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A man falls off a ship in the middle of the sea, and prays to God for a miracle. After a while, a fishing boat comes up to the man and the crew members try to help him on board. But he refuses to be picked up by them, saying that he is expecting a miracle from the Lord. Next, the Coastguard comes by in a rescue boat - and he refuses their help, too - explaining that he is waiting for the Lord to miraculously deliver him. Finally, a helicopter flies over - and he sends that away, too… Then, after many more hours more at sea, he drowns. Up in heaven, the man is furious at his untimely death, and demands to speak to God. He is shown into His throne room, and he asks with complete puzzlement on his face how God could have let him - his most devout servant - drown, without raising a finger to help him. The Lord looks at the man for a while and then says: What do you mean, I didn't raise a finger to help you? I sent you a fishing boat, the Coastguard and a helicopter - AND EVERY TIME I SENT YOU SOMEONE, YOU REFUSED MY HELP! That's why you drowned." A young boy walks across a beach at low tide. To his horror, he finds the large expanse of sand covered by literally thousands of stranded starfish - all of whom will die as the sun dries them out. Frantically, the boy starts to gather them up one by one and to carry them back to the sea. 'Don't be silly,' admonishes his parent. 'You cannot possibly make a difference with so many starfish. You cannot save them all.' 'Perhaps not,' replies the boy, 'but I can make a difference to the ones that I do save! A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a £50 note. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this £50 note?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this £50 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the note up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth £50. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special - Don't ever forget it!
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