(L to R): Ass’t Police Chief Derick Miller, Carrollton, Sister Tarpley, Young Sung and Police Chief Rex Redden at a “Coffee with Cops.”
By Sister Shirley Tarpley
Have you ever found a true friend who makes your heart glow? Someone that is wonderful and you’re honored and proud to know. A friend who loves you when you don’t know why?
A friend that shares all of your ups and downs and that you smile with, replacing your frowns with a smile. A friend that appears whenever there is a need; surely you must know that God planted that seed.
These seeds God has planted here on earth cannot be measured by earthly worth. They were planted deeply in your friend’s heart by God’s love placed here from the start.
Value those friendships and the love. Respect their feelings and never make demands. Hold their love tightly in your heart and your hands.
Trust in friendship, give a piece of your heart; this is how friendship was intended from the very start.
Hold their memory in your heart and your mind; continue to love them all the time. See them for what they really are—true friends are Angels sent by God!
–Author Unknown
The following story is summarized and told by Dr. Mahesh S. Raisinghani, Ph.D, MBA, MSc, in his closing remarks at the NSLS induction ceremony on April 22, 2016 at TWU in Denton, Texas.
There was a farmer man named Fleming; he was a poor farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog (swamp.) He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.
There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the farmer’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy that Farmer Fleming had saved.
I want to repay you,’ said the nobleman. ‘You saved my son’s life.’ ‘No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,’ the farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family shack. ‘Is that your son?’ The nobleman asked. ‘Yes,’ the farmer replied proudly.
I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy and if the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.’ And that he did.
Farmer’s son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London; and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the swamp was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin discovered by Farmer Fleming’s son; and, the name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill . . . His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said: “What goes around comes around.” Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching. Sing like nobody’s listening. Live like it is Heaven on Earth.
