Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 10 – No. 3108 August 02, 2008
Thought for the week: "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something, and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do." – Edward Everett Hale
"Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone." – Gertrude Stein
"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one of them to say 'Thank You?'" – William A. Ward
"Whinese: the language used by people who complain a lot." – Unknown
"Happiness depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature." – Marcus Aurelius
"The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur." – Vince Lombardi, football coach
My six-year-old grandson called his mother from his friend Charlie's house and confessed he had broken a lamp when he threw a football in their living room.
"But, Mom," he said, brightening, "you don't have to worry about buying another one. Charlie's mother said it was irreplaceable."
I'm not a sociolinguist but I find languages fascinating. The other day I was walking past a Ghanaian man talking on his cell phone in Twi (a local language here). Suddenly, in the midst of a sea of words I could not understand, I heard, "Hurry, hurry. Fast, fast." Why did he need to switch to English to use those words? In a culture where relationships are valued more than task, where listening to someone is more important than crossing off my "to do" list, where greeting someone before you get to the point of your conversation is a very high value—hurry, hurry, fast, fast is apparently a value grafted in from the West. I chuckled as I walked away and slowed my pace down just a fraction—reminding myself that I can enjoy the journey just as much as the destination.
By Karen Carr of Mobile Member Care Team,
Ghana,
West Africa, http://www.mmct.org/
"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.'"
William Penn 1644-1718, Religious Leader
and founder of Pennsylvania
"Friends are a blessing. Most of us have many friends throughout our life, but very few friends we can really trust, count on and confide in. A true test of friendship is when conflict or disagreement comes along or ego gets in the way—if you can get past it and the relationship stays strong, you just might have yourself a real close friend. Those friends are more valuable than treasure."
Ray Lammie, Thought for Today. To subscribe send a blank email to RIL3@aol.com with Subscribe in the Subject line.
Matt, an eighth-grade teacher, was in a hurry at the store. Guests were about to arrive at his home, and he had a small list of things to buy. With 14 items in his basket, he decided to chance it and use the "10 items or less" express line.
His heart pounded when he saw Phil, one of his students, come toward him. Matt talked a lot about honesty and ethics in class and, as he feared, Phil was all too happy to catch him doing something wrong. With a big "gotcha" smile, Phil loudly proclaimed, "You have too many items. That's cheating."
On the scale of moral transgressions, misusing an express line is a misdemeanor. But the inconsistency between Matt's words and actions seriously undermined his message about the importance of ethics as well as his personal credibility. Whether on duty or not, teachers are expected to set a good example. It's the same for all people in authority, including parents and bosses. When they fail to do so, there are consequences.
Yes, it's unfair to judge a person's entire character by such small offenses, but many will. Although we judge ourselves by our best intentions and most noble deeds, others are likely to judge us by our last worst act.
Here's a simple strategy: Act as if there's a tiny TV camera on your shoulder broadcasting all your words and actions. If what you're thinking of doing isn't consistent with the image you want to convey, don't do it.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."1
I don't know what it is like for you (though I am confident that the same is true for you) but oftentimes it seems as if my life is controlled by the tyranny of the urgent. That is, there never seems to be a day when something unexpected comes up that needs attention ... something is broken around the house ... a friend is in need ... and, with all my computer, email and web work, there is a never-ending flow of problems that need fixing.
As I have said to friends, as long as you own a home, there always seems to be something that needs fixing. In the last two weeks we have had a refrigerator break down, a water line break, and have had more computer problems than I can count. All these issues are very time consuming and make it difficult to keep up with one's work load. But that's life, and these things can become very stressful if we allow them to.
Besides the suggestions for coping with stress in a recent Daily Encounter, every day I like to remind myself of, and daily thank God for, all the incredible blessings in my life. I constantly thank God that as a child my parents took me to a church and Sunday school where I heard and accepted the gospel. I thank God for health and strength and the ability to work hard, for a roof over my head, a comfortable bed to sleep in, for hot and cold running water, a great church, loving friends, for the incredible opportunity of being able to publish the gospel worldwide, and most of all for a loving wife and family and for the wonderful privilege of being a part of God's family through no merit of my own. And I know that all of these blessings from God are only the tip of the tip of the iceberg of God's never-ending blessings.
Living with an attitude of gratitude turns my problems into challenges and makes them infinitely small in comparison to all the blessings I daily experience.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please open my eyes so that I can clearly see all the incredible blessings you have so freely given to me and may I always have a grateful heart for these. For one more blessing I pray: and that is that you will give me an eternal attitude of gratitude. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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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
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