The World According To Missygirl

My trip to the Kiniwata Island in the Pacific was a memorable one. Although the island was beautiful and I had an enjoyable time, the thing I remember most about my trip was the fact that "Johnny Lingo gave eight cows for his wife." I'm reminded of it every time I see a woman belittle her husband or a wife wither under her husband's scorn. I want to say to them, "You should know why Johnny Lingo gave eight cows for his wife."

Johnny Lingo is known throughout the islands for his skills, intelligence, and savvy. If you hire him as a guide, he will show you the best fishing spots and the best places to get pearls. Johnny is also one of the sharpest traders in the islands. He can get you the best possible deals. The people of Kiniwata all speak highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet, when they speak of him, they always smile just a little mockingly.

A couple days after my arrival to Kiniwata, I went to the manager of the guesthouse to see who he thought would be a good fishing guide. "Johnny Lingo," said the manager. "He's the best around. When you go shopping, let him do the bargaining. Johnny knows how to make a deal."

"Johnny Lingo!" hooted a nearby boy. The boy rocked with laughter as he said, "yea, Johnny can make a deal alright!"

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"Everybody tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then they start laughing. Please let me in on the joke."

"Oh, the people like to laugh," the manager said shrugging. "Johnny's the brightest and strongest young man in the islands. He's also the richest for his age."

"But..." I protested. "...if he's all you say he is, why does everyone laugh at him behind his back?"

"Well, there is one thing. Five months ago, at fall festival, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He gave her father eight cows!"

I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. A dowry of two or three cows would net a fair wife and four or five cows would net a very nice wife.

"Wow!" I said. "Eight cows! She must have beauty that takes your breath away."

" She's not ugly,..." he conceded with a smile, "...but calling her 'plain' would definitely be a compliment. Sam Karoo, her father, was afraid he wouldn't be able to marry her off. Instead of being stuck with her, he got eight cows for her. Isn't that extraordinary? This price has never been paid before."

"Yet you called Johnny's wife 'plain?' "

"I said it would be a compliment to call her plain. She was skinny and she walked with her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was scared of her own shadow."

"Well, I guess there's just no accounting for love."

"True enough." agreed the man. "That's why the villagers grin when they talk about Johnny. They get special satisfaction from the fact the sharpest trader in the islands was bested by dull old Sam Karoo."

"But how?"

"No one knows and everyone wonders. All of the cousins urged Sam to ask for three cows and hold out for two until he was sure Johnny would pay only one. To their surprise Johnny came to Sam Karoo and said, 'Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter.'

"Eight cows." I murmured. "I'd like to meet this Johnny Lingo."

I wanted fish and pearls, so the next afternoon I went to the island of Nurabandi. As I asked directions to Johnny's house, I noticed Johnny's neighbors were also amused at the mention of his name. When I met the slim, serious young man I could see immediately why everyone respected his skills. However, this only reinforced my confusion over him.

As we sat in his house, he asked me, "You come here from Kiniwata?"

"Yes."

"They speak of me on that island?"

"Yes. They say you can provide me anything I need. They say you're intelligent, resourceful, and the sharpest trader in the islands."

He smiled gently. "My wife is from Kiniwata."

"Yes, I know."

"They speak of her?"

"A little."

"What do they say?"

"Why, just... ." The question caught me off balance. "They told me you were married at festival time."

"Nothing more?" The curve of his eyebrows told me he knew there had to be more.

"They also said the marriage settlement was eight cows." I paused. "They wonder why."

"They ask that?" His eyes lighted with pleasure. "Everyone in Kiniwata knows about the eight cows?"

I nodded.

"And in Nurabandi, everyone knows it too?" His chest expanded with satisfaction. "Always and forever, when they speak of marriage settlements, it will be remembered that Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for Sarita."

So that's the answer, I thought: Vanity.

Just then Sarita entered the room to place flowers on the table. She stood still for a moment to smile at her husband and then left. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, and the sparkle in her eyes all spelled self-confidence and pride. Not an arrogant and haughty pride, but a confident inner beauty that radiated in her every movement.

I turned back to Johnny and found him looking at me.

"You admire her?" he murmured.

"She... she's gorgeous." I said. "Obviously this is not the one everyone is talking about. She can't be the Sarita you married on Kiniwata."

"There is only one Sarita. Perhaps, she doesn't look the way you expected."

"She doesn't. I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo."

"You think eight cows was too many?" A smile slid over his lips.

"No, but how can she be so different from the way they described her?"

Johnny said, " Think about how it must make a girl feel to know her husband paid a very low dowry for her? It must be insulting to her to know he places such little value on her. Think about how she must feel when the other women boast about the high prices their husbands paid for them. It must be embarrassing for her. I would not let this happen to my Sarita."

"So, you paid eight cows just to make your wife happy?"

"Well, of course I wanted Sarita to be happy, but there's more to it than that. You say she is different from what you expected. This is true. Many things can change a woman. There are things that happen on the inside and things that happen on the outside. However the thing that matters most is how she views herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. As a result, that's the value she projected. Now she knows she's worth more than any other woman in the islands. It shows, doesn't it?"

"Then you wanted..."

"I wanted to marry Sarita. She is the only woman I love."

"But ..." I was close to understanding.

"But," he finished softly, "I wanted an eight cow wife."

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Hi Friends! It feels like Winter started the first day of Autumn this year.

Today was a little better, it was in the low 60's.

It had been hovering in the 40's for a couple of days.

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The first hearing aid was patented September 23, 1879.

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I want to be so close to Him, that it won't be that big of a change inside me on the day He comes back for us.

