WILL I EVER FIND GOD?

I've copied a story that was sent to me
by Joan, a fellow subscriber. As she warned
when she emailed it, "This is a little long,
but so terrific I had to share with you."

-----
John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago writes
about a student named Tommy in his Theology of Faith class:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students
file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith.
That was the day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He
was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his
shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that
long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind
that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on
that day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed
Tommy under 'S' for strange, very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology
of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about
the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with
each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was,
for me at times, a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final
exam, he asked in a slightly cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find
God?"

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy.
"No!" I said very emphatically.

"Oh," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were
pushing."

I let him get five steps from the classroom door, then called out,
"Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain
that He will find you!"

He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my
clever line: "He will find you!" At least I thought it was clever. Later
I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly grateful.

Then a sad report came. I heard Tommy had terminal cancer. Before
I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into my
office, his body was very badly wasted, and the long hair had all fallen
out as a result of chemotherapy, but his eyes were bright, and his voice
was firm for the first time, I believe.

"Tommy, I've thought about you so often. I hear you are sick," I
blurted out

"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of
weeks."

"Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked.

"Sure, what would you like to know?" he replied.

"What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?"

"Well, it could be worse."

"Like what?"

"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals; like being
fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the
real biggies in life."

(I began to look through my mental file cabinet under 'S' where I
had filed Tommy as strange. It seems as though everybody I try to reject
by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

"But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, "is something
you said to me on the last day of class."

(He remembered!)

He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God,
and you said, 'No!'which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find
you.' I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was
hardly intense at that time.

(My clever line... He thought about that a lot!)

"But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me
that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God. And
when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging
bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven, but God did not come
out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try something for a long
time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically
glutted; fed up with trying. And then you quit. Well, one day I woke up,
and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick
wall to a God who may or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I
didn't really care about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that.
I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more
profitable."

"I thought about you and your class, and I remembered something
else you had said: 'The essential sadness is to go through life without
loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave
this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved
them.' So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading the
newspaper when I approached him.

"Dad."

"Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper.

"Dad, I would like to talk with you."

"Well, talk."

"I mean it's really important."

The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?"

"Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that." (Tom smiled at
me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and
secret joy flowing inside of him.)

"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two
things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he
hugged me.

We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next
morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to
feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me. " It was easier with my
mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each
other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the
things we had been keeping secret for so many years. I was only sorry
about one thing - that I had waited so long. Here I was, just beginning
to open up to all the people I had actually been close to. "Then, one
day, I turned around and God was there! He didn't come to me when I
pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a
hoop; 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give You three days, three
weeks.'

Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour. But
the important thing is that He was there. He found me. You were right.
He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."

"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something
very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at
least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him
a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in
time of need, but rather to open up to love.

You know, the Apostle John said that.

He said: 'God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with
God and God is living in him.'

"Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class
you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now.
Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them
what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn't be
half as effective as if you were to tell them."

"Ooh ... I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for
your class."

"Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call."
In a few days, Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he
wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date, but he
never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than the
one with me and my class.

Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only
changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life
far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man
has ever heard, or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time. "I'm not going to make it
to your class," he said.

"I know, Tom."

"Will you tell them for me? Will you... tell the whole world for
me?"

"I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to hear this simple
statement about love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy,
somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven - I told them, Tommy,
as best I could.

If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend
or two. It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.
With thanks, John Powell, Professor Loyola University, Chicago

-----

Thank you Joan for sharing. You can visit
Joan's site at:

http://www.locoweedproductions.com

where she offers "Fine Gifts and Home Decor"

To Your Success,
Susan
FriendsWhoCare

IMPORTANT - Do You Publish With MP3

Gaida, a fellow subscriber, asked if I had received the
warning about making and selling products using
MP3 from Louis Allport.

I had but just in case you didn't, Gaida, from
http://www7.OnlineMasteryGold.com
and I want you to know so you can protect yourself.

Here's the warning we received with a link to
more information.

----------
Hello Susan

I've only known about this for a few days, and it's got me
very worried...

If you publish any kind of MP3 audio online, there could be
a team of very high-priced lawyers after you soon.

Sadly, I'm not joking either.

I'm right now in the process of converting all my audio into
a different format, and if you publish any kind of MP3 audio
online I would strongly suggest you do the same.

The simple fact that I've become aware of in the last few
days is that MP3 audio is NOT free to distribute. Expensive
licensing fees are due to a billion dollar corporation.
And they're clamping down on this hard now.

To make online publishers aware of this issue, a press release
was sent out in the past 24 hours by online copywriter and
publisher Joe Robson.

He's also made a free report available to help guide you
through this situation and to help you get working with new
audio formats ASAP (these new formats do NOT have any
licensing fees of any kind, ever).

You can read the press release and download his free report
at the following address:

http://www.ogginfo.com/

Sincerely,
Louis Allport

----------

If your selling or creating products using MP3, please
heed this warning.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
http://www.friendswhocare.us

Announcements - Raffle Ticket And Syndication

This message was to go out on June 23, 2005.

Hi,

If you've come to the blog to find out why you
haven't heard from me since Wednesday, June 22,
the answer is - the responder system I use to send
you mail has been down since Thrusday morning.
Some subscribers were able to get this message
on Thursday but most didn't.

