WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS DURING THE THUNDER STORM OF THE NIGHT?

The Rider on the White Horse

Read: Revelation 19 

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was awhite horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.

QUESTION: WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS DURING THE THUNDER STORM OF THE NIGHT?

                Teacher’s answer….I compared it to what …

                ………THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST must be like.

The armies which were in heaven are glorified saints described in similar terms of purity in v.8. This best seen as the time of the Rapture, as the church triumphant rises to meet Christ and the other returning saints (who have died) in the air at His return. The raptured saints shall then immediately return to Earth with Christ and the others.

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Playwright/Screen Writer/Director

Published Author/Gospel Lyricist &Producer

FOUNDER/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

MEMO FROM GOD

Effective immediately, please be aware that there are changes YOU need to make in YOUR life. These changes need to be completed in order that I may fulfill My promises to you to grant you peace, joy and happiness in this life. I apologize for any inconvenience, but after all that I am doing, this seems very little to ask of you. I know, I already gave you the 10 Commandments. Keep them. But follow these guidelines, also.

1. QUIT WORRYING
Life has dealt you a blow and all you do is sit and worry. Have you forgotten that I am here to take all your burdens and carry them for you? Or do you just enjoy fretting over every little thing that comes your way?

2. PUT IT ON THE LIST
Something needs done or taken care of. Put it on the list. No, not YOUR list. Put it on MY to-do-list. Let ME be the one to take care of the problem. I can't help you until you turn it over to Me. An! d although My to-do-list is long, I am after all... God. I can take care of anything you put into My hands. In fact, if the truth were ever really known, I take care of a lot of things for you that you never even realize.

3. TRUST ME
Once you've given your burdens to Me, quit trying to take them back. Trust in Me. Have the faith that I will take care of all your needs, your problems and your trials. Problems with the kids? Put them on My list. Problem with finances? Put it on My list. Problems with your emotional roller coaster? For My sake, put it on My list. I want to help you. All you must do is ask.

4. LEAVE IT ALONE
Don't wake up one morning and say, "Well, I'm feeling much stronger now, I think I can handle it from here." Why do you think you are feeling stronger now?  It's simple. You gave Me your burdens and I'm taking care of them. I also renew your strength and cover you in my peace. Don't you know that if I give you these problems back, you will be right back where you started? Leave them with Me and forget about them. Just let Me do my job.

5. TALK TO ME
I want you to forget a lot of things. Forget what was making you crazy. Forget the worry and the fretting because you know I'm in control. But there's one thing I pray you never forget. Please, don't forget to talk to Me - OFTEN! I love YOU! I want to hear your voice. I want you to include Me in on the things going on in your life. I want to hear you talk about your friends and family. Prayer is simply you are having a conversation with Me. I want to be your dearest friend.

6. HAVE FAITH
I see a lot of things from up here that you can't see from where you are.   Have faith in Me that I know what I'm doing. Trust Me; you wouldn't want the view from My eyes. I will continue to care for you, watch over you, and meet your needs. You only have to trust Me. Although!  I have a much bigger task than you, it seems as if you! have so much trouble just doing your simple part. How hard can trust be?

7. SHARE
You were taught to share when you were only two years old. When did you forget? That rule still applies. Share with those who are less fortunate than you.   Share your joy with those who need encouragement. Share your laughter with those who haven't heard any in such a long time. Share your tears with those who have forgotten how to cry. Share your faith with those who have none.

8. BE PATIENT
I managed to fix it so in just one lifetime you could have so many diverse experiences. You grow from a child to an adult, have children, change jobs many times, learn many trades, travel to so many places, meet thousands of people, and experience so much. How can you be so impatient then when it takes Me a little longer than you expect to handle something on My to-do-list? Trust in My timing, for My timing is perfect. Just because I created the entire universe in only six days, everyone thinks I should always rush, rush, rush.

9. BE KIND
Be kind to others, for I love them just as much as I love you. They may not dress like you, or talk like you, or live the same way you do, but I still love you all. Please try to get along, for My sake. I created each of you different in some way. It would be too boring if you were all identical. Please, know I love each of your differences.

10. LOVE YOURSELF
As much as I love you, how can you not love yourself? You were created by me for one reason only -- to be loved, and to love in return. I am a God of Love. Love Me. Love your neighbors. But also love yourself. It makes My heart ache when I see you so angry with yourself when things go wrong. You are very precious to me. Don't ever forget that!

With all My heart I LOVE YOU!

~God ~

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Playwright/Screen Writer/Director

Published Author/Gospel Lyricist &Producer

FOUNDER/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

COMES THE DAWN

After a while you learn the subtle difference

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning,

And company doesn't mean security,

And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts

And presents aren't promises;

And you begin to accept your defeats

With you head up and your eyes open

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today

Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans,

And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn

That even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your garden and decorate your soul,

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers,

And you learn that you really can endure...

That you really are strong,

And you really do have worth.

And you learn and you learn...

With every goodbye you learn.

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Playwright/Director/Screen Writer

Producer/Gospel Lyricist/Author

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

HIGHWAY 109

HIGHWAY 109

  A drunk man in an Oldsmobile
  They said had run the light
  That caused the six-car pileup
   On 109 that night.
 
  When broken bodies lay about
  And blood was everywhere,
  The sirens screamed out elegies,
  For death was in the air.
 
  A mother, trapped inside her car,
  Was heard above the noise;
  Her plaintive plea near split the air:
  "Oh, God, please spare my boys!"
 
  She fought to loose her pinned hands;
 She struggled to get free,
  But mangled metal held her fast
  In grim captivity.
 
  Her frightened eyes then focused
  On where the back seat once had been,
  But all she saw was broken glass and
  Two children's seats crushed in.
 
