<h2>Story Content</h2> Write your story here... <h2>Moral or Teaching Point</h2> What can we learn from this story?

tdtest

tristantest

test

There once was a mother who loved her son very much. And every Wednesday this mom would tell her son she was going to get groceries. And when she comes home, she would always give her son a piece of cake. The son would jump with joy every time and gratefully eat the cake. One day the son wondered where the cake came from. So he thought to himself, i&rsquo;ll follow her and find out! '' So the next wednesday, the mother told her son once again, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to go get groceries&rdquo; the boy followed at a distance. He trailed her and she eventually turned a corner. Behind the corner wasn't a grocery but a church and the mother went in. She attended mass. After mass, the boy saw the mother walk out with a group of women. They sat down and passed around tea and some cake. Then the boy saw that as the cake came around, the mother took a piece but did not eat it. She instead secretly wrapped it and hid it in a stomach pocket. She only drank tea. [pause]. The mother eventually made her way home. The boy hurried and took a short cut to home where the mother found him. Greeting him in her usual joy, she gave him the piece of cake that she had hidden earlier! The mother did not know that the boy had seen everything. As he realized what was happening, he did not receive the cake with joy and glee as he always did. When the mother walked away still not realizing anything wrong, the boy finally ate the cake. But this time tears ran down his eyes. The mother had never tasted the cake. The sweetness of the bread, the creaminess of the icing. She only drank tea. Again next wednesday came and the mother again brought home cake from the women&rsquo;s group. Again the boy withheld tears when she presented him the cake, only eating it tears when the mother walked away.&nbsp;
TRANSITION 1 - Eucharist. Do you cry when you receive the Eucharist? Do you realize all that has happened for you to eat something so precious?&nbsp;
TRANSITION 2 - Sacrifice . Do you realize how far your parents or caretakers have gone just for you? The trouble that you are, that you make. Yet they still give for you. Vietnamese parents may have a hard time saying &ldquo;I love you&rdquo;, but have you taken a moment to realize how much they have sacrificed in your name? Driving you from here to there,or cooking for you, or cleaning up after you, or &hellip; I challenge you today, to sacrifice something, whether your time, your efforts for someone else. I challenge you to make this sacrifice in secret. This someone may never cry over your sacrifice but maybe they will weeks or years from now.

Mom’s Bakery

There once was a lady who prayed to God everyday, and she would always ask God for the same thing. She would wake and pray, &ldquo;Lord, let me win the lottery today!&rdquo; At night before going to bed, she would plead &ldquo;Lord tomorrow is the day, please please let me win the lottery. This would go on for years and years. Finally, after such a long time of listening to the woman pray, God finally answered. Most saints are blessed with visions, and the last time God spoke to a mere human were the old testament prophets. Well, he caught the lady's attention, and in a booming voice, said &ldquo;Lady, I will help you win the lottery, just do me a favor and go one first!&rdquo; TRANSITION. St Ignatius of Loyola famously said &ldquo;work as if everything depended on you, and pray as if everything depends on God.&rdquo; How often do we pray for something but do not put in the effort? Conversely, how often do we put so much effort and try to control everything and not ask God for his help?

The Lottery Ticket

There lived a priest. He heard from the news that a massive hurricane was coming. The priest prayed for deliverance. Police drove by announcing on the intercom for everyone to evacuate the city. When they saw the priest sitting on the porch not packing up, they asked why. Priest just calmly responded God will deliver me. The storm came and flooded the town. A man on a boat came by and offered a ride to the priest who was now standing in the window because the water was rising. Priest calmly replied, no I&rsquo;m waiting on the Lord to deliver me. The water rose a lot more and the priest was standing on the roof. Coast guard on a boat came by and still the priest replied I&rsquo;m waiting on the lord. Now hanging on to the chimney a helicopter came by and threw down a rope ladder STILL YET the priest denied help saying no I&rsquo;m waiting on the lord who will deliver me. Well the priest drowned and went to heaven. At the pearly gates he asked the Lord what didn&rsquo;t you save me? God replied, &ldquo;well I gave you an announcement to evacuate, sent 2 boats and a helicopter. What more do you want?&rdquo; [pause] TRANSITION. What more do YOU want from God?&nbsp;
God is always showing you signs, helping you along the way. But we rarely see these signs, these helpful gestures from Him.

