Phil,

I really like that one. Thanks for sharing it with us.

It's amazing what they try to make look real and they cover it up with
something and we often find out it's fake.

I'm so glad our love and faith for Jesus is not fake, it's real! and huge!
It's full of lots of lovings!

I received a beautiful basket for my birthday filled with lots of neat body
washes, sprays, creams and such. I thought when I looked at the basket, how
neat! This basket is really full of cool stuff! It was only when I started
taking out the stuff to look at it, when I discovered the basket was mostly
full of styrofome. I was disappointed and even the couple who gave it to me
didn't realize how much wasted space there was in that lovely basket that
could have been filled with neat stuff. They even commented on how it
looked so beautiful and full of neat stuff, and when Amy's husband, Troy
took out the styrofome, he commented about it. They probably payed a
fortune for it. But the thought was very sweet, as there were some nice
sizes of stuff in the basket.

Isn't it interesting how many things when we buy them, they look full of
good things, and then we find out they are filled with some kind of filler
to make it look even more beautiful!

I'm so glad our hearts are so filled with so much love for God and there is
no filler in them, just more love!

You know how that spray foam grows when you spray it into something, well
our love never stops growing! It's like a constant foam of love! <squeeze>
We just keep loving and squeezing, and the love just keeps growing! It's
cool! That's what God's love is all about! I love it!

Love and Blessings,
Pat Ferguson

At 02:12 PM 10/9/04, you wrote:
>EMPTY FAITH
>
>
>
>                                By
>
>                           Phil Scovell
>
>
>                          COPYRIGHT 1994
>
>                          By Phil Scovell
>
>
>
>      My attention was always arrested by a huge transparent bin of
>chocolate candy kisses as a child.  It stood pretentiously in the
>center of the dime store that we often frequented.  It looked, as
>a kid, the height of a man and must have been at least four feet
>in diameter.  "How much would all those cost?" I used to wonder as
>I stood in front of the huge display and dreamed of eating all of
>those chocolates one at a time.  "I could climb inside that big
>barrel and be buried alive in sweets," I mused.
>
>      One day I was in that same store with my mother and after
>searching for some things on the second floor of the department
>store, we walked down the steps to the main level.  There was the
>giant bin of candy chocolate kisses but someone had forgotten to
>replace the lid.  I looked right down inside the large container
>and could clearly see that the barrel was hollow.  The immense
>container had a cylinder of cardboard rolled up inside.  Only
>about two or three inches of candy lined the clear plastic walls;
>making passersby think the transparent drum was filled with the
>candy kisses.  It was a fake!  Somehow, though the barrel still
>contained lots of candy, I found myself disappointed.
>
>      Years later I thought of that experience.  It was so
>challenging as a little boy to stand in front of that monstrous
>display of sweet candy and try to imagine its worth.  The little
>drops of chocolate were so numerous, their sweet scent was almost
>overwhelming.  The lights danced off their shiny foil wrappings
>and made the display seem so much more spectacular.  Imagine my
>disappointment when I discovered it was really only partly there;
>the whole barrel really wasn't filled with candy; most of it was,
>in fact, empty.
>
>      I wonder if God sometimes looks down from above and discovers
>all the shine and glitter, not to mention the sweetness, is only
>on the outside; the center being empty (void) of what is seen from
>without.  If so, why not be filled with Him so what is seen is the
>whole of God's presence in our lives.
>
>
>I Flew Kites With Jesus
>www.SafePlaceFellowship.com