Farris Hassan's Trip to Bagdad: "So I Will"

Quote from BBC news:

An American teenager is on his way back to Florida after secretly travelling to Iraq to research a journalism project. Farris Hassan, 16, did not tell his parents - who are both Iraqi - anything about his trip before leaving. ...

"I know I can't do much. I know I can't stop all the carnage and save the innocent. But I also know I can't just sit here," he wrote.

"Going to Iraq will broaden my mind. We kids at Pine Crest live such sheltered lives. I want to experience during my Christmas the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday, so that I may better empathize with their distress."

"If I know what is needed and what is right, but do not act on my moral conscience, I would be a hypocrite. I must do what I say decent individuals should do. I want to live my days so that my nights are not full of regrets. Therefore, I must go," he concluded.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4569712.stm
Published: 2005/12/30 16:08:49 GMT

---

Quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, Dec. 30, 2005:

"There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction," [Farris Hassan] wrote.
"Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will."

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/13511872.htm

Doggedly Blundering toward Heaven

on the humanity of the saints:
"They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or testy or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still they went on doggedly blundering toward Heaven. And they won sanctity partly by willing to be saints, not only because they encountered no temptation to be less."

Saint-Watching, Phyllis McGinley

Five Christian Movie Review Sites

New York Times, December 26, 2005

New Cultural Approach for Conservative Christians: Reviews,
Not Protests
By JOHN LELAND

Christian groups used to ignore movies like " Brokeback Mountain." Recently, they have been more willing to examine popular culture critically.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/26/movies/26crit.html?th&emc=th

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Christian Movie Review Sites quoted in the above New York Times article:

pluggedinonline.com
Focus on the Family Web site pluggedinonline.com , which started reviewing movies in 1990, gets 800,000 monthly visitors to pluggedinonline, and 50,000 see the magazine in print, a spokeswoman said.

Christianitytodaymovies.com
The mainstream evangelical magazine Christianity Today last year started Christianitytodaymovies.com and the site gets 125,000 visitors a month.

HollywoodJesus.com
HollywoodJesus " HollywoodJesus.com" gets one million visitors a month, said its founder, David Bruce, a former Protestant minister who has also worked in television and publishing.

decentfilms.com
Decent Films Guide ( decentfilms.com ) an independent Roman Catholic site

movieguide.org
The more conservative MovieGuide, which runs on syndicated television, radio and online at movieguide.org, is a Web site dedicated to "redeeming the values of the mass media according to biblical principles."
Reviewer Mr. Snyder, who has a doctorate in film studies from Northwestern University, says "Hollywood projects a leftist homosexual agenda, which goes along with radical feminism, and a misunderstanding of what Christianity teaches."

Seminary quoted: Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical institution, in Pasadena, Calif.

Strategy:
quote: So far the religious reaction to "Brokeback Mountain" has been limited to the review pages. … This too represents a growing sophistication in the way conservative Christian groups engage the popular culture, said Stuart Shepard, managing editor of Focus on the Family's daily e-mail news updates, which go out to 115,000 subscribers. "We're not going to go out and protest it because it would probably play into the marketing plans of the producers," he said. "They'd say, the Christian right is opposed to this movie, so you really, really, really want to see it."
"We learned from 'Last Temptation of Christ' that if it wasn't for the protest, the film wouldn't be remembered today," Mr. Shepard said. "Our expectation is 'Brokeback Mountain' won't do as well in the heartland, but protest would bump that up."

Going Back to Normal

New York Times, Dec. 23, 2005

- QUOTATION OF THE DAY -

"There's nothing so beautiful as going back to normal."
- MAHMOUD SADAKAH, a taxi driver, on the end of New York's transit strike.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/nyregion
/nyregionspecial3/23voices.html?th&emc=th

Helpful Hint

"One of the most important points to remember is the scale stamped on the inside of the pan is actually a good standard to follow."

Tiger Corporation electronic rice cooker operating instructions
Osaka, Japan

Are you OK?

"If you believe in God, and He exists, you're OK.

If you believe in God, and He doesn't exist, you're OK.

If you don't believe in God, and He doesn't exist, you're still OK.

But, if you don't believe in God, and He does EXIST, then boy you're in BIG trouble!"

--author unknown

Shine Anyway!

When you are not allowed to shine, shine anyway.
When you are discouraged from shining, shine anyway.
When you are criticized for shining, shine anyway.

Matthew 5:14-16
14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Shine anyway!

Trying to Please Everyone

"You know, they say that a preacher who tries to please everyone is like a stray dog at a whistler's convention. ...
If you try to address every side ... in any given teaching situation, you'll be all over the place. Changes are good you won't do any one thing very well."

Dr. Richard Robert Osmer
Teaching for Faith, A Guide for Teachers of Adult Classes
video, Princeton Theological Seminary

Failure

"Failure is not an option."

movie Apollo 13, Gene Kranz (played by Ed Harris)

Statistics

"Statistics are like bathing suits. What they reveal is tantalizing, but what they conceal is crucial."

Dr. Brent A. Strawn - Candler School of Theology at Emory University

Rendering Vulnerable

"Writing is most powerful when it renders both the writer and the reader vulnerable."

Chris Bolin, student, poetry
Iowa Writer's Workshop

Best Bathrooms Around the World

As seen on NBC 10 News at 11 p.m.:

Links: Best Bathrooms

POSTED: 8:02 pm EST November 30, 2005

Bathrooms

Link: www.thebathroomdiaries.com

Link: www.wheretostopwheretogo.com

Getting a Human on the Phone

New as of Feb. 2, 2006: go to gethuman.com

The IVR Cheat Sheet by Paul English
www.paulenglish.com/ivr/
Includes: finance company, phone number, steps to find a human

The IVR Cheat Sheet
Thursday, 2-February-2006

The "get human" fury unleashed by over one million consumers has become too great to be handled by the sole blogger who started this campaign in 2005.

As of today, the IVR Cheat Sheet™ is being shut down...

...and is now replaced with a new free site powered by over one million consumers who demand human contact.

Please change your links to http://gethuman.com.

—Paul English

A Chance to Repent

The good die young that they may not degenerate; the wicked live on that they may have a chance to repent, or to produce a virtuous progeny.

-Zohar, Genesis, 56b

from 'A Treasury of Jewish Quotations,' edited by Joseph L. Baron, Jason Aronson Inc.

(from Nancy D.)

Living for Others

"She's the sort of woman who lives for others -- you can always tell the others by their hunted expression."

-- C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters

Expose yourself to Enthusiasm!

from a sermon by John Galloway,
Wayne Presbyterian Church, Wayne, PA, Sept. 4, 2005

"Expose yourself to enthusiasm!"

There is awesome spiritual power in enthusiasm.

St. Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you....

May you be content knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of you.

"Saint Theresa is known as the Saint of the Little Ways. Meaning she believed in doing the little things in life well and with great love She is also the patron Saint of flower growers and florists. She is represented by roses.”

http://www.cotwest.com/1/COTW
/prayers.asp?NsID=2995

Mother Theresa: Love Them Anyway

Way of Life

Author: Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, some could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you‘ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.

Revenge

Quotes from Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenal)

Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind.
[Lat., Semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio.]
Source: Satires (XIII, 189)

You are not to do evil that good may come of it.
[Lat., Non faciat malum, ut inde veniat bonum.]
Source: Satires (XIII, 209)

http://www.worldofquotes.com/author
/Juvenal-(Decimus-Junius-Juvenal)/1/

You heal well

Jan. 1995

After my gynecologist examined my scar, he said:
"You heal well."

Saturday Collection

quotes from Saturday:

"Discipline enables people to experience success."
~ VisionQuest

"When Life gives you scraps, make Quilts."
~ Mom's stationery

"We can't work 20 hours a day anymore," says Matalin, 41. "We've got a dog now. We have responsibilities."
~ Mary Mataline, wife of James Carville, explaining why she and her husband didn't plan to work in the '96 presidential elections as they had in the past.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 6, 1995

Oprah's Success Secret

"just be really good at being yourself"

Terrell Owens permanently suspended

Despite his outstanding talent, Terrell Owens was permanently suspended from the Philadelphia Eagles for conduct detrimental to the team (disruptive conduct, negative remarks, etc.).

Donovan McNabb's reaction:
We will be better off without him. Last night we played as a team.

Inform, Reflect, Crusade, Connect

"I cling to a simple formula I devised year ago to describe what a good newspaper ought to do:
Inform, reflect, crusade, connect."

