Weakness or strength...

A young boy had lost his left arm in a devastating accident. But the boy had a great desire to learn judo, inspite of his handicap.

His parents arranged for a judo teacher. The boy started his training with complete belief in his teacher.

Almost three months had passed since the boy had started training. But to his surprise, he had learnt only one move. With some reservations, but believing in his teacher, he continued.

Now, six months had already passed, and he was still fixed on only one move. With some anxiety, he approached his teacher one day and asked, " Sensei, shouldn't I be learning some more moves?". The teacher answered with a perky smile in his voice," This move is the only one you'll ever need to know!!"

Somewhat confused but still believing in his teacher he continued. The teacher enrolled him in a competition the next month.

To his amazement, the boy had easily won his initial matches. In the advanced rounds the boy met a stronger opponent, but he deftly used his pne move to pin him down.
To his utter surprise, the boy was now in the finals. This time the opponent was stronger, bigger and more experienced. For sometime the boy appeared to be overmatched. Fearing that the boy would get hurt, the referee called Timeout and opined to suspend the match. But the teacher persuaded him to continue. Soon after, the opponent got frustated and dropped his guard, and the boy used his move to win the match. He was now the champion.

On their way home, as the boy and the teacher were reviewing each match, th boy summoned up courage to ask the teacher," Sensei, how did I win with only one move?"
The teacher answered," first of all, you have mastered one of the most difficult throws of all judo. And second, the only defence to that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm!"

Weakness or Strength. You name it???

Value

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"
Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.
"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.
He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.
"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special - Don't ever forget it!

Touching life story

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For

many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's

showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it,

he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited

signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning

of his graduation his father called him into his private

study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and

told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful

wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man

opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible.

Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said,

"With all your money you give me a Bible?"

and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business.

He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his

father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had

not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make

arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had

passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed

to come home immediately and take care things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He began to search his father's important papers and

saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.

With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages.

As he read those words,

a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible.

It had a tag with the dealer's name,

the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired.

On the tag was the date of his graduation,

and the words...PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

Unconditional Love

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.
"Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me."
"Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him."
"There's something you should know the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."
"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."
"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us."
"Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own."
At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

BE PATIENT

This is a true story which happened in the States.
A man came out of his home to admire his new truck.
To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck.
The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment.
When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital. Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands.
When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, " Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?"
The father went home & committed suicide.