Baseball Player Says Jesus is Life’s Greatest Power Hitter

Enjoy this guest post from Greg Miller and visit his website to let him know you saw him on Christen Daily Blog

Brodie and Braxton were twin brothers who played in a baseball league which highlighted the potential of players who were twins.

Brodie was the team’s star first baseman, and Braxton was the team’s backup catcher. The boys were always offering support and encouragement to each other, while thinking about the team’s success.

At their local church, the twins played on the Church Baseball League team. Teams in the league only played one game each week, due to the congregation’s many other ministries.

Both Brodie and Braxton had decided to pursue careers as professional baseball players. “Just make sure you pray about it and follow God’s leading,” said Bernice, their mother.

“That’s right,” said Barkley, the boys’ dad. “You’ll always do fine in life if you allow God to lead you according to His plans.”

Brodie and Braxton attended the church’s Youth Baseball Sunday School Class each week and, as Easter drew closer; their attention became more focused on the life of their savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Their teacher, Bertram, asked all of the boys to give a brief oral report about the impact Jesus had made in their lives.

Brodie told the class that Jesus had helped him to focus more intently on his homework. “I just pray and ask the Lord to help me concentrate on the process to get the correct answers to my math questions,” he said.

Braxton said the Lord helped him realize the importance of obeying his parents. “I won’t always be a kid,” he reasoned. “One day, I’ll want to have a family of my own, and I’ll want my children to obey and respect me!”

Bertram complimented everyone for sharing their faith. “As long as you live, you’ll be asked to tell others about your love for God,” he remarked.

Brodie raised his hand and asked for permission to address the class. “As you all know, Braxton and I play baseball in two different leagues,” Brodie said. “And we hope to become major league baseball players.

“I’ve been thinking about Jesus being the savior of the world and about His love for each of us. And I’ve made an observation. Jesus came into the world as the perfect sacrifice. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, was crucified and died on the Cross, was buried and resurrected, and will soon return.”

“Do you have any other observations?,” asked Bertram.

“Just one,” said Brodie. “Jesus is alive and well. In baseball terminology, Jesus was the biggest all-time power hitter in the game of life. Not only did He die on the Cross, he is now living forever for all of us to tell others about it!”

Braxton chimed in, “When he arose from death, he hit the biggest home run in the history of the world!”
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To contact the writer of this column for speaking engagements and puppet ministry, please e-mail kidcool4jesus@yahoo.com.

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Dude Ranch Bans Texting While Horseback Riding

Enjoy this guest post from Greg Miller and visit his website to let him know you saw him on Christian Daily Blog!

The Jesus Loves Everyone Christian Dude Ranch prided itself in making all of its visitors as comfortable as possible.

The ranch allowed guests to bring radios, TVs and other electronics with them.

"We encourage our guests to bring their Christian CDs, movies and other praise-and-worship tools," said Tex, the ranch's foreman. "We want everyone to grow closer to the Lord, and these types of things can help us to accomplish that goal."

Guests were permitted to share a bunkhouse with their pets. "It's purr-fectly fine to bring your cat with you," said Rex, the manager of the "People and Their Pets Department.”

"And your precious pooch, too," agreed Lex, Rex’s assistant.

The ranch boasted a wonderful restaurant, which specialized in custom-ordered meals. The motto of Rexanna, the manager, was “A happy visitor is a well-fed visitor!"

The ranch, however, banned cell phone use while horseback riding. "It's too dangerous," reasoned Tex.

Roy and Roberta had been engaged for more than one year before they were married. They both loved old western movies and horses, so they decided to visit Jesus Loves Everyone Christian Dude Ranch on their honeymoon.

The couple arrived at the ranch, ate supper and turned in for the night. Roy and Roberta awoke at 5 a.m. After eating a huge breakfast, they went to one of the ranch's many corrals and selected the horses they wanted to ride down the Honeymoon Trail.

Roy was riding an appaloosa named "Appy," and Roberta was aboard a palamino named "Pallie."

The hours went flying by, because Roy and Roberta were having so much fun. About an hour before supper, the couple decided to return to the restaurant for a relaxing meal.

"I'll race you back to the restaurant," said Roy.

"First one back has to buy supper," grinned Roberta, as she spurred "Pallie" into a gallop.

"Pallie" heard a faint unusual noise, and the horse reared up on his hind legs, throwing Roberta to the ground.

