I liked that.  I did not agree with all of it, but I can't say I 
didn't like it.  Pretty cool.

LOVE IN HIM,

purple Mari



At 04:42 AM 3/27/2007, you wrote:
>this one has some good points.
>
>Text of forwarded message follows:
>
>
>>>Subject: True Story worth reading
>>>
>>>Rev. John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago 
>>>writes about Tommy, a student in his Theology of Faith class.
>>>
>>>Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students 
>>>file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith.
>>>
>>>That was the day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both 
>>>blinked. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six 
>>>inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen 
>>>a boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then.
>>>
>>>I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in 
>>>it that counts; but on that day, I was unprepared and my emotions 
>>>flipped I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange... Very strange.
>>>
>>>Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology 
>>>of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined 
>>>about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God.
>>>
>>>We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, 
>>>although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.
>>>
>>>When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final 
>>>exam, he asked in a cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find God?"
>>>
>>>I decided instantly on a little shock therapy.
>>>
>>>"No!" I said very emphatically
>>>
>>>"Why not?," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were 
>>>pushing." I let him get five steps from the classroom door and 
>>>then called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I 
>>>am absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little 
>>>and left my class and my life.
>>>
>>>I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my 
>>>clever line: "He will find you!" At least I thought it was clever.
>>>
>>>Later, I heard that Tommy had graduated and I was duly grateful. 
>>>Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. 
>>>Before I could search him out, he came to see me.
>>>
>>>When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and 
>>>the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But 
>>>his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.
>>>
>>>"Tommy, I've thought about you so often--I hear you are sick", I 
>>>blurted out.
>>>
>>>"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks"
>>>
>>>"Can you talk about it, Tom?", I asked.
>>>
>>>"Sure, what would you like to know?", he replied.
>>>
>>>"What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?", I asked.
>>>
>>>"Well, it could be worse", he replied.
>>>
>>>"Like what?", I asked.
>>>
>>>"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals; like being 
>>>fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real
>>>Biggies''s in life.", he replied.
>>>
>>>I began to look through my mental file cabinet under 'S' where I 
>>>had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to 
>>>reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)
>>>
>>>"But what I really came to see you about", Tom said, "is something 
>>>you said to me on the last day of class."
>>>
>>>(He remembered!)
>>>
>>>He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God 
>>>and you said, 'No!' which surprised me.
>>>
>>>Then you said, 'But He will find you.'
>>>
>>>I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was 
>>>hardly intense at that time."
>>>(My clever line. He thought about that a lot!)
>>>"But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me 
>>>that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God.
>>>And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really 
>>>began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.
>>>
>>>But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever 
>>>try anything for a long time with great effort and with no 
>>>success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And 
>>>then you quit."
>>>
>>>"Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more 
>>>futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or 
>>>may not be there, I just quit.. I decided that I didn't really care about God,
>>>About an after life, or anything like that. I decided to spend 
>>>what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought 
>>>about you and your class and I remembered something else you had 
>>>said:" "The essential sadness is to go through life without 
>>>loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and 
>>>leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had 
>>>loved them.'"
>>>
>>>"So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad.
>>>
>>>He was reading the newspaper when I approached him.
>>>
>>>"Dad."
>>>
>>>"Yes, what?", he asked without lowering the newspaper
>>>
>>>"Dad, I would like to talk with you."
>>>
>>>"Well, talk."
>>>
>>>"I mean... It's really important".
>>>
>>>The newspaper came down three slow inches.
>>>
>>>"What is it?"
>>>
>>>"Dad, I love you--I just wanted you to know that."
>>>
>>>Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though 
>>>he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him.
>>>
>>>"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two 
>>>things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me.
>>>We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next 
>>>morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his 
>>>tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me."
>>>
>>>"It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with 
>>>me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice 
>>>things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping 
>>>secret for so many years. I was only sorry about one thing --- 
>>>that I had waited so long.
>>>Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had 
>>>actually been close to."
>>>
>>>"Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn't come 
>>>to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal 
>>>trainer holding out a hoop:" 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll 
>>>give You three days, three weeks.'
>>>
>>>"Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour. 
>>>But the important thing is that He was there . He found me! You 
>>>were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."
>>>
>>>"Tommy", I practically gasped: "I think you are saying something 
>>>very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at 
>>>least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to 
>>>make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant 
>>>consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You 
>>>know, the Apostle John said that. He said: 'God is love, and 
>>>anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.'"
>>>
>>>"Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class 
>>>you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to 
>>>me now. would you come into my present Theology of Faith course 
>>>and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same 
>>>thing it wouldn't be half as effective as if you were to tell it."
>>>
>>>"Ooh I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class."
>>>"Tom, think about it If and when you are ready, give me a call."
>>>
>>>In a few days, Tom called, said he was ready for the class that he 
>>>wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date. 
>>>However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more 
>>>important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his life 
>>>was not really ended by his death, only changed. He made the great 
>>>step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful 
>>>than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard 
>>>or the mind of man has ever imagined.
>>>
>>>Before he died, we talked one last time. "I'm not going to make it 
>>>to your class", he said. "I know, Tom."
>>>
>>>"Will you tell them for me? Will you tell the whole world for me?"
>>>
>>>"I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."
>>>
>>>So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple 
>>>story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you, 
>>>Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told 
>>>them, Tommy as best I could.
>>>
>>>If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend or two.
>>>
>>>It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.
>>
>>
>>No virus found in this incoming message.
>>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>>Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.18/733 - Release Date: 
>>3/25/2007 11:07 AM
>End of forwarded message text:
>
>John
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this outgoing message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.18/733 - Release Date: 
>3/25/2007 11:07 AM