New York Times
Monday, June 5, 2017
NYTimes.com
Your Monday Evening Briefing (email)
By INYOUNG KANG AND SANDRA STEVENSON
Good evening. Here’s the latest.
How conservative is conservative enough in Texas?
Greg Abbott is looking for the answer as the first new governor of the state in 14 years. He’s also the first to use a wheelchair. (A tree crushed him in 1984, while he was out for a jog.)
As he navigates battling factions of fellow Republicans, he takes their criticism in context: “When you have your life broken in half and realize that you’re going to be able to piece your life back together and overcome that, everything else in life is pretty easy to deal with.”
Monday, June 05, 2017
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Self-will is choosing to Not Love
"God always chooses to love. Self-will is choosing to Not Love."
~ Truthful Grace
~ Truthful Grace
Friday, May 12, 2017
Avoiding Stress
"I probably missed some opportunities to make more money. But those opportunities generally bring more stress, which I've always tried to avoid."
"I'm sort of like a rock in the ocean. The waves are crashing against me, but I just stand there."
~ Jens Voigt, German Professional Road Racing Cyclist, author of Shut Up Legs: My Wild Ride On and Off the Bike (with James Startt, published by Rodale, 2016)
"I'm sort of like a rock in the ocean. The waves are crashing against me, but I just stand there."
~ Jens Voigt, German Professional Road Racing Cyclist, author of Shut Up Legs: My Wild Ride On and Off the Bike (with James Startt, published by Rodale, 2016)
Monday, May 01, 2017
"root for the pilot of the plane you are on"
Kasich finds it hard to rule out 2020
Ben Kamisar - The Hill - Sunday, April 30, 2017
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBAyMao?m=en-us
quotes:
Ohio Gov. John Kasich returned to the national spotlight this week with criticism for the GOP and President Trump, raising questions about the former Republican presidential candidate's political future. . . .
John Weaver, a longtime aide to the governor and an outspoken GOP critic of Trump, told The Hill that Kasich is not looking toward 2020 or having internal meetings to discuss the prospect. . . .
"The governor has said you root for the pilot of the plane you are on," Weaver said. "That doesn't mean you want the same pilot for the next leg."
"You want this pilot to land the plane safely and get the hell out of there."
Ben Kamisar - The Hill - Sunday, April 30, 2017
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBAyMao?m=en-us
quotes:
Ohio Gov. John Kasich returned to the national spotlight this week with criticism for the GOP and President Trump, raising questions about the former Republican presidential candidate's political future. . . .
John Weaver, a longtime aide to the governor and an outspoken GOP critic of Trump, told The Hill that Kasich is not looking toward 2020 or having internal meetings to discuss the prospect. . . .
"The governor has said you root for the pilot of the plane you are on," Weaver said. "That doesn't mean you want the same pilot for the next leg."
"You want this pilot to land the plane safely and get the hell out of there."
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Expectant Faith
(bold emphasis added by me)
Chapter X Three Healing Qualities
Looking back on interviews that brought great blessing, and trying to analyze the inner dispositions of the sufferers at the time, I can see three qualities whose presence appears to be vital to the power of the ministration. They are acceptance, expectant faith and surrender. They do not come all at once.
(p. 84)
It is clear from the Gospels that expectant faith is important if any healing work is to be done. (p. 85)
This quality, when present, provides the necessary environment for an incoming of creative energy. All life is the outward manifestation of God’s creative energies continuously flowing into and sustaining our created order. Where expectant faith is present the creative energies of God have free flow.
There is a significant phrase in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews—“faith is the substance of things hoped for.” It suggests that faith produces an energy which can be transmuted into material form. (p. 86-87)
I believe that . . . a new act of creation enters into our human life where the quality of the environment is dominated by the presence of expectant faith. If it is present in an interview then the Lord Christ is able to supply a divine energy which He makes available for the release and healing of the sick one. (p. 87)
Where faith is present, there is an outpouring of creative power that can change everything. . . .
The whole onus of faith in an interview is on the minister or helper. It is he, because of his own knowledge of what the Christ can do and because of that other unseen conversation in which he is engaged, who should unconsciously invoke this quality. Yet, when faith comes into the interview, it comes not only to the sufferer. The minister also shares in it and both are affected by it. On the human level it is the encounter between Christian helper and suffer which has brought it into being. On the level of the divine, it is a gift poured in by the Holy Spirit for the needs of that occasion.
A spiritual triangle has been created. The minister and the sufferer form the base and the Holy Spirit is the apex. When the triangle is made complete the atmosphere becomes vibrant with expectant faith. In such circumstances anything can happen. (p. 88)
~ George Bennett, The Heart of Healing. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1972.
(First edition 1971 published by Arthur James Limited of Evesham, Worcs., England.)
