'Friends are God's way of taking care of us.'

'Friends are God's way of taking care of us.'

This was written by a Metro Denver Hospice Physician:

I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely managed to coast , cursing, into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the quickie mart building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if she was okay
When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.

At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.

I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying 'I don't want my kids to see me crying! ,' so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, 'And you were praying?' That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, 'He heard you, and He sent me.'

I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.

She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City . Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan. 1, and finally, in desperation, had called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.

So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.
I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, 'So, are you like an angel or something?'

This definitely made me cry. I said, 'Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people.'

It was so incredible to be a part of someone else s' miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong.

Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings...

Psalms 55:22 ' Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.'



'Father, I ask You to bless my children, grandchildren, friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask You to minister to their spirit this very moment. Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy. Where there is self doubt, release a renewed confidence through Your grace, In Jesus' precious name. Amen.'

Emergency Need in Philippines

December 17, 2011  Emergency Need in Philippines  Yesterday a major tropical storm, Typhoon Sendong, hit the Philippines.  Reports so far tell us that more than 430 bodies have been recovered with over 300 people still missing, many of them children.  Victims of flood in Iligan City gather along the riverside where their homes once stood.  In two of the hardest hit places, Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro, we have more than 200 sponsored children. We've talked with two of our pastors this morning.  As best we know now, all the children survived, but many of them lost everything in the floods and high winds that came in the middle of the night while most were sleeping. The pastor said the ones living on the riverside all had to flee for their lives. The immediate need is food and water, of course.  Our pastor in Iligan City said they also need blankets and clothing.  The children will also need new school supplies and uniforms and shoes.  One pastor in Cagayan de Oro asked if he could use the money we sent for Christmas to buy the food and water they need now.  We do not want them to use the Christmas money for that.  Of all times, the kids will need a special Christmas, it is now.   Families living along the riverside stand in water where their homes once stood. They had to flee in the middle of the night and lost everything except what they were wearing. One of the pastors said that during a big crisis like this, it is a good time to share the Gospel of Jesus because people are ready to listen, especially if you can give them a bowl of warm rice or oatmeal. So we pray God will use this crisis to bring many to His Kingdom.  We are sending some immediate help for food and water.  Would you like to help us meet this need?  If you can help, send your money to Ministry to Children.  We will make sure what you send gets to our pastors for the children and their families. Thank you for your prayers for those affected by this tragedy. Ras and Bev Robinson and Kathy Bohlin

Fullness in Christ Ministries Ras Robinson - President  Bev Robinson, Vice President   -   Kathryn Bohlin, Director, Philippine Missions  Website: www.fullnessonline.org  Email:  info@fullnessnetwork.net  Ras' Facebook & Twitter address: ras65a  Mailing Address: Fullness in Christ Ministries, P. O. Box 136117, Fort Worth, TX 76136

Anonymous donors pay strangers' Christmas layaway accounts

6:29 AM, Dec. 16, 2011  |  

18  Comments

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Kevin, center, Jolie, right, and Alex Lewis shop for a family they adopted for Christmas, Thursday Dec 15, 2011, at a Kmart in Omaha, Neb. The Lewises had their layaway paid off at Kmart by an unknown good Samaritan. / AP PHOTO

Associated Press

• FILED UNDER

• Life
• Lifestyles
• Grand Rapids

After a Good Samaritan helped her pay off the layaway bill she'd accumulated to buy Christmas gifts for her grandchildren, Lori Stearnes planned to collect her paycheck today and head to Kmart anyway.

Her new plan: Pay the stranger's kindness forward by using the money she'd budgeted to instead support somebody else.

"It just gives you a warm feeling," said Stearnes, 53, of Omaha. "... With all the things going on the world, just to have someone do that is so, I don't know, it's hard to put into words."

At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers' layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn't afford, especially toys and children's clothes set aside by impoverished parents.

Stearnes said at first she thought it was a joke when someone from the Omaha store called to say someone had paid off most of her layaway bill for toys and outfits she bought for the youngest four of her seven grandchildren.

The total bill was about $250, but after the stranger helped, she only had a $58 balance, she said. Stearns, who cleans medical instruments at a hospital, said she and her husband, Lloyd, live paycheck to paycheck and that layaway often helps spread out the costs of Christmas.

A similar random act of kindness happened at a Kmart in Indianapolis, where a young father wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots, stood in line at a layaway counter alongside three small children.

He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.

"She told him, 'No, I'm paying for it,'" recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis. "He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn't, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears."

Before she left the store Tuesday evening, the Indianapolis woman in her mid-40s had paid the layaway orders for as many as 50 people. On the way out, she handed out $50 bills and paid for two carts of toys for a woman in line at the cash register.

"She was doing it in the memory of her husband who had just died, and she said she wasn't going to be able to spend it and wanted to make people happy with it," Deppe said. The woman did not identify herself and only asked people to "remember Ben," an apparent reference to her husband.

Deppe, who said she has worked in retail for 40 years, had never seen anything like it.

"It was like an angel fell out of the sky and appeared in our store," she said.

Most of the donors have done their giving secretly.

Dona Bremser, an Omaha nurse, was at work when a Kmart employee called to tell her that someone had paid off the $70 balance of her layaway account, which held nearly $200 in toys for her 4-year-old son.

