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

GOD’S TEARS

SOW IN TEARS. . .REAP IN JOY

He that goes forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:6  KJV

Did you know that Tears in Scripture play a unique role in spiritual breakthrough?  Discover as I, that the planting of seeds accompanied by a spirit of brokenness will not only bring a spiritual harvest of results, but will leave the sower with a spirit of rejoicing in the process. 

 

THE MINISTRY OF TEARS – LIQUID PRAYER

First, there are tears of sorrow or suffering (2 Kin. 20:5).  Second, there are tears of joy (Gen. 33:4).  Third, there are tears of compassion (John 11:35). Fourth, there are tears of desperation (Esth. 4:1, 3).  Fifth, there are tears of travail, or giving birth (Is 42:14). Sixth, there are tears of repentance (Joel 2:12, 13). Passion in spiritual warfare is clearly needed.

Hope for the Teary

Do you cry a lot?  I do. And I mean I cry a lot. There was a time when I wondered about my crying ALL THE TIME.  And pleaseeee,  don’t let me see someone else crying (even strangers), it‘s as though a switch has come on within me. I don’t even have to know “why” that individual is cry; I just cry. As hard as I try, I can not control my crying.  If I’m watching a movie; I’m crying.  If I’m listening to love songs; I’m crying.  I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I believe that through tears one can experience the full measure of God's comfort. Possibly that is the main purpose — is to expose a “yielding” that can be touched by Him.  

But, let me tell you, I don’t wonder why I’m crying when reading THE WORD of GOD.  I AM CHRIST –TAINED.  I am happy to be “different”. I am set apart for Christ.  Now, I cry because I know that ‘indeed’ I am one Princess with God. See, I’ve studied and learned that tears play a fundamental role in the Christian life.

T

ears are evidence of a heart in tune with God. Frequently when tears are referenced in the Bible they accompany repentance, love or sorrow for the lost.  I want to share something that touch the core of my soul and I pray that you too are so moved.  Here goes:

Jesus rebukes him: "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.... Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much." Jesus confirmed that the woman's tears were evidence of her right heart with God.

Here is the story:

A  Pharisees invited Jesus to dinner; he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. A local woman, one who was a sinner, found out that Jesus was having dinner at the Pharisee's house.  She showed up with an alabaster jar of myrrh, and weeping at Jesus’ feet, her tears wet his feet, and she wiped them dry with her hair. Then she kissed his feet, and anointed them with the myrrh.

 The Pharisee who had invited him saw this and said to himself, "if this man were a prophet, he would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching him, since she is a sinner."

                      And Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."

"Teacher," he said, "Speak up."

"This moneylender had two debtors; one owed five hundred silver coins, the other fifty. Since neither one of them could pay, he wrote off both debts. Now which of them will love him more?"

Simon answered, "I would imagine the one for whom he wrote off the larger debt."

And he said to him, "You're right." Then turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I walked into your house and you didn't offer me water for my feet; yet she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn't offer me a kiss, but she

hasn't stopped kissing my feet since I arrived. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with myrrh. For this reason, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven, as this outpouring of her love shows. But the one who is forgiven little shows little love."

And he said to her "Your sins have been forgiven."

Then those having dinner with him began to mutter to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

And he said to the woman, "Your trust has saved you; go in peace."

                                                                                                              Luke 7:36-50

A LITTLE Something to do

1. If you have land, plant a few more seeds this year. Give the extra fruits or vegetables to people that do not have very much of their own.

2. Have a dream! This is not a dream when you are asleep. This dream is a good idea that God will give you. He will give it to you if you pray to him. Then do something to make your dream happen.

3. AND DON’T FORGET TO CRY.  Sometimes big girls do cry.  Oh, and big boys. . . don’t believe that legend about big boys don’t cry. it's NOT TRUE. Go on and cry.  It pleases GOD; that’s all that matters.

In Christ,

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

FRIENDSHIPS

"Those who live in the Lord never see each other for the last time."

What is friendship? How would you describe your friendship(s)?  If you will, permit me to pass on a story I enjoy sharing every now-and- again when the topic of friendship comes up.  

My dad was my best teacher on the subject of life’s lessons.  Did I always get it? Most times, no.  But now that life has thrown me a few curve balls, I get it.  I get them all!  Anyway, this is how my lesson on the matter of friendship went. 

