Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 12 – No. 0510 January 30, 2010
Thought for the week: "The safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without guideposts." – C. S. Lewis
"Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work." – William Arthur Ward
"I would not give one moment of heaven for all the joy and riches of the world, even if it lasted for thousands and thousands of years." – Martin Luther
"I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it." – Jonathan Winters, Comedian
"God's gift to us is who we are and our gift to God is who we become." – Unknown.
"The world is a great mirror. It reflects back to you what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are." – Thomas Dreier
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" – The Bible (Isaiah 5:20).
A hospital administrator was startled to see a patient fleeing down the hall from the operating room...
He stopped the patient and asked, "Do you mind telling me why you ran away from the operating room?" The patient looked at him with startled eyes and said, "It was because of what the nurse said!" The administrator inquired, "Oh? What did she say?" "She said, 'Be brave! An appendectomy is quite simple.'" To which the administrator replied, "Well, so what? It is a simple procedure. I would think her words would comfort you!" The patient said, "I'll tell you so what! The nurse said it to the doctor!
Relativists often confuse the changing behavioral situation with the unchanging moral duty.
For example, when discussing a moral topic like premarital sex or cohabitation, you often hear people in support of it say something like, "Get with it, this is the twenty-first century!" as if current behaviors dictate what's right and wrong. To illustrate the absurdity of the relativist's reasoning, you need only to turn the discussion to a more serious moral issue like murder, which also occurs much more frequently in America today that it did fifty years ago. How many relativists would speak in support of murder by asking us to "Get with it, this is the twenty-first century!"? That's where their reasoning takes them when they confuse what people do with what they ought to do. (Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek)
• Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
• Keep skunks at a safe distance.
• Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
• A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
• Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled
• Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
• Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
• Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you are.
• It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
• You cannot unsay a cruel word.
• Every path has a few puddles.
• When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
• The best sermons are lived, not preached.
• Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
• Don't judge folks by their relatives.
• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
• Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and
think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
• Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
• Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
• Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
• The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with,
watches you from the mirror every mornin'.
• Always drink upstream from the herd.
• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that
comes from bad judgment.
• Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
• If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try
orderin' somebody else's dog around.
• Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
Here are some recent headlines, courtesy of the Drudge Report, about the scourge of global warming that is threatening to fry us all.
Winter Could Be Worst in 25 Years for USA...
Vermont sets "all-time record for one snowstorm"...
Historic ice build-up shuts down NJ nuclear power plant...
Miami shivers from coldest weather in decade...
Beijing—coldest in 40 years...
Death toll rises to 22 in UK's biggest freeze for 30 years...
Seoul buried in heaviest snowfall in 70 years...
Peru's mountain people 'face extinction because of increasingly cold conditions'...
Here are three suggestions for parents of teens, all learned through my own mistakes:
First, with emerging demands for independence, worries about peer acceptance, pressures of school and extracurricular activities, and a continuous search for self-identity, adolescents are on a physical and emotional roller coaster. Like every generation before them (including yours), teens are often arrogant and over-confident about their knowledge and your ignorance, and are deeply insecure about most other things.
They're going to make mistakes, behave badly, and be thoroughly self-absorbed. Although they want you to be less involved in their lives, they actually need you more. And despite continual battles, if you're open, you'll experience glorious moments that all of you will cherish your whole lives.
Second, be firm but choose your battles carefully. Don't back down when dealing with important principles, but don't make every issue a hill you're willing to die on either. Be content to lose occasionally and give in graciously.
Third, don't belittle or underestimate the importance of their feelings. It may seem like they're over-reacting, but teens feel emotions like embarrassment, loneliness, insecurity, frustration, and love intensely. It's disrespectful to minimize or discount these feelings with useless advice like "You'll get over it" or "Everyone feels that way." Nor is it helpful to dismiss or invalidate an emotion by saying "You shouldn't feel that way."
Teens can be hard to love, but be patient. Soon they'll be the parents of your grandchildren.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."1
When explorers from England first went to Australia, they discovered some strange and wonderful animals not seen anywhere else in the world—animals such as the kangaroo, the koala (which isn't a bear as it is often called), and the ornithorhynchus—a mammal that laid eggs, spent some time in water and some on land, had a broad, flat tail, webbed feet, and a bill similar to a duck (now known as the platypus).
When the explorers returned home, nobody would believe their story about the platypus. All felt it was a hoax. Even after they returned to Australia and brought back a pelt from this strange animal, people still felt it was a hoax and refused to believe it was real.2
Many people say, "I believe only what I see for myself." That's not necessarily true either because, by and large, people see and believe only what they want to see and believe—and refuse to see and believe all else—regardless of the evidence.
However, what I see and believe has absolutely no effect on what is. What is, is—whether I see and believe it or not. For instance, I've never seen an atom but I've seen (at least in pictures) the evidence of its incredible power and believe it is real. I live close to a nuclear power plant and can't see the electric power it is generating, but its electricity is probably powering my computer on which I am typing this article right now. I can't see the electricity, but whether I believe it is real or not doesn't affect its reality. It just is.
I've never seen God either, but I see evidence of his presence and mighty power everywhere I look—I see and believe because I want and choose to believe. With God, as with many things in life, believing is seeing. Indeed, the heavens declare the glory of God. Believe it and you will see.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, open my eyes and help me to see the marvels of your creation, the majesty of your presence, the magnificence of your power and, above all, help me to see all the riches in Jesus Christ you have for me—including the gift of forgiveness and eternal life to live with you forever in heaven. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. 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
1. Bible concordance and Bible helps
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