softening a little.

“Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn’t enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs…”

The pharmacist’s brother was a well-dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, “What kind of a miracle does your brother need?”

“I don’t know,” Tess replied with her eyes welling up. “I just know he’s really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money.”

“How much do you have?” asked the man from Chicago.

“One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered, barely audible.

“And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.”

“Well, what a coincidence,” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents – the exact price of a miracle for little brothers.”

He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said, “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let’s see if I have the miracle you need.”

That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn’t long until Andrew was home again and doing well.

Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.

“That surgery,” her Mom whispered, “was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?”

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost … one dollar and eleven cents … plus the faith of a little child.

In our lives, we never know how many miracles we will need.

A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law.

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Let us all be grateful for the little miracles in our lives that often go unnoticed.

Namaste,
Ken

Loving our pets – Meredith and Abbey’s story

This is a story that is circulating Facebook thanks to all the pet lovers there. As an animal lover and a proud “dad” to eleven cats, the story moved me to tears.

I’m sharing this to encourage more people to love animals especially those who have chosen us as their family, and to begin inculcating this love as early as childhood, as the story of Meredith and Abbey shows.

Meredith’s dad tells the story:

“Our 14-year-old dog Abbey died last month. The day after she passed away my 4-year-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her.

I told her that I thought we could so, and she dictated these words:  Dear God, will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven.

I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.

I hope you will play with her. She likes to swim and play with balls. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog.

I really miss her.

Love, Meredith.

Abbey & Meredith

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it.

Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven.

That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, ‘To Meredith’ in an unfamiliar hand.

Meredith opened it.

Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, ‘When a Pet Dies.’

Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

“Dear Meredith,  Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help and I recognized her right away.

Abbey isn’t sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog.

Since we don’t need our bodies in heaven, I don’t have any pockets to keep your picture in so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.

I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I’m easy to find. I am wherever there is love.

Love, God”

By: Mark Castellano

Help Find Caitlin

Missing girl, Caitlin Anderson

Her name is Caitlin Anderson and she’s only 15.

She’s been missing since Monday, 26 September. Her family is worried for her safety and is seeking all the help they can to find Caitlin and bring her safely home to them.

We are doing all we can on Facebook to spread her photo around and praying for her safe return. I hope that you who are reading this will do the same. Every bit helps.

Thank you.

Humor – A Tazer Tale

Here’s a joke that I pinched from a Facebook friend. It’s about a guy who bought his wife a Tazer for their anniversary. I’ll let him tell you his story.

“Last weekend I saw something at Larry’s Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie.

What I came across was a 100,000-volt pocket/purse-sized Tazer. The effects of the Tazer were supposed to be short-lived, with no long-term effect on her assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety?? WAY TOO COOL!

Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing!

I was disappointed.

I learned however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time, I’d get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!

Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn’t be all that bad with only two AAA batteries, right?

There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh and blood moving target.

I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and then thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat.

But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I wanted some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, Tazer in another.

The directions said that:

A one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant, a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control, and a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

Tazer

All the while, I’m looking at this little device, measuring about 5 inches long, less than 3/4 inches in circumference (loaded with two itsy-bitsy AAA batteries) ; pretty cute really, and thinking to myself, ‘no possible way!’

What happened next is almost beyond description, but I’ll do my best.

I’m sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side so as to say, “Don’t do it, stupid!” Reasoning that a one-second burst from such a tiny lil’ ole thing couldn’t hurt all that bad, I decided to give myself a one-second burst just for the heck of it.

I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and … HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! WEAPONS OF DESTRUCTION! WHAT THE …!!!

I’m pretty sure Hulk Hogan ran through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again.

I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs!

The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before , clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note: If you ever feel compelled to ‘mug’ yourself with a Tazer, one note of caution.

There is NO such thing as a one-second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent trashing about on the floor! A three-second burst would be considered conservative!

A minute or so later (I can’t be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up, and surveyed the landscape.

My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was.

My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88lbs. I had no control over the drooling.

Apparently, I had crapped in my shorts, but was too numb to know for sure, and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head, which I believe came from my hair.

I’m still looking for my testicles and am offering a significant reward for their safe return!

P.S. My wife can’t stop laughing about my experience, loved the gift and now regularly threatens me with it!

If you think education is difficult, try being stupid!”

 

Please don’t try this at home.

But if you do, please come back and share YOUR experience! LOL!

