Coffee With Pat
Written By: Pat Aman
copyright 2006
All rights reserved

A minister told his congregation, "Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17." The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up. The minister smiled and said, "Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying." ( Nehemiah 8:10) "For the joy of the Lord is your strength." "Yes, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Without the joy of the Lord and laughter, life would be dull and empty. Why don't you just lean back right now and have a good old fashion laugh. I promise you that it will make you feel better."Pastor Pat Aman A preacher was completing a temperance sermon; with great expression he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river." With even greater emphasis he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river." And then finally, he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river." He sat down. The song leader then stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, "For our closing song, let us sing Hymn # 365: "Shall We Gather at the River." Claira Cloninger says, " I used to be a little baffled by Nehemiah 8:10. To me, that verse never made much sense, because joy didn't seem to be all that strong a quality. I thought it would have made more sense if it had said, 'The strength of the Lord is your joy.'" But the longer I live, the more I realize that the ability to find joy in life really is a tremendous strength. The people who can laugh are the strong ones. The people who can throw their heads back and delight in the joy of the moment are going to live a lot longer than those of us who are stressed and pushed and taking ourselves terribly seriously. Children really are good at open-hearted, spontaneous joy. They know it intuitively. That's why they use it lavishly in the present moment. They don't put it in a savings account for a rainy day. They don't put it on hold or put a lid on it. They spend it with abandon. They practice it at every small occasion. That's why they are such pros at getting it right!" (Philippians 4:4) Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again; Rejoice!" A MERRY HEART OF LAUGHTER Written By: Patricia Aman As a Merry Heart of Laughter, Can brighten a cloudy day. It will fill your soul with springtime, As radiate as a colorful bouquet. It lifts our spirits to the sky, And can mend the wounded heart. It is just another gift from God, A special grace that He imparts. Laughter is good medicine, That takes away our fears. And can quickly replace, A Childs sad face, And dry up all their tears. So give a little gift today, Wrapped up with bows of laughter, And one day it will be returned to you, In ways you can’t image.

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