Jane Eisner, American Rhythms
from her farewell column
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005

Japanese Tea Ceremony

The four basic principles of the Japanese tea ceremony:

harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility

Chado--The Way of Tea
www.art.uiuc.edu/tea/

also:

http://www.art.uiuc.edu/galleries/japanhouse
/classes/chado/university/project1.cfm
art 209 : tea ceremony and zen aesthetics : Final projects
CHADO INVITATION : VIKY CHI
Project description. You're Invited to Attend a Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony
Please Join Us for a Cup of Tea.

The Japanese tea ceremony is a simple process in which the host serves the guest a carefully prepared bowl of tea. Within this process, you are given the opportunity to revitalize your spirit, identifying with your own true self, as well as with others sharing the tea experience.

The ceremonial aspects of Chado are simple, unadorned with any unnecessary objects or actions. The process consists of the host's careful preparation of a bowl of tea, showing great concentration with every movement. The tea utensils are revered with the highest consideration, with careful cleansing and handling. Powdered green tea is measured into a specific tea bowl chosen for the occasion. The host adds hot water and, with a tea whisk, blends the tea until it is fit to serve to the guests. The tea is then served and received in a manner that communicates respect and gratitude from both the host and the guest.

Every component of the tea ceremony is prepared and performed with the greatest consideration-- with one's mind, heart and spirit. This pureness of the Way of Tea is the Zen approach to every aspect of one's life.

Please relax and enjoy yourself today as we share a bowl of tea.

Guest Procedures

The guests approach the host's home through a slightly open garden gate. A small, garden path called a roji leads to the tea hut. Roji, translated as "dewy ground", is where the guest is able to discard the unnecessary burdens of the outside world, clearing their minds for the tea ceremony.

A tsukubai is placed near the entrance of tea hut. At this low, stone water basin, the guests stoop down to wash their hands and mouth, symbolically purifying themselves.

The guests enter the tea hut by crawling through a small doorway called the nijiriguchi. The nijiriguchi is built at a size in which all who enter must crawl through at the same level, reflecting a sense of humility and connection with the other guests.

The guests perform toko-viewing before the tokonoma, where objects of art are displayed by the host. The guest approaches the tokonoma and bow, showing respect and appreciation. The objects in the tokonoma are usually: a hanging scroll, a floral arrangement, and an incense container which are chosen in accordance with the season and theme of the tea ceremony.

When the host strikes a gong, the guests seat themselves in the tea room and exchange formal greetings with the host by the act of bowing. The mood is quiet as the guests watch the host prepare the tea. The guests share this bowl of tea, offering and receiving the tea by bowing, to show respect and gratitude.

After the ceremony, the guests are welcome to examine the tea utensils and converse with host.

An important concept underlying all the aspects of the tea ceremony is Kokoro, meaning mind, heart and spirit. This is the extent to which the host and the guest are involved in the ceremony. Every effort made by the host is put forth with the mind, heart and spirit towards creating a wonderful experience for the guests. Every detail in the garden and tea hut and every movement in making the tea is performed with great concentration. The guests appreciate and show respect for these efforts with their entire mind, heart and spirit as well. With careful observance of the display in the tokonoma and bowing with respect to others, the guest also gives the most sincere effort in their part of the tea ceremony.

Reflecting on the various scrolls displayed throughout this semester, this concept, kokoro, has had the most impact on the way I view my life. I read this and thought about all the experiences I have encountered in the past. I realize that the ones the stand out and those that I am the most proud of are ones in which I have put my entire mind, heart and spirit into. This was most evident when I recollect on all the classes I've taken as an undergraduate. I realize that often I have received high grades in my courses, but I cannot honestly say that I learned the most from those classes and that they had much affect on me. Instead it was the courses that I put my entire efforts in, my time, my interest, and my will to learn, that I have learned the most from and I am proud of.

Fear of Women

Woody Allen explains why at age 57 he started a passionate affair with his girlfriend Mia's adopted daughter, age 22, and married her:

"I don't ever feel that I'm with a hostile or threatening person. It's got a more paternal feeling to it."

"Newsmakers," Philadelphia Inquirer, November 1, 2005.

Diplomacy

President Lyndon Johnson explained why he retained controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover:

It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.
—Lyndon B. Johnson

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Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
—John F. Kennedy

http://www.bartleby.com/quotations
/052002.html

Destroyed?

In an interview with Fortune magazine, Martha Stewart optimistically said:

"I have learned that I really cannot be destroyed."

from "Newsmakers," page D2, Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Bell & Evans chicken

Bell & Evans
Fredericksburg, VA

“For years our Bell & Evans chickens have been raised without antibiotics, animal byproducts or animal fats. Unlike some others, our company strives to raise ALL of our chickens without the use of antibiotics and to demanding humane standards. Bell & Evans has had a Preharvest HACCP plan in place to certify this industry-leading performance.”
Bruno S. Schmalhofer, CEO, Letter to the New York Times, Feb. 14, 2002

http://www.keepantibioticsworking.com/new
/consumers_statements.cfm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted on Fri, Aug. 05, 2005

Pampered poultry

By Harold Brubaker
Inquirer Staff Writer

FREDERICKSBURG, Pa.
...
Three of the industry's major players - Bell & Evans, BC Natural Chicken, and College Hill Poultry - have plants here.
...
Bell & Evans, which traces its roots to Bellmawr, Camden County, in the 1890s and employs nearly 1,200, is the largest. ... Three national customers - Whole Foods Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Panera Bread - are counting on him. They have been buying as much Bell & Evans chicken as they can get and are looking for more, even though it costs as much as 50 percent more than conventional chicken. ... When Panera chose Bell & Evans, it was not looking for a "natural" chicken, just a better-tasting chicken, said John Taylor, Panera's director of product development. "We started with taste, and this is what we came across," he said.
...
Instead of looking for the cheapest available feed, Bell & Evans feeds its chickens a strict diet of corn, soybean meal, vitamins and minerals, Sechler said. That's more expensive - at retail, a natural whole chicken recently was selling for $1.99 a pound at Whole Foods, compared with $1.69 for conventional chicken at a nearby Acme - but Sechler thinks it gives the chicken consistently good flavor.

In another effort to improve the flavor of Bell & Evans chicken, the company installed a new system to chill the chickens using cold air after they are killed, instead of dunking them in cold water treated with chlorine.
...
"Natural" - Whole Foods, Bell & Evans and others use the term for chickens that are given vegetarian feed and no antibiotics.

Organic(USDA) - These chickens eat organically grown feed and no antibiotics.

Free range - The birds have access to an outside pen for a portion of their lives.

Pastured - The chickens get up to 20 percent of their feed from pasture forage, typically living in movable pens.

SOURCES: National Chicken Council, American Pastured Poultry Producers' Association, Inquirer research.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Harold Brubaker at 215-854-4651 or hbrubaker@phillynews.com.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer
/business/12306473.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.philly.com

Reforming the Establishment

quotes from "Patching the Presidency" by David Brooks, New York Times editorial, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005:

Ronald Reagan hired David Abshire as a special counselor halfway into Reagan's second term to help recover from the Iran-contra scandal. In his new book, "Saving the Reagan Presidency," Abshire said he had four main tasks:
1. "puncture the bubble of intellectual conformity that marks every administration by breaking the spell of groupthink and self-serving spin"
2. iron out internal "feuds and tensions" between executive branch departments
3. "repair relations with Capitol Hill"
4. help "kick-start a new policy agenda" by bringing in new staff, having Reagan take responsibility for failure in a contrite public speech ("his approval rating jumped nine points" afterward), and launching new domestic and foreign policy initiatives ("including the speech calling on Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall")

Brooks says that "every president since Grant has had a miserable second term," primarily because working in the White House is "psychologically corrosive." "There is a tendency to curl inward under the barrage of criticism, much of it ill informed. The sheer busyness of life becomes enveloping and isolating, and slowly an un-earned disdain builds for those who are not in the bubble."

After he left office, Calvin Coolidge wrote: "The political mind is the product of men in public life who have been twice spoiled. They have been spoiled with praise and they have been spoiled with abuse. With them, nothing is natural, everything is artificial."

According to Brooks, the president needs to bring in "like-minded but objective people who haven't been molded by five years in power, ... people more akin to peers. (The White House staff is too emotionally dependent on the president to be brutally honest with him.) It means humbly acknowledging, as Peggy Noonan wrote, that change has to start with oneself. As Lincoln showed, humility is the only antidote to the corruptions of the insane life-style of the presidency."

The Positives of Masculinity

According to USA Today, the positives of masculinity are:
"confidence, leadership, passion and compassion"

Craig Wilson, USA Today, Wed. Oct. 26, 2005

Aging Successfully

Dr. Weil's recommendations on how to age successfully:

"Learn the principles of healthy eating,
increase physical activity,
learn to breathe properly,
try to learn another language,
spend more time in the company of people who have lifestyle habits you want to develop,
and think about the rewards that aging can bring."

