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 Dick Innes


Weekend Encounter

Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes          
Published by: ACTS International

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Thought for the week: "Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury." – E. H. Chapin
 
    INDEX
1.   Words of Wisdom
2.   On the Lighter Side
3.   Good Advice
4.   Middle C
5.   Health Watch
6.   Lying Is Like Reckless Driving
7.   Don't Quit
8.   Receive Daily Encounter Devotional  Without Charge
9.   Weekend Encounter E-mail Edition  Without Charge
10.   Know God ... Without Having to Be Religious
11.   Making Families Strong
12.   Prayer Partners Needed
13.   Join the Team
14.   Helpful Cassette Messages and Books
15.   Services Without Charge
16.   Foot Note


1. Words of Wisdom

"A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind." – Albert Szent-Gyorgi

"None are so empty as those who are full of themselves."
     – Benjamin Whichcote

"Each one of us can work for a small change in the world around us."
– Lamar S. Smith, Politician

"The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes." – Amy Grant

"Behind every great achievement is a dreamer of great dreams." – Robert K. Greenleaf

"A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person." – Anon

"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you're the statue." – Anon

"When the going gets tough the tough get going." – Joseph P. Kennedy

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up." – Vince Lombardi

Index

2. On the Lighter Side

A Dutchman was explaining the red, white, and blue Netherlands flag to an American.

"Our flag is symbolic of our taxes. We get red when we talk about them, white when we get our tax bills, and blue after we pay them."

The American nodded, "It's the same in the USA only we see stars too!"

– Cited on Andychaps The Funnies Andychap@aol.com

3. Good Advice
  • Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
  • Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
  • Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
  • When you say, "I love you," mean it.
  • When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.
  • Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
  • Believe in love at first sight.
  • Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
  • Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
  • In disagreements, fight fairly. No name-calling.
  • Don't judge people by their relatives
  • Talk slowly but think quickly.
  • When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"
  • Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
  • Say, "Bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.
  • When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
  • Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.
  • Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
  • When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
  • Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
  • Spend some time alone.

    Cited on Andychaps The Funnies Andychap@aol.com

4. Middle C

Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe and other novels lived in a boarding house when he was a student. On the first floor of the house there lived a retired music teacher who was confined to a wheelchair. Every morning as Douglas went down stairs he would stick his head in the music teacher's room and ask his friend; "What's the good news?" To which the music teacher would respond each day by striking a tuning fork against the side of his wheelchair and saying; "Middle C! Hear that, it's middle C! It was middle C yesterday, it's middle C today, and it will still be middle C 1,000 years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but my friend—that is middle C!"

God's love and care is our middle C. Just like middle C could be counted on by the music teacher to be middle C always and forever, so too can we count on God to love and care for us, to see us as children worth adopting and saving, even dying for, to be the light that cannot be extinguished, no matter what.

www.eSermons.com

5. Health Watch

Another reason to avoid trans fat, found in many packaged foods and fast foods: not only does it raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol, it also increases inflammation in the body, according to a recent study of 823 nurses. Chronic low-grade inflammation is an important player in cardiovascular disease (see Wellness Letter, March 2003).

Weight also affects inflammation levels, as was seen in another study in the same issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In a group of overweight or obese people over 60, those who lost weight via calorie reduction significantly reduced inflammation levels.

UC Berkeley Wellness Letter July 2004, P. 8.
   www.wellnessletter.com

Index

6. Lying Is Like Reckless Driving

By Michael Josephson of Character Counts

Sometimes lying makes our lives easier. If you want the day off, just call in sick. If your boss asks if you've finished a report, say you left it at home. And if an irate customer calls, just make up a good cover-up story. Sure, "technically" these are lies, but since no one is hurt, what's the big deal?

We tell ourselves that these sorts of lies are harmless. But are they really? Telling lies is like drunk driving. If we're lucky, we won't get caught and no one will get hurt. Still, drunk driving is wrong because it's irresponsible to recklessly endanger human life. Most lies are wrong because they recklessly endanger human relationships. What's more, lies are habit forming. The more lies we tell, the easier it becomes, so we tell more lies.

Self-serving lies that help us get out of a jam or look better are like land mines. Many of them may lie dormant but, sooner or later, some of them will explode, damaging both credibility and reputation. The ethical duty to be worthy of trust does not bend to our needs, convenience or desire to avoid unpleasant consequences. Besides being dishonest, lying is disrespectful because it deprives the victim of true information needed to make sensible decisions.

