Being kind to strangers.... Today I was at the local mall for lunch by myself. It was a flip between Taco Bell & Chinese. I chose Chinese. As I was getting ready to pay $7.60 I reached for my wallet, in it was only $ 2.00. I went through all the pockets and nothing. I couldn't find the $20. The people waiting were beginning to get abit ansy, I was speachless. I ask if they take a credit card, cashier said,"yes". I breathed as sigh of relief, handed my credit card to the lady....she kept saying no,no,no,no. They accepted 4 different credit cards, the one they didn't was the only card I had a "Discover" card. I could feel my body tensing up. The cashere began taking to another Chinese there, her hands making gestures. A young girl (college student was in line after me) looked at me then the cashier and said to her, "l'll pay for his, and handed her the money. I thanked her and later gave her my business card with my info on. I told her to call me so I could send her the money or I said I would give her unlimited Life Coaching sessions. Later I told her I had incurable ILD lung disease, that I was having a not so great morning. I asked God to have something happen today, a person to perk me up. When I told her how God used her to bless me. God works in mysterious ways that we don't expect. I thank God for the blessing. Trust Him with your life. "Jeff" (sounder)
Did you know? Concerning 2 Christmas Hymns we all know and sing.
Joy to the World
Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the world! the Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy
No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love.
Scholars have concluded that “Joy to the World†was actually part of Psalm 98 and focused upon the second coming of Jesus and not Christmas:
Psalm 98: 1 Sing a new song to the Lord, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have won Him victory. 2 The Lord has made His victory known; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.3 He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory.4 Shout to the Lord, all the earth; be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing.5 Sing to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious song.6 With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn shout triumphantly in the presence of the Lord, our King. 7 Let the sea and all that fills it, the world and those who live in it, resound.8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains shout together for joy9 before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world righteously and the peoples fairly. (HCSB)
When we compare Psalm 98 with the Watts hymn- “Joy to the World†-we could make a case where the Old Testament Prophecy and the New Testament Christ come together. It is still somewhat of a mystery as to what Watts really intended. However, suffice it to say that it is quite a blessing to sing this old hymn and realize we are rejoicing over Jesus birth and His second coming at the same time!
Lord, we sing to You in this season and together proclaim that in You it truly is Joy to the World time!
