The Librarian

Once there was a man who worked for a construction company. He always tried to do exactly what his employer wanted. He arrived for work on time, and never took 'extended' morning tea or lunch breaks. One day after his morning break he got up and started work, picking up a large piece of timber to take to the worksite.

Some of the workers completely ignored him.

Some of the others started to give him a hard time.

Some said, "Take it easy, come back here and sit with us. You don't need to do that now."

Others shouted, "That's no way to carry a piece of timber by yourself, you need to balance it better!"

Others thought he was just trying to impress the boss, and trying to make them look bad.

Our Pioneers, Ministerial Servants and Elders and others are trying to do what our employer, Jehovah God wants.We can ignore, discourage, criticise, or impute wrong motives. Or we can get up, reach out and help them carry the load.

Female Cowbird

Hello, We recently dedicated our remodeled Kingdom Hall here in Los Angeles , and our guest speaker was Bro. Javier Hernandez from Brooklyn Bethel. Bro. Hernandez did a program in English and Spanish, which was outstanding. Then on Sunday he gave our Public Talk and then a service talk entitled "Imitate Their Faith." It highlighted the hard work of the governing body, and why we should imitate their example. Bro. Hernandez is very knowledgeable of the Governing Body, because he serves as Bro. Herd's personal secretary. 

I have to relate the wonderful illustration he gave of the lazy cowbird. It is so good. Bro. Hernandez grew up in West Texas , and often saw cowbirds. These birds spend most of their time on the backs of cows eating parasites. When they spot a bird building a nest they will wait for the bird to leave and then go and lay their eggs in someone else's nest. The cowbird is lazy, so it goes back to the cow. The unsuspecting bird doesn't notice the extra eggs, and when they hatch, she begins flying off to feed them. This tires her out so that when her own eggs hatch she is too weak to feed them, and her babies end up dying. 

speckled cowbird egg

Today Satan is like the cowbird. He watches us and then tries to drop eggs into our nest. They may be work, school, entertainment, recreation, or whatever, and we begin to take more care of Satan's eggs than our own spiritual needs. If we are not careful, our spirituality will die because we are too busy feeding Satan's eggs. So watch out for those deadly eggs and get them out of your nest! 

What a simple practical real life illustration! Maybe you have heard it before but it was so good I had to share. Bro.Hernandez also repeatedly said we are living in the last seconds of the last days. No doubt working closely with the Governing Body, that phrase is common. It's a good reminder of our need to get and be ready. 

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. 

Ps.I added the pictures for you.....

What is your opinion?. Is it rats? 

If a mousetrap is introduced into a mouse's environment, it will go right over to it, take the bait, and its family will jump on it too in an effort to get it loose and perhaps all will get stuck.

A rat, however, will ignore everything new in its environment until it gets used to it, and only then it will go investigate it. So to catch a rat, a trapper leaves the trap, then when the rat is used to it he baits it. By introducing the bait (something new) into its environment causes the rat to ignore it all over again, until he gets used to it.  

Then the trapper sets the trap and, after waiting for the rat to "acclimatize" he catches the rat.  

The point is that Satan is catching people with this method today, by getting us used to an environment that is very bad, little by little--acclimatizing us to it so we get to thinking that what's in our environment (bad entertainment, immorality, etc.) is normal, and then! He has us.  

Think ? Then reflect on what we considered bad entertainment 20 or more years ago...  

Reminds me of the illustration in Sunday's Watchtower (4/15/12), Maintain a Complete Heart Towards Jehovah:  

Imagine that you are reading a book by the light of a 100-watt bulb, but then the bulb fails. Since you are left in the dark, you immediately notice what happened and replace the burned-out bulb with a new one. Light fills the room again. The next evening, you are reading with the help of the same lamp. However, unbeknownst to you, someone replaced the new 100-watt bulb with a 95-watt bulb. Would you notice the difference? Probably not. Andwhat if the next day someone put a 90-watt bulb in your lamp? Likely, you would still not notice it. Why not? The lamp's light is diminishing so gradually that you are not aware of it. Similarly, the influences of Satan's world may cause our zeal to diminish little by little. If that happens, it is as if Satan succeeded in reducing 100-watt heartfelt zeal for Jehovah's service to something less. If not alert, a Christian may not even notice the gradual change. —Matt. 24:42; 1 Pet. 5:8. 

Anakalia

A Speaker used this illustration regarding our relationship with Jehovah and our faith in holding on during this time of the end; When we are right at the brink of Armageddon and we feel like we can't hang on another minute.

A man was is in the mountains, it's night time, he wanders off the road and falls off a cliff. He grabs on to a tree root and holds on for dear life. He hangs there all night during this raging storm and every time his grip weakens, he grabs on tighter, his life hangs in the balance. His muscles ache and finally near dawn he feels his grip loosening and he thinks he cannot hold on another minute.

Then the sun rises and he looks down and realizes that all during that stormy ordeal - HE WAS ONLY TWO FEET OFF THE GROUND.

Isn't it wonderful. The point being - we are right on the brink of Armageddon and just when we feel we cannot hold on another minute in this darkened, terrible world - we could be only one day away from salvation. We're only 'two feet off the ground.

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

   
Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. 

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man! Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. 

It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.  

He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.  

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, Jehovah, God is watching over us, Sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.  

If you liked this story, pass it on. 