Me and my blog

When I thought of starting this blog back in February, I was apprehensive. This was going to be my third blog. I did not get past five posts in each of my first two attempts at blogging.

I had lots of encouragement from Hana, and when I posted about it on my Facebook page, many friends rallied with their support. My first few posts were very well received too.

Alas, since it is my blog, I became very conscious of what I would write about. That led me to become selective too. Soon, with work taking up (way too much) of my time, it became difficult to seek out inspirational stuff to share.

Being mentally, and at times physically tired didn’t help the process either. Before long, days led to weeks and I suddenly realized that over two months have gone by. My last post was about the Royal Wedding, way back in April.

I decided that in order to keep my blog alive, I would have to get into the habit of writing regularly. The easiest way to do that would be to write about the things that I love dearly.

My friend Sammie posted very good suggestions on my Facebook wall this morning when I mentioned resuming my blog.  Thanks Sammie!

Well, that wasn’t very difficult.  Got my first new blog post done.

I’ll be back tomorrow!

Introducing Lorna Stewart

Lorna, I’m sorry this has been long overdue.  I planned to post this way back in March but it took me longer than I expected to get it done right.

Lorna Stewart, singer-songwriter

I cannot recall when I first “met” Lorna on Facebook but we went from being “friends” to actually connecting with each other. It was then that I got to know that she’s a singer, songwriter, dancer and part-time model in the UK.

Early this year, she shared with me a demo of a song she’d written and I loved it. I thought to myself, “Wow! I know a real celebrity” and decided I’d boast about it on my blog while sharing her song, “Soul Mate”.

I approached her with my idea – the one about sharing her song on my blog, not of me boasting about knowing her – and she gladly agreed.

Like most writers, I did hours of research. Okay, so she told me her story in an email. Doesn’t matter though since it is a brilliant one that I am proud to write about.

Lorna, or Lornnah as she’s known in the music industry, is the cousin of Natalie ‘The Floecist’ Stewart from Floetry. Talent runs in the family.

Anyway, Lorna started writing songs from the tender age of 10 and recorded a demo at 12. It was then that she was discovered by Tony Hall, one of the UK’s top entertainment managers.

However Lorna’s family felt that education was a higher priority than music, and she stayed in school. When her parents emigrated to their home country Jamaica, Lorna decided to stay in the UK and moved to South London, where she attended Selhurst College (otherwise known as ‘The Brit School’).

Lorna Stewart

While at Selhurst, she met Richard DJ Sticky Forbes and Esther Bennett (Eternal). At one end-of-the-year show, Lorna performed with the band members of the group ‘Feel’. She then joined them as backing singer and later left to pursue her own career.

During this time, Lorna worked with a number of producers including DJ Roger ‘Dodge’ Drakes (If You Want It – Come And Get It). Then, she decided to take a break from the music world.

Now, Lorna Stewart is back. Her music is mainly R&B but she has also written songs to suit all genre’s. There is a House track (100% – produced by Macutchi) as well as an acoustic song (I Wish You – accompanied by David Jubb on Guitar).

Lorna will soon be working with a top UK producer, Neville Thomas and here’s a taste of what to expect. Friends, this is Lorna Stewart singing “Soul Mate”. This one was mixed with a Reggae beat. Enjoy!

Still no justice for Adelia

It’s been 10 days since I wrote about 2-month-old Adelia, who died while in the care of a nursery here in Shah Alam.

Baby Adelia

One would expect the matter to be taken seriously by the authorities, but it appears no one gives a damn.

This is an excerpt from Adelia’s father Nizzam’s Facebook page -

“Now even in Adelia’s death, & 14 days have passed by, the Malaysian Government’s JKM is still unable to do what is ‘obvious and fair’, which is to shut-down the ‘AN NAJAH BABY CARE CENTRE’ …”

[JKM is the Malaysian Department of Social Welfare]

Personally, I don’t think “unable” is the right word to describe what I consider to be apathy or “tidak apa” as they say in our local language.

Doesn’t it make you wonder why no action has been taken?

Here’s an excerpt from a blog which quotes the Director of the Legal Division of JKM, Zaitol Salleh as saying, “12 cases of children’s deaths in illegally-run nurseries in the past 2 years proves that the existence of such nurseries cannot be allowed to continue.”

[Translated from: http://nasionalis1982.blogspot.com/2010/10/12-kes-budak-mati-di-taska-apa-tindakan.html]

Blah, blah, blah!

How many more deaths of innocent children like Adelia will it take before something is done?