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      December 23, 2003

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      ><>(o:} ********B2B******** {:o)<><

      Blessed2Bless: December 23, 2003
      Published by Steve Klusmeyer - steve@blessed2bless.us
      http://www.blessed2bless.us

      You are receiving this newsletter because you either subscribed yourself or someone you know added your name to the list. If this was forwarded to you, you may subscribe by going to
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/subscribe.html
      If you really have to leave, you can unsubscribe using the same link.

      Sorry, but I have no control over those who may have added your name or forwarded a copy of this newsletter to your address. I do want to thank you for taking a moment to check out this issue.

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      What's Happening to Marriages?

      Perhaps you are like some couples who say their marriage is feeling tired. Or worse, in trouble. You may be unsure where to turn for help. I can count the places I would recommend on one hand. Here's a great one I recently discovered. -Steve
      http://www.lifeanswered.org/cgi-bin/cmd.cgi?af=93904

      ><>(o:} ********B2B******** {:o)<><

      Are you tired of junk mail and spam?

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      Check out a FREE version of MailWasher Pro today at
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      -Steve

      Consider other products that I recommend at
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/ads.html

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      ><>(o:} ***In This Issue*** {:o)<><

      ><>(o:} By Steve:
      ><>(o:} Quote to Remember: by Josh Billings
      ><>(o:} By Someone Else:
        ==> The Mommy Test
        ==> The Great Christmas Memory by Len Evans
        ==> The Gift by Dan Schobert
        ==> Who Do You Trust by Bob Smiley
      ><>(o:} From the Bible: Isaiah 9:6
      ><>(o:} Useful Information: Credits, Subscribe/Unsubscribe, etc

      If you haven't read the "Useful Information" at the end of this newsletter or if it's been a while, please take a few minutes to check it out.

      If you enjoy "Blessed2Bless," you might also like another newsletter that I publish. Subscribe to "Ponder This" at
      http://hundred-acre-woods.com/magic-list/PonderThis/

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      ><>(o:} ********B2B******** {:o)<><

      Did this newsletter show up in your mailbox and you don't know why? Someone you know may have forwarded it to you or added your name to our mailing list. Subscribe/unsubscribe information is included at the end along with other useful information.

      Please Do NOT subscribe someone to Blessed2Bless without their prior permission! Instead, forward a copy and allow them to make the choice. That way I won't get yelled at when they think they are being spammed! Thanks for your help.

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      ><>(o:} By Steve: {:o)<><

      I'm busy with last minute wrapping, etc - so I don't have a new article this week. Enjoy the articles by others in this issue and please check out some of my previous writings at the link below. May you have a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. And remember, Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

      Read more writings by Steve at
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/by-steve.html

      Blessed2Bless is sent in text-only format. Go to the link above to read this and previous Writings by Steve. Photos are included with many of the writings. Follow other links in this newsletter to read additional "Writings by Others," "Quotes to Remember," and "Pictures with a Story."

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      ><>(o:} ***A Word From Our Sponsors*** {:o)<><

      These ads pay for the cost of this service and a percentage is given to feed starving orphans in third world countries.

      Please stop by our affiliates and malls. Most are Christian, and they are all good products and companies

      http://www.fishermansnet.com/Malls/

      Thanks Mike Hodapp

      ><>(o:} ***End of A Word From Our Sponsors*** {:o)<><
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      ><>(o:} Quotes to Remember: {:o)<><

      There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.
      -Josh Billings (1818-1885) USA Humorist

      Read more Quotes to Remember at
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/quotes.html

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      ><>(o:} By Someone Else: {:o)<><

      The Mommy Test

      I was out walking with my then 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I asked her not to do that. "Why?" "Because it's been laying outside and is dirty and has germs on it."

      At this point, she looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Wow! How do you know all this stuff?"

      "Uh," I was thinking quickly, "all Mommies knows this stuff. Um, it's on the Mommy Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mommy."

      "Oh."

      We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.

      "I get it!" she beamed. "Then if you flunk, you have to be the Daddy."

      -Unknown

      -from "Bill's Punch Line"
      subscribe by e-mail at
      bills-punch-line-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

      Read more writings by Others at
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/by-others.html

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      ><>(o:} ***A Word From Our Sponsors*** {:o)<><

      These ads pay for the cost of this service and a percentage is given to feed starving orphans in third world countries.

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      ><>(o:} ***End of A Word From Our Sponsors*** {:o)<><
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      ><>(o:} By Someone Else: {:o)<><

      The Great Christmas Memory

      Over time Christmas memories begin to fade or blur. The ones that you recall years later can involve heartache, jubilation or both. As the oldest of two brothers and a sisters, I often bore the weight of being the "big sister." We lived in a rural area of eastern Oregon. My Dad had been out of work for a while as Christmas approached. Money was tighter than we could have imagined at such a young age. I was only eight with brothers who were seven and six and a little sister who was five. We didn't know exactly what was happening, but we knew things weren't normal. Our meals were a little different but the biggest difference was our Christmas tree. It wasn't a sad "Charlie Brown" tree, but the gifts under the tree forced us to realize this would be a unique Christmas. Actually, there weren't any multicolored boxes or any exquisite bows. Instead we had one present, but it was a huge box wrapped with care. We tried for days, but we could not imagine what it was.

