Jesus Walks on the Water 22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Nasrudin was now an old man looking back on his life. He sat with his friends in the tea shop telling his story. "When I was young, I was firey-
I wanted to awaken everyone. I prayed to Allah to give me the strength to change the world.
In mid life I awoke one day and realized my life was half over and I had changed no one so I prayed to Allah to give me the strength to change those close around me who so much needed it.
Alas, now I am old and my prayer is simpler, "Allah," I ask, "please give me the strength to change myself."
Paulo Coelho/ Stories/ Mulla Nasrudin/ Strength/ Change
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all.Who hopes for what they already have?25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
[Deuteronomy 8-10 New International Version (NIV)]
8 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