Dr. Andrew Weil, USA Today, Tuesday, October 25, 2005
from an interview about his book Healthy Aging

Forgiveness

The reaction of Sheila and her daughter Crystal on Dr. Phil show 594, refusing to forgive Brandi:

“There will never be forgiveness. Never.”

www.drphil.com/shows/show/594
"Cheerleader Scandal
Brandi was just 17 years old when she hit and killed her estranged high school boyfriend Daniel. She did it with her parents' car that she snuck out earlier that night. She says it was an accident, but Daniel's family [Sheila and Crystal] disagrees. They say she purposely ran their son down in a fit of rage."

commentary:
This is an example of how people whose spiritual needs are unmet can affect others in ways they never expected. When we neglect the spiritual needs of others around us, there are consequences.

Hebrews 12:14-15 NRSV
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.

Words of Jesus about forgiveness:

Matthew 6:9-15 NRSV
9 "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 18:21-22 NRSV
21 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Luke 6:35-38 NRSV
35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

John 20:21-23 NRSV
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

The Universality of Jesus Christ

Following is an example of someone who mistakenly thinks the God of the Bible is "too small, too tribal and too humanlike":

Boston's Wildman said his faith does not depend on the notion of humanity as central to the purpose of the universe. "It's a silly conceit and it makes human beings feel better to think that way - that the whole success of the universe turns on the success of the human project."
He said the tradition of ascribing so much importance to humanity goes back to the notion of a chosen people in the Old Testament. For Christians it comes from the belief that Jesus was God's son.
But such a God looks too small, too tribal and too humanlike, he said, to avoid getting pushed out of the ever narrowing gaps in science. That in turn can reinforce the notion that to be scientific you must be an atheist.
For him, a human-centered God is an approximation of the real thing, "and the real thing is beyond human comprehension."

Wesley Wildman, a professor of theology at Boston University
above quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005
Can faith, science coexist?
by Faye Flam
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living
/education/12928255.htm

---

commentary:
The God of the Bible is not a small, tribal, human-centered God. The God of the Bible created the universe before man was created. The God of the Bible, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is complete in Gods-self and does not need man to live and love. Rather than being a tribal God, the God of the Bible created and loves all the people of the world, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. The God of the Bible enforces justice impartially for all people, and does not tolerate injustice in any chosen people.
The God of the Bible is beyond human comprehension, but chooses to reveal Gods-self to humans in a way that we can comprehend. God Emmanuel is with us. God spoke to Abraham and had dinner with him. God wrestled with Jacob. God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. God wrote the Ten Commandments. God spoke through the prophets.
Then, at the right time, the creator God who is beyond human comprehension became incarnate in Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, to help us know God more clearly. Jesus spent three years revealing God's grace and truth to the world, so we may be reconciled to God and live.
Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the good news that God wants to draw us all together in love as God's adopted children. Rather than being a tribal God, Jesus Christ gave his life to draw all people to God through himself, in one holy, catholic and apostolic church, including all the men and women of the world.
~ Truthful Grace

Winston S. Churchill quotes

"In Critical and baffling situations, it is always best to return to first principle and simple action." - Sir Winston S. Churchil
"It so often happens that, when men are convinced that they have to die, a desire to bear themselves well and to leave life’s stage with dignity conquers all other sensations." - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"There is at least one thing worse than fighting with allies – And that is to fight without them!" - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it." - Winston Churchill
"Democracy is the best form of the worst type of government" - Winston Churchill
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Winston Churchill
"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because it is the quality that guarantees all others" - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"The Americans will always do the right thing... After they've exhausted all the alternatives." - Winston Churchill
"Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." -Winston Churchill
"We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill (after the fall of France)
"You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terrors. Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!...Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill (after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor)
"You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." - Churchill's remark after Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich pact with Hitler
and
"Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter." - Winston Churchill
"My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me." - Winston Churchill

http://www.titanfusion.net/infos/quotes.txt

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HUMBLE ACTS OF SERVICE

During the dark days of World War II, England had a great deal of difficulty keeping men in the coal mines. It was a thankless kind of Job, totally lacking in any glory. Most chose to join the various military services. They desired something that could give them more social acceptance and recognition. Something was needed to motivate these men in the work that they were doing so that they would remain in the mines.
With this in mind, Winston Churchill delivered a speech one day to thousands of coal miners, stressing to them the importance of their role in the war effort. He did this by painting for them a mental picture. He told them to picture the grand parade that would take place when VE Day came. First, he said, would come the sailors of the British Navy, the ones who had upheld the grand tradition of Trafalgar and the defeat of the Armada. Next in the parade, he said, would come the pilots of the Royal Air Force. They were the ones who, more than any other, had saved England from the dreaded German Lufwaffa. Next in the parade would come the Army, the ones that had stood tall at the crises of Dunkirk.
Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in minor's caps. And someone, he said, would cry from the crowd, "And where were you during the critical days of the struggle?" And then from ten thousand throats would come, "We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal."
We are told that there were tears in the eyes of many of those soot laden and weathered faced coal miners. They had been given a sense of their own self worth by the man at the top.
Service does not always come with big fancy ribbons. And I think that it is forever true, that it is often the humble acts of service that provide us with the deepest sense of joy and the most fulfilling satisfaction. Jesus said those who are willing to lose their life for my said shall find it.
– Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, Sept 2003.

NEVER GIVE UP ... NEVER ... NEVER ... NEVER!
Sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes
"It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work [of telling his Good News to others], and so we never give up" (2 Corinthians 4:1, TLB).
Some time ago I read the following story about Sir Winston Churchill in Our Daily Bread. Churchill attended grade school at Harrow where he was in the lower third of his class and showed no particular potential. After he graduated he went on to a university and eventually became famous.
Near the end of his life, he was invited back to Harrow to address the student body and was introduced as one of the greatest orators of all time. The students were told to take plenty of notes.
When Sir Winston addressed the boys he said, "Young gentlemen, never give up! Never give up! NEVER GIVE UP! Never! Never! Never! NEVER!" That was his entire address. I'm certain that none of those students ever forgot that advice.
Because of God's promise to you and me: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5, NIV), we, too, can have the confidence to never, never, never give up no matter what.
Suggested prayer: “Dear God, knowing that you will never leave me or forsake me, please help me to be persistent in all that I do, trust my life and way to you in every circumstance, and never, never, never give up. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

http://www.actsweb.org/encwknd3703.htm

Project Progression after PANIC Hits

What happens to most projects after the initial enthusiasm wears off:
Enthusiasm
Disillusionment
PANIC
Search for the guilty
Punishment of the innocent
Praise and reward of the non-participants

What happens to a project after the initial enthusiasm wears off and God's love remains strong:
Enthusiasm
Planning
PANIC
Persistence
Participation
Party (celebration)

"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37

(Rev. Osy Nuesch, Sept. 2005)

Can Cancer Conquer You?

I doubt it … for cancer is so limited.
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot invade the soul.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.
It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

Author Unknown

Be a sign for others of joy and Christ-like love

Br. Roger, Parable of Community, Taize Community:

"Open yourself to all that is human and you will find that every vain desire to escape from the world disappears. Be present to your age; adapt yourself to the conditions of the moment. 'Father, I pray you, not to take them out of the world, but to keep them from evil.' (John 17:15) Love the deprived, all who are suffering human injustice and thirsting for justice. Jesus has a special concern for them. Never be afraid of their bothering you.
Love your neighbor, whatever his religious or ideological point of view. Never resign yourself to the scandal of the separation of Christians, all so readily professing love for their neighbor, yet remaining divided. Make the unity of Christ's Body your passionate concern."

Rule of Taize:
"The Lord Christ, in his compassion and his love for you, has chosen you to be in his Church a sign of God's love. It is his will that with your brothers (and sisters) you live the parable of community. So, refusing to look back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, never fear to outsrip the dawn."

David Bryan Hoopes OHC, commenting on Br. Roger's Rule:
"Perhaps a synonym for joy could be well-being. Well-being for a Christian is having the confidence that God's grace will outlast any of our human destruction and is sufficient to quell the turmoil which we create. It grows out of the conviction that the resurrected Christ is alive and very present in our daily life; because He lives, we too live. Being fully alive in Christ keeps us open to love - both giving and receiving it."

Time and Obsessive Power

"No one has more time or obsessive power than an adolescent male."