      Christmas day finally arrived and anticipation consumed us. As always, Dad read the Christmas story from Luke before we could open any present. After the reading he put the big box in the middle of the floor. He directed each us to stand by one side of the present. He told us that the gift was for all of us and we had to share it nicely, then he gave us the motion to open our present. We ripped the wrapping paper faster than a chain saw!

      We had waited all that time for a refrigerator box?! But we discovered that there was something else inside that refrigerator box. Large appliance boxes with medium-sized moving boxes inside of them. Inside the medium boxes were other boxes and then shoeboxes and even more boxes until we finally arrived at the tiny jewelry boxes! Believe it or not but at the bottom of all those boxes was a book called "Things to Make with Boxes."

      We made forts and castles, cars and airplanes, boats and trains, sets and scenery for make-believe plays, and all sorts of cool things. My parents still have a box of snapshots of all the things we made with our boxes.

      The four of us are now straddling 40. If asked individually for our best Christmas memory, you will get four variations of the story of a box full of boxes.

      Copyright 2002 Len Evans.
      A true story from Shelley Batty, written by Len Evans.
      Permission is granted to send this to others, but not for commercial purposes.

      -from "Christian Voices"
      subscribe at http://www.christianvoices.org/
      contact listmaster (Bob Karger) at GrampsTN@comcast.net

      Read more writings by Others at
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/by-others.html

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      ><>(o:} By Someone Else: {:o)<><

      The Gift

      "I've been thinking," said Peter Droski, as he sat with his friend, Bill Robinson looking out the window of the Wooden Chair restaurant.

      "Oh, " said Bill. "That's not unusual. We've been friends for a bunch of years and it seems to me that you're always thinking about something. What is it this time?"

      Robinson stirred some brown sugar into the steaming bowl of oatmeal. It was nearly a daily ritual, this breakfast thing with Droski. Oatmeal for himself and two slices of whole wheat toast, With strawberry jam for Peter as they sat, usually without many Words between them, watching shoppers along Main Street in Stevens Point. Robinson and Droski were old friends, now retired from the local university where they had spent most of their lives. They were part of the usual scene in the downtown area.

      "Well," said Droski, "I have been thinking about Christmas. Here it is, only a couple of days away. Look at those people, rushing around with their packages. I wonder if they have given any real thought to the idea of a gift."

      "What kind of nonsense talk is that," said Robinson. "Everyone knows what a gift is. Why do you question such a thing?"

      Droski lifted the white cup of black coffee to his mustached lips And took a slow sip of the Hazelnut flavored brew. Putting the cup back on its saucer, he began to spread the jam on the brown toast.

      "It isn't nonsense," he said. "People should know what a gift is when they go through this Christmas routine; otherwise what they do isn't sensible."

      "I don't get the picture," said Robinson. "Someone buys something and gives it to someone else. It is a gift. Pretty simple."

      Taking care that the jam went to the edges of the toast, Droski raised the morsel to his mouth and savored a bite. He did this as he pondered the direction he wished to go with his friend.

      "You are nearly right," said Droski, " but there is something that can easily be missed in this event." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a gaily decorated box, about the size of a tape cassette, wrapped with a red ribbon. He handed it to Robinson. "This is for you," he said.

      "Mine?" said Robinson as he put down his spoon and extended his hand toward his friend and the thing being offered. "I didn't get something for you."

      Droski stopped his friend's hand in mid-air.

      "This is what is missing," he said. "The gift giving thing, though appearing to be a simple gesture, actually involves more than we usually see. I can give but the giving is not completed until the receiver truly takes the gift and accepts it. It wouldn't make much sense to prepare a gift and have it rejected, would it?"

      Robinson, his hand being held above the table by Droski, had to think for a moment.

      "I guess you're right," he said. "If I don't accept the gift, of what value is the gift or even the value of the act by the giver? So, in a way, if I don't accept the gift, something which is given freely by a friend, my lack of response might be viewed by the giver as, as sort of an offense."

      "I believe you're getting close," said Droski. Looking up and down the street, he pondered what the thoughts might be in the minds of the shoppers. "It seems to me that another aspect of gift giving is that we should give, not because of some obligation to give, but because we love and appreciate someone else, even if the other one is not loving me back. If we do things, like give things, with the hope that we will get in return, the gift tends to move from being a gift to being more of a token of appreciation. Sometimes parents withhold a gift from a child because the youngster has not been good. This, to me, distorts the idea of a gift, which is something given on the basis of love for the other one, not because the other person has or has not done something. In other words, a gift is presented unconditionally. A gift tends to be something else when strings or conditions are attached to it," he said.