So in an attempt to keep in touch until the responder's
technical difficulties are resolved, I am posting a
slightly edited version of the email I was trying to send.

----------
I am sorry to say that none of us won the raffle last
night. The wining ticket numberwas 492233 and was
held by Terri M. the mother of 2 swim team members.
So to everyone who bought one or moretickets, I am
sorry but we do thank you foryour support.

Also, I am thankful because unlike Terri, I didn't have
to purchase 44 tickets to make sure we sold our 50. I
also have a surprise gift for everyone who bought 1 or
more losing tickets but you have to read this whole
note to find out what it is.

On Wednesday I mentioned I was working on
syndicating my newsletter articles. Well I am all done
except for putting some finishing touches on the article
page template and putting the syndication information
on some of my existing pages. So today, you get to be
the first to see what I've been up to.

Go to http://www.friendswhocare.us/classifieds.htm.

After the Marketing and Advertisting box you should
be able to find an FriendsWhoCare Internet Marketing
Feed area where there are3 articles listed.

Now I haven't had time to get a page put together to
tell you how you can use this article feed on your site
but the information is available on the pages with the
articles.

When you go to a page with an article you'll notice that
there is a yellow area at the top and under it there are
words that say "RSS Feed Sponsor." One of the
finishing touches to the template for these pages is to
put in an ad rotator. As soon as I get that rotator in
place, I would like to offer my losing raffle ticket holders
a spot in this rotator - one spot for each of their losing
tickets.I can't tell you how long it will be in the rotator
just yet since I am still working out the details but I can
tell you that it will be for at least 1 month or longer.

So consider this an advance warning. If you bought 1
or more raffle tickets, you better start working on some
small text ads. When I get the rotator in place and know
the exact requirements for the ads I'll let you know.

If you didn't buy a raffle ticket I will be selling ad space
on these pages but that's even further off since I haven't
worked out the details for that either.

That's it for today and I hope you like the new feed that's
now available from FriendsWhoCare.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

PS - By the way, our team did great last night. Austin got
2 1st places, 2 2nd places and 1 3rd in the 7 events he was
entered. Brianna unfortunately didn't win a ribbon in any
of her 5 events but she'll do better next time.

The Most Important Things I've Learned About Having An Online Business

When you have an online business one of the
things you read from almost every "guru" is that
"You Must Have A List". They may not tell you
how to get one, what to write to them or how
often to send messages but they do stress that
you must build one.

Well guess what? They are absolutely, positively,
100% right. You do need a list.

So what's one of the most important things I've
learned?

It's not that you need a list - already knew that.

It's not that they are potential customers - already
knew that too.

It's not that they are regular people - since
everyone is different, I'm not sure what a
regular person is.

One of the most important things I've learned is:

Be yourself and have a list of friends who
share a common interest and desire. Friends
who not only take the time to listen to you
but who also spend the time to reply to
your messages and requests. Friends who
not only want your advice but who are also
willing to give you theirs. Friends who want
to get together and spend some time with
each other.

To prove my point here's how my list
responded to recent request for some
assistance with a local fund raiser.

First, I'll tell you that my list is aimed at those
doing internet marketing. Every "guru" will
tell you that a list of internet marketers is a
hard list to sell to because either they've seen
it all or else they're new and probably
experiencing information overload.

With that in mind, here's what happened:

Not knowing how well my list would respond to
a request to purchase raffle tickets for a local
fund raiser, I asked them if they would be
interested. Then I waited, fearing the worst
that either no one would respond or they would
unsubscribe because supporting a local fund
raiser is not exactly "professional internet
marketing" material. Also, there would have to
be a great deal of trust on their part since I
would be the one with the tickets.

I can't describe the feeling I got when the votes
started coming in. Most voted they would help
support my local fund raiser and many of those
who voted "no" offered an apology and
explanation of why they couldn't. (And believe
me, I totally understand being overwhelmed
with your own fund raisers. That's why I took
a leap of faith and did the poll.)

Now before you start thinking that the
subscribers who voted "yes" all lived in
surrounding areas, I'll tell you that they
don't. The closest one lives around 100
miles away in a town that has a group that
competes with the local group I was
supporting. (Thanks again Darell.) The rest
are from other states and countries (Thanks
again Gaida, I think your home in Australia is
the furthest away.).

Because of the responses to the poll, I
set up a page to sell the tickets the day I
got them and sent a short email telling
everyone that the sale of the raffle tickets
was starting and where they could get them.
The message went out late Friday afternoon
which is suppose to be the worst time to email
your list.

Within a few hours I was receiving PayPal
receipts for ticket purchases!!!

Will I sell $384,297 worth of raffle tickets?

NO, my list isn't that large.

I will sell enough to help support our local
swim team with more funds than I could
afford on my own and that was the goal.

To sum up this long story, here are the
important things to remember:

• Build a list.
• Build a trusting relationship with your list.
• Ask them what they want or need.
• Give them what they want and need.
  

These 4 things are the most important
things to remember with ALL online businesses.

Susan Carroll
http://www.friendswhocare.us
http://www.friendswhocare.us/hurricane.htm

PS - My subscribers are the best group of
friends anyone could ask for and knowing
them is the truly the greatest reward of

my business.