Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
To receive the email edition of Weekend Encounter (without charge) click on the Subscribe button.
Privacy policy: We do not sell or rent subscriber's e-mail
addresses to anyone. We value your privacy.
Global Communications Outreach:
Learn how to be a missionary right from your own home and have a vital part in worldwide gospel outreach by becoming an ACTS People Power for Jesus Partner. Click HERE There is no charge.
Vol. 10 – No. 2908 July 19, 2008
Thought for the week: "There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either in or out. There's no such thing as a life in-between." – Pat Riley, basketball coach
I guess you heard by now that the dorm burned. We were all in the basement smoking pot, and I guess somehow we set the dorm on fire. But no one was hurt, and we got most of our belongings out in time. Oh, and I'm getting married soon. You see, I have to, because I'm going to have a baby ... you'll meet Bob soon, he's got a really swell Harley.
Actually, I'm not pregnant, and I don't even know anyone named Bob... and I'm not going to get married. There was no fire and I wouldn't know what to do with pot, but I did flunk chemistry, and I just wanted you to be able to put it into Perspective!
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually try to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
"Perhaps because of my Navy training, punctuality has been almost an obsession. Rosalynn has always been adequately punctual, except by my standards. A deviation of five minutes or less in our departure time would cause a bitter exchange.
"One morning I realized it was Rosalynn's birthday and I hadn't brought her a present. What could I do that would be special for her? I hurriedly wrote a note: 'Happy birthday! As proof of my love, I will never make an unpleasant comment about tardiness.' I signed it and delivered it in an envelope, with a kiss.
"More than four years later, I still keep my promise. It has turned out to be one of the nicest birthday presents for Rosalynn—and for me." (Quoted in Reader's Digest, July 1989, p. 183.)
Religious traditions and legal systems throughout the world agree that young children can't be held guilty of sins or crimes because they don't understand the moral consequences of their actions.
The age of accountability varies among religions and cultures. The Catholic Church puts the age at eight, when a child can participate in the sacrament of confession. In Judaism, boys at 13 and girls at 12 can become a bar or bat mitzvah and be held morally responsible for their actions.
In the Anglo-American legal system, a person must normally be 14 to be held criminally liable. In some traditional Latin-American cultures, a girl becomes an adult at 15.
In America, most children look at various age benchmarks in terms or rights or privileges—they can drive at 16, smoke, vote, and serve in the military at 18, and drink alcohol at 21.
Religious "coming of age" traditions are more concerned with obligations and responsibilities.
Last week, my 12-year-old daughter Abrielle, in a solemn but joyous ceremony, formally left her childhood to accept the responsibilities of an adult. The essence of the bat mitzvah process, involving reading from the Torah, is accepting the moral duties prescribed by Jewish law. The Hebrew bat mitzvah means "one to whom the Commandments apply."
Of course, moral duties are distinct from legal ones. As a former Justice of the Supreme Court said, "There's a big difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do."
At a conference for lawyers, an attorney declared, "My job is to keep our clients out of jail." When my turn came, I said, "My job is to keep them out of hell."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."1
"A piece of black ebony wood was being cut and broken by a woodmaker. The wood complained but the woodmaker desisted from bowing to the complaints. He was carving a flute. The woodmaker seemed to be saying, 'Little piece of wood. You think that I am hurting and abusing you, but without these holes and cutting, you would not be able to bring others beautiful music to soothe their souls and calm their hurts and fears for a time.'"
Pain is the great motivator. It can be and often is God's wake-up call to help us change and grow. So who wants to change and grow when everything is going great? Not me. I only grow when I am uncomfortable with the way things are or the way I am. And that's the way it's meant to be. God wants to make "beautiful music" out of your life and mine. It's up to us to allow him to do so. The process at times can be painful, but the end result can be something beautiful.
"Suggested prayer: "Dear God, here's my life—please make me into the person you want me to be so my life will be an instrument of peace and harmony in your hands to touch the lives of all I come in contact with. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
Daily Encounter, a free weekday e-mail inspirational from ACTS International is now going to 183,000+ subscribers. Scores of letters from around the world have come from readers saying how much they are being helped by this brief, practical devotional.
Over 41 million e-mail Daily, Weekend and Prayer Encounters are delivered to subscribers every year!
NOTE: Some ISPs (especially AOL) now use e-mail filtering software that allows you to add e-mail addresses to your 'buddy', 'safe', or 'approved' list. Please be sure to add acts@actsweb.org to yours so you won't miss any issue of Daily Encounter.
9. Receive E-mail Edition of Weekend Encounter ... Free
NOTE: Some ISPs (especially AOL) now use e-mail filtering software that allows you to add e-mail addresses to your 'buddy', 'safe', or 'approved' list. Please be sure to add acts@actsweb.org to yours so you won't miss any issue of Weekend Encounter.
One of ACTS greatest needs is Prayer Partners to stand with us as we seek to share the gospel with millions of people around the world through E-mail and the Internet and to win the lost to Jesus. If you would like to be an ACTS Prayer Partner, please subscribe to the Prayer Encounter list. Approximately two prayer reports are emailed monthly. Thank you.
If you have a special prayer request please submit it to David Clark at: www.responda.co.uk/prayer.php. David is not on the ACTS staff but is offering this as a service to Daily and Weekend Encounter readers.
Helpers Needed: If you can help David pray for prayer requests, please could you go to: www.responda.co.uk/member.php
Weekend Encounter and Daily Encounter are just two of the ways the nonprofit organization, ACTS International, is working to improve the spiritual and emotional life of many thousands of people around the world.
Every weekday Daily Encounter is going to 183,000+ subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to 10,000+ subscribers worldwide—many of whom are in places where it is forbidden to spread the Christian gospel and message. Plus we reach several hundred thousand more every week through our advertising. As a result every day we are seeing an average of 5-6 salvation responses from around the world—over 3000 in the past 12 months!
If you find value in the free Weekend Encounter and/or Daily Encounter, we hope you will be comfortable donating at least $26. That's only 50 cents a week for an entire year (tax-deductible in the U.S.). You can donate in one of the following ways:
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://tinyurl.com/2unmmy
1. Bible concordance and Bible helps
2. New Hope Crisis Counseling with trained
lay/volunteer counselors. www.newhopenow.org 3. E-Word Today for a daily Bible reading
4. To find your ZIP+4 Area Code in the U.S.A.
5. How to find and write to your U.S. Representative
6. ASK ... Smart answers fast
7. Send a FREE greeting card for all occasions
8. To check the weather in your area
9. Hoax Web Sites
10. Plus many more sources of helpful information
"Because the world is hungry,
go with bread.
Because the world is filled with strife,
go with peace.
Because the world is filled with deceptions and lies,
go with truth.
Because the world would die without,
go with the love of God."
ACTS International
PO Box 73545
San Clemente, CA 92673-0119
U.S.A.
To receive the email edition of Weekend Encounter
without charge click on the Subscribe button.
Privacy policy: We do not sell or rent subscriber's e-mail
addresses to anyone. We value your privacy.
