The Tea Cup

I love this story - you will not be able to have tea in a tea cup again without thinking of this. There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked, "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay.

My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "Don't do that. "I don't like it! Leave me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said, "Not yet!"

Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel>and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!," I screamed. But the master only nodded and said quietly. 'Not yet.'

He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat.. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, 'Not yet'.

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought. But after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Oh, please, stop it, stop," I cried. He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!'.

Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one.. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering "What's he going to do to me next?"

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.' And I did. I said, "That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!!!"

Quietly he spoke: 'I want you to remember,then,' he said, 'I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because thehardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product.

Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.

The moral of this story is this:God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this:

Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story
and then, have a little talk with the Potter.

NEW DONT ASK , DONT TELL UNIFORM

Representative Barney Frank introduces the new "don't ask, don't tell" uniform

Just Flying along Minding My Own Business When....

There I was just flying along, enjoying the flight...

And what's so cool is they actually pay me to do this!

Hmmm.... What's that strange sound? Something feels different!

Hey, why am I looking up?

Whoa here. What the heck? Controls aren't working.

Time for a mirror check. Hey, where's the rest of my F-15?

Uh oh, it's over there. I think I've got a definite 'Aw, crap going on here.’

I gotta wonder, am I the first guy to ever experience 'cockpit-airframe separation anxiety?'

OK, enough is enough! I'm outta' here. But first the canopy has to go....

Hey that's GREAT! It worked as planned. Things are looking up now!

OK, now it's my turn. I'm gonna be gone - soon as I find that blasted lower handle.

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about..

How about the guy who took these pictures... Just when it looks like it's going to be just another 'average day at the office'.. you never know! What caused the mid air break up? The main "longeron" (stringer) behind the cockpit failed due to corrosion

Obama Billboard

(Gotta love those Texans – This billboard is located on Hwy 59 at Hwy 43 - across from Marshall High School) !!!

Butt Lift

Dear Family and Friends,
Most of you know I went in for a small surgical procedure for a butt lift. I did not have the most pleasant of experiences. I wanted to show you how it turned out. Please, refrain from getting this procedure. You will regret it!

It's a Test

Are any of these items moving? Or are they perfectly still??

One teacher said, "I felt like they were all moving, but slowly. Kind of like, they were breathing."

The pictures above are used to test the level of stress a person can handle. The slower the pictures move, the better your ability of handling stress. Allegedly, criminals that were tested see them spinning around madly; however, senior citizens and kids see them standing still.
None of these images are animated; they are perfectly still.

P.S. If you do happen to see the images spinning around madly, please take me off your mailing list.

Thank You.