      "Are you saying that we shouldn't expect to get anything for Christmas?" said Robinson. "This would seem to be an unhappy season."

      "Not at all, my friend," said Droski. "It is just that we should get our pleasure from the giving, not the getting but rejoice when we do receive something, knowing or trusting that the one who gave did it because he or she really loves me and not because of some sense of obligation."

      "I can only imagine," said Robinson, "that there is some lesson in all this, something to be learned from the first Christmas, that historic event of Bethlehem.

      "How sharp you are," said Droski. He paused as Robinson sprinkled a few raisons into his oatmeal and took another spoonful. It was good, thought Droski, to have such a close friend, someone to share thoughts and conversation.

      He went on, "It seems to me that we miss the true message of Christmas because we forget what actually took place in Bethlehem years ago. God came to earth in the form of a man, a man who was born of a virgin. We know this from the Bible. God did not have to do this. He knew that mankind had no way of finding eternal life, and reaching heaven without His help. So God provided The way even though mankind didn't deserve it. Without His intervention, everyone was and would be destined to an eternity apart from Him. We call this being in hell. So He gave Himself, a gift to mankind, but here is the tricky part."

      Robinson paused, oatmeal and spoon just about to enter his mouth. "What tricky part,?" he asked, as his lips enclosed the cereal.

      "The tricky and sad part is that though the Gift was given for everyone," said Droski, "not every one has accepted the Gift. The Gift is the ticket to eternal life but many people seem to Think there are another ways and have turned away from the Gift. This is what is sad: The greatest Gift someone could ever receive, a Gift from God and some people have turned their backs. The Gift was intended for everyone but not everyone has accepted It. This Gift is accepted by believing in Jesus. Those who don't believe, don't get the Gift and don't, as a result, get eternal life. This is why we give to others at this time of the year, as sort of a memorial of what God has done for us."

      "Since we're talking about God, " said Robinson, "perhaps there is some concise verse in the Bible which reveals the essence of Christmas. What do you think?"

      Droski thought but a moment. "Yes, I think the whole concept of Christmas is short and sweet in John 3:16 which says that "God So loved the world that He gave his only beloved Son" (this is the Gift part) so that those who believed on Him (that is on Jesus) would not perish but have everlasting life." Notice in this verse there is a provider of the Gift, God, and a receiver, those who believe. The transaction is only complete when the reception is made. Those Who receive are granted eternal life, something only God can provide. And those who do not believe miss out and perish."

      Robinson put his spoon down beside his now empty bowl, dabbed at His mouth with a white paper napkin, pushed his wooden chair back, Stood and, moving slightly to his right, placed his arms around his friend.

      "Thanks for being a friend," he said. "Thanks for the gift and thanks for reminding me of the season's true meaning."

      Droski, taken back by the sudden show of tenderness, let the moment linger. Finally he grasped one of the hands that was holding him.

      "You're a friend too, Robinson. May it ever be so as long as we're alive. Meanwhile lets have a great Christmas and how about another cup of coffee." Droski motioned to the waitress who quickly refilled their cups.

      Robinson returned to his chair and both men, now comfortable With their thoughts, continued to scan the street, east and west as the sky began to provide light snow flakes, the kind that by the day's end would provide fun for boys and girls.

      They knew that Christmas was the annual reminder of the Gift That came from God.

      -Dan Schobert

      Dan Schobert is a former radio journalist who sometimes writes essays addressing the creation-evolution debate, He is a member of the Creation Research Society and a truck driver for 18 years and now, He and his wife live in Plover, Wisconsin where they operate a small business from their home. They have five children and eleven grandchildren.

      -from "A Joke A Day Ministries"
      subscribe by email at ajokeaday7-subscribe@topica.com

      Read more writings by Others at
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/by-others.html

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      ><>(o:} ***A Word From Our Sponsors*** {:o)<><

      These ads pay for the cost of this service and a percentage is given to feed starving orphans in third world countries.

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      ><>(o:} ***End of A Word From Our Sponsors*** {:o)<><
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      ><>(o:} By Someone Else: {:o)<><

      Who do you trust?

      Do you trust your dad when he says, "There's no cars coming, go ahead and cross the street"? I didn't the second time.

      Do you trust your doctor who says this isn't going to hurt and then harpoons you with a needle so big that he has to stand in the next room to work the plunger part?

      Do you trust your best friend not to tell anyone about the time you cried during the movie "Babe" when the farmer shut the gate and, as the crowd went wild, said, "That'll do pig."? Uh, not that that happened to me, I'm just wondering, in a world that is full of murderers, thieves, and car salesmen, who do you trust?