Lies damage personal and business relationships because they generate suspicion and distrust. Once lied to, most people think, "What else will he lie to me about?" This is not a healthy basis for any relationship.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

© 2005 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation's leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS!  For further information visit www.charactercounts.org

Index

7. Don't Quit

Sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes

From the Apostle Paul: "But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going" (2 Corinthians 4:7-9, NLT).

I suppose there are times when all of us feel overcome by problems and feel like quitting. I've been there, but couldn't find anything better than my Christian faith to quit to. Today I thank God for the courage to keep going, not knowing that God was allowing trials to strengthen my faith and to help me grow.

If you feel like giving up and quitting, perhaps the following poem will encourage you to hang in, to hang on, but not hang up when the going gets tough.

DON'T QUIT!

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow!
Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit –
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.1

I also like a quote that Robert Schuller uses: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Or as the title of one of his books says, Tough Times Never Last. Tough People Do.

God never forsook the Apostle Paul who faced incredible trials and opposition. And he will never forsake you or me as long as we place our trust in him.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you will never forsake or abandon me. Please help me always to put my trust in you and your faithfulness regardless of my circumstances, knowing that in the end my faith and trust in you will be justified. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Anonymous

Index

8. Receive Daily Encounter E-mail ... Free

Daily Encounter, a free weekday e-mail inspirational from ACTS International is now going to 383,000+ subscribers. Scores of letters from around the world have come from readers saying how much they are being helped by this brief, practical devotional.

Over 100 million e-mail Daily, Weekend and Prayer Encounters are delivered to subscribers every year!

Click HERE for more samples of Daily Encounter

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Index

9. Receive E-mail Edition of Weekend Encounter ... It's Without Charge

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Index

10. Know God ... Without having to be religious

Click on: Know God

Index

11. Making Families Strong

Click on: Strong Families

Index

12. Prayer Partners Needed

One of ACTS greatest needs is Prayer Partners to stand with us as we seek to share the gospel with millions of people around the world through E-mail and the Internet and to win the lost to Jesus. If you would like to be an ACTS Prayer Partner, please subscribe to the Prayer Encounter list. Approximately two prayer reports are emailed monthly. Thank you.

Index

13. Join the ACTS Team

    "Changing the World . . . One Person at a Time" 

Weekend Encounter and Daily Encounter are just two of the ways the nonprofit organization, ACTS International, is working to improve the spiritual and emotional life of many thousands of people around the world.

Every weekday Daily Encounter is going to 383,000+ subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to almost 8,000 subscribers worldwide—many of whom are in places where it is forbidden to spread the Christiam gospel and message. Plus we reach several hundred thousand more every week through our advertising. As a result every day we are seeing an average of 5-6 salvation responses from around the world—over 2100 in the past 15 months!

If you find value in the free Weekend Encounter and/or Daily Encounter, we hope you will be comfortable donating at least $26. That's only 50 cents a week for an entire year (tax-deductible in the U.S.). You can donate in one of the following ways:

DONATE ONLINE: You can donate online at ACTS secure web site. Click HERE on ACTS support donations

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Index

14. 13. Helpful Books, CDs and Cassettes

Oprah Winfrey: "Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi." – Oprah Winfrey

Click HERE for books, CDs, tapes and poems by Dick Innes and others.

Books:

  His Needs, Her Needs by Willard F. Harley, Jr. has
  topped the charts as the best marriage book
  available. More than one million couples have read
  it ... made their marriage sizzle.
  Fall in Love Stay in Love
  Just Hand Over the Chocolate
  Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships
  Sex Starts in the Kitchen
  Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours
  On SALE at:
http://www.actscom.com/store

More tapes and books by D. Innes & others are also available at: ttp://www.actscom.com/store

Index

15. Services Without Charge

 1. Bible concordance and Bible helps
 2. New Hope Crisis Counseling with trained
     lay/volunteer counselors. www.newhopenow.org
 
3. E-Word Today for a daily Bible reading
 4. To find your ZIP+4 Area Code in the U.S.A.
 5. How to find and write to your U.S. Representative
 6. ASK ... Smart answers fast
 7. Send a greeting card without charge for all occasions
 8. To check the weather in your area
 9. Hoax Web Sites
10. Plus many more sources of helpful information

GO TO: http://www.actsweb.org/links.php

Index

16. Foot Note... includes links to past Daily and Weekend Encounters

ARCHIVES: Daily and Weekend Encounters
Current Weekend Encounter



"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace."

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