And she has to watch out for the moose.

earlier, Kathy Du Bois, wrote:
>Brad,
>Well, I'll have to double check I guess.  Actually, out here in Maine, I
>hang with more bears than squirrels and Bears tend to drink coffee and
>Mocsi more than tea. They tend to think that tea is for wimps, so, perhaps
>my perceptions are a bit skewed. Maybe I should pay closer attention next
>time.
>Kathy
>
>
>At 09:14 AM 4/15/2005, you wrote:
> >Kathy,
> >
> >Those are only the tree hugger squirrels and those who worship the planets
> >that drink celestial seasons, are you sure you are hanging out with the
> >right bunch of squirrels?
> >
> >Brad
> >
> >on 06:47 AM 4/15/2005, Kathy Du Bois said:
> >Oh yah Brad,  another excellent point!  Kathy
> >P.S.
> >     By the way, about squirrels and tea?  I've heard that they do drink
> >Celestial Seasons.  didn't you know that?
> >
> >
> >At 11:43 PM 4/14/2005, you wrote:
> >  >Yeah. Something really does bother me big time on this one. It's the
> >  >squirrel, in the very beginning. I happen to know squirrels hate to
> >drink
> >  >tea. hahahahahahha.
> >  >
> >  >You know I hate fill in the blank questions, I much prefer true or false
> >  >as I'm 50/50 to get it right, even multiple guess leaves one with 25%
> >  >chance usually.
> >  >
> >  >What I noticed was the "ministering to Jesus" bit. Jesus hardly needs to
> >  >be ministered to, but more like worshipped. We need the ministering to
> >as
> >  >well as others.  If a relationship between the Lord and us was a
> >  >ministering/worshipping one, and we ministered to Jesus, that would
> >leave
> >  >him worshipping us, and that just don't float on these waters dude.
> >  >hahahaha.
> >  >
> >  >Brad
> >  >
> >  >
> >  >on 11:07 AM 4/14/2005, Phil Scovell said:
> >  >Vinny sent me this little story.  I think it focuses on a very important
> >  >message.  I am wondering, however, if you notice any aspect of this
> >story
> >  >which bothers you.  If so, what is it?  Just curious.
> >  >
> >  >THE SONGBIRD AND THE FLOWER
> >  >
> >  >by Chip Brogden
> >  >
> >  >http://www.watchman.net/articles/songbird.html
> >  >
> >  >       In a land not too far away lived a songbird. According to
> >  >outward appearances this songbird was no different than the rest.
> >  >She had blue feathers, a white breast, and a yellow bill. But she
> >  >also had a very special gift!
> >  >
> >  >       Her gift was discovered one day quite by accident. She
> >  >enjoyed singing to the Lord and worshipped Him at every
> >  >opportunity. It was her custom to wake up early to see the
> >  >sunrise and spend time worshipping the Lord. She had done this
> >  >every morning since she was a little bird.
> >  >
> >  >       Her song carried unusually far one morning. Her neighbor,
> >  >the squirrel,  was sitting in his little recliner with a cup of
> >  >tea, reading the  morning newspaper, when suddenly this
> >  >magnificent song came wafting through  the open window!  "I have
> >  >to find out where that's coming from!" he  exclaimed.  Jumping up
> >  >out of his chair, he ran through the door and into  the field,
> >  >looking for the source of the beautiful music.
> >  >
> >  >       Also, at that exact moment, a deer was walking through the
> >  >woods and heard the same sweet melody. "What singing!" she cried.
> >  >"I wonder who it could be?" And she, too, went off to find out
> >  >where the music was
> >  >coming from.
> >  >
> >  >       The songbird, of course, was oblivious to the excitement she
> >  >had generated. She was lost in her worship when suddenly the
> >  >squirrel arrived on the scene, followed by the deer - and about a
> >  >dozen other animals!
> >  >
> >  >       "Where did you learn to sing like that?" they all asked with
> >  >great admiration.
> >  >
> >  >       The songbird shrugged her shoulders. "I always sing like
> >  >this whenever I want to give praise to the Lord. I hope I didn't
> >  >disturb you."
> >  >
> >  >       "Disturb us?" answered the deer. "We think it is wonderful!
> >  >How uplifting to hear such beautiful singing early in the
> >  >morning.  You really have a gift!"
> >  >
> >  >       "I do?" asked the songbird.