Rev. George Bennett, President of the Divine Healing Mission, Warden of Crowhurst Christian Healing Centre, Crowhurst, Battle, East Sussex, England (associated with the Anglican Church)
The Heart of Healing, George Bennett, 1972
Chapter X Three Healing Qualities
Looking back on interviews that brought great blessing, and trying to analyze the inner dispositions of the sufferers at the time, I can see three qualities whose presence appears to be vital to the power of the ministration. They are acceptance, expectant faith and surrender. They do not come all at once.
(p. 84)
It is clear from the Gospels that expectant faith is important if any healing work is to be done. (p. 85)
This quality, when present, provides the necessary environment for an incoming of creative energy. All life is the outward manifestation of God’s creative energies continuously flowing into and sustaining our created order. Where expectant faith is present the creative energies of God have free flow.
There is a significant phrase in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews—“faith is the substance of things hoped for.” It suggests that faith produces an energy which can be transmuted into material form. (p. 86-87)
I believe that . . . a new act of creation enters into our human life where the quality of the environment is dominated by the presence of expectant faith. If it is present in an interview then the Lord Christ is able to supply a divine energy which He makes available for the release and healing of the sick one. (p. 87)
Where faith is present, there is an outpouring of creative power that can change everything. . . .
The whole onus of faith in an interview is on the minister or helper. It is he, because of his own knowledge of what the Christ can do and because of that other unseen conversation in which he is engaged, who should unconsciously invoke this quality. Yet, when faith comes into the interview, it comes not only to the sufferer. The minister also shares in it and both are affected by it. On the human level it is the encounter between Christian helper and suffer which has brought it into being. On the level of the divine, it is a gift poured in by the Holy Spirit for the needs of that occasion.
A spiritual triangle has been created. The minister and the sufferer form the base and the Holy Spirit is the apex. When the triangle is made complete the atmosphere becomes vibrant with expectant faith. In such circumstances anything can happen. (p. 88)
~ George Bennett, The Heart of Healing. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1972.
(First edition 1971 published by Arthur James Limited of Evesham, Worcs., England.)
Rev. George Bennett, President of the Divine Healing Mission, Warden of Crowhurst Christian Healing Centre, Crowhurst, Battle, East Sussex, England (associated with the Anglican Church)
Friday, April 21, 2017
God is all Love and wills to do all
Julian of Norwich
Two sins & Love
It is proper for us to have three kinds of knowledge: the first is that we know our Lord God; the second is that we know ourselves, what we are by Him in nature and grace; the third that we know humbly what we ourselves are as regards our sin and our weakness. And the whole showing was given for these three, as I understand it.
All this blessed teaching of our Lord God was shown in three parts: that is to say, by bodily sight, and by word formed in my understanding, and by spiritual insight....
God showed two kinds of sickness of soul that we have: the one is impatience or sloth (for we bear our labor and our pains gloomily); the other is despair or doubtful fear (as I shall say later)....And these two are those which most trouble and tempt us (according to what our Lord showed me), from which He wills that we be put right....
And the cause why we are troubled with these sins is because of our ignorance of Love, for though the three Persons of the Trinity are all equal in themselves, the soul received most understanding in Love; yes, and He wills that in everything we have our contemplation and our enjoyment in Love.
To this knowledge we are most blind; for some of us believe that God is all Power and is able to do all, and that He is all Wisdom and knows how to do all, but that He is all Love and wills to do all, there we stop.
This ignorance is that which most hinders God's lovers, as I see it, for when we begin to hate sin and amend ourselves by the command of Holy Church, still there persists a fear that hinders us....And we do not know to despise it as we do another sin which we recognize (which comes through lack of true judgement) and it is against truth, for of all the properties of the blessed Trinity, it is God's will that we have most confidence and delight in Love.
from Chapters 72 and 73, Revelations of Divine Love
https://www.orderofjulian.org/Two_sins_and_Love
Julian of Norwich (c. 8 November 1342 – c. 1416) was an English anchoress who is regarded as an important Christian mystic. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches. Written around 1395, her work, Revelations of Divine Love, is the first book in the English language known to have been written by a woman.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich
Two sins & Love
It is proper for us to have three kinds of knowledge: the first is that we know our Lord God; the second is that we know ourselves, what we are by Him in nature and grace; the third that we know humbly what we ourselves are as regards our sin and our weakness. And the whole showing was given for these three, as I understand it.
All this blessed teaching of our Lord God was shown in three parts: that is to say, by bodily sight, and by word formed in my understanding, and by spiritual insight....
God showed two kinds of sickness of soul that we have: the one is impatience or sloth (for we bear our labor and our pains gloomily); the other is despair or doubtful fear (as I shall say later)....And these two are those which most trouble and tempt us (according to what our Lord showed me), from which He wills that we be put right....