I don't want to show Him disrespect by living my life day by day with no change for the better.

(I love You Jesus, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Deliverer.

Thank You for my life. -me*)

I remember when I was young. I never thought about the future. At least, I don't remember that I did. I just walked through life, handling it day by day as it came to me. I just did the best I could. The best I knew how. I never thought I would end up being sick. I never gave anything much deep thought. I was just interested in playing around. It seems I was waiting for tomorrow. I figured the fun and the good things in life would happen tomorrow.

I was never taught the things that I needed to learn. My parents weren't much for teaching. They figured I'd learn on my own, I guess. They never told me about this life. They never told me that after we're done with this one, there's another. (They might not have told me because they might not have known.) I know now, and you need to know. For your own good, you need to listen. I know that you believe there's a God. (Please don't act like you don't want to hear this, I was that way too! I didn't want to hear. It's humiliating to say, but I used to make fun of people who love God and want to live in obedience to Him; That's how wicked I was. I thought they were stupid., when it was me who was the stupid one.)

I want to tell You how much He loves you. Jesus loves you. The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." "There is none righteous; no, not one." Everybody has sinned. The Bible tells us that the price we have to pay when we die, for the sins we've committed is HELL, for ALL ETERNITY. No one can get to Heaven because they've been good (or better than some, or not as bad as others, or because they can remember when they've done some good things, or didn't do some bad things, etc.) Nothing that isn't HOLY can enter Heaven. God knew this. He knew that without Him, there was no hope for the human race. So God provided a way that the lost could be saved. His Son, our Creator, The Lord Jesus Christ, came down from Heaven; He was born of a virgin for one purpose. The sins that we've committed, He came to pay (for us) the penalty that was required for those actions. He knew that the penalty that was required was going to cost Him the shedding of His Precious Blood. He knew that we needed a Redeemer, a Savior, Someone pure, Someone Holy.The price for our sins had to be paid! He came to die for us; and He did, on a cross. He was beaten so badly He didn't even look human. We might be able to imagine someone giving their life to save the life of a real good person. but I wasn't good. I wasn't Holy...and He died for me on that cross. And He died for you. If you were the only person, He would have died just for you. That is how much He loves us.What He did on that cross was His gift to you and me. He was sinless, and He died for the sinful. I remember a preacher, telling about the early days of his ministry. He was talking to a young girl and he said, "Wouldn't you like to confess to the Lord that you're a sinner and that you need Him to be your Savior?" Her mom walked into the room and said, " Sinner?...Sinner?...my little girl isn't a sinner. She's never done anything wrong. She's only 15 years old!" The preacher said, "oh, ...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Her mother said, " My daughter doesn't need to be a Christian." The daughter just smiled and looked so self-satisfied. She said no to the Gift, no to the preacher's Savior. The preacher left, went on down the road...phone rings, it's the girl's mother, she says," Preacher, can you come back and preach my daughter's funeral? She's gone." She had sat in her living room and said she didn't need Jesus! She made her decision.

15 years old and and in Hell. That was more than 45 years ago and she's no more closer to leaving Hell today, than the day she arrived. She'll be there for eternity. Her choice was Heaven or Hell. She chose Hell. That's a choice we all have to make. Ignoring Jesus or ignoring these chances that we get to accept Him as our Savior, means choosing Hell. (There are no atheists or unbelievers in Hell. They have been converted! But it's too late for them. It's not too late for us.)If you know that your not saved, but yet you've found yourself in a place of decision, then you understand that God loved you so much that He sent His Son to die for you; but you also realized that you never accepted that love and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Savior. Please surrender to Him now and pray this simple prayer:

My dear Lord Jesus, I understand that I'm a sinner, and now more than ever before, I realize that I need You. I believe You are God's one and only Son. I believe You came to earth and walked as a man. I believe that You died on a cross to pay the price for my sins. (to redeem me) And I believe that You rose again. With that faith my Lord Jesus, I ask You to forgive me for all the sins that I've committed. Please come into my heart and wash me white as snow. I confess that from this day forward, You shall be my Lord and I will live for You; And I will be waiting for You on the day You come to call me Home to Heaven with You. I praise You and thank You for saving me. In Your Precious Name I pray, Jesus. AMEN

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Patrick Swayze died today. He was 57 years old.

My favorite movie from him was "Next Of Kin".

Some words of his from January 2009:

I believe that it's a recorded fact that flesh and bone cannot contain the electrical energy that physically operates our bodies. To me that's a physical, tangible, real sign of a soul; or that there is something unique in all of us that does not die.

I don't know what's on the other side, it tests everything I believe in.

The only thing you can really take with you when you die is the love you have. -Patrick Swayze, January 2009.

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I wanted to share something with you today:

Sheep are built in such a way that if they fall over on their side and then onto their back, it is very difficult for them to get up again. They flail their legs in the air, bleat , and cry. After a few hours on their backs, gas begins to collect in their stomachs, the stomach hardens, the air passage is cut off, and the sheep will eventually suffocate. This is referred to as a "cast down" position.

When a shepherd restores a cast down sheep, he reassures it, massages its legs to restore circulation, gently turns the sheep over, lifts it up, and holds it so it can regain its equilibrium.

What a picture of what God wants to do for us! When we are on our backs, flailing because of guilt, grief, or grudges, our loving Shepherd reassures us with His grace, lifts us up, and holds us until we've gained our spiritual equilibrium.

If you've been cast down for any reason, God is the only one who can help you get on your feet again. He will restore your confidence, joy, and strength. (-Marvin Williams*)