~unknown speaker at a computer law seminar, describing an adolescent male who used a credit card number fradulently 12,000 times
1/21/88

Paul's hope and glory and joy and crown of boasting

18 For we wanted to come to you-- certainly I, Paul, wanted to again and again-- but Satan blocked our way.
19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
20 Yes, you are our glory and joy!
~ 1 Thessalonians 2:18-20

Bringing Peace to Paradise

British missionary John Williams pioneered the spread of Christianity in the South Pacific by employing the zeal of Polynesian converts.
By Steven Gertz
www.ChristianityToday.com

"One day they will come, with crucifix in one hand and the dagger in the other, to cut your throats or to force you to accept their customs and opinions," wrote the French intellectual Diderot in 1772. "One day under their rule you will be almost as unhappy as they are."

Diderot was sounding the alarm for Tahitians unfamiliar with European colonialism before the English missionary effort in the South Pacific got underway. Could he have witnessed how Christianity actually spread throughout the islands, he might have retracted his dire prediction.

Read this article from the Christian History & Biography website.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2005/003/12.44.html

At odds with the Word of God...

"For God's sake, do not put yourself at odds with the Word of God. For truly it will persist as surely as the Rhine follows its course. One can perhaps dam it up for awhile, but it is impossible to stop it."

~ Ulrich Zwingli
Militant Swiss reformer

Moments of Anger and Fear

Can you accept the moments of anger and fear as guests, be willing to receive them with kindness without feeling obliged to serve them a five-course meal?
~ Christina Feldman in Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World

To Practice This Thought: Live with your feelings; allow them to arise and to pass, without either rejecting them or becoming overly solicitous toward them.
~ Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
SpiritualityHealth.com

Anger and fear are like leaves floating down a stream. Sometimes they get stuck on a branch or a rock, but the stream of living water flows on.
~ Truthful Grace

You can run, but you just die tired.

You can run, but you just die tired.
Dr. Phil, Sept. 27, 2005

Giving It All…

Once upon a time at a church meeting a wealthy member of the church rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith.

"I’m a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute my wealth to the blessings of God in my life." He went on to recall the turning point in his relationship with God. As a young man, he had just earned his first dollar and he went to a church meeting that night. The speaker at that meeting was a missionary who told about his work in the mission field. Before the offering plate was passed around, the preacher told everyone that everything that was collected that night would be given to this missionary to help fund his work on behalf of the church. The wealthy man wanted to give to support mission work, but he knew he couldn’t make change from the offering plate. He knew he either had to give all he had or nothing at all. At that moment, he decided to give all that he had to God. Looking back, he said he knew that God had blessed that decision and had made him wealthy.

When he finished, there was silence in the room. As he returned to the pew and sat down, an elderly lady seated behind him leaned forward and said, "I dare you to do it again."

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com
_______________________________________

How Do You View Your Possessions?

Howard Hendricks writes, "My wife Jeanne and I once dined with a rich man from a blueblood Boston family, and I asked him, 'How in the world did you grow up in the midst of such wealth and not be consumed by materialism?'

"His answer: 'My parents taught us that everything in our home was either an idol or a tool'. So how do you view your possessions?"

Peter J. Blackburn, Caring for God’s Vineyard

The Rejected Stone

Jesus quoted the words of the Psalmist: "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner..." (Ps. 118:22) Later Simon Peter would quote these words to the rulers and the elders in testimony concerning the good news of Christ. (Acts 4:11) Later he would cite those words again in his epistles. (I Pet. 2:7)

There was a legend that was well known in New Testament times that in the building of the temple of Solomon most of the stones were of the same size and shape. One stone arrived, however, that was different from the others. The builders took one look at it and said, "This will not do," and sent it rolling down into the valley of Kedron below.

The years passed and the great temple was nearing completion, and the builders sent a message to the stonecutters to send the chief cornerstone that the structure might be complete. The cutters replied that they had sent the stone years before. Then someone remembered the stone that was different than all the rest that somehow did not seem to belong. They realized that they had thrown away the cornerstone.

They hurried into the valley to retrieve it. Finally under vines and debris they recovered it and with great effort rolled it up the hill and put it in place so that the great temple would be complete. The stone that had been rejected had become the chief cornerstone. Jesus, who had been rejected now reigns at the right hand of the Father. From rejection to rejoicing.

King Duncan, From Rejection to Rejoicing, www.eSermons.com

How to Save a Marriage

Wake up every morning thinking, "What can I do to make his/her life better?"
Dr. Phil

Dr. Phil's Tip of the Day:

"I want to talk to you today about relationships.

"There is an element of human nature that causes everybody at some level to approach every situation saying: “What’s in this for me?” That is a selfishness that is just created within us and it can cause tension, because relationships require sacrifice. They require compromise.

"In order to receive you truly have to be willing to give so you can get back what it is you feel you need the most. So let me appeal to your greed for a minute. I want you to create in yourself some social IQ’s, some emotional IQ and recognize the best way to have a great partner is to be a great partner. Trust me, if your partner is having a great time, if your partner is really experiencing fun and love and joy in you life, so will you."

http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/584

Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens, Philadelphia Eagles

Donovan McNabb - team leader, quarterback

"uses a cocktail of honesty, humor and indifference to deal with the stream of questions." "be professional and be funny."

To the team at the beginning of the season, stunned by having to practice before 1,500 NFL executives, coaches, scouts, agents, etc.:
"This is your dream. This is what you've dreamed about doing. We have an opportunity to showcase our talents."

Brian Dawkins: "He's definitely a leader when it comes to the team. Guys listen to him. Young guys ask him questions, and he's always there. And he's also a guy who can keep everything loose. He's not timid, and he doesn't tense up. So all those things contribute to him being one of the leaders of this team."

"Since the Super Bowl, McNabb has been besieged with criticism, most notably from [Terrell] Owens. The quarterback and receiver did not really talk during training camp, although they did hook up for a long touchdown on the first offensive play of the third preseason game. Last week, a contrite Owens said he planned on talking with McNabb before tomorrow's game, to make sure each player is issue-free heading into the all-important opener."

"I've always said that not everyone can handle being a leader . . . some people back away from it. I enjoy it. I kind of thrive off of that, that people can look to you for help, they can talk to you for confidence, or just see kind of how you handle that."

September 11, 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer
by Ashley Fox

---------------------------------------

CBS SportsLine.com
Owens claims he's getting along just fine with McNabb
. . .
"When we're out on that field, we have the best relationship possible, to be the best at what we do," McNabb said.

Despite their icy relationship, McNabb and Owens had no trouble on the field. In their lone appearance together in the preseason, the two connected five times for 131 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage in a victory over Cincinnati on Aug. 26.

Both players celebrated that score separately with other teammates and ignored each other throughout the game, but Owens said he's now broken the silence.

Owens dominated the headlines this offseason with his demand for a new contract just one season into the seven-year, $48.97 million deal he signed when he came to Philadelphia in March 2004.

The Eagles have refused to redo the deal.
. . .

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004-2005, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved

http://cbs.sportsline.com/print
/nfl/story/8825805

God's Ability to Redeem

Nothing is outside of God's ability to redeem and fit into a pattern for good.
-- Robert Corin Morris in
Suffering and the Courage of God: Exploring How Grace and Suffering Meet

Security is Mostly a Superstition

"Security is mostly a superstition; it does not exist in nature. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
— Helen Keller

Take Responsibility for the Solution

September 15, 2005 8:02 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: "Good evening. I'm speaking to you from the city of New Orleans -- nearly empty, still partly under water, and waiting for life and hope to return. Eastward from Lake Pontchartrain, across the Mississippi coast, to Alabama into Florida, millions of lives were changed in a day by a cruel and wasteful storm."
. . .
"Four years after the frightening experience of September the 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I, as President, am responsible for the problem, and for the solution. So I've ordered every Cabinet Secretary to participate in a comprehensive review of the government response to the hurricane. This government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. We're going to review every action and make necessary changes, so that we are better prepared for any challenge of nature, or act of evil men, that could threaten our people."
. . .
"Thank you, and may God bless America."

END 8:28 P.M. CDT

President George W. Bush

President Discusses Hurricane Relief in Address to the Nation
Jackson Square
New Orleans, Louisiana
Office of the Press Secretary
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases
/2005/09/20050915-8.html

Furious at Death

Celebrating Shaw, a Serious Optimist
By BEN BRANTLEY
. . .
And while Shaw wrote brilliantly articulate letters throughout his life, none, perhaps, are as moving as one in which he recognized that there were some subjects that language cannot accommodate. "I can't be sympathetic; these things simply make me furious," he wrote to Campbell, on hearing that her son had been killed in 1918 by the last shell from a German battery. "Oh, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN DAMN! And oh, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, dearest!"