  Her twins were nowhere to be seen;
  She did not hear them cry,
  And then she prayed they'd been thrown free,
  "Oh, God, don't let them die!"
 
  Then firemen came and cut her loose,
  But when they searched the back,
  They found therein no little boys,
  But the seat belts were intact.
 
  They thought the woman had gone mad
   And was traveling alone,
  But when they turned to question her,
  They discovered she was gone.
 
  Policemen saw her running wild
  And screaming above the noise
  In beseeching supplication,
  "Please help me find my boys!
 
  They're four years old and wear blue shirts;
  Their jeans are blue to match".
  One cop spoke up, "They're in my car,
  And they don't have a scratch".
 
  They said their daddy put them there
  And gave them each a cone,
  Then told them both to wait for Mom
  To come and take them home.
 
  "I've searched the area high and low,
  But I can't find their dad.
  He must have fled the scene,
  I guess, and that is very bad."
 
  The mother hugged the twins and said,
  While wiping at a tear,
  "He could not flee the scene, you see,
  For he's been dead a year."
 
  The cop just looked confused and asked,
  "Now, how can that be true?"
  The boys said, "Mommy, Daddy came
  And left a kiss for you.
 
  He told us not to worry
  And that you would be all right,
  And then he put us in this car with
  The pretty, flashing light.
 
  We wanted him to stay with us,
  Because we miss him so,
  But Mommy, he just hugged us tight
  And said he had to go.
 
  He said someday we'd understand
  And told us not to fuss,
  And he said to tell you, Mommy,
  He's watching over us".
 
  The mother knew without a doubt
  That what they spoke was true,
  For she recalled their dad's last words,
  "I will watch over you."
 
  The firemen's notes could not explain
  The twisted, mangled car,
  And how the three of them escaped
  Without a single scar.
 
  But on the cop's report was scribed,
  In print so very fine,
  An angel walked the beat tonight
  On Highway 109.
 

 "He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare."

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Director/ Playwright/

Gospel Lyricist/Screenwriter

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of Fine

& Performing Arts

DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

WE ALL HAVE A STORY

“Dad, look the trees are going behind!”

Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, 

looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity,

 suddenly he again exclaimed…

“Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”

The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man…

“Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?” The old man smiled and said…“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.”

Every single person on the planet has a story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you.

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas 

Playwright/Director/Screen Writer/Producer/Lyricist 

Founder/CEO 

Bible Stories Theatre of 

Fine & Performing Arts 

info@biblestoriestheatre.org 

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

PRAYER FOR SPOUSES AND BOSSES

THEN MAN BOWED DOWN AND WORSHIPED THE LORD

GENESIS 24:12-15 "GIVE ME SUCCESS TODAY, AND SHOW KINDNESS TO MY MASTER ABRAHAM."

You can’t fail to be moved by the sweetness of this servant’s prayer: "O, LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham" (verse 12). It is the most natural thing in the world to ask God for a loving, godly spouse because the God to whom we pray has said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him" (Genesis 2:18). Proverbs 18:22 also encourage confidence in this kind of prayer. "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD." God even chose the relationship of husband to wife to be the defining metaphor of Christ’s relationship to the church (see Ephesians 5:22-33).

The Lord loves to answer our petitions for a spouse with a warm "Yes!" But even when his answer is "No." it is for the sake of a different "Yes." His gracious will for most is not his will for all; but it is no less gracious for those who receive a different gift (see 1 Corinthians 7:7-8 for Paul’s advice to those who are single).

The servant’s prayer is praiseworthy for another reason: It is a prayer to serve his master faithfully. He understands on a deep level that to serve Abraham well is to serve God well. The Apostle Paul speaks to this type of prayer, too. In Ephesians 6:5-7, he tells slaves to obey their "earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men." Serve your earthly master, or boss, from your heart, and you will find yourself praying for your boss from your heart.

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Director/Writer/Producer/Lyricist

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

LORD, GIVE ME A SENSE OF HUMOR

THE WORLD AND ITS DESIRES PASS AWAY, BUT THE MAN WHO DOES THE WILL OF GOD LIVES FOREVER

Thomas More’s long and distinguished career in public service was capped by an appointment to Lord Chancellor of England – one of the highest and most powerful offices in England. 

That was in 1529. Six years later, in 1535, King Henry VIII, the same man who appointed More to office, had him beheaded. Henry wanted More to declare him as supreme head of the church in England. More refused, explaining on his way to the scaffold, "I die the king’s servant, but God’s first."

More had long been ready to die if need be. Beneath all the finery of his position, he often wore a hair shirt. This private penance was to impress upon himself the fragility of his life and the emptiness of earthly ambition; each scratch a whispering reminder that though he was in the world, he was not of it. "The worms," he often told his friends, "will one day have it all."

More was also comic, famous well beyond England for his practical jokes. He even kept in his home a pet monkey and a professional live-in jester. His sense of humor came from the same place as the hair shirt. The pretensions of the world will one day pass away; the only sure hope is in God. Hope kept More encouraged about the future; humor helped him cope with the present. Humor was the lens through which More could see clearly the incongruities and possibilities of this life, the gap between what is and what one day will be.

In a way, More was beheaded because of his sense of humor, or

at least because of what it helped him to see. When set against eternity, all the posturings of the most powerful person in England were laughable. Even in death. As he walked up the shaky steps of the scaffold to be beheaded, More said to the executioner, "I pray you, see me safely up, and for my coming down let me shift for myself." When his head was on the block, he asked the executioner to wait while his scraggly beard off the block. He quipped that his beard, after all, had not committed treason.

                                     THOMAS MORE (1478-1535)

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Director/Writer/Producer/Lyricist

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org