"When Did You Last get What You Expected from Life without Knowing How Or Why?"

Is Packaging Important To You?
By: Author Unknown

A young man was getting ready to graduate from 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 beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but
somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and
found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's
name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his
father and said, "With all your money, you give me a
Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed, and the young man was very successful
in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful
family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought
perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since
that graduation day. Before he could make the 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 of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and
regret filled his heart. He began to search through 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 was reading, a car
key dropped from the back of 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 blessings because they are not
packaged as we expected?

"Do Have Vision, Focus and Clarity?"

Keep Your Goals in Sight
By: Author Unknown

When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a
solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming
for nearly 16 hours.

Already she was the first woman to swim the English
Channel in both directions. Now at age 34, her goal was to
become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the
California coast.

On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like
an ice bath, and the fog was so dense she could hardly see
her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure,
only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid
grip of the sea, she struggled on-hour after hour-while
millions watched on national television.

Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her
trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn't much
farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not
to quit. She never had . . . until then. With only a half-
mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.

Still thawing her chilled body several hours later, she
told a reporter, "Look, I'm not excusing myself, but if I
could have seen land I might have made it." It was not
fatigue or even the cold water that defeated her. It was
the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the
same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal
clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere
behind that fog was land, and this time she made it!
Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the
Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men's record by two hours!

"Why Is It That We Often Wind Up Regretting The Past? -A Great Lesson In Faith"

Magic Pebbles
By: John Wayne Schlatter

One night a group of nomads were preparing to retire for the
evening, when suddenly they were surrounded by a great light.

They knew they were in the presence of a celestial being.

With great anticipation, they awaited a heavenly message of
great importance that they knew must be especially for them.

Finally, the voice spoke.

"Gather as many pebbles as you can. Put them in your saddle
bags. Travel a day's journey. Tomorrow night you will be
both glad and sad."

Afterwards, the nomads shared their disappointment and anger
with each other. They had expected the revelation of a great
universal truth that would enable them to create wealth,
health and purpose for the world. But instead they were
given a menial task that made no sense to them at all.

However, the memory of the brilliance of their visitor
caused each one to pick up a few pebbles and deposit them in
their saddle bags while voicing their displeasure.

They traveled a day's journey. That night, while making
camp, they reached into their saddle bags and discovered
that the pebbles they had gathered the night before had
turned into beautiful and brilliant diamonds!

Indeed, they were both glad and sad, just as the voice had
promised.

They were glad they now had beautiful and valuable
diamonds. They were sad they had not gathered more pebbles
when they had the opportunity.

And the moral here is, take what you can every day and be as
hardworking and positive about it all. You never know where
or when you will reap the benefits, or how great those
benefits will be. Don't regret not taking more later down
the road