Holding up one of his massive hands, my Dad said: 

         “Janet,” in that special firm tone he used when he was about to hit me with one of those difficult life lessons, “how many fingers do you see?”  Confused, and wondering where we were going, I replied, “five.”  And what he told me next, I will never forget because I realize today that he absolutely spoke the truth. “if you have more friends than you have fingers on one hand, you have far too many.”  And nothing else...conversation over. I didn’t understand; I was clueless. BUT, what I really didn't understand was the chill crawling up my spine. Wow. I thought I was SUPPOSE to have lots of friends.  My dad was a wise man who knew the heart, soul and spirit of his daughter ( I was a carbon copy of him).  I was to learn later, he was preparing me for some lessons in PEOPLE.

Understanding the ‘real’ essence of friendship, I believe that ‘FIVE’ people can’t be your friend…simply can not.  Being a friend is the sharing of one heart; one soul; one mind; one spirit; and one LOVE.  Aristotle said a friend is a single soul, dwelling in two bodies. How likely is more than five people doing the aforementioned. 

  

My research on the topic brought me to the following article:

 A Personal Relationship That Is Reciprocated

It's not enough to see a person at, say, book group each week and enjoy their company. In order for a friend to truly be considered a friend, he or she has to also believe you are their friend also. This can get tricky, because most people have a different idea of what friendship really means. Some people are instantly trusting of new people, and accept them into their heart without question. For these types of folks, they assume someone is their friend until they find out otherwise.

Other people, however, might act "friendly" with someone but not consider them a friend for quite a while. Perhaps these types of people need to get know someone better before they even consider labeling them as a friend. Or perhaps they already have a lot of friends and therefore wouldn't consider someone they see at book club and nowhere else a friend.

This can cause issues, especially when someone counts on a person they believe to be a friend only to find out they were wrong. It's a not perfect world, but in terms of friendship, someone who is genuinely a friend usually:

•Has told you that you are a friend or has introduced you as their friend.

•Has called or emailed you about meeting for coffee, lunch, etc.

•Has done something nice for you.

•Is sincerely interested when you talk about your life.

•Roots for you and wants the best for you.

•Is willing to hang out with you outside of the place you first met (work, book group, exercise class).

Friends Are Kind and Act As a Positive Influence in Your Life It should go without saying that real friends make you feel good, as opposed to bring you down. People who are genuinely your friend put your relationship above being right or trying to feel superior. If someone constantly puts you down, he or she is not a real friend.

However, people have bad days and act imperfect, so there are times when a true friend will be negative or hurt your feelings. The way to determine if they are really a friend (as opposed to something more negative like a enemy) is to look at the whole of your relationship. Don't look at moments alone, but consider:

•How does this person make you feel when you're with them?

•Do you look forward to seeing them?

•Can you share your joy freely? Or do you feel you need keep quiet about your own good news when you're around them?

If someone is really your friend, they act in a kind manner. They do nice things for you. (If they kindly ask you to do things for them without ever reciprocating, chances are they aren't really a friend.) Friends don't keep score, but there is a balance to the relationship. Sometimes one friend might be in the "spotlight," while the other is cheering them on. Friends should trade off in giving each other the "floor" in a conversation and in life, and should understand when the moment is their friends and not theirs.

Friends Are People You See on a Regular Basis

The other key component to friendship is a real, face-to-face, relationship. This isn't to say that after you have established a friendship, you can't still be friends with them once they move away. However, in order to have a real friendship in the beginning, you do have to see and spend time with each other.

While online friendships can serve a place in your life, they aren't the same as a real friendship. To that end, the term "friendship" does get applied to many situations today, from loyal customers to people you don't even know and will never meet. But that doesn't mean these people are truly your friends.

If you need to qualify the definition of a friend in your life (my work friend, my Facebook friend), then chances are it isn't a real friendship, but is instead a different type of relationship. Online friendships can be a bonus in your life, but only if you also have face-to-face friends to spend time with and be there for you. In terms of friendship, you cannot replace the human connection.

I leave you with a precious quote:

"Friends are friends forever, if the Lord is the Lord of them
and a friend will not say never, because the welcome will not end
though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands I know
That a lifetime's not too long... to live as friends."

                                                   -Michael W Smith

In Christ,

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts (BSTFPA)

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org