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 Dick Innes


Weekend Encounter

Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes          
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Vol. 14 – No. 1612   April 21, 2012

 
Thought for the week: "The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose." – John McEnroe, tennis champion
 
INDEX
1.   Words of Wisdom
2.   On the Lighter Side
3.   Good Fortune from Failure
4.   Are You God's wife?
5.   Fiber for the Soul: Walk Free
6.   Parenting and Play-Doh
7.   Daddy, Daddy
8.   Receive Daily Encounter Devotional  Without Charge
9.   Weekend Encounter E-mail Edition  Without Charge
10.   Know God ... Without Having to Be Religious
11.   Prayer Partners Needed
12.   To Submit a Prayer Request
13.   Please Help Support Weekend Encounter
14.   Helpful Books, CDs, and Cassettes
15.   Services Without Charge
16.   ACTS in Action Report; Archives for Daily and Weekend Encounter

1. Words of Wisdom

"Fathom the hypocrisy of a Government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured, but not everyone must prove they are a citizen" – Anonymous

"Fix your eyes forward on what you can do, not back on what you cannot change." – Tom Clancy

"Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough." – Franklin Roosevelt, 32nd U.S. president

"I am learning the value of unceasing prayer. The process of going from unceasing thinking to unceasing prayer occurs several times a day." – Gary Kallio

"It is your attention and not your intention that determines your destination." – Anonymous

"ANGER is only one letter short of DANGER." – Anonymous

Index

2. On the Lighter Side

Stacy, my granddaughter, when she was little, said to me, "Let's municate."  I said, "what do you mean?" and she answered, "Let's municate. I talk and you listen!" 

– Eva Solberg

Ed. Note: When it comes to many adult communications I think this little girl had a gift of "prophecy."

Index

3. Good Fortune from Failure

Darcy Rice is a widely respected theater arts teacher at a local high school. Here he discusses the good fortune of having a bad dress rehearsal.

"I use every teaching skill and performance trick I have accumulated over many years as an actor, director, writer and teacher. I explain, encourage, cajole, insist, cheerlead, demonstrate and inspire. I do whatever it takes to get the best performance from every member of the cast. But ultimately, they must be allowed to fail.

"This is the secret weapon of the first dress rehearsal. By allowing students to fail while still in the protected environment of rehearsal, we are giving them the greatest educational opportunity possible. Through a myriad of mistakes, dropped lines, misplaced props, mangled dances and the inevitable missed entrance, students are forced to take responsibility for their own work. It is through these 'mistakes' that the greatest learning happens. The student who misses his entrance and accepts personal responsibility for doing so will never miss that entrance again."

With thanks to Darcy Rice, and you can find the rest of this good article HERE.

Darcy Rice

Index

4. Are You God's wife?

      By Leo Buscaglia

An eye witness account from New York City, on a cold day in December, some years ago: A little boy, about 10 years old, was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold.

A lady approached the young boy and said, "My, but you're in such deep thought staring in that window!"

"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply.

The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her.

She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel.

By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes.

She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, you will be more comfortable now."

As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand, and looking up into her face with tears in his eyes, asked her, "Are you God's wife?"

Index

5. Fiber for the Soul: Walk Free

       By Gary Kallio

"Walk Free" is a phrase uttered by inmates when they are released from prison. For fifteen years I volunteered at a local correction facility, visiting monthly with one inmate at a time. On their release they walk away from a sheltered, structured life and resume life on the outside. I remember one man's release day. I picked him up at the front entrance of the prison and drove him to a halfway house. On the way we stopped by a river where he gazed at the rushing water for several minutes asking, "Am I really free?" And he hugged a large maple tree.

There are several aspects involved with returning to society after an incarceration. One is to move freely about without apprehension, thinking someone is watching you. Another is to make a new life, find a job, and a place to live. And make new friends.

I have been traveling through the book of Psalms for the last year and am now reading the 119th chapter, the longest chapter in the Bible. The 45th verse is one of my long-time favorites. It says we will walk free, for we sought God's truths for living. I understood the verse better when I studied the context. Each section of this psalm starts with one letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is comprised of eight verses.

The 41st verse opens this section with a prayer asking God to let his love shape us, and continues as we stand firm against those who mock us for believing in something unseen. The courage to believe allows us to walk free, with our heads held high. Freedom is found frequently in Scripture. In the 8th chapter of the book of John Jesus said that when we believe he is the Son of God, we are, in truth, set free.

