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. 13 – No. 4311 October 22, 2011
Thought for the week: "The person who pays an ounce of principle for a pound of popularity gets badly cheated." – Ronald Reagan
"Do not wait ... the time will never be just right ... start where you stand ... and work with whatever tools you may have at your command at the moment ... and better tools will be found as you go along." – Napoleon Hill
"To be prepared is half the victory." – Miguel de Cervantes
"Strength: Those who say 'I can't' and those who say 'I can' are both right. There is no way we can do anything worthwhile if we say and believe we can't. The power to achieve is in the 'I can!'" – Ray Lammie
"I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." – Paul the Apostle (Philippians 4:13)
"Pressure is what turns coal into diamonds." – Unknown
"People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates." – Thomas Szasz
It can be a challenge keeping a straight face as a court reporter. The following are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually [or supposedly] said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said , 'Where am I, Cathy?'
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
* * * * * * *
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact? WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
* * * * * * *
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something
you forgot?
* * * * * * *
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
* * * * * * *
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He's 20, much like your IQ.
* * * * * * *
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
* * * * * * *
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
* * * * * * *
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the circus was in town, I'm going with male.
According to Ripley's Believe it or Not, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, cut off a great part of her hair after a quarrel with her husband. She then asked an artist to paint her with her new hairstyle with her holding the clump of cut hair. She thus immortalized the quarrel. Sometimes we have to let things go. How many of us are clutching the remnant of some argument that needs to be forgotten?
Some years ago, I recall, I read about one business that mailed out a unique and creative advertising brochure that had a mustard seed attached to the reply device. Beneath the mustard seed was a caption that went something like this: "If you have faith as much as this grain of mustard seed and apply it to our product, you will have great success."
A few months later one person who had received this advertisement decided to write to the sponsoring company: "You will be interested to know," said the writer, "that I planted the mustard seed that you sent me. The plant is doing exceptionally well. It has grown beautifully and is now bearing very healthy ... tomatoes."
Modern research has shown that men who kiss their wives before leaving for work have better health, live longer and make more money than husbands who don't.
Doctors also tell us that a good laugh after we eat is one of the healthiest things we can do. "A healthy laugh gives a workout to your stomach and chest muscles, heart and lungs. And though your blood pressure and adrenaline go up during laughter, they drop to normal or below afterward, releasing stress. ("Laughter Is the Best Medicine," Readers Digest, January 1987).
This news is not altogether new. Aristotle, the famed Greek philosopher, said the same thing 2,000 years ago. Referring to laughter, he said, "It is a bodily exercise precious to health."
And a thousand years before Aristotle, Solomon write in the Bible, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" (Proverbs 17:22).
When Teresa, a widow with four young children, saw a notice that members of her church would gather to deliver presents and food to a needy family, she took $10 out of her savings jar and bought the ingredients to make three dozen cookies. She got to the church parking lot just in time to join a convoy going to the home that was to receive the congregation's help.
The route was familiar, and she was stunned when the cars pulled up in front of her house. When the pastor saw her, he said, "We never expected you to join us, Teresa. We know it's been a great struggle since your husband died, and we all wanted to support you."
Although she was uncomfortable being thought of as the object of charity, Teresa didn't want to embarrass anyone so she cheerfully said, "Well, at least I can share these cookies with our friends."
This parable teaches us that no one is too poor to help others and that true charity is rooted in love and compassion. Poverty of spirit is worse than economic distress. Teresa's story reminds us that very few of us give as much as we could and should.
My friend Larry Rosen, president of the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, introduced me to the concept of "sacrificial giving"—giving in abundance to a point where one must sacrifice something one desires.
You can start out easy. Take whatever amount you were thinking of giving to charity, then double it. If that's too much, increase it by 50 percent instead. The idea is to stretch yourself. It will mean a lot to those you help, but it will mean as much to your heart.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy, they will sing before the Lord, for he comes . . . to judge the world in righteousness and the people in his truth."1
Imagine, if you can, living in a world without trees. How desolate such a place would be. But trees are not just a thing of beauty. They have a very strategic role to play in our world. They convert light into energy and "breathe" the carbon dioxide exhaled by man and animals. They use this gas to help manufacture food, and in its place, give off oxygen, which man again breathes. They help clean the air of dust particles, stop erosion and restore deserts. They provide fodder, timber, and innumerable other products. Just how they lift enormous amounts of water to their highest branches and manufacture food is still a mystery.
As the poet, Joyce Kilmer, so eloquently put it:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.2
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for all the beauty and creativity you have given to us in nature. May it ever remind me of your majesty, your awesome power, and your everlasting care and love. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
8. Receive Daily Encounter E-mail ... Without Charge
Daily Encounter, a without charge weekday e-mail inspirational from ACTS International is now going to 410,000+ 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 100 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.
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 one prayer report is e-mailed 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 410,000+ subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to 8,000 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—almost 3000 in the past 12 months!
If you find value in the 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
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 greeting card without charge 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."