> >  >
> >  >       "Absolutely!" said the squirrel. "God blessed you to bless
> >  >others, and you shouldn't let that gift go to waste. You have a
> >  >special calling!" And all the other animals agreed.
> >  >
> >  >       "I don't want to waste my gift," answered the bird. "What
> >  >should I do?"
> >  >
> >  >       "Come with us to the church service this morning," said the
> >  >deer. "I'll speak to the pastor about you and he'll let you sing
> >  >for the congregation!"
> >  >
> >  >       The songbird wasn't sure what to do about all this
> >  >attention, but she didn't want to waste her gift, and she
> >  >certainly wanted to bless others with what she had been blessed
> >  >with. So she agreed to go.
> >  >
> >  >       Of course, the congregation of animals were blessed by the
> >  >singing songbird, and she was such a blessing that they invited
> >  >her to sing every Sunday morning. The little group began to grow
> >  >as a result of the songbird's beautiful voice. In no time the
> >  >songbird became the worship leader. Not only was she responsible
> >  >for selecting the music and leading the worship service, but she
> >  >was supposed to conduct the choir practice twice a week and teach
> >  >voice to the pastor's daughter ( the crow) so she could one day
> >  >sing as well as the songbird.
> >  >
> >  >       One Sunday morning a group of eagles arrived, listened to
> >  >the songbird, and watched her very carefully. After the service,
> >  >the eagles gathered around the songbird and began to prophesy!
> >  >"The Lord says that you have a special anointing, and He will
> >  >give you an international ministry!"
> >  >
> >  >       Of course, the songbird was very thrilled about this,
> >  >because she wanted to use her gift and she wanted to be a
> >  >blessing. Another member of the church, the fox, offered to
> >  >record her music and put it on CD. "That way," he explained, "You
> >  >can reach more animals and be a blessing to God's creatures all
> >  >over the world. This is what the Lord meant when He said He was
> >  >giving you an international ministry!"
> >  >
> >  >       Before long the CD's were produced, and the fox had promoted
> >  >them all over the world. The orders began to come in, and
> >  >everyone said they were blessed by the songbird's music. Then came
> >  >the invitations! "Is the songbird available to come to our
> >  >church?" Everyone wanted their own live performance, and the fox
> >  >took care of everything.
> >  >
> >  >       "Congratulations!" he told the songbird. "You're booked up
> >  >for ministry every week for the next two years, and your CD's are
> >  >in record stores all over the world. Now you can be in the
> >  >full-time ministry! The Lord has really blessed you!"
> >  >
> >  >       So the songbird took her itinerary from the fox and began
> >  >flying all over the world to meet the demands of her full-time
> >  >ministry schedule. The fox even made her a special backpack so
> >  >she could take all her CD's and ministry resources with her and
> >  >raise money for her ministry.
> >  >
> >  >       The songbird sang in church services, and in retreats, and
> >  >in conventions, and in concerts. She truly enjoyed meeting all
> >  >the other animals, and she still enjoyed singing. She was getting
> >  >a little tired of flapping her wings all the time to get from one
> >  >ministry event to the other, and her voice seemed to be losing
> >  >some of its former strength and purity from being used all the
> >  >time, but she accepted that as part of fulfilling the call on her
> >  >life. Besides, no one seemed to notice. Everyone loved her, and
> >  >wanted to hear her.
> >  >
> >  >       Time went by, and the songbird was becoming more and more
> >  >popular. She had a ministry headquarters, a ministry staff, and
> >  >ministry partners all over the world. Her next CD was coming out
> >  >soon, and everyone was looking forward to it with great
> >  >anticipation. She was a busy little songbird, flying all over the
> >  >place to keep up with her hectic ministry schedule, but having to
> >  >carry around all those CD's and ministry resources on her back
> >  >was a constant strain, and she tired easily.
> >  >
> >  >       One day she was traveling to her next singing engagement and
> >  >found herself flying over a canyon out in the middle of nowhere.
> >  >Exhausted from her flight, she decided this would be a good place
> >  >to stop and rest her wings for awhile. Far below her she saw a
> >  >gorgeous flower of indescribable beauty! So she circled around
> >  >the flower and landed right next to it. What a lovely little
> >  >flower it was! It had round petals of many colors - yellow, blue,
> >  >pink, and white - and golden leaves. She had never seen anything
> >  >like it in all her travels around the world. And the fragrance!