September 16, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/theater
/newsandfeatures/16shaw.html?pagewanted=4

I'm so ready to take you on

You are a bully. I am so ready to take you on.
Dr. Phil

Migraine Relief

Put your feet in a bowl of hot water and place a bag of ice on the nape of your neck. Your headache will clear in as little as two minutes.
~ from an airline magazine

"to feel for you the same love that made you sacrifice yourself for us"

This Week in Christian History

September 20, 1224:
On or about this date, on Italy's secluded Mount Alvernia, Francis of Assisi reportedly prayed, "O Lord, I beg of you two graces before I die—to experience in myself in all possible fullness the pains of your cruel passion, and to feel for you the same love that made you sacrifice yourself for us." Soon his heart was filled with both joy and pity, and wounds appeared on his hands, feet, and side. He reportedly carried these scars (called stigmata) until his death in 1226 (see issue 42: Francis of Assisi).

ChristianityToday.com Sept. 17, 2005

Extreme Time Management

I have a lot to do. I can get it done, with extreme time management.
S.H.

The Complete Fullness of Eternal Life

The Rules of a Family

The parable of the vineyard workers (Matt. 20) offends our sense of fairness. Why should everyone get equal pay for unequal work? Back in Ontario when the apples ripened, Mom would sit all seven of us down, Dad included, with pans and paring knives until the mountain of fruit was reduced to neat rows of filled canning jars. She never bothered keeping track of how many we did, though the younger ones undoubtedly proved more of a nuisance than a help: cut fingers, squabbles over who got which pan, apple core fights. But when the job was done, the reward for everyone was the same: the largest chocolate-dipped cone money could buy. A stickler might argue it wasn't quite fair since the older ones actually peeled apples. But I can't remember anyone complaining about it.

A family understands it operates under a different set of norms than a courtroom. In fact, when the store ran out of ice cream and my younger brother had to make do with a Popsicle, we felt sorry for him despite his lack of productivity (he'd eaten all the apples he'd peeled that day--both of them). God wants all his children to enjoy the complete fullness of eternal life. No true child of God wants it any other way.

Robert De Moor
_________________________

Grace and Generosity

Dr. William Power, a professor at Southern Methodist University, describes an experience he had in Sunday school when he was a boy. His teacher was trying to explain to him and his rowdy friends the meaning of grace, but wasn’t getting very far. She tried definitions and abstractions, to no avail. Finally, she realized something the boys had known from the start. She was not connecting. She was not getting through to them. They didn't have the foggiest notion what she was talking about.

So she took a deep breath and tried again: "Look boys, grace is the break you get when you don't deserve it. That's the simple explanation. But you won't really understand it till you experience it."

James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not to Be True, Dimensions, p. 95.
__________________________

Rewards

After serving as a missionary for forty years in Africa, Henry C. Morrison became sick and had to return to America. As the great ocean liner docked in New York Harbor there was a great crowd gathered to welcome home another passenger on that boat. Morrison watched as President Teddy Roosevelt received a grand welcome home party after his African Safari.

Resentment seized Henry Morrsion and he turned to God in anger, "I have come back home after all this time and service to the church and there is no one, not even one person here to welcome me home."

Then a still small voice came to Morrison and said, "You're not home yet."

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com
______________________

Commentary – Imitate Generosity

The climax of the parable occurs in verse 15: "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?" The vineyard owner claims the right to pay his workers not on the basis of their merits but on the basis of his own compassion. Why should such generosity be condemned as injustice? Underlying the parable is the Old Testament conception of God as the creator who is GOOD, that is, generous to all (see, e.g., Ps. 145:9). Jesus reveled in the incredible magnanimity of God (see 5:45). Of course Jesus believed in the God of justice, but in his vision of God the divine compassion greatly outshone the divine justice. Those who worship such a God must imitate his generosity, not begrudge it.

Douglas R. A. Hare, Interpretation: Matthew
__________________________

Envy

Aesop had a fable about two eagles, one envious of the other because the other could soar higher and more elegantly than he could. So the envious eagle would pluck his strongest feathers from his own body and shoot them as arrows, trying to wound or kill the other eagle. It was his own undoing, however. He could not hit the high flying eagle, and he was eventually grounded by his lack of feathers. Envy destroyed the eagle.

Brett Blair, Sermon Illustrations
____________________________

A reporter once asked Pope John XXIII, "How many people work here in the Vatican?" to which the dear, old Pope answered, "Oh, about half, I guess."

Staff
____________________________

Fairness

We are shocked by the message of the parable of the workers in the vineyard, for it goes against the grain of our natural expectation. It mocks our logical sense of justice. Perhaps we are more drawn to the message of the Norwegian writer Jens Peter Jacobsen in his novel Niels Lyhne, which tell about a man who rejected God. As he grew older, he secretly desired the peace of faith, but he refused to come to God weak-kneed toward life's ending. Fate had been harsh to him, with death visiting those whom he loved most. Tenaciously, he held on to disbelief and a philosophy of nihilism even though he wanted the peace of God.

In the last hour of his life, he refused to see the pastor, though secretly he wanted absolution and faith's consolation. His physician, who loved him, was moved by his valor and whispered, "If I were God, I would far sooner save the man who does not repent at the last minute."

Deep inside, our sense of even-scaled justice admires the hardened skeptic. But Jesus' parable communicates the opposite message. It shatters all our preconceived assumptions about the justice of God. Here is a story with a coded message that brings us to the core of what Jesus of Nazareth is all about! The key to interpreting the parable is in remembering that the vineyard is always the symbol of God's kingdom, his new community, his new reality. In point of fact, the vineyard is the Church. Moreover, God owns the vineyard--lock, stock, and barrel. We are privileged to labor in his vineyard (his Church) and receive the security that there will be adequate compensation for all. But the real pay is not the wage offered at the end of the day. The work itself is our gift, our immeasurable privilege! It carries its own reward. For the work in God's vineyard brings us near to our fatherly Lord and his care for us.

George E. Thompson, When is there "Fairness" in Labor?, Pulpit Digest,
September/October, 1990.
____________________________

Fairness

This parable goes against the business mentality that dominates our lives. We have always been taught: You get out of something directly in proportion to that which you put in it. Yet, that is not what happened in Jesus’ story. In our way of thinking, the laborers who came to the field late got something for nothing. This parable challenges us not to look upon the Kingdom of God, or the church, as a business community. Yet, that is difficult for us to do, because that is our point of reference.

What do you think would happen if a person joined the church this morning and immediately after receiving the vows of profession of faith I suggested to the congregation that he or she be nominated as the next chairperson of the Administrative Board. What do you think the reaction would be? Well, I think I know what the reaction would be. The laity would protest as loudly as Simon Peter is protesting to Jesus.

You see, we live in a world of tenure and seniority and it goes against our grain when we hear Jesus say: The first shall be last and the last shall be first. God's grace is not based upon what is fair, but rather what helps.

Sermon Illustrations
____________________________

Jesus Was Just Wrong

One Sunday several years ago when I preached on this text, a church member came to me after the service and said, "You know, preacher, there are parts of the Bible that are difficult to abide, and other parts that aren’t. The story you preached on today is one that I find totally offensive! It’s just not fair to pay everyone the same wage when some have worked hard and some have hardly worked. Jesus was just wrong about that. I think you should have preached on something less offensive." The following Sunday, I preached about the prodigal son.

Johnny Dean, "Exasperating Grace"
____________________________

100 Points!

A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter say's, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in." Okay, " the man says, "I was married to the same women for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart." That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points." Three points?"

He says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service." Terrific!" say's St. Peter. "That's certainly worth a point." "One point? Well I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans." Fantastic, that's good for two more points," he says. "Two points!"

The man cries. "At this rate the only way to get into heaven is by the grace of God!" St. Peter smiled. "There's your 100 points! Come on in!"

Traditional
____________________________

Grace and Generosity

A large prosperous downtown church had three mission churches under its care that it had started. On the first Sunday of the New Year all the members of the mission churches came to the city church for a combined Communion service. In those mission churches, which were located in the slums of the city, were some outstanding cases of conversions--thieves, burglars, and so on--but all knelt side by side at the Communion rail.

On one such occasion the pastor saw a former burglar kneeling beside a judge of the Supreme Court of England--it was the judge who had sent him to jail where he had served seven years. After his release this burglar had been converted and became a Christian worker. Yet, as they knelt there, the judge and the former convict neither one seemed to be aware of the other.

After the service, the judge was walking out with the pastor and said to him, "Did you notice who was kneeling beside me at the Communion rail this morning?" The pastor replied, "Yes, but I didn't know that you noticed." The two walked along in silence for a few moments, and then the judge said, "What a miracle of grace." The pastor nodded in agreement. "Yes, what a marvelous miracle of grace." Then the judge said, "But to whom do you refer?" And the pastor said, "Why, to the conversion of that convict."

