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{SFTH}   *Doggie Kisses*  3/12/01

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Important message from Michael:

How many times have you received an email asking you to "Please forward this to all of your friends."  Did you send it along?  Maybe it looked legitimate, or maybe it was from a trusted source such as a close friend.  Did you check it out first, or did you just forward it to everyone in your address book?
 
It might be an email stating that Madalyn Murray O'Hair is trying to get religious broadcasting banned from radio and television.  It might be an email about a little girl named Kelsey Brooke Jones who is supposedly missing.  Or it might be one where attorney Janet Reno supposedly states on 60 Minutes that all Christians are members of cults...

David Barnett writes: "As Christians, it is our duty and responsibility to avoid spreading falsehoods and untruths, and to put a stop to their spread when we can. There are many Internet stories and "urban legends" being circulated on the Internet, and they often sound very legitimate.  Many times, they prey on the Christian's sense of duty, of wanting to do what's right, of wanting to help right a wrong.  Oftentimes, they prey on our natural fears.  Unfortunately, many of these are also false stories; sometimes they were never true in the first place; sometimes they were true at one time, but are now outdated; and sometimes they simply twist facts to suit the author's purpose."
 
In this article David Barnett explains just how dangerous and irresponsible forwarding these types of emails can be...
I greatly encourage every single one of us to read this article and then share it with
as many people as you can!

Check it out on our website at:
http://www.storiesfrommyheart.com
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Doggie Kisses

By Bryan Hupperts

When I was a very young boy I had a horrific fear of animals, specifically dogs. I had been attacked and bitten by a dog and they frightened me. I don't remember where we were that day, but it was on a farm. I was walking looking at awe at all of the penned up animals. They were huge!  During my exploration, I spied, sitting across a field, a very large monster of a dog. We made brief eye contact and I turned and began to run away. I could hear it barking, getting closer and closer, closing the gap between us. I gave a fearful glance over my shoulder and sure enough, the mutt was charging me! And then I was on the ground. The dog had jumped and knocked me down.

I remember screaming bloody murder begging the animal not to hurt me. It pinned me helpless to the ground with its' beastly muddy paws - and the brute began to quite happily lick away at my face with doggie drool dripping from it's oversized boy-eating tongue.  All that goofy mutt was trying to do was give me a slurpy pooch smooch!

Oftentimes, because we live in a world inverted, even perverted, by sin, our first response when something comes to us is to react with fear and suspicion. My first reaction when I saw the dog was to be very afraid and to run far, far away. I saw what appeared to be a huge shaggy monster, magnified through my fears, that was going to eat me. And the truth was it was just a family dog being a dog. I was his intended plaything, not his dinner.

The world devours people - God desires people. The love of God often frightens people. His kindness is meant to bring us to repentance. Just like the dog, He sometimes even has to knock us down to get our attention. It isn't so He can devour us, but so that He can love on us. When God wounds, it with the intent to heal. When he chastens, He is dealing with us as his sons.  Remember that God is Love Incarnate, and the Perfect Love casts out fear. Don't be surprised at the suspicions of the lost when you confront them with the message of Jesus. It is such Good News it looks almost too good to be
true. They often expect that God is chasing them down just like that big dog, so He can judge and devour them. The sweetness of His salvation and the tenderness of His healing touch can be quite a shock, especially when you're expecting to be devoured!

Bryan Hupperts
bryanh@igateway.net

Send Bryan an email and let him know what you thought of his story!
*************
I live in St. Louis and my Malaysian wife and I work with international
students. We have two children and I am pursuing a career in screenwriting.
I am the author of A Raven's Gift, a collection of my daily devotionals
known as SheepTrax.

Bryan Hupperts
PO Box 270256
St. Louis, MO 63126
(314) 416-0958
www.SheepTrax.com
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Thought For The Day:

"No person was ever honored for what he received.  Honor has been the reward
for what he gave." -- Calvin Coolidge

Verse for the Day:

"The righteous giveth and spareth not." --Proverbs 21:26

Kid's Thought For The Day:

While working for an organization that delivers lunches
to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my four-year-old
daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly
intrigued by the various appliances of old age,
particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs.

One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth
soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable
barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered,
"The tooth fairy will never believe this!"

Parent's Thought For The Day:

In an obstetrician's office:  "To heir is human."

Coach's Thought For The Day:

"Being a coach is scary for me sometimes.  When I first started coaching I was
scared to death.  Not because I wasn't confident in my knowledge of the sport I
was coaching.  No, it was because I realized the power that I held over young high
school players.  Power to build up and power to tear down.  Power to possibly
change the course of a life even if in some small way, for good or for bad.  A
simple smirk of my face at the wrong time could make a young lady think that
she wasn't any good....in sports and in life.  That power scared me!  I went home
after that first week and almost walked away from coaching..." -- Michael T. Powers

Deep Thought For The Day:

"Where in the nursery rhyme does it say Humpty Dumpty is an egg?"

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  _
/_/\/\    MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\  /    THUNDER27@aol.com  
/_/  \    "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \   Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body I live for the Son
   \_\/   of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 

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