If not, you took off your blindfold before dawn. 

Moral of the story: Just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He is not there. "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots ? 
Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil " Jeremiah 13:23
 

You've no doubt read the old fable about the scorpion and the frog.

It illustrates how man's nature is much more devious and controlling than is his logic.

The fable says how,...

" One day a scorpion arrived at the bank of a river he wanted to cross, but there was no bridge.

He asked a frog that was sitting nearby if he would take him across the river on his back.
The frog refused and said,... " I will not, because you will sting me "

The scorpion replied,..." It would be foolish for me to sting you because then we would both drown "

The frog saw the logic in the scorpion's words, and agreed to carry the scorpion across.

But when they were halfway across the river the scorpion stung the frog.

The stunned frog asked,..." Why did you sting me, now we will both die ! "

The scorpion replied,... " Because I'm a scorpion … and that's what scorpions do "

Sad to say some people today are more concerned about being " politically correct " than they are about being " Biblically correct ",...

They change the name of sins to justify people's sinful behavior.

They do this because they are more concerned about the approval of man than they are about the approval of Jehovah God.

To Jehovah God, sin—all sin—is sin by whatever name we call it, and all sin is ultimately self-destructive regardless of how we seek to justify it.


Furthermore, God's Word reminds us that no matter how good, how noble, how educated, how refined, or how sophisticated we may be, we are all sinners.
Romans 3:23

Like the leopard that cannot change its spots neither can we change our nature.

We are not sinners because we sin, but rather, we sin because we are sinners.

That's our nature and that's why we need Jehovah God's salvation to save us from the eternal consequences of our sin—which is eternal separation from Jehovah God for all eternity.

Run, Idiot, Run

Br. Jackson of the governing body concluding a talk @ LA District Convention had this neat illustration at the very end of the convention. 

He said "What if you were watching a football game on TV & it was the Trojans against the Fighting Irish...& it's been a good game...and it's coming down to the last seconds and the Trojans get the ball (then he stands like a football player) and then he starts running (and he picks up his foot like he's going to take off) and you're glued to the TV-just waiting to see what will happen...and he makes it to the 30 then the 20 then the 10 yard line and he's at the one inch line...and he ..stops!

THE GUY WITH THE BALL STOPS!!! ..and he starts looking around for the game clock..and he yells, "how much time do I have left?"

And you are staring at the TV in disbelief!!! What do you do? 

You yell at the TV -Run, Idiot!!!, Run!!! 

  ...(Bro Jackson is yelling this from the stage) it was so hysterical- then he stops and says ...

That's where you are...This system is dying. 

We're the event that the universe is watching. 

We are at the one inch line ..and some are stopping and looking around and wondering where we are in the stream of time.

RUN!!! IDIOT!!! RUN!!! Don't look at the time...just run...run...we're almost there.

It was a very dramatic ending.

Dear Friends,

Our little ones have a way.

thought this was cute.
-
A circuit  overseer went out in service with a 7 year old boy, they went door to  door. The brother asked the boy "are you ready with your door message?"  The boy answered "of course I am always ready". 
The boy  went to the first door, knocked, and the person answered it was a man. The  boy asked, "Sir do you know Superman's secret Identity...what his name  is?" The man answered "of course it's Clark kent". 
The CO did  not know where to look, he was about to stop the 7 year old, when the boy  asked "Well do you Know Gods name?" 
"Of  course" answered the man "Jesus". 
"TSK Tsk  Tsk" the boy said as he shook his head!!! 
"Mister  you mean to tell me you know a fictional persons name and even his secret  Identity and you don't know Gods name who is real". 
"But I do"  answered the man "I said Jesus". 
TSK TSK  TSK said the boy .Good thing I came to teach you today the boy  said.
The boy  proceeded to turn to scripture after scripture proving Jehovah's name to  the man.The man said "come in show me more".
When they  finished the CO said nothing.
They went  to the next door it was the CO turn he said to the home owner "Hi, do you  know the name of Superman's secret Identity?

When I was a little girl, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then.  And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.  On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned toast in front of my dad.  I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!  Yet all my dad did was reach for his toast, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school.  I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the toast. 

And I'll never forget what he said:  "Baby, I love burned toast."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his toast burned.  He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired.  And besides - a little burnt toast never hurt anyone!"

You know, life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people.  I'm not the best housekeeper or cook.  What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other's differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

 Learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God.  Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where burnt toast isn't a deal-breaker!  We could extend this to any relationship in fact - as understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own." 

@TrueTomHarley I still getting used to this theme.

I think I will actually ask the @admin to go back to the default. 

@JW Insider did some actual research into this....

Here is what he found:

Are those cupcakes made with Splenda?

I love Splenda.

What are the attributes of Splenda that you love?

That is one serious concoction.

That might end up being my last cough ever.

What is the theme of your baptism year??
Mine was... Kingdom Truth~1982

(Although mine was at a Circuit Assembly in Natick, Massachusetts not a district convention)

A full size man would be an afternoon snack for that thing.

What can you do if you are overwhelmed with sadness?
 

@The Witness / Pearl Doxsey - Why don't you just create your own club on here and preach your own version of Christianity?

I get that you are relating many items back to JW's but you could do better in your own club rather than challenging every JW on here.

'You get more flies with honey" sort of thing....?