The judge said, "But I was not referring to him. I was thinking of myself." The pastor, surprised, replied: "You were thinking of yourself? I don't understand." "Yes," the judge replied, "it was natural for the burglar to receive God's grace when he came out of jail. He had nothing but a history of crime behind him, and when he saw Jesus as his Savior he knew there was salvation and hope and joy for him. And he knew how much he needed that help.

"But look at me. I was taught from earliest infancy to live as a gentleman; that my word was to be my bond; that I was to say my prayers, to go to church, take Communion and so on. I went through Oxford, took my degrees, was called to the bar and eventually became a judge. Pastor, it was God's grace that drew me; it was God's grace that opened my heart to receive it. I'm a greater miracle of his grace."

R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 76.

==================================
Illustrations for Matthew 20:1-16
Lectionary Week: Proper 20 (18th Sunday after Pentecost)
www.eSermons.com
==================================

Hurricane Katrina quotes

Hurricane Katrina quotes, CNN.com Sept. 11, 2005

"It makes me mad. This should not have happened…"
"...Pretty soon these stories will no longer be a part of the headlines of our lives. I feel deeply that we owe it to every single family who has suffered to not forget and to not let them stand alone. Thank you."
-- TV host Oprah Winfrey

"This is one of these disasters that will test our soul and test our spirit, but we're going to show the world once again that not only can we survive but we will be stronger and better for it. This is just the beginning of a huge effort."
-- President Bush

"It's amazing what can happen if you just put your arm around somebody. It's the truest thing and the simplest thing that does the most good a lot of times, and I hope that we can all just reach out to each other."
-- Actress Julia Roberts

"The Lord's forgot and the soldier slighted"

The Newtown Presbyterian church
The old church building has a bit of Revolutionary history that adds to its interest. Some of the Hessians from the field of Trenton passed their first night of captivity within its walls. When digging for a foundation for the middle post that supports the south gallery, bones and buttons were turned up, said to have belonged to an English officer who was buried in the aisle.
On the wall, now covered by the frescoing, was written the following verse in red chalk, which tradition credits to a Hessian captive, which is extremely doubtful, as the writing was in English:

"In times of war, and not before,
God and the soldier men adore;
When the war is o'er and all things righted,
The Lord's forgot and the soldier slighted."

from:
THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XIX, HISTORICAL CHURCHES, 1710 TO 1744.
from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time by W. W. H. Davis, A.M.,
1876 and 1905* editions..
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/bucks
/history/local/davis/davis19.txt

my God shall supply all your need ... by Christ Jesus

This is Bill's favorite verse for getting through hard times:

Philippians 4:19, KJV
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

In the dark pit he came to know the living God

There is an old story about a man who accidentally fell into a deep pit when wandering in a field behind his home. Unable to climb out on his own, he was stranded there for more than two days and nights before someone finally happened by and saved him. Though the event had been somewhat traumatic, the solitude he experienced had been quite fruitful. For it was in that dark pit that he pondered and prayed and came to know the living God.

On the day of his rescue, he came out of that hole a new man. His mind was renewed; his soul refreshed; and his perspective was Spirit-filled. Immediately, he became convinced that such divine understanding was meant to be shared. And so he began a new mission. Each week, so that others might deepen their own relationship with God, he would take someone to that field behind his home - and push them into the pit.

Unlike the man in the story, I do recognize that no two people experience God in the same way.

from:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal
/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2910

WE'VE HAD DESSERT
Biblical Malnutrition & Today's Episcopal Church
By Charles W. Slaton, Jr.
http://www.haddessert.com/

Problem: a brilliantly disguised Opportunity

Behind every problem is a brilliantly disguised opportunity.
~ John Gardner

(heard at Wharton)

Crisis: only the end of an illusion

"It may look like a crisis, but it's only the end of an illusion."
Gerald M. Weinberg
Secrets of Consulting

Crisis: the place where new life is born

"In Hebrew, the word mashber [crisis in English] refers [also] to the place where the woman sits to give birth, the place where new life is born, and that in my opinion is what is happening to us - mashber, rather than shever [rupture]. There will be a birth here of a new identity..."
Yohanan Ben-Yaakov
quoted in
More Jewish, less Israeli by Yair Sheleg
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/615342.html

Zest, Joy, One Can Only Be Delighted

startribune.com

Pope hopes trip will bring spiritual renewal for Europe
Frances D'emilio
Associated Press
Published August 15, 2005

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict voiced hope that his upcoming trip to his native Germany for a youth gathering will spur a new European wave of faith to counter what he described as a spiritual "fatigue" on the continent.

In the interview with Vatican Radio's German edition that was broadcast Sunday, the pope also said, "Providence wanted my first trip abroad to take me to Germany."

Benedict will fly to Cologne on Thursday to begin a four-day visit for World Youth Day, a Catholic jamboree of rallies and religious services with young people. His predecessor, Polish-born John Paul II, had announced the choice of Cologne for the event, which is held every couple of years in a different part of the world and draws hundreds of thousands of participants.

He said the goal of the event was "a wave of new faith among young people, especially the youth in Germany and Europe."

In Germany, "many Christian things occur, but there is also a great fatigue, and we are so concerned with structural questions that the zest and the joy of faith are missing," the pontiff said.

"If this zest, this joy, to know Christ would come alive again and give the church in Germany and Europe a new dynamic, then I think the aim ... would be achieved."

Vatican Radio provided an English translation of the 15-minute interview, which was conducted in Castel Gandolfo, the pope's summer palace in the Alban Hills outside of Rome.

Benedict voiced hope that Cologne would spur the "old continent" to look beyond the "missed opportunities in European history" to "rediscover the truth, purity and greatness which gives us our future." He did not say what he believed Europe had done wrong.

During the trip to Germany, Benedict will meet with Muslim and Jewish groups, and he will visit a Cologne synagogue wrecked in the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom and rebuilt in the 1950s.

Of the German pilgrimage, the 78-year-old Benedict said: "I would not have dared to have initiated it. But if the Almighty God decides to do something like that to you, then one can only be delighted."

© Copyright 2005 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
http://www.startribune.com/stories
/484/5559989.html

Become A Miracle

Become A Miracle
~ unknown

Native American Religions

Native American Religions

Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson [1929]
The classic cross-cultural Native American folklore study.

Walam Olum excerpt from The Lenâpé and Their Legends, by Samuel G. Brinton. Brinton's Library of Aboriginal Literature number V. Phildelphia [1885]. This is one of the only indigenous pre-contact written texts available from North America. Long controversial as to its authenticity, but a key document nevertheless. With pictographs, Delaware and English translation.

The Soul of the Indian by Charles Eastman [1911]

Indian Why Stories by Frank Linderman [1915]

Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa [1901]

Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin [1916]

http://www.public-domain-content.com/books
/native_american/

neither heaven has created nor hell seen any that can daunt or intimidate me

Don Quixote:
"neither heaven has created nor hell seen any that can daunt or intimidate me . . ."
Part I: Chapter 46
Don Quixote -- by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
http://www.public-domain-content.com/books
/Don_Quixote/DonQuixoteI46_1.shtml

"Hell has not seen, nor heaven created, the one who can prevail against me!"
--Peter O'Toole as Don Quixote de la Mancha in MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972)

"'Life as it is.' I have lived for over forty years and I've seen 'life as it is'. Pain. Misery. Cruelty beyond belief. I've heard all the voices of God's noblest creature -- moans from bundles of filth in the street. I've been a soldier and a slave. I've seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I've held them at the last moment. These were men who saw 'life as it is,' but they died despairing. No glory. No bray of last words. Only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning, 'Why?' I do not think they were asking why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams, this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness. But maddest of all -- to see life as it is, and not as it should be!"
--Peter O'Toole as Miguel de Cervantes in MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972)

www.reelclassics.com/Actors/O'Toole/otoole2.htm

"sozo" - healed, restored, saved

"... the Greek word sozo, which is usually translated "saved," can also mean healed, restored, that sort of thing. So the conventional translation narrows the meaning of the word in a way that can create false expectations. I thought he should be aware that grace is not so poor a thing that it cannot present itself in any number of ways."

Gilead, p. 239-40, Marilynne Robinson, 2004

There is no justice in love -- it outlasts your grievances

the prodigal son leaves his dying father:

"Jack is leaving. Glory was so upset with him that she came to talk to me about it. She has sent out the alarm to the brothers and sisters, that they must all desist from their humanitarian labors and come home. She believes old Boughton can't be long for this world. "How could he possibly leave now!" she says. That's a fair question, I suppose, but I think I know the answer to it. The house will fill up with those estimable people and their husbands and wives and their pretty children. How could he be there in the midst of it all with that sad and splendid treasure in his heart?--I also have a wife and a child.

