May 27

"Baptism points back to the work of God, and forward to the life of faith." - J. Alice Motyer

HOW GREAT LOVE IS -Author Unknown
Once upon a time, there was an island where all the Feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others including Love. One day it was announced to the Feelings that the island would sink, so all prepared their boats and left the island. Love was the only one who stayed behind. You see, Love wanted to wait until the last possible moment before leaving. The island was almost sunk, and Love decided to ask for help.
Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you." Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel, "Vanity, please help me!" Vanity answered, "I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat."
Sadness was close by, so Love asked for help, "Sadness, let me go with you." Sadness said, "Oh...Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!" Happiness passed by Love too; Happiness did not hear the cry for help, for Happiness was so happy.
Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an Elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that Love forgot to ask the Elder's name. When they arrived at dry land, the Elder went on its way. Love, realizing how much it owed the Elder asked Knowledge, another Elder, "Who helped me?"
"It was Time," Knowledge answered. "Time?" asked Love, "But why did Time help me?" Knowledge smiled with deep Wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

PARKED CARS CAN BECOME LIKE OVENS
On a 95 degree day, the interior of a parked car can reach:
Dashboard 181 degrees (temperature to cook poultry)
Seats 159 degrees (temperature to cook ground beef)
Steering wheel 159 degrees (temperature to cook medium rare beef)


I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.

"Lots of people think they're charitable if they give away their old clothes and things they don't want. It isn't charity to give away things you want to get rid of and it isn't a sacrifice to do things you don't mind doing." -Myrtle Reed, author (1874-1911)

The Purpose of Coffee Hour Coffee was always served at our church after the sermon. One Sunday our minister asked one of the smaller members of the congregation if he knew why we had coffee hour. Without hesitating, the youngster replied, "To wake people up before they have to drive home."

"One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests." -- John Stuart Mill

"People of character do the right thing, not because they think it will change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the world." -- Michael Josephson

"I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it." -- Abraham Lincoln

Fulfilling Your Childhood Dreams
For Albert Einstein it was a compass. For the Wright Brothers it was a toy rubber-band driven helicopter. For Samuel Colt it was explosives--of any kind.
If you study the childhoods of great inventors (or of any great figures in history), you will often discover some object, incident, or memory that became a metaphor in later years for their life's work.
For the six-year-old Einstein the compass represented a mystery of nature with an effect on him so profound that he spent the rest of his life trying to understand "nature's hidden laws."
For Samuel Colt it was the boy's excitement at seeing things explode that was the source of his passion for inventing a new revolver.
The important point is that locked within our childhood is the seed of our own genius.... Some of us have forgotten these roots, and feel unfulfilled in what we are now doing. Others of us have been true to our childhood loves and find ourselves achieving, or about to achieve, unparalleled success and happiness [fulfillment]. Still others of us are only now
beginning to awaken to our own potential and are excited at the prospect of rediscovering who we are, what we love to do, and consequently what will help us lead happy and fulfilled lives. No matter where you are in your journey, it's never too late to start the rediscovery process.

In The Church: What We Are Meant to Be, Ken Hutchinson says, “When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, it wasn’t dynamite, it was dynamo! Dynamite makes a loud noise, kicks up a lot of dust and it’s over. A dynamo is a continual source of power. It builds and builds and builds, and the power never stops flowing.”

“Only a fool would pray for the Holy Spirit,” says Alan Jones, dean of the Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco. “Only fools for Christ do,” he goes on, suggesting that the Spirit is most present at three open spaces in our lives: “in the unpredictable, in the place of risk, and in those areas over which we have no control.”

I wear my wife's eyeglasses because she wants me to see things her way.

