�Who Says You Can�t Teach an Old Dog a New Trick or Two�

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, “Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.”

Then the second tree said, “Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.”

Finally the third tree said, “I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.”

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, “This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter” … and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, “This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.” The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, “I don’t need anything special from my tree so I’ll take this one”, and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time. Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn’t think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said “Peace” and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don’t seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don’t always know what God’s plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

Author Unknown, Source Unknown

Without faith what hope do we have?

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God

Diana Robinson

There are many types of prayer; from ritualized acts that require a strict sequence of actions, to prayer that has limitations as to when a person may pray, to prayer that strictly forbids a person from praying, to prayer that may be practiced spontaneously by anyone at any moment.

The amazing thing about prayer is it can be blamed for not resolving our problems or not meeting are requests, to the ability to calm, heal and at times create miracles.

Whether you believe in prayer or not here is my story:

One evening just prior to the second show at the Osmond Family Theatre a lady approached me and asked if it would be possible to speak to my sons. At first I was a bit hesitant because we had been having troubles with a guy from St. Louis who appeared to be stocking the boys. So I asked, “Why do you want to speak to them?” She responded that the night before she had had a dream and in that dream she was lead to believe that she needed to ask my boys to pray for her son. I asked, “Why do you need the boys to pray for your son?”  She told me that two years previous her son had been in a car accident and was in a coma. She believed that if the boys said a prayer for her son it would help. So I agreed to ask the boys and called them over. I said, “This lady wants to ask you a question.” She told the boys the story and asked them to pray for her son. As if on cue three little nine year olds and one ten year old looked straight up at me seeking my approval (I think I missed my calling as a drill sergeant). I shook my head and said “Boy’s this one is up to you.” They all looked back at the lady and agreed. She said thank you and we left.  Now on most nights we would head over to a restaurant for a bite to eat but this night we headed straight home ate a small snack and just before 9:00pm went into the bedroom, knelt down around the bed and said a prayer for the young boy in the coma. The next afternoon when we arrived at the theatre she was there. She came running over to us with tears rolling down her cheeks. “Did you pray last night?” she asked. “Yes we did, about nine o’clock” I replied. She said “Last night my son came out of his coma at 9:00pm.”

Faith is our natural gift of power and when it is pure and selfless it’s magnified tenfold.

Frank Moffatt