Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 11 – No. 1709 April 25, 2009
Thought for the week: "I have held many things in my hand, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands that I still possess." – Martin Luther
"Purpose serves as a principle around which to organize our lives." – Anonymous
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also with overcoming it." – Helen Keller
"Today, there are three kinds of people: the haves, the have-nots, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-haves." – Earl Wilson
"Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them." – Washington Irving
"Tough times never last, tough people do." – Robert Schuller
"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist." – Louis Nizer
Weight Loss Hymn: We had just had a "Weighdown Workshop" and many people in our church lost weight. During announcement time we congratulated the participants and made a big deal out of their weight loss. It was about that time we all realized there had been a typo in the bulletin item just below it. Instead of listing "I Am Thine O Lord" the bulletin listed the next song as, "I Am Thin O Lord." (Angie)
"I often went fishing up in Maine during the summer. Personally, I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn't think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn't bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of the fish and said: 'Wouldn't you like to have that?'"1
Why not use the same common sense when fishing for people?"
1. Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People.
At 211 degrees...water is hot.
At 212 degrees...it boils.
And with boiling water, comes steam.
And steam can power a locomotive.
And, it's that one extra degree that...
Makes all the difference.
Best-selling author Mac Anderson.
Source: Beliefnet:From the Masters, www.beliefnet.com.
Seems like we all get some really great thoughts at night while in bed. We dream, we wake up with ideas, but we don't remember a thing come morning—or, they just don't seem so good in the daylight. Keep a pad by the bed and write the darn thing down. Read and reread for a few days. You just might have something there! I stopped using the pad as I have to turn on the light and my wife is a light sleeper. I do get out of bed and go to my office and jot those ideas down—and I can reward myself with a snack. I learned long ago that some of my best answers and ideas came at night.
Source: Thoughts in Color and Black & White by Raymond and Barbara Lammie. Ray also publishes Thought for Today. To subscribe send a blank email to RIL3@aol.com with "Subscribe to Thought for Today" in the Subject line.
Frank is a new supervisor who wants to do well. Maria consistently comes in late. When he confronts her, she jokes about it. Hoping to win friendship and loyalty, Frank is painfully patient, though Pat, a conscientious employee, urges him to do more. Soon others begin to come in late, and Pat quits. Frank feels victimized by disloyal employees, but he has no one to blame but himself.
A frequent workplace complaint is waiting for the boss to make a decision or take needed action. It might be about a pending promotion, filling an open position, giving an overdue performance review, pricing a new product, or dealing with a sticky customer complaint. Whatever the issue, failure to make a decision can make big problems out of little ones. What's more, indecisiveness can generate resentment and undermine confidence in the manager's ability.
It was Frank's responsibility to set the tone of the work environment. In management (or parenting, for that matter), what you allow, you encourage. As Frank learned the hard way, indecision and inaction can cause as much harm as a poor decision.
Sure, it's important to be careful, and it's sometimes wise to put off a decision or delay action—for instance, to get more information or buy-in, to let things cool off, or for other strategic reasons—but failing to make a needed decision is not acceptable because a manager is too busy, is avoiding an unpleasant confrontation, is hoping things will work themselves out, or is just procrastinating.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."1
"Max Lucado, in his book, In the Grip of Grace, tells of his boyhood days when he and his friends would gather on the street each afternoon to play football. One dad in the neighborhood, a die-hard football buff, would sometimes join them. This dad always played for whichever team was losing that day. Max Lucado writes, 'His appearance in the huddle changed the whole ball game. He was confident, strong, and most of all, he had a plan.' The kids, fired up by his leadership and emboldened by his plan, played with new determination.
"Lucado makes the point that Jesus did the same thing for us. He came to join the losing team, and his appearance in the game changed everything. He was a leader who inspired hope, confidence, courage, and love in his disciples. And he had a plan, a plan so outrageous and amazing that no one, not even his disciples, truly understood it at first. But they trusted him as their leader, and so they followed. And now all of Jesus' followers can be sure that we are going to win this game in the end."
On January 8, 1956, five young men, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Younderian, died in the prime of life as they were seeking to take the gospel to the Woarani [Auca: meaning "savage"] Indians of Ecuador. They were all slain by the very tribe to whom they were seeking to bring the saving message of Jesus Christ.
And even though they all lost their lives, the words of Jim Elliot, the pilot of the five martyred missionaries, are as real today as they were the day Jim said them: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." This is because all who are on Jesus' team will ultimately and eternally win, for Jesus Christ is still and always will be King of kings and Lord of lords, the Creator of the universe, the Great Creator who became our Savior.
Suggested prayer, "Thank you God for your great salvation and that, no matter what my circumstances are today, knowing that I am a child of yours and on your team, in the end I will win forever and forever. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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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://tinyurl.com/2unmmy
"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."
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