These are life-principles, and because of the freedom we have in Christ we are compelled to share his life. The 46th verse says that in our life-walk, we boldly share the freedom we have with those around us. When we first learned "witnessing," we encountered resistance. Because the love of God changes our life, others are drawn to what we have. As we delve into the dynamic of this new free life, God displays the fragrance of who he is through us. He does it by shaping his love in us, and we respond by joyously and boldly walking free.

I am a fellow servant, Gary Kallio
Fiber for the Soul, http://fiberforthesoul.com/

Index

6. Parenting and Play-Doh

      By Michael Josephson of Character Counts (716.5)

Peggy Adkins, a talented CHARACTER COUNTS! trainer, tells the story of when she adopted a cat. Each of the cat's original owners was interviewed, and when Peggy finally got the animal, she had to sign a document that listed 23 things to do and 17 things not to do to raise a happy, healthy feline.

Over the next several months, she received phone calls to confirm that her family was doing what they were supposed to do and refraining from doing what they weren't supposed to do.

As the mother of two adopted children, Peggy marveled at the fact that she got better training and follow-up about her cat than her children. Although raising happy, healthy, decent children is vastly more complicated and important than raising pets, there's no manual for child-raising, not even a list of do's and don'ts.

To make her point in her presentations, she uses Play-Doh in different sizes and colors, pointing out that, like children, no two pieces are alike and each one can be molded into infinitely unique shapes.

"Indent it slightly with your finger," she demonstrates. "Touch it with your fingernail. Press it against your arm. Notice that every hair leaves a mark. Now press it against the Sunday comics; it will mirror the pictures. And if you roll it on a table, all kinds of bits and particles become embedded in the substance, almost impossible to remove.

"That's what makes parenting so important and difficult. Everything kids touch makes an impression."

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

© 2012 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation's leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS! For further information visit www.charactercounts.org

Index

7. Daddy, Daddy

"Around mid-afternoon [from the cross] Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly ... 'My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?'"1

Tom Miller wrote about the following experience:

My nine-year-old daughter Jennifer was looking forward to our family's mini-vacation, but when our vacation arrived, she became ill, and a long anticipated day at Sea World was replaced by an all-night series of CAT scans, X-rays, and blood work at a hospital.

As morning approached, the doctors told my exhausted little girl that she needed to have one more test, a spinal tap. The procedure would be painful, they said. The doctor then asked me if I planned to stay in the room. I nodded my head, knowing I couldn't leave Jennifer alone during her ordeal.

The doctor gently asked Jennifer to remove all her clothing. She looked at me with childlike modesty as if to ask if that were all right. Then they had her curl into a tiny ball. I buried my face in hers and hugged her.

Jennifer cried as the needle went in. As the searing pain increased, she sobbingly repeated, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy," her voice becoming more earnest with each word. It was as if she were saying, "Oh, Daddy, this hurts so badly. Please, can't you do something?"

My tears mingled with hers. My heart was broken. I felt nauseous. Because I loved her, I allowed her to go through the most agonizing experience of her life, and I could hardly stand it.

In the middle of the procedure, my thoughts went to the cross of Christ. What unspeakable pain both the Son and God the Father endured for our sakes. We owe a debt that can never be fully paid. The best thing we can do is give ourselves as living sacrifices.2

Ed. Note: If you've never truly thanked Jesus for dying on the cross to pay the penalty for all your sins and received God's gift of forgiveness and eternal life, why not do that today by praying this simple prayer: "Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner and am sorry for all the wrongs that I have done. I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for my sins. Please forgive me, and I invite you, Jesus, to come into my heart and life as Lord and Savior. I commit and trust my life to you. Please give me the desire to be what you want me to be and the desire to do what you want me to do. Thank you for dying for my sins, for your free pardon, for your gift of eternal life, and for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen."

If you prayed this prayer and genuinely meant it, please let us know by filling in the response form at: www.actsweb.org/decision.php

1. Matthew 27:46 (The Message).
2. KneEmail at http://www.oakhillcoc.org.

A sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes

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Index

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Index

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Index

14. Helpful Books, CDs and Cassettes

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

Click HERE for books, CDs, tapes and poems by Dick Innes and others.

Index

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Index

16. ACTS in Action Report and Encounter Archives

ARCHIVES: Daily and Weekend Encounters



"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."



© 2012 ACTS International


Know God

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