Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 9 – No. 1107 March 17, 2007
Thought for the week: "You were loved [by God] into existence." – Sister Madonna Boder
"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost." – Billy Graham
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." – Abraham Lincoln
"Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent." – Marilyn vos Savant
"It is not length of life, but depth of life." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Be mindful of how you approach time. Watching the clock is not the same as watching the sun rise."
– Sophia Bedford-Pierce
"I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is
they must change if they are to get better." – G. C. Lichtenberg
"In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." – Eleanor Roosevelt
I have two Labrador Retrievers and was buying a large bag of Purina at
Wal-Mart and was in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a
dog. On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting The Purina Diet again,
although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last
time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care
unit with tubes coming out of me all over the place and IVs in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it
works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one
or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete
so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now
enthralled with my story, particularly a guy who was behind her. Horrified,
she asked if I'd ended up in the hospital in that condition because I had
been poisoned. I told her no; it was because I'd been barking in the street
and a car hit me.
I thought one guy was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard
as he staggered out the door.
I saw a survey that compared the worst discipline problems in public schools in the 1940s and the 1990s. In the 1940s the worst discipline problems in public schools were: talking, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls, getting out of turn in line, wearing improper clothes, not putting paper in wastebaskets!
Some of the worst problems in the 1990s [and 2000] are: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery, assault [not to mention the senseless shootings and killing].
5. Movies With a Christian Worldview Make More Money
By Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher of MOVIEGUIDEŽ
Movies with Christian Worldviews Make Far More Money than Movies with Explicit Sex and Nudity, Ten Year Study Shows
HOLLYWOOD, CA(ANS) — Movies with Christian Worldviews Make Far More Money than Movies with Explicit Sex and Nudity, as shown in a Ten Year Study By Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher of MOVIEGUIDEŽ
Hollywood pundits and advertisers on Madison Avenue like to tell the press that sex and nudity sells best, but nothing could be further from the truth.
For example, we recently completed a ten-year study of the theatrical box office at MOVIEGUIDEŽ. We discovered that Hollywood movies with strong Christian worldviews make far more money than movies with explicit sex and nudity. In fact, Christian movies make two to seven times as much money, and often four to six times as much money, as movies with explicit sex and nudity. The study is based on an analysis of nearly 2,700 of the top movies at the box office from 1996 through 2005.
For example, in 2005, movies with a very strong Christian worldview, such as THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, averaged nearly $65 million at the box office, but movies with extreme, explicit sex and nudity, such as SIN CITY and INSIDE DEEP THROAT, only averaged $11.2 million or $11.7 million.
Even movies with only strong sexual content, such as WEDDING CRASHERS and THE ICE HARVEST, averaged only $21.7 million in 2005.
MOVIEGUIDEŽ also found that movies with strong or very strong Christian worldviews earned far more money than movies with more than 25 obscenities and profanities in them.
Over the last 10 years (1996 through 2005), according to the study, the highest and lowest averages for movies with strong or very strong Christian worldviews (CCC) have ranged between $20.6 million per movie to $106.3 million per movie (the year of THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST). In contrast, the highest and lowest averages for movies with very strong foul language, sex, and nudity (LLL, SSS, NNN) have been between $6.3 million per movie to $27.7 million per movie.
Thus, the vast majority of moviegoers, which includes the 141 million Americans who go to church every week, prefer positive Christian movies with morally uplifting content. If Hollywood executives and filmmakers want to make more money at the box office, they should make more movies that reflect a very strong Christian worldview with very strong moral values.
This is number one on my list of all-time favorite commentaries.
Tim was disappointed that his father didn't attend the last soccer game of the season, but he wasn't surprised. Tim was a mature 10-year old and he understood that lots of clients depended on his dad, a lawyer, who had to work most nights and weekends. Still, it made him sad, especially since this year he won the league's most valuable player award.
One evening Tim got up the nerve to interrupt his father's work at home to ask him how much lawyers make per hour. His father was annoyed and gruffly answered, "They pay me $300 an hour."
Tim gulped and said, "Wow, that's a lot. Would you lend me $100?"
"Of course not," his father barked. "Please, let me work."
Later, the father felt guilty and went to Tim's room where he found him sobbing. "Son," he said, "I'm sorry. If you need some money, of course I'll lend it to you. But can I ask why?"
Tim said, "Daddy, I know your time is really worth a lot and with the $200 I've already saved, I'll have enough. Can I buy an hour so you can come to the awards banquet on Friday?"
It hit his father like a punch to the heart. He realized his son needed him more than his clients did. He needed to be there for his son more than he needed money or career accolades. He hugged him and said, "I'm so proud of you, nothing could keep me away."
Lots of parents are stretched to their limit trying to balance business demands and family needs. It's always a matter of priorities. But if we don't arrange our lives to be there for our children, they will regret it—and after it's too late, so will we.
This story is derived and adapted from one that was circulated on the Internet without attribution. The original source is unknown.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again."1
Failure is never final for the person who gets up one more time than s/he stumbles, falls or gets knocked down. The crucial thing, whenever we fail or fall, is that, with God's help and the support of loving friends, we get up, go on, and learn from the experience.
In younger days I recall how I made a big error on a construction site I was working on. Fortunately I had a very understanding boss. I felt really bad but have never forgotten his encouraging words. He said, "Dick, the person who never made a mistake never made anything!" Good advice for all of us who have failed and made mistakes.
I trust the following poem is as encouraging for you as it has been for me:
I would rather stumble a thousand times
Attempting to reach a goal,
Than to sit in a crowd
In my weather-proof shroud,
A shriveled and self-satisfied soul
I would rather be doing and daring
All of my error-filled days,
Than watching, and waiting, and dying,
Smug in my perfect ways.
I would rather wonder and blunder,
Stumbling blindly ahead,
Than for safety's sake
Lest I make a mistake,
Be sure, be safe, be dead.2
– Author Unknown
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to always get up when I fail, fall, or get knocked down. Help me not to beat myself or blame others for my failures, but accept your forgiveness, forgive myself, learn from my mistakes, and go on to bigger and better things. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name."
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Oprah Winfrey: "Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi." – Oprah Winfrey
Books:
Books by Dick Innes, Editor of Weekend Encounter You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing How to Mend a Broken Heart I Hate Witnessing—A Handbook for Effective Christian
Communications
Books by Bestseller and Popular Authors: The Miracle of Kindness His Needs, Her Needs by Willard F. Harley, Jr.
has topped the charts as the best marriage
book available. More than one million couples
have read it ... made their marriage sizzle. Fall in Love Stay in Love Just Hand Over the Chocolate ... Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships Sex Starts in the Kitchen Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours Harried With Children Adolescence Is Not an Illness Show Time It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian
On Sale at: http://www.actscom.com/store
Cassettes:
Healing, Wholeness & Happiness by Dick Innes
Loving & Understanding People by Dick Innes
I Hate Witnessing by Dick Innes
God's Formula for Success by Dick Innes
Damaged Emotions by David Seamands Healing of the Memories by David Seamands...
On SALE at:http://actscom.com/store/cassettes.htm
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