"I can tell you this, that if I'd married some rosy dame and she had given me ten children and they had each given me ten grandchildren, I'd leave them all, on Christmas Eve, on the coldest night of the world, and walk a thousand miles just for the sight of your face, your mother's face. And if I never found you, my comfort would be in that hope, my lonely and singular hope, which could not exist in the whole of Creation except in my heart and in the heart of the Lord. That is just a way of saying I could never thank God sufficiently for the splendor He has hidden from the world--your mother excepted, of course--and revealed to me in your sweetly ordinary face. Those kind Boughton brothers and sisters would be ashamed of the wealth of their lives beside the seeming poverty of Jack's life, and he would utterly and bitterly prefer what he had lost to everything they had. That is not a tolerable state of mind to be in, as I am well aware.

"And old Boughton, if he could stand up out of his chair, out of his decrepitude and crankiness and sorrow and limitation, would abandon all those handsome children of his, mild and confident as they are, and follow after that one son whom he has never known, whom he has favored as one does a wound, and he would protect him as a father cannot, defend him with a strength he does not have, sustain him with a bounty beyond any resource he could ever dream of having. If Boughton could be himself, he would utterly pardon every transgression, past, present, and to come, whether or not it was a transgression in fact or his to pardon. He would be that extravagant. That is a thing I would love to see.

"As I have told you, I myself was the good son, so to speak, the one who never left his father's house--even when his father did, a fact which surely puts my credentials beyond all challenge. I am one of those righteous for whom the rejoicing in heaven will be comparatively restrained. And that's all right. There is no justice in love, no proportion in it, and there need not be, because in any specific instance it is only a glimpse or parable of an embracing, incomprehensible reality. It makes no sense all all because it is the eternal breaking in on the temporal. So how could it subordinate itself to cause or consequence?

"It is worth living long enough to outlast whatever sense of grievance you may acquire. Another reason why you must be careful of your health.

Gilead, p. 237-8, Marilynne Robinson

"Can I Live" video, Nick Cannon

"Can I Live" video, Nick Cannon:
http://www.nickcannonmusic.com/
Story of his 17-year-old unwed mother's decision not to abort him.

Marriage is the True Test of Character

"Tenderness and stubbornness make for a good marriage, and marriage is the true test of character--to make a good life with your best critic. You have many critics, but your spouse is by far the best informed of all of them."
~ Garrison Keillor, radio host of A Prairie Home Companion
(Tribune Media Services)

Yesterday and Tomorrow

Yesterday and Tomorrow

There are two days in every week about
which we should not worry,
two days which should be kept free
from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with all
its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.

Yesterday has passed forever
beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot
bring back Yesterday.

We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever.

The other day we should not worry
about is Tomorrow-
with all its possible
adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond
our immediate control.

Tomorrow's sun will rise,
either in splendor or behind a mask
of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.

This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens
of those two awful eternity's
Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.

It is not the experience of Today
that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something
which happened Yesterday and the dread of what
Tomorrow may bring.

Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.

~~ Author Unknown

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow's a mystery.
Today is a gift; that's why they call it the Present.

~~ Author Unknown

Your Best Friend

Dr. Norman Peale writes of how he met Henry Ford:

"I met the legendary Henry Ford only once. It was when I was a newspaper reporter in Detroit in 1921. Coming out of the Detroit railroad station, I saw a man standing beside a car and I recognized him as Henry Ford. He was looking at a piece of paper that he held in his hand. In the front seat of the car was a woman I recognized as Mrs. Ford.

"I walked over and said, 'Mr. Ford, I may never have this opportunity again and I admire you so much. I would just like to shake your hand.' He extended his hand and asked what I did. I told him I worked on a newspaper.

"He then asked me a seemingly irrelevant question. 'Who is your best friend?' Without waiting for my answer, he tore off a ragged piece from the paper he was holding and wrote with a pencil, 'Your best friend is the person who brings out the best that is within you,' and signed it 'Henry Ford.'"

~~ Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, This Incredible Century

Spiritual Friendship

"Spiritual friendship is the union of hearts and minds, united in one purpose. There is joy in doing this; in the love, spirit and energy."

Dr. Kathleen Brown, director of formation for ministry at the Washington Theological Union, Washington, D.C.
from a seminar: Companions on the Journey: The Gift of Spiritual Friendship, at Newman Theological College
http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2005/
0704/cousins070405.shtml

Late Ripeness, Czeslaw Milosz

Late Ripeness
Czeslaw Milosz

Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year,
I felt a door opening in me and I entered
the clarity of early morning.

One after another my former lives were departing,
like ships, together with their sorrow.

And the countries, cities, gardens, the bays of seas
assigned to my brush came closer,
ready now to be described better than they were before.

I was not separated from people,
grief and pity joined us.
We forget - I kept saying - that we are all children of the King.

For where we come from there is no division
into Yes and No, into is, was, and will be.

We were miserable, we used no more than a hundredth part
of the gift we received for our long journey.

Moments from yesterday and from centuries ago -
a sword blow, the painting of eyelashes before a mirror
of polished metal, a lethal musket shot, a caravel
staving its hull against a reef - they dwell in us,
waiting for a fulfillment.

I knew, always, that I would be a worker in the vineyard,
as are all men and women living at the same time,
whether they are aware of it or not.

Czeslaw Milosz: New and Collected Poems (1931-2001)

Real Wealth

"The real measure of our wealth is how much we would
be worth if we lost all our money."

from Jan

"outsiders, not full members of the political community"

New York Times Editorial
July 2, 2005
O'Connor Held Balance of Power
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, July 1 - The O'Connor Court.

The phrase has been used so many times over so many years to describe the Supreme Court that it is nearly a cliché. Yet the simple words capture an equally simple truth: to find out where the court is on almost any given issue, look for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

If you are a lawyer with a case at the court, pitch your arguments to her. If your issue is affirmative action, or religion, or federalism, or redistricting, or abortion, or constitutional due process in any of its many manifestations, you can assume that the fate of that issue is in her hands. Don't bother with doctrinaire assertions and bright-line rules. Be meticulously prepared on the facts, and be ready to show how the law relates to those facts and how, together, they make sense.
. . .
Until the pair of Ten Commandments decisions this week, which found her in dissent from the ruling that upheld a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol, she had occupied a central position on the role of religion in public life.

Beginning with her earliest years on the court, Justice O'Connor adopted her own test for evaluating whether government policy amounted to an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Instead of a three-part test that the court used, she asked whether the government policy under review conveyed to nonadherents the message that they were "outsiders, not full members of the political community."

This led her to vote to prohibit public prayer at high school graduations and football games, but to insist on equal access for student religious publications and clubs. In 2002, she voted with the 5-to-4 majority that upheld the use of publicly financed tuition vouchers at religious schools. In her opinion this week concurring with the 5-to-4 majority that declared framed copies of the Ten Commandments hanging in Kentucky courthouses to be unconstitutional, she said the Constitution's religion clauses "protect adherents of all religions, as well as those who believe in no religion at all."
. . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/02/politics/
politicsspecial1/02oconnor.html?th&emc=th

Humility

"Humble people don't think less of themselves . . .
they just think about themselves less."

-- Norman Vincent Peale

Sharpening the Ax

from http://www.eteamrevolution.net/devotions/been-chopping-too-hard

One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest.

The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.

"I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did."

"But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest."

(Source unknown)

Perhaps you have been swinging your axe a little too long, and you need a rest. Not just any rest, but one with a purpose. In order to accomplish this, you will need to do five things:

Get alone. I mean really alone. No cell phone, no pager, as remote as possible.
Bring a Bible. Focus on a few select passages of Scripture like the Psalms or the Gospels.
Pray. Not the standard ‘bless this food/help me I’ve got a test’ type prayer, but the ‘pouring out your heart’ before God type. Act like you’re talking to your best friend in the whole world, because you are.
Listen. When was the last time you just sat in silence and listened for God? My thought is, if Jesus needed to do it- you think we might need it too?
Worship. Praising God is a sure-fire way to get the blade razor-sharp, because it brings us to the place where we remember that God is God and we are not.

The Discipline of Simplicity

from Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

Richard Foster divides discipline into three parts:
Inward, Outward, and Corporate discipline.