Greeting Card General Facts
U.S. consumers purchase approximately seven billion greeting cards each year, generating nearly $7.5 billion in retail sales.
More than 90 percent of all households buy greeting cards, with the average household purchasing 30 individual cards in a year.
The average person receives more than 20 cards per year, about one-third of which are birthday cards.
Greeting cards range in price from 50 cents to $10, although counter cards typically cost between $2 and $4. Cards featuring special techniques, intricate designs and new technologies are at the top of the price scale.
The exchange of greeting cards is one of the most widely accepted customs in the U.S. There are cards for virtually any occasion or relationship, and they are widely available. Approximately 100,000 retail outlets around the country carry greeting cards.
Women purchase more than 80 percent of all greeting cards. Although women are more likely than men to buy several cards at once, men generally spend more on a single card than women.
There are two categories of greeting cards — Seasonal and Everyday. Total card sales are split approximately 50-50 between the two types.
The most popular Everyday cards are Birthday (60 percent), Anniversary (8 percent), Get Well (7 percent), Friendship (6 percent), and Sympathy (6 percent) cards.
The most popular Seasonal cards are Christmas (60 percent), Valentine’s Day (25 percent), Mother’s Day (4 percent), Easter (3 percent), and Father’s Day (3 percent) cards.
There are an estimated 3,000 greeting card publishers in the United States, ranging from small family-run organizations to major corporations. GCA-member publishing companies account for approximately 95 percent of industry sales.
Nine out of 10 Americans say they look forward to receiving personal letters and greeting cards because cards allow them to keep in touch with friends and family and make them feel they are important to someone else.
Although e-mail, text messaging and phone calls are valued by Americans for helping them communicate with family and friends, the majority of Americans say they prefer the old-fashioned handwritten card or letter to make someone feel truly special. —Greeting Card Association, “Home page,”
Did you know that 50 percent of all first class U.S. Mail consists of greeting cards?
Did you know that 7 and a half billion greeting cards were bought last year?
And, although there are three biggies (American Greetings, Hallmark and Gibson Greetings), did you know that there are about 3,000 greeting card companies?
With these facts, it is obvious why the greeting card industry is a multibillion dollar one.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." - William Arthur Ward

Office Rules
1) If it rings, put it on hold.
2) If it clanks, call the repairman.
3) If it whistles, ignore it.
4) If it's a friend, take a break.
5) If it's the boss, look busy.
6) If it talks, take notes.
7) If it's handwritten, type it.
8) If it's typed, copy it.
9) If it's copied, file it.
10) If it's Friday, forget it!


Discipline, once considered "standard household equipment," has fallen on hard times, and in its place permissiveness reigns
"A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be." - Tom Landry

A Little Prayer
Lord, thank you for this sink of dirty dishes; we have plenty of food to eat.
Thank you for this pile of dirty, stinky laundry; we have plenty of nice clothes to wear.
And I would like to thank you, Lord, for those unmade beds; they were so warm and comfortable last night. I know that many have no bed.
My thanks to you, Lord, for this bathroom, complete with all the splattered mirrors, soggy, grimy towels and dirty lavatory; they are so convenient.
Thank you for this finger-smudged refrigerator that needs defrosting so badly; It has served us faithfully for many years. It is full of cold drinks and enough leftovers for two or three meals.
Thank you, Lord, for this oven that absolutely must be cleaned today. It has baked so many things over the years.
The whole family is grateful for that tall grass that needs mowing, the lawn that needs raking; we all enjoy the yard.
Thank you, Lord, even for that slamming screen door. My kids are healthy and able to run and play.
Lord, the presence of all these chores awaiting me says You have richly blessed my family. I shall do them cheerfully and I shall do them gratefully.

May 13

*The most important occupation on earth for a woman is to be a real mother to her children. It does not have much glory to it; there is a lot of grit and grime. It’s kind of like a grimy shepherd taking care of wandering sheep. But there is no greater place of ministry, position, or power than that of a mother. --Phil Whisenhunt

Home should be a retreat to which a son or daughter can return in triumph or defeat, in victory or disgrace, and know they will be loved. --Unknown

One of the most pleasant ways to a mother's heart is through the doors of a good restaurant.--Unknown

Protestant Church Attendees
Among Protestants, Pentecostals have the highest rate of church attendance with 66 percent saying they attend church weekly or almost weekly, reports USA Today Snapshot. In second place are the Southern Baptists with a 62 percent attendance rate. Other Baptists take third with 54 percent saying they attend church regularly. Methodists and Presbyterians come in fourth with a 44 percent rate of attendance and Episcopalians come in last with only 31 percent saying they go weekly to church.