And the cause why we are troubled with these sins is because of our ignorance of Love, for though the three Persons of the Trinity are all equal in themselves, the soul received most understanding in Love; yes, and He wills that in everything we have our contemplation and our enjoyment in Love.
To this knowledge we are most blind; for some of us believe that God is all Power and is able to do all, and that He is all Wisdom and knows how to do all, but that He is all Love and wills to do all, there we stop.
This ignorance is that which most hinders God's lovers, as I see it, for when we begin to hate sin and amend ourselves by the command of Holy Church, still there persists a fear that hinders us....And we do not know to despise it as we do another sin which we recognize (which comes through lack of true judgement) and it is against truth, for of all the properties of the blessed Trinity, it is God's will that we have most confidence and delight in Love.
from Chapters 72 and 73, Revelations of Divine Love
https://www.orderofjulian.org/Two_sins_and_Love
Julian of Norwich (c. 8 November 1342 – c. 1416) was an English anchoress who is regarded as an important Christian mystic. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches. Written around 1395, her work, Revelations of Divine Love, is the first book in the English language known to have been written by a woman.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich
Monday, April 17, 2017
Use me, God, in Thy great harvest field. . .
Send Me
Use me, God, in Thy great harvest field,
Which stretcheth far and wide like a wide sea;
The gatherers are so few; I fear the precious yield
Will suffer loss. O, find a place for me!
A place where best the strength I have will tell:
It may be one the older toilers shun;
Be it a wide or narrow place, ‘tis well
So that the work it holds be only done.
~ Christina G. Rossetti
Use me, God, in Thy great harvest field,
Which stretcheth far and wide like a wide sea;
The gatherers are so few; I fear the precious yield
Will suffer loss. O, find a place for me!
A place where best the strength I have will tell:
It may be one the older toilers shun;
Be it a wide or narrow place, ‘tis well
So that the work it holds be only done.
~ Christina G. Rossetti
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Superhuman vitality and magnetism as a teacher
"Western mystics have rarely shed much light on the subject of sexuality.
Eastern mystics, on the other hand, talk openly about sexual desire as a force in consciousness. It is not good or evil in itself, they insist, any more than an electric storm is. Rather, it is energy, raw power, and our task as human beings is to come to terms with that power—not to try and destroy it or suppress it, but to claim it and draw upon it for the good of all life.
The Eastern tradition maintains that the individual who succeeds in tapping into that force will have superhuman vitality, on the one hand, and tremendous magnetism as a teacher, on the other. It is interesting to reflect that Catherine of Siena was notable in both regards."
~ Carol L. Flinders, Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics (p. 235). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Eastern mystics, on the other hand, talk openly about sexual desire as a force in consciousness. It is not good or evil in itself, they insist, any more than an electric storm is. Rather, it is energy, raw power, and our task as human beings is to come to terms with that power—not to try and destroy it or suppress it, but to claim it and draw upon it for the good of all life.
The Eastern tradition maintains that the individual who succeeds in tapping into that force will have superhuman vitality, on the one hand, and tremendous magnetism as a teacher, on the other. It is interesting to reflect that Catherine of Siena was notable in both regards."
~ Carol L. Flinders, Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics (p. 235). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Pray first before doing anything worthwhile
"Listen, Child of God, to your teacher’s wisdom. Pay attention to what your heart hears. Make sure you freely accept and live out the loving Father’s directions.
Working at obedience is the way to return to Christ when the carelessness of disobedience has taken you off-path. Follow Christ by wearing the strong, sacred shield of submission.
Pray first before doing anything worthwhile. Then persist and never falter in prayer. God loves us as his own children, and forgives us, so we must not grieve him by rejecting that love and doing evil.
We must always make the best use of the good things God gives us."
~ St. Benedict, c. 480-550 AD in Italy, a patron saint of Europe and students
Working at obedience is the way to return to Christ when the carelessness of disobedience has taken you off-path. Follow Christ by wearing the strong, sacred shield of submission.
Pray first before doing anything worthwhile. Then persist and never falter in prayer. God loves us as his own children, and forgives us, so we must not grieve him by rejecting that love and doing evil.
We must always make the best use of the good things God gives us."
~ St. Benedict, c. 480-550 AD in Italy, a patron saint of Europe and students
The strengthening dialogue of community
"St. Basil stresses in his Rule that the dialogue of community nurtures the individual: 'In this communal conversation, whatever is twisted in us will be straightened and whatever is good will be strengthened, and it will help us avoid being condemned with those who are only wise in their own eyes.'"
~ Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Man of Blessing: A Life of Saint Benedict
(Kindle Locations 589-591). Paraclete Press. Kindle Edition.
~ Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Man of Blessing: A Life of Saint Benedict
(Kindle Locations 589-591). Paraclete Press. Kindle Edition.
Questions
"Questions are not scary.
What is scary is when people don't have any.