> >  >It was unlike anything she had ever smelled, and far better than
> >  >any perfume she had ever tried. Yet here it was, growing out of a
> >  >crack in the bottom of a rocky canyon floor, out in the middle of
> >  >nowhere!
> >  >
> >  >       "Hello little flower!" the songbird said. "I was just flying
> >  >overhead and admiring your beauty, so I thought I would visit
> >  >with you for a moment. You are certainly the most beautiful
> >  >flower I have ever seen, and I don't think there is another
> >  >flower in the world quite like you."
> >  >
> >  >       "The Lord has been very gracious to me," answered the flower
> >  >pleasantly. "Who are you, and where are you going?"
> >  >
> >  >       "I am Rev. Songbird and I'm on my way to minister at a
> >  >retreat on the other side of this canyon. Maybe you've listened
> >  >to one of my CD's, or seen me on television?"
> >  >
> >  >       "No, I don't believe I have," the flower said. "I'm quite
> >  >alone out here in the canyon, and I don't have a lot of contact
> >  >with the rest of the world. As you can see, I don't have wings to
> >  >carry me anywhere."
> >  >
> >  >       "That's a shame," said the songbird. "Because you are such a
> >  >beautiful flower, and you give off such a lovely aroma. The Lord
> >  >has blessed you to be a blessing, yet your gifts are not being
> >  >used as they should! Why don't you come along with me to church,
> >  >so the other animals can see your beauty and enjoy your
> >  >fragrance?"
> >  >
> >  >       "Oh no, that would never do," the flower said, "Because that
> >  >would only distract me from my own ministry."
> >  >
> >  >       "So you are in the ministry? What denomination are you with?"
> >  >asked the songbird.
> >  >
> >  >       The flower laughed. "I'm not with a denomination.
> >  >
> >  >       "Where do you go to church?"
> >  >
> >  >       "Oh, I'm not involved with a church, either."
> >  >
> >  >       "Do you have some books or tapes out?"
> >  >
> >  >       "Heaven's no!" the flower laughed.
> >  >
> >  >       "So what kind of ministry do you have, then? Are you in the
> >  >ministry full-time, like me?" the songbird asked.
> >  >
> >  >       "Oh yes, it is a full-time ministry," answered the flower.
> >  >
> >  >       "But you are out here in the wilderness, all alone. There
> >  >are no churches, no one to fellowship with. How can you be in the
> >  >full-time ministry? It seems like such a waste."
> >  >
> >  >       "Oh, but that is where you are wrong," explained the flower.
> >  >"You see your ministry as being to the other animals, but my
> >  >ministry is to the Lord Himself! He has planted me out here in
> >  >the wilderness, hidden from the rest of the world. You believe
> >  >that is a waste, since no one can see me or smell me. But He can
> >  >see me! And He can smell me! And the measure of my fruitfulness
> >  >is not what I am to other people, but what I am to Him."
> >  >
> >  >        The songbird was silent for a long time. Finally, she said,
> >  >"Creatures all over the world are being blessed and encouraged by
> >  >my music. Perhaps you are called to minister to the Lord, but I
> >  >am called to minister to the other animals!"
> >  >
> >  >       "Who told you that you are called to minister to the other
> >  >animals?" asked the flower.
> >  >
> >  >       "The Lord!"
> >  >
> >  >       "Really?" asked the flower.
> >  >
> >  >       The songbird thought about what the squirrel had said, and
> >  >what the deer had said, and what the eagles had said, and what
> >  >the fox had said, and what all the other animals said. "Well,
> >  >just about everyone who has heard me sing has told me that the
> >  >Lord has given me a special gift, a special calling, and a
> >  >special ministry."
> >  >
> >  >       "Yes," agreed the flower. "But all of God's creatures have a
> >  >special gift, a special calling, and a special ministry. Who told
> >  >you that your gift, calling, and ministry is to the other
> >  >animals?"
> >  >
> >  >       "I guess the other animals said so."
> >  >
> >  >       "Naturally," continued the flower. "But wait! What is that
> >  >huge pack on your back?"
> >  >
> >  >       "Oh, that is my bag of music CD's and ministry resources. I
> >  >carry these with me wherever I go, because this is how my
> >  >full-time ministry is supported."
