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. 14 – No. 2612 June 30, 2012
Thought for the week: "Nothing would be done at all if a man or woman waited until they could do it so well that no one could find fault with it." – John Henry Newman
"A person all wrapped up in himself makes a very small package." – Anon
"He who throws mud loses ground." – Anon
"The older we get the more we realize that service to others is the only way to stay happy. If we do nothing to benefit others, we will do nothing to benefit ourselves." – Carl Holmes
"People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness." – John Wanamaker
"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." – John Wooden
"Reputation is what you are in the light; character is what you are in the dark." – American Proverb
"Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes" – Emily Dickinson
Of course, the news is not all bad: When Robert B. Rowling bought the Omni Hotel chain, he ordered the pornographic magazines pulled from his hotels' gift shops and the pornographic films removed from the pay-per-view channels on the TVs in the hotel rooms. To do the latter, he had to switch movie-service providers and buy a new television for every room—some eighty-seven hundred sets! The change cost Rowling $4 million, including lost revenue.
But since the porn movies were yanked, occupancy has increased at the upscale hotels.
In a Daily Encounter some time ago I had written how, as Christians, we need to let our light shine so that others would see God's love shining through us, and made the comment that all the darkness in the world couldn't put out or diminish the light of one small candle.
A subscriber, Angela Mehan, responded by saying, "This reminds me of an experience I had when I was in Girl Scouts. We used to go spelunking (cave exploring), and I remember one trip in particular. We had gone deep enough into the cave that no light from the outside could get to us. The guide had us turn off all our flashlights so we could see just how dark total darkness is. I couldn't see anything! No matter how close I got my hand to my face I still couldn't see it. Then the guide lit a single candle. It was amazing how much we could see, even though the candle itself wasn't all that bright. So even though we were completely surrounded by darkness, that single candle allowed us to see.
George Will writes in Men at Work: "Baseball umpires are carved from granite and stuffed with microchips ... they are professional dispensers of pure justice."
"Once when Babe Pinelli called Babe Ruth out on strikes, Ruth made a populist argument. Ruth reasoned fallaciously (as populists do) from raw numbers to moral weight: 'There are 40,000 people here who know that last one was a ball, Tomato Head.'
Pinelli replied with the measured stateliness of John Marshall: 'Maybe so, but mine is the only opinion that counts.'
Thought: We need to realize that God's opinion is the only one that counts in determining our conduct.
"Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven" (Psalm 119:89).
By Michael Josephson of Character Counts (387.4)
Written in 2004.
Tomorrow I turn 62. And it just doesn't feel right. It seems like yesterday when I was the young rebel with potential. I know I should say wise and soothing things, but despite upbeat rhetoric about the advantages of advanced age, it's really the pits to observe my body deteriorate and see how old my friends look. And I hate realizing how much I have forgotten.
But enough lamenting. (Or is it whining?) I may not be smarter, but I am wiser.
I know that everything changes—including me.
I know that my dad was right when he told me that "where there's a will there's a way."
I know it's really dumb to carry a grudge and really hard to give one up.
I know now that the things I like to do least are often the things that need to be done most.
I know it's easier to give advice than to take it.
And I know now that neither the intensity of my feelings nor the certainty of my convictions is any assurance that I'm right.
I know that until I translate my thoughts into actions, my great ideas and good intentions are like unlit candles.
I know kindness is more important than cleverness.
I know now that it's not a sin to have an unexpressed thought and that there really are things that are better left unsaid.
I know it's a lot easier to tear down than to build up.
And I know now that some people will just never like me.
I know that there's a big difference between what I have a right to do and what is right to do.
And I know now that whether I like it or not I'll keep getting older—until I don't. And that's a lot worse.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Conies [rabbits or rock badgers] are creatures of little power, yet they make their homes in the crags."1
While tiny ants teach us many lessons, including the importance of being prepared as much as possible for whatever might come our way, the conies or rock badgers show us the need for precaution and being responsible for taking care of ourselves.
These small animals hide behind the rocky crags jutting up in the mountains where eagles can't get to them. They also hide close to the rocks where they remain unseen by prowling lions. Away from the safety of the rocks they would be dead meat.
Some of us are too over-dependent, depending on somebody else or the government to take care of us. God's goal for each of us is that we mature and grow up, not be dependent or over-dependent, but interdependent. If we don't take care of ourselves and protect ourselves from the many temptations that come our way, nobody else is going to do it for us.
As Peter put it, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."2
We don't want to become cynics, but we do need to be careful, take necessary precautions, and accept full responsibility for every area of our lives. And, above all, we need to trust our lives to God daily as did David who said, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge ... He is my stronghold."
Prayer: "Dear God, please help me to always put my trust and take refuge in you. Deliver me from evil, temptation, harm and disaster. And guide me in the way that I should go. 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 over 390,000 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 390,000+ subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to 7,800+ 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."
