The Librarian

A brother giving a talk said that our service to Jehovah is like taking a trip to California, as the trip progresses you will need to stop at the gas station to fill up, our meetings are the gas station, and if we fail to fill up spiritually we will shut down spiritually or worse leave the truth. He also brought out a point about how we treat our bothers and sisters. He asked if one of our brother had a car and that car broke down, and he had no way of getting around, and we had two cars, but we were only using one would we be willing to let our brother use the other car? Now lets say that we had a Lexus and a Chevrolet, which would we be willing to lend then? The point was that Jehovah sent Jesus his only begotten son to die for us, and we should be imitating Jehovah's love, so in imitation of Jehovah's love we would want to give our brother the best. He then made the point about spiritual progress: He said when we got baptized we agreed to give our all to Jehovah, so we no longer lived for ourselves but for Jehovah. Now lets say, we were the one in need of that car that was mentioned before, and our loving brother gave it to us to use, but every time you went to use the car it was gone, what would you think to yourself. Your brother failed to tell you that he had a set of keys as well, and he keeps taking the car. It would seem that he didn't really want you to use the car in the first place, it is the same with Jehovah if we are always busy pursuing our own interests whenever Jehovah would like to use us, then in effect we are telling him that we didn't really want to be used by him. This is where Godly Devotion comes in to play and we will always be at our meetings fueling ourselves spiritually, cultivating spiritual qualities and giving of ourselves for Jehovah's interests not our own.

A little shepherd boy was watching his sheep one Sunday morning. As he heard the bells ringing the faithful to church, he watched the people walking along the lane next to the pasture. He began to think that he, too, would like to communicate with God. "But what can I say?" he thought. He had never learned a prayer. So on bended knee, he began to recite the alphabet - A, B, C, D, and so on to Z, repeating his "prayer" several times.A man passing by heard the boy's voice, and stopping to look through the bushes, saw the child kneeling with folded hands and closed eyes, saying, "J, K, L, M, ..."He interrupted the boy, asking, "What are you doing, my little friend?" The boy replied, "I was praying, sir."Surprised, the man said, "But why are you reciting the alphabet?"The child explained, "I don't know any prayers, sir. But I want God to take care of me and help me to care for the sheep. So, I thought if I said all I knew, He could put the letters together and spell all that I want to say and should say."The man smiled and said, "Bless your heart. You're right - God will!"Remember that Jesus told us to have faith like a child. When you go to God in prayer, don't worry if you don't know what to say. He can put your thoughts and feelings together and send you the answer you need, even when you don't know what you need.contributed

A young boy (we'll call him Johnny), found a raccoon pup and raised him. He called his new pet Rascal. Rascal was very friendly and good company for Johnny, and he went everywhere with Johnny, even slept with him. Of course, Rascal was very curious, and as he grew up he became more and more curious and, sad to say, even destructive. He raided the neighbours' hen houses more than once, and the farmers began to get angry about Rascal's night-time excursions. So, Johnny was forced to put his pet in a cage to keep the farmers from killing him. Johnny knew that Rascal would go crazy if he just imprisoned him all at once, so he devised a way to help Rascal get used to being in a cage. Johnny built the cage himself, and as he was building the cage he allowed Rascal to play with the wood and the wire and nails. As the frame went up Rascal could go in and out of the framework. It was a delightful game they played as the wire was attached to the wooden frame. Rascal followed Johnny around as he constructed each new part of the cage, climbing around and investigating every inch of what was to become his prison. Then Johnny built the door, and Rascal had fun going in and out of the door.When the cage was finally finished, Rascal went inside, and Johnny shut the door. Rascal was so familiar with the cage that, even though he was now imprisoned, he didn't mind. The cage was now his home.The moral of this story? Don't let Satan make a "Rascal" out of YOU!!contributed