Prior to being unceremoniously dumped on the trail, Roberta had used her cell phone to text Roy, “I love you.” The sound of Roberta's thumbs against the cell phone's keys had spooked the horse.

Roberta's minor injuries were treated at the ranch's mini-hospital. "You'll be fine," said Dr. Renee.

The ranch, as a result of Roberta's accident, decided to change its cell phone usage policy. Realizing that cell phones could come in handy to call for help, Tex decided that the official policy of only using cell phones after guests had retired for the evening would undergo one minor change.

The foreman chuckled as he told Roy and Roberta that the policy would include the following statement: "You may have your cell phone with you while horseback riding only if you know ahead of time that you're going to have an emergency!"

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To contact Greg Miller for speaking engagements or puppet ministry, please email kidcool4jesus@yahoo.com.

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Members of Animal Kingdom See Need for Attitude Adjustment

Enjoy this guest post from Greg Miller and visit his website to let him know you saw him on Christian Daily Blog!

Several members of the animal kingdom met in the center of the forest to discuss each other’s faults.

Kang A. Roo complained to Stink E. Skunk about a certain odor that the little black-and-white critter occasionally shared with everyone.

“You must do something about that terrible smell,” said Kang. “It’s polluting my air space.”

“You’re always hopping mad about something,” said Stink.

“Yeah,” agreed Dear the Deer. “ And we think you need a slight attitude adjustment.”

“What sort of an attitude adjustment do you have in mind?,” asked Kang.

“Oh, nothing too severe,” said Stink. “I think we should have you spell out ‘My attitude needs adjusting’ in the dirt 500 times.”

Several other animals joined the discussion and aired their own ideas for changing Kang’s attitude.

Buzz Ard dropped in to look for a snack that she was hoping had fallen on the ground. Overhearing the conversation, she suggested that Kang could change his attitude by doing a good deed for at least one animal every day. “If you’re thinking of others, you won’t be thinking of yourself as much,” she said. “And that may result in a transformation of your attitude.”

“I have an idea,” said Stripe the Tiger. “I think you should spend a whole day walking around the forest looking for animals that are wounded. You can take them to the animal hospital. You’ll gain a fabulous feeling on the inside, and I think your attitude will be changed, too.”

Goe Ferr was the next animal to offer a solution to Kang’s problem. “My idea is for you to give some of your Animal Forest Animal Kash to help repair the Animal Forest Elementary School,” said Goe Ferr.

Kang felt he had heard enough ideas to rehabilitate his attitude. “I’ve had a very long day, and I’m going home, have a relaxing dinner and go to bed,” he said. “But I’ll listen to one more suggestion before I leave.”

Leopard was eager to make her voice heard. “I have a question and a suggestion,” she said. “My question is, ‘Do you really want to change?’”

“Well, I don’t really see that my attitude is a very big problem, so I don’t plan to change it much anytime soon,” Kang replied.

“Then it will do no good to share my suggestion, because as I know very well, it is impossible for a leopard to change its spots, so I guess it‘s impossible for a kangaroo to change a hopping-mad attitude,” said Leopard.

“OK, I may need a very small attitude adjustment,” Kang admitted. “But since all of you seem to be so concerned about my attitude, I think your attitude needs an attitude adjustment!”

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To contact Greg Miller for speaking engagements or puppet ministry, please email kidcool4jesus@yahoo.com

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This is the Day that the Lord has Made by Rev. Greg Bishop

Why are we in such a big hurry for this day, or week to end?

We use a lot of catchy phrases like "Thank goodness, it’s Friday," or on Wednesday we say, "Hump day, only two days 'til the weekend," or "Boy, you can sure tell it’s Monday, can't wait 'til 5 o'clock." Then Sunday evening it’s "Where did the weekend go?"

I want to encourage us to look forward to every day of the week. Each day has it’s purpose. Enjoy every day and appreciate the fact that you have today, and today is like no other day.

We need to individually decide how to be productive mentally, physically, and spiritually as we enter into each day. I can only offer a suggestion, you must decide how to make your own agenda Sunday through Saturday.

S - Start the week off properly. Worship with your Christian brothers and sisters. The Word of the Lord says for us to assemble together (Hebrews 10:25), and the purpose on Sunday, of course, is to give praise and worship to our heavenly Father, Who is worthy of all our praise.

