Thank you to the 25 million Veterans who sacrificed for us.
All veterans are examples of service and citizenship for every American to remember and to follow.” — President George W. Bush, Oct. 30, 2001
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veteran’s Day: Freedom Is Not Free
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday Quote
Life is like a game of tennis. The player who serves well seldom loses.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday Scripture
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
If You Change One Thing, You Change Everything
If You Change One Thing, You Change Everything
Looking back on your life, what would you change if you could?
In the classic 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life, the main character, a small-town bank officer played by Jimmy Stewart, is about to commit suicide when an angel shows him how different the lives of people in Bedford Falls would be if he hadn’t been born. The movie is a favorite because it affirms how each of us touches the lives and shapes the future in unexpected and often marvelous ways.
More modern films like Back to the Future, Sliding Door, and Frequency are built on a similar premise: If you change the past, you change the future – often in dramatic and unpredictable ways. If you change one thing, you change everything.
Given the potential impact of every decision you make, it’s wise to think ahead. Although few things turn out exactly as we plan, the better we understand how our choices start a chain reaction of events, the more likely we are to get what we want.
The enormous complexity of cause and effect leads to another conclusion: It’s futile to look back at our lives with “what if” scenarios. What’s done is done. Although changing our past would change our present, it would do so in ways that are so unpredictable that we could never know whether it would be for better or worse.
Accept and celebrate the fact that what you are today is a direct result of everything that’s happened to you. It’s pointless to wish things were different. Remember, if you change one thing, you change everything.
By Michael Josephson
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sunday Scripture
19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Who Empowers Me?
What makes me weak? My fears…
What makes me whole? My God.
What keeps me standing? My faith.
What makes me compassionate? My example of Christ.
What makes me honest? My integrity.
What sustains my mind? My quest for knowledge. My questions.
What teaches me lessons? My mistakes.
What if I can’t go on? Not an option…
What makes me victorious? My courage to climb.
What makes me a person? My heart.
Who says I need love? I do.
What empowers me? Christ, who sacrificed for Me.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday Quote
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
~Goethe
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday Scripture
We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. John 6:69
Because the well runs dry, we know Jesus is the river of living water
(John 4).
Because the storm rages, we know Jesus is the Lord of the storms
(Matthew 14).
Because the floods overwhelm, we know Jesus is the rock on which to build (Matthew 7).
Because the foundation shivers, we know Jesus is the cornerstone that will not move (Matthew 21).
Because sickness comes, we know Jesus is the healer (Matthew 4).
Because we’re bankrupt through the debt of sin, we know Jesus is our redeemer (Galatians 3).
Because we grieve, we know Jesus is the voice calling from the shore, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” (John 21).
Because we’re full of doubt, we know Jesus is the nail-scarred palm inviting our touch (John 20).
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday Scripture
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace… Romans 15:13
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday Quote
The real tragedy is not that man dies, but what dies within man while he is alive on earth.
Quoted by Jane Harber in One Foot on a Banana Peel…Looking Through Grief…To The God of All Comfort.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sunday Scripture
5 In my anguish I cried to the LORD,
and he answered by setting me free.
6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
Psalm 118: 5-9
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
25 Things Ruby Must Remember
Things Ruby, the Dog, Must Remember
1. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff. Neither is the UPS guy.
2. I do not need to suddenly stand straight up when I’m lying under the coffee table.
3. I will not roll my toys behind the fridge, behind the sofa, or under the bed.
4. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house.
5. I will not eat next-door-neighbor Linda’s cats’ food, before she eats it or after they throw it up.
6. I will stop trying to find the few remaining pieces of clean carpet in the house when I am about to get sick.
7. I will not throw up in the car.
8. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc. just because I like the way they smell.
9. “Kitty box crunchies,” although they are tasty, are not food.
10. I will not eat any more Kleenex or napkins and then redeposit them in the back yard after processing.
11. I will not chew my humans’ toothbrushes and not tell them.
12. I will not chew crayons or pens, especially not the red ones, or my people will think I am hemorrhaging.
13. When in the car, I will not insist on having the window rolled down when it’s raining outside.
14. We do not have a doorbell. I will not bark each time I hear one on TV.
15. I will not steal Mom’s underwear and dance all over the backyard with it.
16. The sofa is not a face towel. Neither are Mom’s & Dad’s laps.
17. My head does not belong in the refrigerator.
18. I will not bite the officer’s hand when he reaches in for Mom’s driver’s license and car registration.
19. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad’s underwear when he’s on the toilet.