• Babies and TV
It may surprise you to learn that about 90 percent of U.S. children under age two and as many as 40 percent of infants under three months are regular watchers of television, DVDs and videos, according to research by Frederick Zimmerman of the University of Washington. Zimmerman noted that they don't know from the study whether this is good or bad, but the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under age two should not watch any TV and older children should watch no more than two hours a day of quality programming.


WHY GOD MADE MOMS "Why God made moms" answers given by elementary school age children to the following questions.
Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly us string, I think.
What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.
What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.
Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.
What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work & work at home, & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.
What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.
If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on her back.

"One person with passion is better than forty who are merely interested." -- Thomas K. Connellan

"You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips." -- Oliver Goldsmith


Mothers
I believe in the love of all mothers, and its importance in the lives of the children they bear.
It is stronger than steel, softer than down, and more resilient than a green sapling on the hillside.
It closes wounds, melts disappointments, and enables the weakest child to stand tall and straight in the fields of adversity.
I believe that this love, even at its best, is only a shadow of the love of God . . .
And I believe that one of the most beautiful sights in the world is a mother who lets this greater love flow through her to her child,
Blessing the world with the tenderness of her touch and the tears of her joy. --John Killinger

The Meanest Mom
Was your Mom mean?? I know mine was.
We had the meanest mother in the whole world!
While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs and toast.
When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches.
And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them.
She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.
We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.
She always insisted on us telling the truth the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds. Then, life was really tough!
Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime.
It was all her fault. We never got drunk, took up smoking, stayed out all night, or a million other things other kids did.
Sundays were reserved for church, and we never missed once. We knew better than to ask to spend the night with a friend on Saturdays. Now that we have left home, we are all God-fearing, educated, honest, adults.
We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean Moms anymore.

Anna Jarvis, the leader of the early 20th century movement to make Mother's Day a national holiday, later fought against the holiday. She felt the day had become over-commercialized. In fact, she was so frustrated that most people sent greeting cards on the holiday that she once called the cards, "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write." Jarvis and her sister spent their family inheritance fighting against the holiday. They both died in poverty. - Source: Wikipedia.com

* An American student will have as many as 14 jobs by the time he or she turns age 38.
* More than 3,000 new books are published in the United States every DAY.
* The amount of new technical information doubles every two years, which means students attending a technical school will learn information that will be outdated by their third year.
* The number of words in the English language is 540,000 -- that is FIVE times the number of words present during Shakespeare's time.

"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives." - A. Sachs


"Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of Northfield is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone higher, that is all - out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that sin cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like his glorious body. I was born in the flesh in 1837; I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die; that which is born of the Spirit will live forever." - D.L. Moody

"I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening." - Larry King

Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson's recent book, Comeback Churches, focuses on 324 churches that have showed significant recent growth after a period of plateau. According to the book the majority of these "Comeback Churches" raised their membership expectations as part of their turnaround. Only one of these 324 churches reported lowering membership standards. - Source: Ed Stetzer & Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches (B & H Publishing, 2007)

The heart rates and brain activity of couples in their 20s was monitored while they first melted chocolate in their mouths, and then kissed. The "buzz" caused by chocolate was more intense, and lasted four times longer, than that caused by kissing.
Chocolate also doubled volunteers' heart rates, from a resting rate of about 60 beats per minute to 140. Kissing did increase heart rate, but not to the same degree.

Kyle and Justin were about to eat with the baby-sitter when 6-year-old Kyle said to her, "You can't sit in Daddy's seat!"
"Daddy's not home," the baby-sitter replied. "Since I'm responsible for you while he's gone, I can sit here. Today I'm the boss."
Justin, the 4-year-old, quickly piped up, "If you're the boss, then you sit over there." He pointed to his mother's chair.

