God and the Spider

During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen."

After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy! my begin to draw close. He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one." Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.

As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.

"Ahah, he thought. "What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor."

As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. "Lord, forgive me," prayed the young man. "I had forgotten that in you a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall."

We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways. As the great leader, Nehemiah, reminded the people of Israel when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, "In God we will have success!" [Nehemiah 2:20]

Remember: Whatever is happening in your life, with God, a Mere spider's web can become a brick wall of protection. Believe He is with you always. Just speak His name through Jesus His son, and you will see His great power and love for you.

Author Unknown
Submitted by Richard

This isn't very Christian but - why type when there are people that says stuff so much better than me?

From another great board:

"Don’t look for someone to be your mommy. If all you want is sex and someone who can cook for you, then hire a hooker and a maid."

Problem is, I don't think most "bruthas" can afford either one.

Prayer for waiting on God (from christianforums.com)

Dear Lord Jesus,

I offer up to you each one of us here waiting on you to answer our prayers. You alone Lord know our deepest pain, fears, and needs. As we sit at your feet each day, calm our restless and anxious hearts to know that closed doors are a blessing and an opportunity to new directions in our life, to trust you more than men, to pray more in the darkest hours, to see with faith that you will do all things in your time, and to prepare ourselves for the doors you will open up for us. Thank you for this band of brothers and sisters who encourage us with their prayers and love. Thank you because you will provide in your time. In Jesus' name, Amen.

From Halima's site (Black Women's Interracial Relationship Circle)

"'Waiting on and believing God for a turn around of the situation', 'holding out (for victory)', 'never giving up etc,' maybe 'taking it to the lord in prayer' all these are clearly evidenced in the way black women repsond and are straight from the faith talk rule book. Now there is a long history of the use of a spiritual/christian approach within black culture. However a clear question here is, how does the black woman not adjuting to the current dating reality, but simply ‘trusting God’ (possibly wanting God to make things to go back to how they were with black men 30 years ago), constitiute a 'reasonable response' to their situation, that will bring them a desired outcome. How does ‘taking it to the lord in prayer’, help especially when God himself is no respector of persons and probably knows he has made enough provision for black women seeking mates, black women who however prefer to put God in a 'box' and confine God's response to fidning them a man who is black only. Indeed was it not Peter who was instructed to choose his fare from the whole range of animals (symbolic for taking the gospel to all of humanity), and told that 'what God had made clean, no one should call unclean'?

Indeed looking at the reaction and behaviour of black women especially those of the christian tradition, you would think white men are not also 'washed by the blood' as the next black person, an erroneous and unchristian belief which they will pay a high price for holding unto. As someone once said, 'God will not bless your mess!'"

Okay, this kinda shut me up (100th post, woohoo!)

from a really good Christian message board:

"I believe that God created the earth in 6 literal days.
What the Bible says is absolute truth.
God is God. He can do anything He wants, when He wants, and take however long He wants doing it.
Just because it doesn't even begin to make sense in our puny human minds doesn't mean that it must be inaccurate. Our understanding of the ways of this universe is small and ridiculously pathetic.
We'll never fully understand God's way of working, and I don't think we're meant to."

How to Know You're Saved

I'm not a Methodist, but this is nice:

What does it mean to be saved and to be assured of salvation? It's to know that after feeling lost and alone, we've been found by God. It's to know that after feeling worthless, we've been redeemed. It's to experience a reunion with God, others, the natural world, and our own best selves. It's a healing of the alienation—the estrangement—we've experienced. In salvation we become whole. Salvation happens to us both now and for the future. It's "eternal life," that new quality of life in unity with God of which the Gospel of John speak—-a life that begins not at death, but in the present. But how does salvation happen?
By grace through faith
Salvation cannot be earned. There's no behavior, no matter how holy or righteous, by which we can achieve salvation. Rather, it's the gift of a gracious God.

By grace we mean God's extraordinary love for us. In most of life we're accustomed to earning approval from others. This is true at school, at work, in society, even at home—to a degree. We may feel that we have to act "just so" to be liked or loved. But God's love, or grace, is given without any regard for our goodness. It's unmerited, unconditional, and unending love.

As we come to accept this love, to entrust ourselves to it, and to ground our lives in it, we discover the wholeness that God has promised. This trust, as we've seen, is called faith. God takes the initiative in grace; but only as we respond through faith is the change wrought in us.

Conversion
This process of salvation involves a change in us that we call conversion. Conversion is a turning around, leaving one orientation for another. It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. But in any case it's a new beginning. Following Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "You must be born anew" (John 3:7 RSV), we speak of this conversion as rebirth, new life in Christ, or regeneration.

UNEDITED TEXT FOUND HERE.