Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 8 – No. 2006 May 20, 2006
Thought for the week: "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." – Martin Luther King, Jr.
BOOK: THE DA VINCI CODE – A QUEST FOR ANSWERS by bestseller author, Josh McDowell. The brilliant mix of fact and fiction in Dan Brown's gripping conspiracy story "The Da Vinci Code" raises serious questions about the origins and claims of Christianity. But how much is fact and how much is fantasy? For accurate answers to Dan Brown's theory in his book and the soon to be released movie be sure to read Josh McDowell's book. Only $3.95 or a gift copy will be sent with every donation of $12.50 or more to help keep sending Daily Encounter around the world without cost.
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1. Words of Wisdom
"If football taught me anything about business, it is that you win the game one play at a time." – Fran Tarkenton
"The virtue of man ought to be measured, not by his extraordinary exertions but by his everyday conduct." – Blaise Pascal
"The best way to predict your future is to create it." – Erich Fromm
"Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe." – Winston Churchill
"A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction." – Rita Mae Brown
"If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." – Bishop Desmond Tutu
"You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose." – Lou Holt
A man lay spread out over three seats in the second row of a movie theater. As he lay there breathing heavily, an usher came over and said, "That's very rude of you, sir, taking up three seats. Didn't you learn any manners? Where did you come from?"
The man looked up helplessly and said, "The balcony!"
Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message, "He's lying," was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.
– Cited in Parables, Etc.,
Vol. 25, No. 9, November 2005
When you and I come to the end of our days, just remember this: God won't ask what kind of car we drove, but He will ask how many people we helped get where they needed to go. He won't ask how big our house was, but He will ask how many people we welcomed into our home. God won't ask what neighborhood we lived in, but He will ask how we treated our neighbors. And He won't ask how many fences we made, but He will ask how many bridges we built.
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
There are snowstorms. There are hailstorms. There are rainstorms. And there are doubtstorms.
Every so often a doubtstorm rolls into my life, bringing with it a flurry of questions and gale force winds of fear. And, soon after it comes, a light shines through it.
God's lights in our dark nights are as numerous as the stars, if only we'll look for them.
When Larry Brown was the coach of the San Antonio Spurs, he once spent an afternoon at a local men's store, signing autographs. He was scheduled to spend two hours, but ended up spending three. Pencil-and-pad-toting kids besieged the place, asking him questions and shaking his hand.
When he was finally able to slip out, he climbed into his car only to notice a touching sight. A late-arriving youngster pedaled up, jumped off his bike, and ran to the window to see if the coach was still in the store. When he saw he wasn't, he turned slowly, and sadly walked over to his bikeand began to ride off.
Coach Brown turned off the ignition, climbed out of the car and walked over to the boy. They chatted a few minutes, went next door to a drugstore, sat down at a table and had a soft drink.
No reporters were near. No cameras were on. As far as these two knew, no one knew. I'm sure Larry Brown had other things to do that afternoon. No doubt he had other appointments to keep. But it's doubtful that anything he might have done that afternoon was more important than what he did.
In a world of big-bucked, high-glossed professional sports, it did me good to hear of one coach who is still a coach at heart. Hearing what he did was enough to blow away any lingering clouds of doubt and to leave me warmed by God's light ... His gentle light.
Gentle lights. God's solutions for doubtstorms. Not thunderbolts. Not explosions of light. Just gentle lights. Visible evidence of the invisible hand.
2000 years ago: "When they [the religious leaders] heard this [Peter and the disciples preaching about Jesus Christ], they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them: 'Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God" (Acts 5:33-39, NIV).
In a letter to the editor of the New Zealand Herald newspaper, Barrie McClymont, director of the ACTS International in New Zealand wrote:
"In 1988 I was visiting Universal Studios in Hollywood as a tourist when I witnessed a few hundred people in a nearby section protesting against the film 'The Last Temptation of Christ.' While I understood their purpose I felt that such a public protest was simply drawing attention to the film pointlessly.
"Sure enough the absurd film died a natural death as a piece of nonsense. Most folk today cannot even recall its existence. Over my years I have watched a number of easily forgotten attempts to challenge Christianity with rubbish like the 'Da Vinci Code.' These theories died in short order as will the current material.
"The sub-leader in Monday's New Zealand Herald from the Sunday Telegraph correctly related the material to the G. K. Chesterton quote that 'when a man stops believing in God, he doesn't then believe in nothing, he believes in anything.' The only reason the current Da Vinci Code gets wide attention [in New Zealand] is substantially related to the copyright debate and not to its veracity. These things die on their feet."
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, may all the 'kaffufle' and 'konfuzion' caused by The Da Vanci Code book and movie by Dan Brown only cause millions of people worldwide to search for and find the truth about the real Jesus Christ. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
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Books by Dick Innes, Editor of Weekend Encounter You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing How to Mend a Broken Heart I Hate Witnessing—A Handbook for Effective Christian
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