A WILD CHASE

A lady sprinter of India won several prizes in racing competitions. She was very proud of her distinction in sports and believed that she was the fastest sprinter in her state. Once, while she was walking along a street, a thief snatched her golden necklace and ran away at full speed. She chased him and after much effort, approached him. Suddenly she was filled with the spirit of a sprinter in a tight race. She ran with all her might and easily overtook the thief but continued the race as if the finishing point was far away.

Later she realized the real situation and stopped. With a shock she turned back. But she could not trace the thief who had already escaped easily with the necklace through a different route.

The story illustrates the danger of getting intoxicated by unnecessary feelings of competition and envy. People often become crazy on seeing others in a better position or with better capabilities. Thoughtless efforts to surpass others may lead to loss and disaster. We must admit our limitations and respect others' achievements. That is the easy way to be healthy, happy and holy.

By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.
For more moral stories, parables and anecdotes for students, catechists, teachers and preachers, kindly visit the web-site: http://www.moralstorieschristian.blogspot.com

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GOD'S PLANS

A king had an earnest and honest minister. The king trusted him but disliked his frequent statement, "God gives everything for our own good."


Once they went together for hunting. While making a way through the forest by cutting the bushes with his sword, the king cut off the tip of his middle finger. They treated the wound using medicinal herbs and bandaged the wound to stop bleeding. As they finished the treatment, the minister made his usual remark, "God gives everything for our own good." The king was furious. "You are really cruel", he said, "I am in great pain and you say it is for good. You will say the same thing when I lose my head!" Filled with rage, he flung the minister into a dirty pit and raced off alone.

In the dense forest, the king was caught by a group of savages. They tied him up and carried him to their chieftain. They were celebrating a religious festival. They wanted to offer the king as a human sacrifice before their deity. As the rituals were progressing, the chief priest examined the 'offering' in detail and found out that the tip of his middle finger was missing. He declared that only perfect bodies without any defect would be acceptable as sacrifice before the deity. Hence the king was released. The king realized that the minister's statement was correct. So he returned to the pit and rescued the minister. The king narrated the events and apologized for his action. The minister repeated, "God gives everything for our own good."

The king asked for an explanation for this statement. The minister said, "If you had not put me in the pit, I would have been with you when the savages attacked and they would have sacrificed me instead of you!" The king now confessed with conviction, "You are correct. God gives everything for our own good."

God speaks through Jeremiah, "I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for {Jeremiah 29: 11}.

By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.
For more moral stories, parables and anecdotes for students, catechists, teachers and preachers, kindly visit the web-site: http://www.moralstorieschristian.blogspot.com

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HANDSOME HANDS

A young mother in India had a one-year-old baby. As she was employed as a teacher, a girl was hired to look after the baby during day time.

One evening, as she was approaching her house, she saw fire engines speeding towards her home. She ran to reach her house which was on fire. The girl was crying aloud that the baby was still in the cradle in the burning house. The fire broke out when she had gone out of the house leaving the sleeping baby for a while. As the fire was intense, the girl could not enter the house to rescue the child in time. The fire fighters were trying their best to put out the blaze.

Without waiting for even a moment, the mother rushed into the burning house and reached the cradle. She fought the fire around her with her bare hands. Holding the child close to her chest, she came out of the raging fire. The child had only minor injuries as she was rescued in time. But the mother suffered severe burns. Her hands were badly burnt and she was rushed to the hospital. She recovered after prolonged treatment in intense pain but retained wide white patches and permanent deformities on her hands. But she did not disclose the incident to her daughter even when she grew up to adolescence.

Then, one day the daughter told her mother, "Mommy, your hands are really ugly. I do not want to see them." The mother was shocked. She knew that it was time to reveal everything. She told her daughter, "Yes, my hands look ugly and repulsive. But once they were as beautiful as yours. If I had tried to protect their beauty, you would not have been alive today." She then narrated the whole story.

The daughter was totally upset. She cried and fell down, embracing the feet of her mother. She went on kissing her mother's hand and told in tears, "Mommy, you have the most handsome hands on earth. I failed to see their beauty. Forgive me." She never forgot that her life was a gift from her mother.

Jesus accepted the path of the Passion and sacrificed His life to save us from the clutches of sin and the fire of hell. Let us thank Him, praise Him, love Him and adore Him as our Saviour, Lord and God.

