Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 18 – No. 2316 June 04, 2016
Thought for the week: "It is time to get back to basics: to self-discipline and respect for the law, to consideration for others, to accepting responsibility for yourself and your family, and not shuffling it off on the state." – John Major, Former British Prime Minister
"I am grateful for all of my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties." – J.C. Penney, businessman
"It's better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret." – Jacki Joyner-Kersee, Athlete
"Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship." – Benjamin Franklin
"You miss 100% of the shots you never take." – Wayne Gretzky, Hockey Great
"Wisdom is knowing what to do; virtue is doing it." – David Jordan, scientist
"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up." – Paul Valery, French Poet
As we grow older, and hence wiser, we slowly realize that wearing a $300.00 or a $30.00 watch—they both tell the same time.
Whether we carry a $300.00 or $30.00 wallet/handbag—the amount of money inside is the same.
Whether the house we live in is 300 or 3,000 sq.ft.—loneliness is the same.
You will realize that your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world.
Whether you fly First, Business or Economy class, if the plane goes down—you go down with it.
Therefore, I hope you realize, when you have mates, buddies and old friends, brothers and sisters with whom you chat, laugh, talk, have sing-songs together, talk about heaven earth, that is true happiness!
One day, Thomas Edison came home and gave a paper to his mother. He told her, "My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother."
His mother's eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child: "Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn't have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself."
After many, many years, Edison's mother died, and he had become one of the greatest inventors of the century. One day he began looking through old family things. Suddenly he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up. On the paper was written: "Your son is addled [mentally ill]. We won't let him come to school any more."
Edison cried for hours and then he wrote in his diary: "Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century."
"I looked in the mirror and what did I see?
But a little old lady peering back at me,
With bags and sags and wrinkles and wispy white hair,
And I asked my reflection, how did you get there?
You once were straight and vigorous,
And now you're stooped and weak,
When I tried so hard to keep you from becoming an antique.
My reflection's eyes twinkled and she solemnly replied,
You're looking at the gift wrap and not the jewel inside,
A living gem and precious of unimagined worth,
Unique and true, the real you, the only you on earth,
The years that spoil your gift wrap with other things more cruel,
Should purify and strengthen and polish up that jewel,
So focus your attention on the inside, not the out,
On being kinder, wiser, more content and more devout,
Then when your gift wrap's stripped away,
Your jewel will be set free, to radiate God's glory throughout eternity!"
– Wanda B. Goines,
Submitted by Cheryl T.
New Zealand
Ben was a new lumberjack who swung his ax with great power. He could fell a tree in 20 strokes, and in the first few days he produced twice as much lumber as anyone else. By week's end, he was working even harder, but his lead was dwindling.
One friend told him he had to swing harder. Another said he had to work longer. Neither idea worked. Finally, an old fellow asked Ben how often he sharpened his ax. Ben said he had no time; there was too much to do.
The lesson of this parable contains the remedy to ineffectiveness in today's workplace.
Dedicated executives may work enormous hours not realizing how much their failure to sharpen their ax by taking time off reduces their effectiveness. As one exceeds the limits of intellectual and physical stamina, both the quantity and quality of work suffer. Fatigue affects judgment and mental acuity, and soon the time and energy needed to fix errors offsets the extra time devoted to the task.
Organizations fail to sharpen their ax when they give short shrift to screening job applicants and training new hires. Burdened with heavy workloads, managers consumed by a sense of urgency to fill open positions succumb to the "warm body" fallacy—the false idea that anyone is better than no one.
You need three things in a good employee: competence, commitment, and character. Shortcomings in any area will be costly, consuming time and resources and damaging morale. Sharpening your ax in this setting means being more diligent in background checks, more selective in hiring, more serious in training, and more demanding during probation.
"I [God] will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way."1
In much younger days I used to play a guitar (long before they became as popular as they are today) and sing. One of my favorite songs was the "Hornet Song" that went something like the following:
When the Canaanites hardened their hearts against God,
And grieved Him because of their sin,
God sent along hornets to bring them to terms,
And to help His own people to win.
Now the hornets persuaded them that it was best
To go quickly and not to go slow,
They didn't compel them to go 'gainst their will.
But they just made them willing to go.
If a nest of live hornets were brought to this room,
And the creatures allowed to go free,
You would not need urging to make yourself scarce,
You'd want to get out, don't you see!
When Jonah was sent to the work of the Lord,
The outlook was not very bright,
Why he never had done such a hard thing before,
So he backed out and ran off from the fight.
Now, the Lord sent a big fish to swallow him up,
The story I am sure you all know,
God didn't compel him to go 'gainst his will,
But He just made him willing to go.
Chorus:
God doesn't compel us to go, oh, no!
He never compels us to go,
God does not compel us to go 'gainst our will,
But He just makes us willing to go.
So here I am today—many years hence—doing with my life what I believe God wants me to do—and finding it incredibly fulfilling. "God's hornets" for me involved an accident on a construction site that put me in the hospital for a few days and out of work for a few weeks while recuperating. God had to put me flat on my back so I would stop and hear what he had been trying to get me to hear for about three years. While in the hospital I "heard" God's call—loud and clear—and "knew that I knew that I knew" what I needed to do. That was to go back to school and train for a lifetime of Christian ministry. How thankful I am today for the "hornets" God has sent into my life on several other occasions as well.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank You that your call to each one of us is persistent, so please give me hearing ears and a listening heart to hear you call that I will know without a doubt that I am fulfilling my God-given life purpose to the very best of my ability. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."
1. Exodus 23: 28 (NIV).
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Loving & Understanding People by Dick Innes
I Hate Witnessing by Dick Innes
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