M - Make an extra effort to do a good deed today. Make Monday a smile day. If you go to the fast food drive-thru, be pleasant to the person at the window. They could be having a bad day and your smile and kindness might just brighten their entire week. You may even want to try it at the bank, the grocery store, maybe even Wally-World. It really does work most of the time.

T - Take time to be alone with your Lord. He wants to hear from you and He wants to speak to you. We are important to Him. Remember He gave His very best for His children. We shouldn't just confine this to Tuesday, it should be the norm for every day. Just make a special effort today.

W - Walk with integrity. don't give anyone a reason to condemn you. The Bible tells us to refrain from even the appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Doing so will ensure no one can legitimately condemn us for any reason.

T - Talk to someone about the Lord today. It will not only help them in eternal matters, but it will give you a sense of obedience to the Lord. The Holy Scriptures tell us to be prepared in season and out to give an account for the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15). we're busy people and we don't always get a lot of opportunities to witness as we would like, so make the best of every opportunity. wouldn't Thursday be a great day to tell someone about Jesus?

F - Finish the work week with a sense of accomplishment. Know that you've done your best. You've heard the old adage "don't worry, be happy." Jesus mentioned this. He was telling us that worrying about things won't change them. If you know you've done your best, rejoice in that fact.

S - Saturday is my day of rest, as it probably is for many people. I believe we all want to look back on our previous six days and feel a sense of accomplishment. Be good to yourself today. don't dwell on the things that didn't go exactly the way you would have liked. Instead, concentrate on the good things from each of the days of this past week. And look forward to next week for what it is... a blessing from God.

Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

When I received Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy by Nancy Leigh DeMoss free to review it for Moody Publishers, I expected it to be just another book about being thankful. But it's really so much more!

This is a book about being grateful in all things... not the happy blessings of life, but the hard-to-handle tragedies that we face. Not the "I'm thankful that you're teaching me through this, Lord," but "I'm thankful for this... for this sickness... for this financial ruin... for this...[insert your own tragedy here].

It's not something we want to even consider, let alone attempt to do.

But DeMoss shows us how tightly woven the theme of gratitude and giving thanks in all things is with the gospel message we love. And she helps us discover how we can be grateful and give thanks in all things.

Joni Eareckson Tada wrote the foreward in the book. And for someone who has faced the trials that she has to be able to recognize that God is bigger than our trials and heartaches--when her trials and heartaches seem so much more severe than mine!--I have to at least try to understand the message of this book. I don't know that I fully "get" it... but I see the need for it. I believe you will, too.

Definitely one worth reading.

Purchase Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy.

The Silent Gift by Michael Landon Jr. and Cindy Kelley

I received The Silent Gift by Michael Landon Jr. and Cindy Kelley from Bethany House to review, and I have to say, this was a hard book for me to read.

The writing is excellent, of course. The story is gripping, it draws you in and holds your attention. But the tragedy the characters face was more than I, personally, wanted to "live" through within its pages.

This is the story of a woman who almost drowns at the very moment of giving birth to her son, and because of that trauma, the boy is born unable to hear or speak. She learns, as he grows, that the boy has a special gift, however, and their saga begins.

What was so disturbing to me were the unbelievably harsh circumstances the characters were forced to endure. Just at the moment when it seemed as if things couldn't get worse, they did. There are times when a book imposes too much pain into my spirit, and that troubles me emotionally. This was one of those books.

It's a bittersweet story, some would say heartwarming. And of course, it's not hopeless. There are good things that happen in it. And God does prevail. It's just that the book haunted my spirit and it's not one I would choose to read again.

Purchase The Silent Gift.

Regret-Free Living by Stephen Arterburn

While I've heard of Stephen Arterburn for years, I have to admit that Regret-Free Living is the first of his books that I've read. Now, I've found a new author.

Expecting a dry, preachy discourse about "moving on," I was very pleasantly surprised to find this book laugh-out-loud funny in places and filled with practical ideas for living without regret.

Like everyone else, I've done things I would change if I could, but sadly, can't. Using examples from his own life, as well as illustrations from others, Arterburn reminds us that we're all in the same shape and that letting go of what we can't change makes for a much happier and more peaceful life.

The writing is honest and open, holding back none of--what I would consider--embarrassment or pain of past mistakes. That takes a lot of courage, which I admire. And to do so with humor, drives his point home without hitting us over the head with it.

Definitely worth the read. I give this one five stars!

(I received this book free as a reviewer for Bethany House.)

Purchase Regret-Free Living.