table and looked up to heaven and whispered a prayer.
“Lord, today, Mama shall be healed,” her voice declared.
From the open Bible John 5:8. “Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up thy bed and walk.”
Immediately a deep sleep came over the three of them.
The next morning, their mother had awakened them to come eat breakfast. Later that Sunday, the three of them went to church leaping and praising God.
chapter 5
BE THANKFUL
Every day when I was on my job, there were five guys out of the eight of us who were always complaining about the different work that we had to do, from loading and unloading trucks, to stacking boxes on pallets and placing paper label tags on boxes. None of this work was hard, but there were four guys in our crew who were flat-out lazy. Whenever they saw the boss man coming, that’s when they put work into high gear.
My point is stop cursing and complaining about your job task. Be thankful that God Almighty has blessed you with a job. Be thankful that he gives all of us health and strength to perform our job. Be thankful that God has made you to be the person he wanted you to be. Don’t try to be like someone else. It’s okay to strive and succeed like someone else. Just be you, and everything else will fall into place.
Whenever your parents ask you to take out the trash, mow the lawn, rake up leaves, wash the car, wash the dishes, clean up the house, don’t swell up and get angry like some of the guys that I used to work with. Be thankful that you have a mother and father alive that you can please. Be thankful that you have the health and strength to do it.
One Sunday morning, before making it to Sunday school, I saw a six-year-old boy on TV who had a disease that for every year he lived, his body aged ten years. He had the body of a sixty-year-old man. I couldn’t help but cry and whispered a prayer to God when I watched the little boy playing baseball running around the bases looking and moving like an old man.
So, kids, don’t grow up to be like some of the guys that I used to work with who complained so much that it made me sick at my heart and stomach to hear the same thing over and over every day, except on payday.
Kids, I see nothing but greatness in all of you. I see book writers, I see doctors, I see music artists, I see movie stars, I see painting artists, and I see professional athletes and so on.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Be courageous, be daring, be strong. If you have a job, be thankful that God has blessed you with one because he didn’t have to. Do the best work that you can do while working. If there’s something that you want that neither you nor your parents have the money to get it, ask for what you want. If you can’t get it by asking, ask someone, could you earn the money by doing a chore for them? Don’t take the shortcut in life by selling drugs or stealing because you will end up in a place that you would regret, and that’s in jail or even in the graveyard.
chapter 6
GIANTS IN PEOPLE LIVES
Once upon a time, there was a man named Jack. One day he went to the local convenience store and bought a dollar scratch-off ticket and won five dollars. As he continued to play, he would win some and lose some.
Later on in life, he moved up in his gambling addiction by playing at the casino. He would win some and lose some. His addiction had become so great that he had sold all his clothes except for that blue shirt and one pair of blue jeans. He lost his new car, his new house, and his wife and job. There was nothing for him to do. Jack found himself living on the streets. Jack, who never attended church, was asked by a church member to come to church the following Sunday. Jack came to church just as he was, with no shoes on his feet, and had not taken a bath in a while. The expression on Jack’s face stated that he was heavily burdened. The preacher was preaching about how God is a burden barrow.
Some people in the congregation were laughing at him, and some were holding their nose, but Jack didn’t notice any of it; as the preacher preached, the spirit of the Lord came upon Jack. Jack came to the altar and gave his life to Jesus, and from that day on, Jack was free from his gambling addiction.
chapter 7
NEGATIVE PEOPLE
This is a story about negative people. Did you know that there are Christian people who attend church and will say negative words to you and about you to hurt your feelings? I thought Christian people were to love everyone and especially each other, but that’s not always the case. There are Christian people who you can ask to help you in some way, and they will turn you a rude answer. There are Christian people who see you outside church and won’t speak to you, and in church, they don’t even want to hold your hand. Come on, Christian people, we are the light of the world. The sinners are watching us.
When we get down on our knees and pray to God to ask him to answer our prayers, what if he says, I’m not going to answer your prayers, because you stole, lied, you cheated in your relationship, and you did other bad things. In some cases, you didn’t do anything wrong.
What if God says he’s not going to answer your prayers because you think that you are better than the other person? You may think that you’re better than someone else because of your house, vehicle, job, clothes, looks, and the relationship that you are in. I’m here to let you know there’s no one in this world that is better than anyone else. In God’s eyesight, we are all the same.
Romans 12:16 says, “Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.” When a person thinks that they are something, they are nothing, because they deceive themselves.
Romans 12:3 says, “Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
Romans 15:1–2 reads, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”
Let everyone of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.
If you can’t say anything good about a person, don’t say anything at all. If you can’t do something good to help another person, don’t expect another person to help you when you are in need. Don’t expect God to help you.
If sinners look out for each other just as they do in a street gang, why, as Christians, can’t we have each other’s back?
I know that I sin and come short of the glory of Jesus Christ. Let me tell you I’m a healthy orange tree, and sometimes my tree produces a few rotten oranges. Negative people don’t try to make me be that rotten worm-infested plum tree because I am known for the fruit that I bear.
Everyone in the Trout Creek Baptist Church knows Jason Dewayne Hatcher, who’s now a former professional football player for the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. I remember on many occasions he and his little brothers and sisters would come by the house to get cookies, candy, and food. Being around him just about every day, I would always tell him that he could be a professional basketball player someday. Unfortunately he chose football. I’m not saying that I’m responsible for him making it, but I do believe that at an early age, me instilling in him that he can be a professional athlete contributed to his success. I do the same thing with young people today. You can be that professional basketball player. You can