What is tragic is faith that has no room for them."
~ Rob Bell, one of the most controversial figures in contemporary Christianity
What is scary is when people don't have any.
What is tragic is faith that has no room for them."
~ Rob Bell, one of the most controversial figures in contemporary Christianity
Saturday, April 08, 2017
comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God
"He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep
pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the
heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes
wisdom to us by the aweful grace of God."
~ Aeschylus
Greek tragic dramatist and poet (525 BC - 456 BC)
pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the
heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes
wisdom to us by the aweful grace of God."
~ Aeschylus
Greek tragic dramatist and poet (525 BC - 456 BC)
Friday, April 07, 2017
the pain of discipline and the pain of regret
“There are two types of pain you will go through in life, the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weights tonnes.”
~ Jim Rohn
~ Jim Rohn
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
The News - Companion Fear
THE NEWS
Companion Fear is at my side,
I cannot make him leave,
He whispers horror in my ear,
He twitches at my sleeve.
He presses down upon my heart,
He catches at my breath,
He does not need to put in words
The hovering of death.
Companion Fear is at my side,
I cannot make him go,
For we are bound in common dread
Of what we do not know.
~ Sec
Companion Fear is at my side,
I cannot make him leave,
He whispers horror in my ear,
He twitches at my sleeve.
He presses down upon my heart,
He catches at my breath,
He does not need to put in words
The hovering of death.
Companion Fear is at my side,
I cannot make him go,
For we are bound in common dread
Of what we do not know.
~ Sec
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Sparing the Fire
Sparing the Fire
Each night I spare the fire,
my last act before retiring.
I bury two fresh lumps of peat
Deep within the embers.
Then tomorrow when I wake
I can poke the fire to life.
At death may God spare me.
When they bury my body
Deep within the boggy peat,
May my soul continue to glow.
So when the last trumpet sounds
I can rise with Christ to life.
~ Celtic Poem
Heaven Now
Heaven Now
If I were in heaven
I would play my harp,
and sing songs of praise
with the angels.
If I were in heaven,
I would dance with joy,
and fill the air with laughter.
Let earth be like heaven,
and people like angels;
Let all sing songs of praise.
Don’t wait to die,
enjoy heaven now;
Don’t argue or cavil –
just dance.
~ Celtic Poem
Friday, March 17, 2017
"It's always better to talk with each other than about each other"
Merkel in US for talks with Trump
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet President Donald Trump in Washington, with transatlantic trade and Nato ties high on the agenda. . . .
Ahead of Friday's talks, Mrs Merkel told a German newspaper she was looking forward to her first meeting with President Trump.
"It's always better to talk with each other than about each other," she told Saarbruecker Zeitung.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39300452
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet President Donald Trump in Washington, with transatlantic trade and Nato ties high on the agenda. . . .
Ahead of Friday's talks, Mrs Merkel told a German newspaper she was looking forward to her first meeting with President Trump.
"It's always better to talk with each other than about each other," she told Saarbruecker Zeitung.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39300452
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
What does that word really mean?
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
Friday, March 10, 2017
Can Man Live Without God? No! But we try all the time....
following quoted from http://www.apuritansmind.com/apologetics/steveturnercreed/
An excerpt from Ravi Zacharias’ book “Can Man Live Without God?”
Steve Turner says “No!”…But we try all the time….
Creed - by Steve Turner
a satirical poem on the modern mind
We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything’s getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there’s something in horoscopes
UFO’s and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think
His good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same-
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens
they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then its compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn
We believe in Masters and Johnson
What’s selected is average.
What’s average is normal.
What’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors .
And the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that
is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth
that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds,
And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky
and when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man
worshipping his maker.
Steve Turner, (English journalist), “Creed,” his satirical poem on the modern mind.
Taken from Ravi Zacharias’ book Can Man live Without God? Pages 42-44
quote above is from
http://www.apuritansmind.com/apologetics/steveturnercreed/
An excerpt from Ravi Zacharias’ book “Can Man Live Without God?”
Steve Turner says “No!”…But we try all the time….
Creed - by Steve Turner
a satirical poem on the modern mind
We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything’s getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there’s something in horoscopes
UFO’s and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think
His good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same-
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens
they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then its compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn
We believe in Masters and Johnson
What’s selected is average.
What’s average is normal.
What’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors .
And the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that
is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth
that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds,
And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky
and when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man
worshipping his maker.
Steve Turner, (English journalist), “Creed,” his satirical poem on the modern mind.
Taken from Ravi Zacharias’ book Can Man live Without God? Pages 42-44
quote above is from
http://www.apuritansmind.com/apologetics/steveturnercreed/
"History repeats itself, has to, nobody listens"
"History repeats itself, has to, nobody listens"
~ Steve Turner
~ Steve Turner
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