INTERESTING STORY

GOD

Almost everything we enjoy today was impossible yesterday.

Deep inside you lives an impossible thought. A dream longing to come true. There's a mission residing in you, put there by your heavenly Father. You see, He specializes in the impossible. That's where He is at His best. He is able to do more than we can ask or think.

Life can be a perpetual barrage of 'things' coming at us. Fear, faith, friends, envy, the past, greed, giving, serving, mistakes, anger, peace, indecision, and love ask for our time and demand our attention. What they can leave is an impression that everything is impossible, or at least very difficult.

The good news is that God wants to do more than we can imagine. He longs to take our impossibilities and turn them into possibilities. In this book I want to introduce you to God's view of our life. When a mistake makes a situation impossible, God can turn it around. When worry wants to paralyse us, God wants to bring us freedom. When confusion seems to be the only answer, God wants to shed light on His path for us.

Perhaps there is no greater truth than that with God all things are possible.

(From JOHN MASON: "The Impossible is Possible", Orient Paperbacks, Rs. 190)

INTERESTING STORY

There's a famous old story about a man who was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man He had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of the cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So the man did, day after day.

For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn-out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing discouragement, the adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into his weary mind: 'You've been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't moved.' Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. Satan said, 'Why kill yourself over this? Just put in the minimum effort; that will be good enough.'

That's what the fatigued man planned to do, but he still decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to God. 'Lord,' he said, 'I've laboured long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do what you have asked. Yet after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What's wrong? Why am I failing?'

The Lord responded compassionately, 'My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push.

'And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled; your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move that rock.'

(From JOHN MASON: "Imitation is Limitation", Orient Paperbacks, Rs. 195)

[Hitler - Peter - petr - rock]

I bought both of these self-help books today from a local bookshop/bookstore. I had never heard about or seen or read any book by John Mason before but I find that John Mason is a very interesting writer who knows a lot about God.

Kishalay Sinha [G]

In the above extract, I have shortened the original text:

"Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard."

to:

"Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled; your legs have become massive and hard."

because I reasoned that no matter how hard a white or black man worked, his back was not going to turn brown (only a brown man would have a brown back). Also, it seemed to Me that a man getting callused hands due to hard work might give a negative impression about hard work. I wanted to make hard work sound like fun.

Kishalay Sinha [G]