      I don't trust my son ever since he walked up behind me with a hammer and asked if he could comb my hair.

      I don't trust my dog who wouldn't bark at a stranger breaking in through the window but barks at me every time I get up off the couch. Thank goodness I don't get up off the couch that often. Oh, and if you are a burglar, I'm just kidding. My dog is very mean and could kill you, trust me.

      When the Post Office says they will get your package there in two days but then asks if you want to buy insurance and a tracking number, doesn't that arouse suspicion? When they stamp "Fragile" on the box with your porcelain Elvis plates and then turn and throw it across the room into a big bin, do you lose hope?

      There are many people trying to sell you worthless junk and they all use the "Trust Me" approach. Have you really ever needed to cut through your shoe with a knife? Have you cut your hair with a vacuum cleaner lately? Are your thighs mastered yet? Telemarketers get to me through TV, Phone and Computer. I get more spam mail than the people that actually work at a Spam Factory. And for the record: No, I don't need golf balls, a mortgage, or the X-cam video!! I already have 2 of each.

      Its got to the point where you cant trust anyone. Of course, people can trust me. For instance, I never told anyone about Matt Morginsky of the Supertones, losing a game of basketball to a 12 year old girl in Indiana. Matt knows he can trust me with that secret. And I would never shamelessly try to use people's trust to get them to buy things. For instance, I haven't even mentioned my comedy album "I've Got A Funny Feeling About This" which is still in stores and make a great last minute stocking stuffer.

      Actually, the only thing that you can really trust in is God's love. He's never broken His promise and He isn't trying to sell anything. He just wants your love. But don't take my word on it, talk to Him yourself. You wont regret it, trust me!

      Luke 2:11
      Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (I guess its true that BIG things come in little packages)

      -from "The Free Comedy Newsletter by Bob Smiley"
      subscribe at http://www.bobsmiley.com

      Read more writings by Others at
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/by-others.html

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      ><>(o:} Life's F.A.Qs. {:o)<><

      Many are asking tough questions in today's world. Maybe you have been asking a few of the same ones. For answers to some of life's tough questions, go to
      http://www.blessed2bless.us/f-a-q.html

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      ><>(o:} From the Bible: {:o)<><

      For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. . . These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
      -Isaiah 9:6 (NLT)

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      ><>(o:} What is Blessed2Bless? {:o)<><

      Blessed2Bless: is published on a "round-2-it" basis. Most weeks, you will receive at least one issue. Some weeks, you may receive two or three. Once in a while, you may not receive an issue for a week or two. So, whenever I get a "round-to-it," you can expect to hear, "You've got mail," Yahoo," or whatever happens on your PC.

      Blessed2Bless contains an article that I have written using simple everyday events to illustrate qualities and ideals sought after by many in the world today. Also included are writings from other sources that I have come across (usually by e-mail or a book I am reading). I try not to send everything that comes along; but I do send those that I think would be a blessing to you - - - or at least make you think for a moment and/or bring a smile to your face for just a little while.

      CAUTION: Please do not drink while reading the humorous stories. Doing so has caused many to snort Diet Pepsi out their noses.

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      ><>(o:} Steve Klusmeyer {:o)<><
      Blessed2Bless -Genesis 12:1-3
      " - - - I will bless you; - - - and you will be a blessing. - - - and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

      You can contact me at steve@blessed2bless.us

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      ><>(o:} Credit Where Credit is Due {:o)<><

      If known, the original source of material used in Blessed2Bless will be cited, or at least the source where I obtained the material will be cited with a credit at the end of each item. If the material was obtained from an e-mail newsletter, subscription information to that newsletter will also be included. This will be done as a matter of Christian integrity to give credit where credit is due.

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      ><>(o:} FYI {:o)<><

      Please visit my web site at http://www.blessed2bless.us Take a moment to check it out and come back often to see what's new.

      Do you need a web site? I can design it and get it on line. Learn more at http://www.blessed2bless.us/web-design.html

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      ><>(o:} What is the Deal with those Ads? {:o)<><

      You will see ads in Blessed2Bless. These advertisers keep the newsletter FREE by paying for ad space. My host, Mike Hodapp (Tigger at http://www.hundred-acre-woods.com), uses the proceeds to pay the basic expenses of his Internet service as a web site host server as well as sending a portion each month to feed starving orphans in third world countries. The advertisers pay by the number of clicks on the ads, NOT by the number of sales.

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      ><>(o:} Subscription Information {:o)<><

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      ><>(o:} Confidentiality Statement {:o)<><

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      ><>(o:} ********B2B******** {:o)<><

      Give a nice day! -Acts 20:35
      -Mike Purcell, Cartoonist and active duty Navy Man

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      Copyright Steve Klusmeyer 2002-2003. All rights reserved.

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