God Will Save Me

A son and his father loved art. Together they bought a lot, in auctions, in markets, everywhere. Picasso&rsquo;s and Van Gogh&rsquo;s. Then came a time of war and the son wanted to serve. Halfway through this war, a soldier who was friends with the son arrived at the father&rsquo;s home with a letter. The son had died in battle. This friend happened to be an artist and had drawn a portrait of the son before he was killed. Father treasured this portrait. Eventually the father too passed. All their art was to go on sale at an auction. The first item for auction was a portrait. All buyers said no crying , where is the real art?? We want Picasso's, the Van Gogh&rsquo;s! The Auctioneer ignored them and began $100? No one. $50? Still yet no one. Then a teenager spoke, I have but $10, I knew the family and they were good to me when I was a child. The auctioneer cried SOLD to this young teen! The Auction is now over! Shouts of dismay rippled through the crowd crying Why why why??? Apparently in the Father&rsquo;s will: whoever buys this portrait of the son inherits all the art. TRANSITION. The portrait is Jesus. [pause] when you go buy/accept Jesus you inherit all the treasures. &ldquo;When will you choose to accept the portrait of the Son&rdquo;?

The Son's Portrait

A girl walking through a market sees an exotic fruit stand. She walks by and her heart is so happy to find out the seller is Jesus! He asks &ldquo;my child, what would you like to buy?&rdquo; She says happiness, love, peace&hellip; Jesus then responds, sorry my child, I don&rsquo;t sell fruits here, only seeds. Here at Sa Mac / DTDP training we don&rsquo;t promise success, happiness, peace. Neither do we promise that you will become a successful leader. However, we have trained you and planted the seed for you to nurture, to grow. Will you let the seed die or will you continue to nurture what we have taught you?

Jesus's Fruit Stand

A father and little girl were crossing a bridge. The little child reaches out and grabs the father&rsquo;s hand and asks her dad to hold on to her. The father wonders aloud, what is the difference between the child holding his hand and the father holding onto the child. The child ponders for a moment. She replies. If I hold onto your hand, I may let go. I may wander off. But if you hold onto my hand, you love me so much you will never let me fall down this bridge. We are like this little child. There are times we willingly reach out to God the Father. But oftentimes, it is short lived and our little brain, short attention spanned mind begins to wander. We let go of God&rsquo;s hand and do our own things. We fall down. Sometimes off the bridge. But God, the Almighty He is, always saves us, picks us up; even when we fall off the bridge. But what if we never fall in the first place? How do we avoid falling?? Will you ask God to hold onto your hand?

Hold My Hand

There was a country that was suffering from severe hunger. The people prayed for divine food. A mystic came by and offered a plant. The people thought that this plant from heaven would grow into a massive tree, big enough to feed an entire country. Turns out the plant was short, often trampled underfoot and very common. A potato plant. The potatoes fed the entire country and eventually the world. We are the potato plant. Sometimes may be trampled over. Oftentimes unthanked. God may plant you in unassuming places, sometimes to be trampled on. A leader must be humble. But if you do the work of God, a HT can nourish many.

The Potato Plant

There once lived a man who would carry two pots, Mulan style on the end of a bamboo stick, to carry water from the nearby river to his house. Just happens, one of the pots is whole. The other one is cracked. Everyday the whole pot would come back full of water, the broken pot only brought back half. Frustrated, one day the broken pot finally asked the man, I am broken and cannot bring back all the water. Why do you still use me? With a great compassion in his eyes he replied, &ldquo;next time, notice the path we take. Look at the side of the road&rdquo;. When they got home after the daily water trip, the man asked the broken pot, &ldquo;what did you see?&rdquo; The broken pot replied, &ldquo;I saw beautiful flowers along the side of the road on the way home&rdquo;. The man smiled and asked, &ldquo;Did you notice the other side of the path? It had no flowers. Smiling even more warmly, the man said, what you see as brokenness, I see as usefulness. Because of your brokenness, there are now flowers along the side of the road for all to enjoy.&rdquo; TRANSITION You might see yourself as broken. But when will you allow God, or even friends, to open your eyes, to see how useful, how necessary you are?

TNTT Library (Unofficial)