"I was speechless," Bremser said. "It made me believe in Christmas again."

Dozens of other customers have received similar calls in Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and Montana.

The benefactors generally ask to help families who are squirreling away items for young children. They often pay a portion of the balance, usually all but a few dollars or cents so the layaway order stays in the store's system.

The phenomenon seems to have begun in Michigan before spreading, Kmart executives said.

"It is honestly being driven by people wanting to do a good deed at this time of the year," said Salima Yala, Kmart's division vice president for layaway.

The good Samaritans seem to be visiting mainly Kmart stores, though a Wal-Mart spokesman said a few of his stores in Joplin, Mo., and Chicago have also seen some layaway accounts paid off.

Kmart representatives say they did nothing to instigate the secret Santas or spread word of the generosity. But it's happening as the company struggles to compete with chains such as Wal-Mart and Target.

Kmart may be the focus of layaway generosity, Yala said, because it is one of the few large discount stores that has offered layaway year-round for about four decades. Under the program, customers can make purchases but let the store hold onto their merchandise as they pay it off slowly over several weeks.

Karl Graff, assistant manager of the Omaha store, said at least one good Samaritan paid off the accounts of five people. One woman broke into tears when he called to tell her about the help.

"She wasn't sure she was going to be able to pay off their layaway and was afraid their kids weren't going to have anything for Christmas," Graff said. "You know, 50 bucks may not sound like a lot, but I tell you what, at the right time, it may as well be a million dollars for some people."

In Missoula, Mont., a man spent more than $1,200 to pay down the balances of six customers whose layaway orders were about to be returned to a Kmart store's inventory because of late payments.

Store employees reached one beneficiary on her cellphone at Seattle Children's Hospital, where her son was being treated for an undisclosed illness.

"She was yelling at the nurses, 'We're going to have Christmas after all!'" store manager Josine Murrin said.

A Kmart in Plainfield Township, called Roberta Carter last week to let her know a man had paid all but 40 cents of her $60 layaway.

Carter, a mother of eight from Grand Rapids, said she cried upon hearing the news. She and her family have been struggling as she seeks a full-time job.

"My kids will have clothes for Christmas," she said.

Angie Torres, a stay-at-home mother of four children under the age of 8, was in the Indianapolis Kmart on Tuesday to make a payment on her layaway bill when she learned the woman next to her was paying off her account.

"I started to cry. I couldn't believe it," said Torres, who doubted she would have been able to pay off the balance. "I was in disbelief. I hugged her and gave her a kiss."

Associated Press writers Michael J. Crumb in Des Moines, Iowa; Matt Volz, in Helena, Mont.; and Jeff Karoub in Detroit contributed to this report.

Dinar - Last Stop approaching!

Iraq's PM M and USA O met today in Wash DC and all agreed to Iraq's sovereign nation status requiring an RV Dinar. M is now on way to the IMF who shall flip the switch for the RV.

Upon posting the new IQD rate ---- Bingo!

I be headed to the bank to cash our Dinars and make those Money Orders.

As promised - will do.

Too long a roller coaster ---- too many detours and blockages but we may be finally at the last stop.

Thank You LORD!

Now let's get her done!

John MacHaffie   HIS humble servant

VIDEO: Soda bottles are transforming low income neighborhoods in the Philippines.

The Rumor Mill News Reading Room 

VIDEO: Soda bottles are transforming low income neighborhoods in the Philippines.

Posted By: watcher51445
Date: Sunday, 11-Dec-2011 14:51:40

Dear VK, Soda bottles are transforming low income neighborhoods in the Philippines. With electricity unaffordable or unavailable for many families, they often have to work, do chores and eat in near darkness. Now there is light. Video: http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/page/5986.html - Alexandra P.S. Please share Forbidden Knowledge TV e-mails and videos with your friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Thanks. Alexandra Bruce Forbidden Knowledge TV Daily Videos from the Edges of Science http://www.ForbiddenKnowledgeTV.com

Abundance Surf Arriving Monday!

Hey Dudes!


Get your surfboards ready folks! The Abundance Surf is arriving  Monday! 

GOD'S BLESSINGS IS COMING IN!


John MacHaffie  HIS humble servant

The Tidal Wave Of Abundance and Blessings is just about to hit shore.

The Tidal Wave Of Abundance and Blessings is just about to hit shore. 

OPC angels are preparing to get the blessings out as quickly as possible. Many of you are in very dire straits and we can relate to your immediate situation of needing assistance. We are trying to get her done - Quickly,

OPC will be setting up an official contact phone and email for you to make inquiries and this will setup shortly. We will also establish an online means of verifying the status of your application online.

Gifting may take some time and please allow our angels to do their work. Blessings cannot be expected within weeks as we ramp up. RV and blessings next day is not feasible. Please be understanding and not demanding.

Please refrain from calling our angels as they need time to focus on their job, which is to get the blessings out to you. And the angels do not have hands on access to the funds, which needs protocol approvals of upper levels.

You are all about to participate in an event of a lifetime. Smile and be thankful.

Your LOVING LORD wishes you to be blessed.

GOD WILL BLESS You and Yours,

John MacHaffie ---- HIS humble servant