cont. Stories to live by

Home Coming - A Soldier's Story
(God loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the family forever, regardless of who we are.)

A soldier after his tour of duty in Vietnam was coming home. From San Francisco, he called his parents. "Mom and Dad. I'm coming home, but i've got a favour to ask. Can i bring a friend home?" "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him." "There's something you should know, " the son continued. "He was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land of mine and lost an arm and leg. He has nowhere else to go and i want him to come live with us." "I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live." "No, Mom and dad, I want him to live with us." "Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live. I think you should come home and forget about this guy. He'll be okay."

Hearing this, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing from him until they got a call from the San Francisco police a few days later. Their son died after falling from a building and the police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents identified him at the morgue and to their horror discovered that he had come back with only one arm and one leg. Always have the facts before we make a decision.

Mother's Day
(Mum! Man's best friend! There's nothing like Mama's hug.)

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived a few hundred miles away. As he got out of the car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing. He asked her what was wrong and she replied, "I want to buy a red rose for my mother, but I only have seventy-five cents and the rose costs two dollars." He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother's flowers. As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home. She happily acccepted, "Yes, please! You can take me to my mother." She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.

The man returned to the flower shop, cancelled the wire order, picked up the flowers and drove to his mother's house. Appreciate our mothers when they are alive.