Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 16 – No. 2614 June 28, 2014
Thought for the week: "A teacher is a person who never says anything once." – Unknown
"Those things that hurt, instruct." – Benjamin Franklin
"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance." – Author Unknown
"Use your smile to change the world. Don't let the world change your smile." – Unknown
"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."
– Arthur Ashe, professional tennis player
"My father taught me that reputation, not money, was the most important thing in the world." – William Rosenberg, Dunkin Donuts founder
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do." – Eleanor Roosevelt
There were four college sophomores taking chemistry and all of them had an 'A' so far. These four friends were so confident that the weekend before finals, they decided to visit some friends and have a big party. They had a great time but, after all the hearty partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to campus until early Monday morning.
Rather than taking the final then, they decided that after the final they would explain to their professor why they missed it. They said that they visited friends, but on the way back they had a flat tire. As a result, they missed the final. The professor agreed they could make up the final the next day. The guys were excited and relieved. They studied that night for the exam.
The next day the Professor placed them in separate rooms and gave them a test booklet. They quickly answered the first problem worth 5 points. Cool, they thought! Each one in separate rooms, thought this was going to be easy ... then they turned the page. On the second page was written:
A few years ago the psychology department of Duke University carried on an interesting experiment. They wanted to see how long rats could swim. In one container they placed a rat for whom there was no possibility of escape. He swam a few moments and then ducked his head to drown. In the other container they made the hope of escape a possibility for the rat. The rat swam for several hours before finally giving up. The conclusion of the experiment was just the opposite of our common conclusion. We usually say, "As long as there is life, there is hope." The Duke experiment proved, "As long as there is hope, there is life."
4.
A Matter of Faith—How will you finish your race?
By Carol Round
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" – Isaiah 6:8 (NIV).
A 10-year-old Edmond, Oklahoma boy's handwritten letter to a TV station has captured people's hearts, not only in this country but worldwide. Tobias Bass' letter didn't ask for money. He just wanted to borrow a jogging stroller so he could push his older brother, Titus, in a 5K race.
Titus, who is a year older, has cerebral palsy. Tobias, who wants to be an Army pastor when he grows up, is determined his brother will get outside and have fun. In his letter to Channel 9 news, Tobias said, "My brother is 11 and has cerebral palsy and is deaf and lost his stomach last year. He cries when he sees kids playing outside and wants to go too.
"So I decided I would start by pushing him in a 5k and we would work our way up to an Ironman contest someday. So our first 5k where I push him is Friday night at John Marshall High School on September 27 at 6:00 p.m. Here's the part I need help with. My mom is a teacher and can't afford one of those fancy running pushing joggers, and all I have to use is a baby pushing stroller. I don't think it will fit Titus, my brother. Can you go on the news and not ask Oklahomans to give me anything, but can someone loan me a jogger pusher so I can push Titus in the 5k?"
In his letter to the news station, Tobias added, "If someone can loan me a pusher, I will volunteer myself out to any other parents who want me to run their disabled children in a 5k. I can be the legs for more than one kid."
Tobias told the newscasters he was physically ready because "he plays sports and practices jujitsu at school." He added that he is spiritually ready after being mentored by his local pastor, who he said told him, "We have to be God's hands and feet."
In his penned letter, Tobias added, "But I'm going to be his legs, too."
Tobias celebrates being able to push his brother, Titus, after the generous donation of a jogging stroller. With the help of the TV station, Tobias received his jogging stroller. It wasn't a loaner though. The Oklahoma Able Tech, contacted by Channel 9 news, gave Tobias a brand new one so he could push his brother in the race. Though he had only practiced using an empty infant stroller before the race, Tobias ran the 3.2 miles pushing his older brother to the finish line.
In Acts 20, Paul leaves the Ephesian elders with this encouragement, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace."
At 10, Tobias is already the hands and feet of Jesus.
Lately I've been spending a lot of time consulting with large companies concerned with strengthening their ethical culture.
Although I'm sure the leaders I work with care about ethics and virtue for their own sake, I know the driving force to seek outside assistance is self-interest. The risk of reputation—damaging and resource—draining charges resulting from improper conduct is so high that it's a matter of prudence and responsible stewardship to stress ethical values and moral principles.
Yet changing or strengthening an organization's culture is no simple task. We start with a questionnaire to identify vulnerabilities—attitudes and behaviors that could jeopardize the company.
The most common vulnerability we find is a management style that represses frank and open discussions about ethical concerns and discourages revelation of bad news.
Invariably, we discover that at least one in five employees admit they lied to their superior about something significant within the past year, and at least one-third concealed or distorted negative information to avoid harmful career repercussions. Often, half or more employees say they remain silent rather than risk their boss's anger, abuse, or disapproval. Thus, many questionable or improper actions go unreported and uncorrected—each one a scandal waiting to happen.
The antidote is explicit and credible corporate policies that promote accountability by making it clear that repressive management styles will not be tolerated and that every employee is encouraged and expected to muster the moral courage to report unwelcome facts and to voice dissenting opinions.
Meaningful improvement in business ethical culture requires persistent and pervasive efforts to create an environment that values and protects honesty, personal responsibility, and corporate integrity.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness."1
In his book, Confidence, Alan Loy McGinnis talks about a famous study entitled "Cradles of Eminence" by Victor and Mildred Goertzel, in which the family backgrounds of 300 highly successful people were studied.
Many of the names of those in the study were well-known to most of us—including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Albert Schweitzer, Gandhi, and Einstein—all of whom were brilliant in their field of expertise.
The results of this study are both surprising and encouraging for many of us who came from a less than desirable home life. For example: "Three-quarters of the children were troubled either by poverty, by a broken home, or by rejecting, over-possessive or dominating parents.
"Seventy-four of 85 writers of fiction or drama and 16 of the 20 poets came from homes where, as children, they saw tense psychological drama played out by their parents.
"Physical handicaps such as blindness, deafness, or crippled limbs characterized over one-quarter of the sample."
These people who had confidence in their abilities and put them to creative use had more weaknesses and handicaps than many who have all of their faculties intact and who had a reasonably good home life background. So, what made the difference? Probably by compensating for their weaknesses they excelled in other areas.
One man reported, "What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered, I would probably have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature." The speaker who stammered until his death was W. Somerset Maugham, as he looked back on his life at age 86.
"By then he had become a world-renowned author of more than 20 books, 30 plays, and scores of essays and short stories."
It's not what we have or don't have that matters in life, but what we do with what we have. All God expects of us is that we don't allow our past to determine our future, and that with His help, we use what we have to the best of our ability.
It's not what we have or don't have that matters in life but what we do with what we have. All God expects of us is that we don't allow our past to determine our future, and that with his help we use what we have to the best of our ability.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank You for the gifts You have given to me, no matter how small or large, help me to develop and use them to my total God-given potential, and to use them for Your glory. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."
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Because the world would die without,
go with the love of God."
