Happy Thursday

Do You Feel There Is No Hope?

By Christine Chipman

In your times of deep despair,
Do you feel there is no hope?
As the darkness closes in on you,
Do you feel you cannot cope?

As you struggle on through every trial,
Do you say "When will it end"?
As you cry yourself to sleep at night,
Do you wish you had a friend?

When your body's racked with aches and pains,
Do you feel you are alone?
When you think about the future,
Do you fear the great unknown?

There is someone who really cares,
And He hears your every cry.
His arms are reaching out to you,
And on Him you can rely.

When things close in around you,
He sees your fear and doubt -
He wants to hold you in His arms,
And He will never cast you out.

As you stumble through the darkness,
He will be your guiding light.
He wants to wipe away your tears,
For you are precious in His sight.

Reach out right now to Jesus,
And let Him take complete control -
He'll take that heavy burden,
And He'll touch and make you whole.

He's reaching out His arms to you,
And He wants to be your friend.
Let Him take you in His loving arms,
For His love will never end. 


He Leadeth Me

He leadeth me, O blessèd thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

     He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
     By His own hand He leadeth me;
     His faithful follower I would be,
     For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

Refrain

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

Refrain

Daily Smile:
A fisherman accidentally left his day’s catch under the seat of a bus. The next evening’s newspaper carried an ad: “If the person who left a bucket of fish on the No. 47 bus would care to come to the garage, he can have the bus.”

In The News:

Attack on U.S. Embassy in Turkey Leaves Two Dead
A blast outside the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, killed at least two people, the U.S. State Department confirmed Friday, CBN News reports. According to a police official, a suicide bomber set off an explosive at the embassy entrance. The bomb apparently went off inside the security checkpoint, and Turkish TV reported that two security guards died. "We can confirm a terrorist blast at a checkpoint on the perimeter of our embassy compound in Ankara, Turkey, at 1:13 p.m. local time, or 6:15 a.m. EST," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Kurdish rebels and Islamic terrorists are active in Turkey, as well as al Qaeda-linked militants. "We are working closely with the Turkish national police to make a full assessment of the damage and the casualties and to begin an investigation," Nuland said.

Friends Play Key Role in Determining When Teens Take First Drink

Best friends might play the biggest role in influencing when teens have their first sip of alcohol, according to new research reported this month in the journal Pediatrics, reports Jim Liebelt. In the study, having friends who drank and had access to alcohol was the most important factor in predicting when a kid started drinking -- trumping a teen's own troublemaking tendencies and family history of alcoholism. The reasearch team analyzed the age which kids had their first taste of booze against five variables: two separate measures of disruptive behavior, a family history of alcoholism, a measure of poor social skills and whether their best friends drank alcohol. "When you start drinking, even with kids who come from alcoholic families, they don't get their first drinks from their family," said Samuel Kuperman, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Iowa. "They get their first drinks from their friends. They have to be able to get it. If they have friends who have alcohol, then it's easier for them to have that first drink." Among teens who reported trying alcohol, nearly four in 10 said their best friends also drank.