Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol.18 – No. 5216 December 24, 2016
Wishing all our readers a very Merry and God blessed Christmas, and
many thanks for the opportunity to share with you in this way every
week. From Dick and Joy Innes.
...
Thought for the week: "Forgiveness: Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury." – E. H. Chapin
"The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it." – Harry Emerson Fosdick
"With vision, every person, organization and country can flourish. The Bible says, 'Without vision we perish.'" – Mark Victor Hansen
"If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you will be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life." – Abraham Maslow
"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral." – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"If at first you do succeed, try something harder." – Ann Landers
"To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step in knowledge." – Benjamin Disraeli
"To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future." – Plutarch
"One person with courage makes a majority." – Andrew Jackson
"Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct." – Thomas Carlyle
I wrote your name on a piece of paper, but by accident I threw it away. I wrote your name on my hand, but it washed away. I wrote your name in the sand, but the waves whispered it away. I wrote your name in my heart, and forever it will stay.
Six humans trapped by happenstance
In dark and bitter cold
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs,
The first woman held hers back.
For on the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.
The next man looking cross the way,
Saw one not of his church,
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes,
He gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use,
To warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store.
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor ....
The last man of this forlorn group
Did naught except for gain
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.
The logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without,
They died from—The Cold Within.
"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again" (Luke 6:38).
A young nurse was assisting a surgeon for the first time.
As he was completing the operation, she told him he had used 12 sponges, but she could account for only 11. The doctor curtly replied that he had removed them all from inside the patient. The nurse insisted that one was missing, but the doctor declared he would proceed with sewing up in the incision. The nurse, her eyes blazing, said, "You can't do that! Think of the patient!" The doctor smiled and, lifting his foot, showed the nurse the twelfth sponge, which he had deliberately dropped on the floor. "You'll do fine!" he said. He had been testing her.
Daniel's three friends faced a different kind of test (see Daniel 3), but they too wouldn't budge. They knew their refusal to worship the image might result in their death, yet they never wavered. They proved they were true to God by standing firm.
Thought: The Lord still permits trials and temptations to enter the lives of His children. The challenge may come as an opportunity to gratify the lusts of the flesh, or as a series of disheartening circumstances. Whatever form it takes, we must not yield. Rather, we must stand for what is right and trust God to supply the grace we need. (HVL)
"Let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up" (Daniel 3:18).
Disdain for money is a common theme among moralists and philosophers. But money's not the problem. It's what people do to get it and what they do with it when they get it.
In "Fiddler on the Roof," a poor man sings of his daydreams of the wonderful life he'd have if he were a rich man. And surely it would be better. As Mae West said, "I've been poor and I've been rich. Rich is better."
Yet the Biblical warning that "love of money is the root of all evil" reminds us to be aware of the difference between need and greed.
It's one thing to make money a central goal to escape poverty and provide for truly basic necessities. It's quite another when money becomes our primary motivation and measure of success, or when we equate happiness or worthiness with wealth.
The love of money can have a powerful narcotic effect on our values. It can push us toward or keep us in unhealthy relationships and unsatisfying careers. It can lead us to undervalue the importance of relationships and work. The desire for money can make us into workaholics who neglect family and friends. And it can spawn dishonorable conduct that pollutes our souls and makes us unworthy despite our net worth.
According to an old Hasidic saying, "One who thinks money can do everything is likely to do anything to get it."
Perhaps the French philosopher Rousseau said it best: "The money you have can give you freedom, but the money you pursue enslaves you."
The challenge is to put the value of money in perspective. In the end, the question is: How much are we willing to pay to have money?
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18).
Author Marabel Morgan told how for three long months prior to the birth of her second daughter she was flat on her back in the hospital with no visitors allowed. She was bored out of her mind and longed to have something constructive to do but was too drugged to even read, let alone write. Eventually her baby was born and she returned home. Her life now was filled with things to do, taking care, not only of the new baby, but another daughter as well, her husband, household chores, and innumerable other responsibilities—not the time to write a book. But she did!
She said, "Once you set your goal, then picture it done. Without this finished picture in your mind, you'll give up halfway. With it, there's no limit to what you might accomplish."
Somebody else said, "Faith is visualizing what God wants you to do." Good point. Once we see what that is, it is so much easier to start doing it!
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please give me a vision of what you are doing in the world today, the world in which I live, and show me how I can be a part of that. Let your vision for me be my vision for you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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