Ephesians 4:22, 23: "That you should put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct and which is being corrupted according to his deceptive desires; but that you should be made new in the force actuating your mind."The verb, "put away"-- in the original Greek language is called the aorist tense. It indicates an action that is taken just once or once and for all. So it must be decisively (conclusively settled) stripped off.To help you get the sense of this lets illustrate: When one gives you advise on how to renovate your house, an antique, or a piece of old furniture, the worst words you can hear to solve the problem is: "The only thing you can do to make it right is to strip off the paint."Why are these hated words? Well, have you ever used paint stripper? Do you know anyone who has ever told you that they like to strip ANYTHING? No one likes it. You get it on you. It burns. Splashes on your face or gets under the glove that you are using.. gooey, slippery, sludge. So why do we do it? Why do we subject ourselves to such torture? Because it is a necessity; there is no other alternative. It is the best solution. Why?If it is not stripped completely you risk the new coating delaminating or peeling.We have to do the same with our old personality. If we don't get it off completely, it will eventually cause our spirituality to delaminate. It is because, the old personality "is being corrupted" as the 'b' section of Eph. 4:22 indicates. Yes, the old personality is in a continuous course of moral degradation going from bad to worse, leading to defilement and death. So you have to get it off, like clothing that has the smell of a skunk!!!!! Get it off!!! Would you keep your socks on? No, we take everything off the first chance we get.

Think of a vintage vehicle that sits gleaming in a showroom or museum. Imagine the attention to detail, the thousands of hours spent in restoring it to its present condition, perhaps because someone saw it rusting away under a tree and could see its potential. Or perhaps it is a beautiful piece of antique furniture, or a building such as the Stanley Theatre. In the latter case, Jehovah's people saw its potential, and spent many hours on its restoration. Now, if people can do that for material things, are we prepared to put that amount of time and effort into our own spirit, to create a refined, self-sacrificing attitude in ourselves?

Children are like a plant. Just keep watering and being tender and giving what is best for them at the time. Don't keep pulling up the plant to see if the roots are taking hold. Just be patient. In time our children will fully bloom, beautiful to us and to our God.

In my life, I have found there are two things about which I should never worry. First, I shouldn't worry about the things I cant change. If I cant change them, worry is certainly most foolish and useless. Second, I shouldn't worry about the things I can change. If I can change them, then taking action will accomplish far more than wasting my energies in worry. Besides, it is my belief that, 9 times out of 10, worrying about something does more danger than the thing itself. Give worry its rightful place - out of your life.

There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who could paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them. One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. The other picture had mountains too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell, in which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the King looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest... perfect peace. Which picture do you think won the prize? The King chose the second picture. Do you know why? "Because," explained the King, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace.

There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke. "You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red, and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, 'let me alone, but he only smiled, 'Not yet.' "Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy! I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.' Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening, and I could read his lips as He shook his head, 'Not yet.' Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. There, that's better,' I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.' Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot, and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, 'Not yet. 'Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened, and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself. And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful. ''I want you to remember, then, he said, 'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any colour in your life. And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you. Jehovah God knows what He's doing (for all of us). He is the Potter, and we are His clay. He will mould us and make us, so that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfil His good, pleasing, and perfect will. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And Jehovah is faithful; he will not tempt you beyond what you can bear... 1 Corinthians 10:13

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. via Robert Ryles

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?

A house of "Confidence" that is... What is the first thing on a house that gets destroyed in a storm? The roof. Now let's build our house, a house of Confidence, the foundation is the Christ. What are the four walls? 1st wall is Prayer. 2nd wall is Personal Study. 3rd wall is Daily Bible Reading. 4th wall is Field Service. Now let's put on the roof. The roof is our Meeting Attendance. Now that we've built our house of Confidence, here comes the storms, storms of persecution as varied as can be. Unfortunately, the first thing to go during these storms is our meeting attendance, then once that roof is gone, then one by one our "walls" start collapsing around us, and eventually our foundation, Christ is no longer a solid basis for our house of "Confidence." How did this all happen, by not protecting our roof, our Meeting Attendance. Guard it! Cherish it! Do not neglect it!

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?