> >  >
> >  >       "It looks mighty heavy," observed the flower.
> >  >
> >  >       "It is, believe me!" said the songbird. But it's part of
> >  >being in the ministry."
> >  >
> >  >       "For your ministry, perhaps," said the flower. "It's not
> >  >part of my ministry! Ministering to the Lord is not a burden at
> >  >all."
> >  >
> >  >       (Secretly, the songbird envied the flower, but she couldn't
> >  >bring herself to admit it.)
> >  >
> >  >       "It does sound good," said the songbird. "But I'm not sure I
> >  >even know how to minister to the Lord."
> >  >
> >  >       "Do you remember when you used to sing praises to the Lord
> >  >in secret every morning, and just worshipped Him for Who He is,
> >  >with no agenda or vision or plan or crowd of onlookers to
> >  >minister to? Do you remember when you just sang the songs He gave
> >  >you, and they were just between you and Him?" the flower asked.
> >  >
> >  >       "Yes."
> >  >
> >  >       "You were ministering to the Lord! And what was your reward,
> >  >when no one could hear you sing, and you were just singing to
> >  >Him?"
> >  >
> >  >       The songbird thought. "I didn't get any rewards, or
> >  >recognition, or applause. So I guess the only reward I had was...
> >  >Him?"
> >  >
> >  >       "That's right," the flower smiled. "When we minister to the
> >  >Lord then the Lord becomes our reward. So then the question
> >  >becomes: is Jesus enough for you? Or is the work of the Lord more
> >  >important to you than the Lord of the work?"
> >  >
> >  >       And the songbird had to admit that she never had time to
> >  >just sing to the Lord the way she used to. With all her traveling
> >  >and performing she seldom took time to just minister to the Lord,
> >  >the way she did before anyone knew how gifted she was. Now the
> >  >ministry had become so big that the Lord Himself had been
> >  >neglected.
> >  >
> >  >       "I see it now," the songbird finally admitted. "I went into
> >  >the ministry, but I missed my calling."
> >  >
> >  >       "That's what usually happens," said the flower.
> >  >
> >  >       The songbird and the flower sat together in silence for a
> >  >long time.
> >  >
> >  >       "So what do I do now?" the songbird whispered.
> >  >
> >  >       "Just go back to the beginning," the flower said. "The Lord
> >  >is waiting to meet with you there."
> >  >
> >  >       The songbird and the flower embraced, and the songbird flew
> >  >back to her nest, leaving the burden of her ministry behind on
> >  >the canyon floor. So from that day forward the songbird devoted
> >  >herself to ministering to the Lord, just like she used to do. And
> >  >the Lord gave her some beautiful new songs to sing - just for
> >  >Him.
> >  >
> >  >       NOW WHAT?
> >  >
> >  >       Ministry to people is important, but it isn't the most
> >  >important thing. We know all about ministering to one another -
> >  >preaching, teaching, singing, conducting evangelistic crusades
> >  >and sending missionaries. All these things are needed, but
> >  >learning how to minister to the Lord is the most important
> >  >ministry of all because this is the basis for every other kind of
> >  >ministry. Sadly, few people know how to do this. Therefore,
> >  >ministry to the Lord is on the verge of becoming extinct.
> >  >
> >  >       The Lord is looking for people to whom He can reveal
> >  >Himself, share His secrets, and make known the mystery of His
> >  >ways. But there is no revelation without a relationship.
> >  >
> >  >"Ministering To The Lord" will encourage you to go beyond the
> >  >veil and spend more time sitting at His feet in the Secret Place
> >  >of the Most High God, where you learn how to be a friend He can
> >  >confide in.
> >  >
> >  >       Check out "Ministering To The Lord"
> >  >http://www.watchman.net/audio/ts108.html
> >  >
> >  >       I am your brother,
> >  >
> >  >       Chip Brogden
> >  >       http://www.watchman.net
> >  >
> >  >       (c)2004 Watchman.Net.
> >  >
> >  >       Permission is granted for non-commercial (free) distribution
> >  >provided this notice appears.
> >  >
> >  >       To join the list, leave the list, or change your email
> >  >address, please visit:
> >  >http://www.watchman.net/join.html
> >  >
> >  >Phil C Sharp
> >  >The Coil Of The snake
> >  >A Free Online E-Novel
> >  >www.SafePlaceFellowship.com

John

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