By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.
For more moral stories, parables and anecdotes for students, catechists, teachers and preachers, kindly visit the web-site: http://www.moralstorieschristian.blogspot.com

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MAN AS MODEL

A boy was bothering his mother by going on asking silly questions. To keep him busy for a while, she tore a page from a magazine bearing a map of the world. She tore it into several irregular pieces and asked him to arrange the pieces in perfect order. To her surprise, the boy finished the work very soon and returned to her to report his achievement. She examined the arrangement. It was perfect. "How could you do it so soon, my son?" she asked with wonder. "It was very easy, mother," He replied, "On the other side of the map, there was the figure of a man. I made it alright and set it upside down. The map was ready".

This incident teaches an important lesson. If every man corrects himself, the world becomes perfect. Personal transformation is the first step to social harmony and world peace.

Jesus came to change man. Thus He could transform the world and its history.

When Zacchaeus transformed himself and decided to compensate for his evil actions, Jesus declared, "Salvation has come to this house today" {Luke 19: 9}.

St. Paul advises us to renew ourselves {Ephesians 4: 22-24, Colossians 3: 9, 10}.

By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.
For more moral stories, parables and anecdotes for students, catechists, teachers and preachers, kindly visit the web-site: http://www.moralstorieschristian.blogspot.com

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NASA proves that the BIBLE is True!!!

NASA proves that the BIBLE is True!!!

For all you scientists out there and for all the students who have had ahard time convincing these people regarding the truth of the Bible here'ssomething that illustrates God's awesome creation and shows He is still in control.

Did you know that NASA's space programmers are busy proving that was hasbeen called 'myth' in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President ofthe Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, and a consultant in the spaceprogrammes, relates the following incident:

One of the most amazing things that God has for us today happenedrecently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland.They were checking out the positions of the sun, moon and planets out inspace where they would be 100, and 1000 years from now. We have to knowthis as we do not want a satellite to collide with any of these in itsorbits. We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of thesatellite and where the planets will be so the whole project will not bogdown. Computer measurements and data were run back and forth over thecenturies when suddenly it came to a halt, displaying a red signal, whichmeant that either there was something wrong with the information fed intoit or with the results as compared to the standards. They called in theservice department to check it out, and the technicians asked what was wrong.

The scientists had discovered that somewhere in space in elapsed time aday was missing. Nobody seemed able to come up with a solution to theproblem. Finally one of the team, a Christian, said: "You know, when Iwas still in Sunday School, they spoke about the sun standing still......."

While his colleagues didn't believe him, they did not have an answereither, so they said: "Show us." He got a Bible and opened it at thebook of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any onewith 'common sense'. There they read about the Lord saying to Joshua:"Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not be aman of them stands before thee." (Joshua 10:8).

Joshua was concerned because the enemy had surrounded him, and ifdarkness fell, they would overpower him. So Joshua asked the Lord to makethe sun stand still! That's right ­ "And the sun stood still and the moonstayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Isthis not written in the book of Ja'­sher? So the sun stood still in themidst of heaven and hastened not to go down about a whole day." (Joshua10:13).

The astronauts and scientists said: "There is the missing day!" Theychecked the computers going back into the time it was written and foundit, but it was not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing backin Joshua's day was 23 hours and 20 minutes ­ not a whole day. They readthe Bible again and there it was: "about (approximately) a day.." Theselittle words in the Bible were important, but they were still in trouble,because another 40 minutes were still unaccounted for, and this could mean trouble 1000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it canbe multiplied many times over in orbits.

As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere inthe Bible which said the sun went backwards. The scientists told him hewas out of his mind, but once again they opened the Book and read thesewords in 2 Kings.

Hezekiah, on his deathbed, was visited by the prophet, Isaiah, who toldhim he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for some sign as proof.Isaiah said: "Shall the sun go forward ten degrees, or go back tendegrees?" And Hezekiah answered: "It is a light thing for the shadow togo down ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backwards tendegrees." And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and He brought theshadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial ofAhaz." (2 Kings 20:9 ­11).

Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty-three hours and twenty minutesin Joshua, plus 40 minutes in 2 Kings accounted for the missing day inthe universe!!!

Isn't this amazing? Our God is rubbing their noses in His Truth!

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LEATHER BOUND BIBLE

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 beautiful 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? and 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 wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make 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.

His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt 7:11, "And if ye, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly father which is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?" As he read those words, 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 God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

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