The pastor picked up the cordless microphone and stepped off the platform. All the children in church that morning had come to the front and now waited for their special story. Pastor held the mike up to his mouth and began.

'Once there was a - .' Pastor stopped and looked to the back of the church, to a man who controlled the sound system. He held up the mike. 'Is this thing plugged in? There's no power.' The sound man checked the wires and jacks, and then nodded. 'Yes.' Pastor tried again.

'Today, I want to tell you about - .' Again, he shook the mike and shouted out to the sound man. 'Still no power?' Again the man checked his equipment. It was A-okay!

'For the third time,' Pastor spoke to the children. Right away he knew his voice wasn't being heard. He smiled. 'I guess I'll have to try without this mike.' He turned it over. 'Oh-oh! The switch. Here's the problem.' His last few words thundered throughout the church because he flipped the mike switch to On!

'I better change my lesson today, children,' Pastor said. 'I better remind you that God's power is always available to us through His Son Jesus. But we have to switch our hearts open to God. Can anybody tell me how we do that?'

Could you have told him? If you read today's Bible verse, you will know.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to open my heart to Jesus by believing on Him and obeying You. Amen.

Grandma prayed a very strange prayer. At the lunch table, she thanked the Lord for the food and added, 'Dear Lord, make Matthew like Charlie Chaplin.'

'That's a funny prayer, Grandma. Who is Charlie Chaplin?' Matthew asked the first time he heard Grandma pray this way.

'You mean who was Charlie Chaplin,' Grandma replied. She smiled at Matthew. 'Charlie Chaplin was a movie star. He died many years ago. He was ... And you want me to be like him'.

'Thanks, Grandma, but I'd rather be alive.'

'No, no, Matthew. I want you to be like Charlie Chaplin when he was alive. In fact, I only want you to be like Charlie Chaplin in one way.'

'What way, Grandma?'

'Charlie Chaplin lived in the days of silent movies. That means he had to show everything by his actions. In his movies, he showed love or compassion or kindness by the way he acted.'

'I get it, Grandma. You mean that actions speak louder than words.'

'Right, Matthew. And I pray that you will show by your actions that you love Jesus and want to honor Him in all that you do. Words are important - but, actions speak so loud they can drown out what people say. We all have to live out what we say we believe.'

'Okay, Grandma,' Matthew said. 'It's not a funny prayer at all. It's a good prayer.'

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to live out what I say I believe. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

Many years ago, in a one-room school where the country teacher taught all grades, a girl showed great promise as an artist.

'Your daughter must take special Art lessons,' the teacher told the girl's parents. But the family was poor and the girl had to do farm chores.<br><br>'Hire somebody,' the teacher suggested.

'We don't have money to pay anybody,' the girl's father told him. 'I have to pay a neighbor boy 25 cents a week.'

'I will pay. In return, your daughter will stay after school for three hours each day. I will give her free lessons. Every two weeks, she will complete one picture - and I'll buy it. First, I'll teach her to paint a simple sky with clouds. I'll pay fifty cents for that picture. And every two weeks I'll teach her new skills and she'll paint another picture. I'll double the price each time and buy all of her pictures.'

The parents agreed. After four months, the teacher had paid $127.50 for eight pictures (which was about the same as the farmer gained all year on the farm.) The girl became such a good artist that her parents allowed her to go to an Art college.

It wasn't easy for the teacher to pay all that money, because he didn't have a lot of money. But he knew that the girl had a special gift from God.

When the girl became a world-famous artist, her teacher could have sold the eight early pictures for thousands of dollars. He didn't. Long after he retired, these pictures reminded him of how God allowed him to help somebody else perfect the gift God gave her.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me to help others to be everything you want them to be. Amen.

Deirdre loved her new camera. She could zoom in to make far-a-way things close; or zoom out to get a whole big building into one picture. She could take a picture and look at it right away. If she didn't like the picture, she could simply push a delete button and the picture was gone.

When her parents took her on a river cruise, Deirdre's camera was busy. She took pictures of people on the boat, pictures of birds in the sky above and pictures of other boats passing by.

'Be sure to have the camera strap over your shoulder every time you use it.' Dad advised. 'It's a good habit. That way, if you drop it, it won't hit the hard deck.'

Deirdre nodded, but she was busy looking for things to photograph. She didn't mean to ignore her Dad's words, but she really didn't pay attention to what Dad said.

'I wish I could take a picture of a fish in the water,' Deirdre thought, leaning over the side rail. She wrapped her hand around the camera, ready to take a picture if she saw a fish.

The camera fell out of Deirdre's hand. She grabbed for the strap but missed. Deirdre's new camera splashed into the water and sank out of sight. Deirdre was very upset - and very sorry that she hadn't taken Dad's advice.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to pay attention to my parents and everybody who loves me and wants what is good for me. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

James was part of the crowd that had gathered to watch the removal of the old building.

'It's so big,' James said. 'Twelve stories high. They'll need a lot of explosives to bring it down.'

'Not really,' the man next to him replied. 'They just need a few explosives placed in the right spot - around the foundation. When the foundation is destroyed, the rest falls straight down.'

Sure enough, that's what happened. The demolition workers blew up the foundation and the big strong building crumbled.

As James watched, he was reminded of something he had read in God's Word. It wasn't about buildings. It was about his own life.

God's Word says that Jesus is the foundation of a Christian's new life. James knew the devil would like to destroy the foundation by turning him away from Jesus, maybe to make his church or a good life the foundation. But James also knew that any other foundation he built to take the place of Jesus could easily be destroyed. Jesus can never be destroyed, because Jesus is more powerful than Satan's strongest armies.

Prayer: Lord, thank You that Jesus is my sure foundation and can never be destroyed. Amen.