Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 14 – No. 2812 July 14, 2012
Thought for the week: "Keep your face towards the light, and you will not see the shadows." – Helen Keller
"Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed." – Cavett Robert
"If you want to leave your footprints on the sands of time, be sure you're wearing work shoes." – Author Unknown
"When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go." – Carol Burnett
"No one can arrive from being talented alone. God gives talent; work transforms talent into genius." – Anna Pavlova
"There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living" – Nelson Mandela, 11th President of South Africa
"A goal without a plan is only a dream." – Brian Tracy
An Irishman was terribly overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.
"I want you to eat regularly for two days, then skip a day, then eat regularly again for two days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for two weeks. The next time I see you, you should have lost at least five pounds."
When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 60 pounds!
"Why, that's amazing!" the doctor said. "Did you follow my instructions?"
The Irishman nodded, "I'll tell you though, I t'aut I were going to drop dead on dat t'ird day."
"By rejecting Christianity and its moral framework, Western liberal democracies are in grave peril of collapsing upon themselves. They will no longer be able to preserve human rights and liberties. What comes next is tyranny."
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's 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).
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, two-thirds of the world's population, including almost everyone in the continental United States and Europe, no longer see a starry sky where they live.
The reason: City lights prevent us from seeing much more than a canopy of gray shadows. What a pity. In rural or remote areas with little or no artificial lights, about 2,000 stars can be seen on a clear night, and the experience can be breathtaking.
Whether we credit God or physics, how can we avoid the conclusion that our cosmos is governed by forces that dwarf anything our simple species can muster? How can we not feel like transitory snowflakes in a universe that measures time in billions of years and space in trillions of miles?
At the same time, a star-filled sky can be both empowering and inspiring. It can cause us to ponder the meaning and purpose of our lives, and it has ignited the imagination of poets, philosophers, theologians, and scientists for centuries. It's bad enough that the technology of contemporary civilization prevents us from seeing the extraterrestrial stars. It's worse when we allow the shallow values and frenetic pace of modern society to prevent us from seeing and following the aspirations and principles that are our own internal guiding stars.
Every day we're challenged to rise above petty office politics, senseless family conflicts, negative emotions, and unbridled ego so that we can live our lives large and be worthy of our place in the universe. We may not be able to see the stars by looking up, but if we close our eyes and look inward, we can find and follow the best within us.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."1
In the book, Finding Hope Again, Roy Fairchild told how he had come to Vienna after a two-week illness in a small Austrian village. He had spent most of his money on medical costs and his last cent to take a train to Vienna to try and find his friends with whom he had been traveling.
As he was standing in one of the street car stations in the center of the city, tired, hungry and discouraged, a little old wrinkled lady, one of the ladies whose job was to sweep out the station, came to him and asked him if he were hungry.
Before he could answer she took her own lunch from a brown paper bag and offered him half of it. He said he was so moved by her action that he has never forgotten her face or her kindness and the sparkle in her eye.
They talked for more than an hour about her life. She was raised in the country on a farm knowing only hard work. Since then she had lost her husband and two sons in the Resistance. Only her daughter had survived but she said that she was very thankful for many things.
When asking her why she offered him half her lunch the lady simply said, "Jesu ist mein Herr. Gott ist gut (Jesus is my Lord. God is good)."
This story reminds me of one of my favorite hymns written by Kate B. Wilkinson. Let's make it our prayer for today and every day:
"Dear God,
'May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By his love and pow'r controlling,
All I do and say.
May his beauty rest upon me
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only him.'
Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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