I have a very talented brother who I would like to share his thought for the week. Actually I have three talented brothers, but this one is talented in the soul writing art.   So without further ado, I give you: My brother's "Thought for the Week: There was once a famous violinist, who came on stage to give a concert at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Getting on stage for this violinist was no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play. By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play. But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do. Everyone figured he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one. But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before. Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who, all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings. =============================== So it is in real life.........we are not always gonna have four strings to play with!! Sometimes in life all the strings are gonna break! We may lose something or someone along the way........we may lose a friend......we lost a wonderful friend "Miss Patti" on our street this week......someone lost a Mother, Wife, Grandmother, Aunt........A good friend just lost one of his feet, and is still in St. Michael's today.....we may lose what we consider to be the most precious thing on earth..... But if we are still alive....if we are still here on earth....like that violinist we have to keep playing....we have people depending on us everyday !!! Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. GOD knows how many strings you need today and everyday..... never give up !!!!"