Devotionals
Kids Say the Funniest Things
A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible ~~ Psalm 23.  She gave the youngsters a month to learn the verse.  Little Bobby was excited about the task, but he just could remember the Psalm.  After much practice, he could barely get past the first line.  On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Bobby was so nervous.  When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, "The Lord is my Shepherd......and that is all I need to know!"
 
When a mother saw a thunderstorm forming in mid-afternoon, she worried about her 7 year old daughter who would be walking the 3 blocks from school to home.  Decided to meet her, the mother saw her daughter walking nonchalantly along, stopping to smile whenever lightning flashed.  Seeing her mother, the little girl ran to her, explaining happily, "All the way home, God's been taking my picture!"
 
A mother took her 3 year old daughter to church for the first time.  The church lights were lowered and then the choir came down the aisle, carrying lighted candles.  All was quiet until the little one started to sing in a loud voice, "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you....."
 
A little boy walked down the beach, as as he did, he spied a matronly woman sitting under a beach umbrella on the sand.  He walked up to her and asked, "Are you a Christian?"  "Yes."  "Do you read your Bible every day?"  She nodded her head, "Yes."  "Do you pray often?" the boy asked next, and again she answered, "Yes."  With that he asked his final question, "Will you hold my quarter while I go swimming?"
 
A Sunday School teacher asked her class, "Does anyone here know what we mean by sins of omission?"  A small girl replied, "Aren't those the sins we should have committed, but didn't."
 
A father was reading Bible stories to his young son.  He read, "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked bak and was turned to salt."  His son asked, "What happened to the flea?"
 
Six-year old Angie and her 4 year old brother Joel were sitting together in church.  Joel giggled, sang, and talked out loud.  Finally, his big sister had enough.  "You're not supposed to talk out loud in church."  "Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.  Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door?  The hushers."
 
 

Evening, May 16
Today's Morning Reading
"And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle, and your beasts." - 2 Kings 3:16,17

The armies of the three kings were famishing for want of water: God was about to send it, and in these words the prophet announced the coming blessing. Here was a case of human helplessness: not a drop of water could all the valiant men procure from the skies or find in the wells of earth. Thus often the people of the Lord are at their wits' end; they see the vanity of the creature, and learn experimentally where their help is to be found. Still the people were to make a believing preparation for the divine blessing; they were to dig the trenches in which the precious liquid would be held. The church must by her varied agencies, efforts, and prayers, make herself ready to be blessed; she must make the pools, and the Lord will fill them. This must be done in faith, in the full assurance that the blessing is about to descend. By-and-by there was a singular bestowal of the needed boon. Not as in Elijah's case did the shower pour from the clouds, but in a silent and mysterious manner the pools were filled. The Lord has his own sovereign modes of action: he is not tied to manner and time as we are, but doeth as he pleases among the sons of men. It is ours thankfully to receive from him, and not to dictate to him. We must also notice the remarkable abundance of the supply - there was enough for the need of all. And so it is in the gospel blessing; all the wants of the congregation and of the entire church shall be met by the divine power in answer to prayer; and above all this, victory shall be speedily given to the armies of the Lord.

What am I doing for Jesus? What trenches am I digging? O Lord, make me ready to receive the blessing which thou art so willing to bestow.

-- C.H.Spurgeon Morning and Evening Daily Devotional