He places simplicity under the category of the Outward Disciplines:

First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status
Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
Third, develop a habit of giving things away.
Fourth, refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry.
Fifth, learn to enjoy things without owning them.
Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation.
Seventh, look at a healthy skepticism at all "buy now, pay later" schemes.
Eighth, obey Jesus' instructions about plain, honest speech.
Ninth, reject anything that will breed the oppression of others.
Tenth, shun whatever would distract you from your main goal:
"Seek first the kingdom of God."

Kind People in a Bad Mood

from Scott H. Bowerman, Dancing With God:

The theologian Leonard Sweet underwent what he describes as a "deconversion" when he was nineteen. He writes,

"What ignited my deconversion was the church’s funereal spirit, its fussy, buttoned-upness. Christians’ stay-at-home-and-pickle-in-their-own-juices personalities, their vinegary countenances, drained me emotionally, incapacitated me intellectually, and shut me down spiritually. The best I could say was this: by and large, Christians were kind people in a bad mood."

Be Charitable Towards One Another’s Lunacies

In Mark Twain’s characteristic sarcastic wit he called for civility and charity between those who differ in their religious and political perspectives:

All My Adversaries Are Insane

"When I, a thoughtful and unbiased Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unbiased Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic-—for that is part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his.
"All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the Republicans and the Mugwumps know it. All the Republicans are insane, but only the Democrats and Mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. When I look around me, I am often troubled to see how many people are mad...This should move us to be charitable towards one another’s lunacies."

-- Mark Twain, What Is Man?: and Other Philosophical Writings
(Works of Mark Twain, Vol 19)
Samuel Langhorne CLEMENS, 1835-1910

"I, like all other human beings, expose to the world only my trimmed and perfumed and carefully barbered public opinions and conceal carefully, cautiously, wisely, my private ones."

-- Mark Twain in Eruption

Is Your Best Good Enough?

"Before we begin, I have a confession to make. I don’t like Christian bumper stickers. And although I don’t really like them, I feel strangely compelled to read them. One I’ve seen recently said,
'This car is prayer-conditioned!'
Another one read, “God wants spiritual fruit- not religious nuts!”
One of the more interesting ones I’ve seen said,
'Read the Bible, It Will Scare the Hell Out of You!'
I've also noticed that these bumper stickers differ according to areas of the country. As some of you know my husband Derek and I will soon be moving south for the next season of our lives. And although Bill and Margaret Anne insist that the south is not as different as I may think, it was in the south that I saw the sticker,
'Dusty Bibles lead to Dirty Lives.'
You don’t see too many of those in the parking lot of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church." . . .

"Friends, I want to share with you these words that Gene Bay gave to me at my ordination. He said, “My fear for you is not that you won’t do your best… My fear for you is that you will think your best is not good enough. And I am here to tell you this: it is."

The Rev. Tara Woodard-Lehman
Jesus Loves Mess, This I Know
preached at The Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church
Bryn Mawr, PA
June 5, 2005

Tolerance

"Tolerance in the hands of the left is not an end; it is a means to an end. They use the language of tolerance to marginalize the only religion that is sufficiently influential to play a major, culture-forming role in any given country, and then when that's done, they impose a different order that is far less tolerant than the one they destroyed.
There is no society in the history of the world that fails to hold to a basic religious creed and makes no moral distinctions. Any political propagandist who claims to want to embrace a concept of absolute tolerance is either a deceiver or deceived.
Tolerance is a battering ram to break down one order so that a different order can be built on the rubble."
Jerry Bowyer, www.crosswalk.com, quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 22, 2005

Negotiating

I'm Baptist. The difference between a Baptist and a terrorist, is that you can negotiate with a terrorist. (laughter)
Dr. Tony Campolo: June 12, 2005: God's Revolution and Your Responsibility (audio)
http://www.bmpc.org/Sermons/Sermon%20Directory.htm

Attributes of a "Beach Read"

"There is a category of books known as "Beach Reads," defined as being superficial yet engrossing. Typically, beach reads incorporate at least four of these five attributes:
a. Espionage and/or Illegal Drug Trade;
b. Sex;
c. Famous, Wealthy, (or at least Astonishingly Good-Looking) People;
d. Murder and mayhem;
e. Exotic Locale.
Nowadays, we've noticed, they also often include descriptions of food.

Breeding Resentment Instead of Fostering Public Sympathy

John Grogan, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 30, 2005:

regarding a mother who took fertility drugs, had six babies she and her husband "could not support," and asked "taxpayers to foot the bill for a Medicaid home nurse to help":

"When I interviewed the mother, she radiated a sense of entitlement and inflexibility, prompting other mothers across the region to scold in surround sound: You made your decision, now live with it.
Many used the same expression: 'Start taking responsibility for your own actions.'
That's all fine and good -- except that six innocent and defenseless children hang in the balance. . . .
[She] is asking [for help] -- admittedly in a clumsy, ham-fisted way that sounds self-serving and breeds resentment instead of compassion -- but asking nonetheless. . . .
Do we punish the . . . children because their parents are not more skilled at fostering public sympathy?
And if something terrible were to happen, what would we say then? Oh, I guess they really did need help. . . .
[Her] request to have Medicaid continue to provide a skilled home nurse for another year is ridiculous. The once-fragile chldren are now robust; they do not need a nurse. Besides, [she] is a registered nurse herself.
But the harried mother definitely needs a helper or two. Or three. . . ."

Props in Your Little Life Play

Carolyn Hax, June 2, 2005:

"the obvious moral/emotional bankruptcy of treating people as props in your little life play"

"Go home and love someone."

Upon receiving the Nobel prize, Mother Teresa was asked:
"What can one ordinary person do to promote world peace?"
She replied: "Go home and love someone."

Love without measure, one day at a time, the one person who is before you at any one moment.

http://www.saintmarkpresby.org/pagepastmeditations.htm

Courage & Sleep

"Where shall I find courage?" asked Frodo, "for that is what I chiefly need now."

"Courage is found in unlikely places," said Gildor. "Be of good hope! and for now get some sleep."

From The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Truth wounds, cynicism kills

Quotes from Warren Buffet Speaks by Janet Lowe

"Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."
Warren Buffet

Frinedship: "I remember asking that question of a woman who had survived Auschwitz. She said her test was, 'would they hide me?'"
Warren Buffet

"Truth wounds, cynicism kills."
Barron's columnist Alan Abelson, p. 139

"The first step to recovery is to stop doing the wrong thing."
Warren Buffet, p. 144

Mother Theresa: not "a comfortable and insignificant mediocrity"

“The church of God needs saints today,” she once said. “This imposes a great responsibility on us sisters, to fight against our own ego and love of comfort that leads us to choose a comfortable and insignificant mediocrity.... We are called upon to be warriors in saris, for the church needs fighters today. Our war cry has to be ‘fight –- not flight.’”
~ Mother Theresa

Occupation With Trivialities

Lenten Prayer
http://www.annunciation-church.org/Documents/APRIL_2005_MESSAGE.pdf

The "appropriate hymn" of piety which we are urged to repeat many times during our struggles of Lent, and moreover, while prostrating is the prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian:

"Lord and Master of my life, do not give me a spirit of
   idleness,
     curiosity,
       lust of power and
         occupation with trivialities.

Instead, give me, your servant, a spirit of
   prudence,
     humility,
       patience and
         love.

Yes, Lord, make me able to see my own faults
   and not judge my brother,
for You are blessed in the ages of ages.

Amen."

Having Not Promised That Day Away

Renee Zellweger:
Zellweger plans to take a break from acting after completing current projects The Cinderella Man, about Depression-era boxer Jim Braddock, and Janis Joplin biopic Piece of My Heart.
"A lot of projects I had been following for a long time seemed to have all surfaced at once," she told reporters.
"I have never felt that drive to keep going and going until I achieve something that I can feel comfortable with.
"Most of the experiences I have had over the last seven years have been while imitating someone else.
"I need to find out as a woman now what I would do each day, and what I would learn, having not promised that day away for professional objectives."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3982089.stm
Monday, 8 November, 2004

Despair and Rage

heard this week:
Despair makes people depressed.
Rage gives people energy.

Chinese Fortune Cookie Messages, Spring 2005

These are my Chinese Fortune Cookie Messages from Spring, 2005. They were prophetic.

It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win
that makes a difference.

Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded.

Your lover will never wish to leave.

A golden egg of opportunity falls into your lap this month.

Good to begin well, better to end well.

Love is the glue that holds together everything in the world.

Nothing in the world is difficult if one sets his mind to it.

This is a good time to consider formally helping others.

A single kind word will keep one warm for years.

Everywhere you choose to go, friendly faces will greet you.

You are never selfish with your advice or your help.

Your ideals are well within your reach.

You are a perfectionist. Don't spoil it.