Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 11 – No. 3409 August 22, 2009
Thought for the week: "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." – Stephen R. Covey
"Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else." – Peter F. Drucker
"Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom; ... mastering yourself is true power." – Lao Tzu
"The bad news is time flies. The good news is your the pilot." – Michael Altshler
"Freedom is not the right to do as you please; it is the liberty to do as you ought." – Unknown
"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer." – Corrie Ten Boom
"You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself." – Harvey Firestone
Historic Windsor Castle outside of London is directly in the flight path of Heathrow International Airport. While a group of tourists was standing outside the castle admiring the elegant structure, a plane flew overhead at a relatively low altitude, making a tremendous noise.
One particularly annoyed tourist whined, "Why did they build the castle so close to the airport?"
A few years ago Richard Cardinal Cushing wrote about the church's need for courage. He said: "If all the sleeping folks will wake up, and all the lukewarm folks will fire up, and all the disgruntled folks will sweeten up, and all the discouraged folks will cheer up, and all the depressed folks will look up, and all the estranged folks will make up, and all the gossiping folks will shut up, and all the dry bones will shake up, and all the true soldiers will stand up, and all the church members will pray up, and if the Savior of all will be lifted up ... then we can have the greatest renewal this world has ever known."
There was a time when I thought I could overcome fear. Such a time occurred when I started college in the fall of 1961. I had graduated from High School and enrolled in Junior College. However, I feared that I wouldn't do well in college, but was determined to start learning. Having the freshman jitters, I was intimidated: I didn't know how much I'd have to study to get good grades. When I failed an exam in my first quarter I had to reassess my study habits, but four years later graduated from college.
I've been studying the life of Moses for several months now. His story is found in the Old Testament books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It takes a while to ponder his life due to the length of these books. Moses' life took several turns, from the life of luxury in the palaces of Egypt, to life on the outer edges of the desert for 40 years.
When Moses was 80 years of age, God called him from the land of Midian where he fled after killing an Egyptian. God got his attention by revealing himself in a burning, but not burned-out bush. He called him back to Egypt, to his people, and to lead them to Canaan over the next 40 years. Whether it was the thirst-quenching water pouring from the rock, or the manna mercifully covering the ground each morning, at the end of each day he was discovering great things about God. This intimacy with God was slowly turning into humility, and he dearly desired talks with God in the Tent of Meeting.
In Exodus 33 and 34, Moses asked God to show him his glory. God said to come the next morning to Mount Sinai where he put Moses in the cleft of the rock and showed him his back, but not his face. Moses stayed 40 days without food or water, enjoying daily intimacy, and when he came down to the people, his face was radiant. He was imbued with humility but not aware of it. Moses learned humility by walking with God, leaning totally on Him.
In the 12th chapter of Numbers, Moses' older sister, Miriam, and his brother Aaron were talking about him behind his back. God, listening intently to their conversation, called the three to the Tent of Meeting. Talking sternly with Miriam and Aaron, God said that Moses was the humblest man on earth at the time, and he could speak with him one-on-one, directly and clearly. The Israelites, who likely numbered almost two million people, needed a leader who exhibited godly humility. So it is with the church in today's world.
We learn humility when we seek daily audience with God, relying on his loving, daily provision. We will not be cognizant of our humility. As we grow in intimacy, we may be challenged by those closest to us, but God knows our inner heart and that is enough. Others may think of us as meek, because the meek inherit the earth. Trust God and that is enough.
Try it without looking at the answers ... please don't look down until you do it, you'll love it, I promise.
1) Pick your favorite number between 1-9
2) Multiply by 3, then
3) Add 3, then again Multiply by 3
4) You'll get a 2 or 3 digit number ...
5) Add the digits together
Now scroll down ..............
Now with that number see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below:
1. Einstein
2. Nelson Mandela
3. Abraham Lincoln
4. Helen Keller
5. Bill Gates
6. Gandhi
7. George Clooney
8. Thomas Edison
9. JESUS CHRIST
10. Abraham Lincoln
When George Washington was 16, he discovered a little booklet containing 110 maxims describing in detail how a well-mannered person should behave.
He was so convinced that these sayings would help him become a better person that he set out to incorporate them into his daily living. Among Mr. Washington's many virtues, his commitment to civility marked him as a gentleman and helped him become a universally respected and enormously effective leader.
By today's standards, Washington's notions of behavior may seem quaint and old-fashioned, but the essential message of manners and etiquette is to soften relationships with respect and to treat others graciously as if they're important.
Instead of updating our concept of manners to accord with modern lifestyles, we seem to be abandoning the notion of civility entirely. We're exposed to heavy doses of tactless, nasty, and cruel remarks on daytime talk shows, dating games, courtroom simulations, and reality programs.
As a result, we're molding a generation who is becoming comfortable being brutish and malicious, and our society is getting increasingly coarse and unpleasant.
In a tense world full of conflicts, frustrations, and competition, being well-mannered is an important social lubricant that helps us live together constructively. If we care about the world we're making for our children, we need to be less tolerant of mean-spirited, discourteous, and impolite remarks, and to do a better job of teaching and modeling civility.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"If you are angry, don't sin by nursing your grudge."1
I have read about "a scene from a movie a few years ago called 'Nobody's Fool.' There's a working man named Donald Sullivan. Everybody calls him Sully. He's about 60 years old, and spent his whole life in the same town. When his parents died, he inherited their house. He never moved in. Instead he left it alone. It was the house where his father beat him as a child. So he has left it alone, and every day he drives by to watch it slowly fall apart. One day he takes one of his friends, a builder, through that broken-down house.
"The builder says, 'Sully, you could have saved this place. You could have fixed it up a little bit, rented it out. You could have sold it and put the money in your own pocket. Instead you stick it to your old man. What's it been—30, 35 years? You're still keeping score? Well, here's the good news: you won.'"
Failing to forgive keeps us bound by the past and under the control of the one whom we feel hurt us and towards whom we are still nursing a grudge—even if they are dead! Little by little it will also cause the love in our heart to decay and crumble. Furthermore, nursing grudges can take years off our life.
Jesus, the Master Teacher, knew exactly what and why he was saying to forgive seven-times-seventy—meaning to never quit forgiving. Let's be realistic and realize that "failing to forgive is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die!"
It's not only important that we forgive all who have ever hurt us or let us down, but also that we seek forgiveness for ourselves from those whom we have hurt and above all—to ask for and experience God's forgiveness for all our sins and wrongs.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to face any grudges I may still be nursing, confess it/these to you and to a trusted friend and, in turn, freely forgive all who have ever hurt me. And please forgive me for all my sins and wherever I have hurt others. And where best to do so, give me the courage to ask for forgiveness where I have hurt others. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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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
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Because the world is filled with deceptions and lies,
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Because the world would die without,
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