Perhaps the most powerful video you haven't seen

[7daysadventist]

Not really sure where to post this as it could fit in many different categories.

In case you haven't seen the 'Falling Plates' vid yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KGlx11BxF24

[7daysadventist]

You're welcome. I thought so too.

[LifeHiscost]

Maybe this will add to its' importance.

http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnplayer/cbnPlayer.swf?s=/vod/MW131v2_WS

God cares!

[debbym]

Quote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KGlx11BxF24

i really liked this and shared it on fb

Thanks so much.

[LifeHiscost]

This is meant to praise God for the Spirit He has promised to pour out on all flesh in the last days. If someone thinks it doesn't praise the Master then they can ask for it to be removed.

Quote:

Father John Powell, professor at Loyola University in Chicago, writes

About a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy.

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file

Into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith.

That was the day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked..

He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his

Shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that

Long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind

That it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on

That day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed

Tommy under 'S' for strange...very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the 'atheist in residence' in my Theology of

Faith course. He constantly objected to,smirked at, or whined about

The possibility of an unconditionally lovinig Father/God. We lived

With each other in relative peace for one semester, although I

Admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam,

He asked in a cynical tone, 'Do you think I'll ever find God?'

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. 'No!' I said very

emphatically.

'Why not,' he responded, 'I thought that was the product you were pushing.'

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out, 'Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am absolutely

Certain that He will find you!' He shrugged a little and left my class

And my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my

Clever line -- He will find you! At least I thought it was clever.

Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly grateful.

Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer.

Before I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into

My office, his body was very badly wasted and the long hair had all

Fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and

His voice was firm, for the first time, I believe. 'Tommy, I've thought

about you so often; I hear you are sick,' I blurted out.

'Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks.'

'Can you talk about it, Tom?' I asked.

'Sure, what would you like to know?' he replied.

'What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?'

'Well, it could be worse.'

'Like what?'

'Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and

thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies

in life.'

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under 'S' where I had

Filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to reject

By classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

'But what I really came to see you about,' Tom said, 'is something you

Said to me on the last day of class.' (He remembered!) He continued,

'I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, 'No!'

Which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find you.'

I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly

Intense at that time.

(My clever line. He thought about that a lot!)

'But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it

Was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God. And when

The malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging

Bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven. But God did not come

Out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time

With great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted,

Fed up with trying. And then you quit.

'Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile

Appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be

there, I just quit.

I decided that I didn't really care about God, about an afterlife, or

anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing

something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I

remembered something else you had said: 'The essential sadness is to

go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to

go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you

loved that you had loved them.''

'So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading the

newspaper when I approached him.

'Dad.'

'Yes, what?' he asked without lowering the newspaper.

'Dad, I would like to talk with you.'

'Well, talk.'

'I mean. It's really important.'

The newspaper came down three slow inches. 'What is it?'

'Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that.' Tom smiled at me

and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and

secret joy flowing inside of him. 'The newspaper fluttered to the

floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever

doing before. He cried and he hugged me. We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so good to be

close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say

that he loved me.'

'It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me,

too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things

to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so

many years.

'I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long. Here

I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been

close to.'

Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn't come to

me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer

holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give you three

days, three weeks.'

'Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour. But

the important thing is that He was there. He found me!

You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him'!!

'Tommy,' I practically gasped, 'I think you are saying something very

important and much more universal than you realize.

To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not

to make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant

consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You know,

the Apostle John said that. He said: 'God is love, and anyone who

lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.'

Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you

were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me

now.... Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and

tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it

wouldn't be half as effective as if you were

to tell it.'

'Oooh, I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class.'

'Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call.

In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he

wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date.

However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more

important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was

not really ended by his death, only changed. He made the great step

from faith into vision.

He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen

or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time.

'I'm not going to make it to your class,' he said.

'I know, Tom.'

'Will you tell them for me? Will you... tell the whole world for me?'

'I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best.'

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple story

about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you,Tommy,

somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them,

Tommy, as best I could.

If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend or two.

It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.

With thanks,

Rev. John Powell, Professor, Loyola University, Chicago

Have a Great, Safe and Blessed Day

In God we trust

I know I can't agree with all the theology, but I do agree with the Spirit in which it was given.

God cares!

[JoeMo]

The video was good; but Tommy's story was great! In stories like that, it's not the theology that's really imprtant, it's the testimony! It took me a while to respond to tis because I was crying; had to dry it up. I hate it when I cry at work!

Father God, Please reveal yourself to others in a way that they would have no doubt that it was You!

[LifeHiscost]

The video was good; but Tommy's story was great! In stories like that, it's not the theology that's really imprtant, it's the testimony! It took me a while to respond to tis because I was crying; had to dry it up. I hate it when I cry at work!

Father God, Please reveal yourself to others in a way that they would have no doubt that it was You!

Surely God is working through His Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, Amen!

God cares!