20. I will not use “roll around in the dirt” as an option just after getting a bath.
21. Sticking my nose into someone’s crotch is not an acceptable way of saying hello.
22. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my butt across the carpet.
23. The toilet bowl is not a never ending water supply, and just because the water is blue, it doesn’t mean it is cleaner.
24. I will not sit in the middle of the living room and lick myself “there” when company is here.
25. Linda’s cat is not a squeaky toy, so when I play with him and when he makes that noise, it’s usually not a good thing.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Sunday Scripture
Romans 5:1-2 ~ Since then it is by faith that we are justified, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things he has for us in the future.
Romans 5:3-5 ~ This doesn’t mean, of course, that we have only a hope of future joys – we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles. Taken in the right spirit these very things will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady hope, a hope that will never disappoint us. Already we have some experience of the love of God flooding through our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us.
From J.B. Phillips Translation of the New Testament
http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/JBPNT.htm
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Change Is Good, You Go First
***********************
Excerpt from: Change is Good…You Go First
By Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein
Learn from Old Warwick
Fostering a spirit of teamwork is critical in times of change. The key element is trust. Trust for the leader and trust for each other.
There is a wonderful story from the play, Some Folks Feel the Rain; Others Just Get Wet; and I think it’s worth sharing again to shed some light on how people think about teamwork…
A man was lost while driving through the country. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.
“Warwick can get you out of that ditch,” said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the decrepit old mule and looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, “Yep, old Warwick can do the job.” The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and the mule made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins, he shouted,
“Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!”
And the mule pulled that car right out of the ditch.The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, “Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?”The farmer grinned and said, “Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he doesn’t mind pulling.”
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Mental Fences
I’ve been dealing my own mental fences…those created by self-doubt, uncertainty, fear. Can you relate? Where have you fenced yourself in mentally in recent days or weeks? Perhaps your mental fence is procrastination, a deadening habit that keeps you stuck. Maybe yours, like mine, is related to self-doubt, and the on-going internal noise it produces that keeps you immobilized. Perhaps yours is the belief that you don’t deserve success, so you sabotage yourself to avoid having to find out how successful you could be. There are a million variations of the theme, but the result is still the same: we stay stuck
The formula:
VISION + CONSISTENT ACTION = FREEDOM!
Keep reading →
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday Quote
“Change always brings fear before it brings faith.” Max Lucado
Is the wind of change – I mean, faith – blowing through your life today?
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday Scripture
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:22-24
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wait in Expectation
Wait in Expectation, by Tom Norvell
Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry
for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O
Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before
you and wait in expectation (Psalm 5:1-3 NIV).
The words from the Psalmist reveal one thing we do very well, and one
thing we do not do so well.
This is what we do very well: “In the morning I lay my requests before
you.”
We have no problem laying our requests before the Lord in the morning,
at noontime, late in the afternoon, and before we go to sleep at night.
And, by the next morning we can start a new list. Our list of requests
can be long and detailed. “Lord, this is what I want to happen in this
situation; and this is how I want this problem to be solved. Lord, I
want You to do this, and Lord, I hope you will hurry up and do this
other thing.” We can even presume we know what the Lord thinks is best.
“Lord, I know You would not want this to happen to me; or Lord, I know
You would not want me to be unhappy.”
By the middle of the day our requests may change. Our desires may be
totally different than they were early in the morning. When the agenda
changes we are very good at asking the Lord to change the plans we had
previously requested. Then, if need be we will change the request made
at noon to better suit our desires before we go to bed.
We are very good at laying our requests before the Lord in the morning.
Waiting for Him to respond is never easy!
This is what we don’t do so well: “Wait in expectation.”
The expectation part is not a problem. The problem is with the waiting.
Once we’ve presented our requests before the Lord, we are ready for it
to happen. We act toward the Lord much like when we punch a button on
our computer and get frustrated if the computer does not give us the
instant response we expect. We want it now. We expect it now. We are
disappointed when it does not happen now. We cannot understand why our
requests are not granted now.
We love to present our requests to the Lord, but waiting for Him to
respond is not easy.
Perhaps there is a better way to live. In the morning let us lay our
requests before the Lord and wait expectantly for the Lord, who gives
ear to our words and listens to our cries for help, to respond as He
determines is best. Until He responds, we will wait expectantly. When
He responds, we will trust Him, knowing that He always responds in our
best interest, and that He will continue to respond in a way that draws
me closer to Him.
———
(c) 2009 Tom Norvell <tomnorvell@mac.com>.