"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."-- C. T. Studd

"Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair." - George Burns


RULES TO LIVE BY
Don't throw a brick straight up.
Don't take long naps while driving.
Don't microwave yourself too often.
When using an acetylene torch, don't feel the flame to see if it's sufficiently hot.
If you're on a ball field and someone shouts "Heads up!" don't actually raise your head up. Cover it with your arms and duck.
Don't tie yourself to an airplane propeller.
No matter how tempting it is to be one with nature, stay on the outside of all fences at the zoo.
When sticking thumb tacks into bulletin boards, press on the flat end.
When you find a prize in a box of " Crackerjacks " there is no need to report it on your income tax return.
"Time" magazine is not suitable to wear on your wrist. Get a watch.
One + one = two. Try to remember that.
Don't count the peas in a can. It is not an exact science.
For faster elevator service press the elevator button many times.

In an old Peanuts strip, Peppermint Patty and Violet are reflecting on being a grandmother. After Patty declares that she would like to be a grandmother, Violet agrees and says it would be nice because all they have to do is “sit and rock” (not quite the case, is it?) The girls then decide that the trouble with being a grandmother is that first you have to be a wife and then a mother…and Violet sighs, “I know it…it’s all those preliminaries that get me!”

May 6

You will never have a friend if you must have one without faults. -- Italian Proverb

"God grant me the ability
to reject the things about me
that are not true,
the humility to accept
the things that are,
and the discernment
to know the difference."

"Your integrity will affect your destiny, don't leave home without it." -- Clarence E. Hodges

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it." -- Lou Holtz

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mohandas Gandhi

"Don't wait. The time will never be just right." --Napoleon Hill

"Alexander, Caesar, and Hannibal conquered the world but had no friends.... Jesus founded his empire upon love, and at this hour millions would die for him.... He has won the hearts of men, a task a conqueror cannot do." -- Napoleon

Risk
To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk rejection.
To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken...because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love.
Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave. He has forfeited his freedom.
Only a person who takes risks is free.

Seven Deadly Sins
Truth, if it becomes a weapon against persons.
Beauty, if it becomes vanity.
Love, if it becomes possessive.
Loyalty, if it becomes blind, careless trust.
Tolerance, if it becomes indifference.
Self-confidence, if it becomes arrogance.
Faith, if it becomes self-righteous.


"God hasn't promised us tomorrow, but he has promised us eternity." — Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary at Davidson College, his alma mater, on the occasion of his returning to work after surgery to remove a cancerous growth that had metastasized to his liver.

"Remember that as a teenager you are at the last stage of your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you." - Fran Lebowitz

"Many church leaders decry the decline of biblical literacy and knowledge among the younger generations. Rightly so; many teenagers don't even know what they believe, or why. But the leaders are pointing fingers at the wrong culprits. The debate shouldn't be between entertainment versus biblical education. We ought to be discussing (loudly and openly) the difference between ineffective instruction and truly life-changing instruction." - Jeff White, Holy Wow: Boost Your Youth Ministry Creativity (Group, 2004)

"I try not to make a big soap opera out of the shark attack. I would rather focus on what God has allowed me to do in picking up the pieces of my old life and adjusting to parts that are new and different for me. Most of all, I want to use my story as a way to tell people about God's story. It seems like he has given me the attention of the world for a moment, and I had better take advantage of it while I can." - Bethany Hamilton, teenage surfer who lost an arm to a shark, Soul Surfer (Pocket Books, 2004)

"Busyness does not equal effectiveness." - Doug Fields, What Matters Most

A CHARTERED BUS was rolling along the highway to a football game when one rider turned to his companion and said, "I feel guilty. Here it’s Sunday and I’m going to a football game instead of church."
"What would you be doing in church?" his friend asked. "Listening to the sermon," the man replied. "Well, why don’t you act as if you were in church listening to the sermon," the friend suggested. The man thought this was a terrific idea. So he settled back into his seat and fell asleep.

The UN says livestock farming generates 18 per cent of greenhouse gases while transport accounts for 14 per cent.


When you're too busy for family, friends or most importantly, God , , you really are too busy.

God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it in the nest.

The Church in Action From time to time we hear statistics about how people first came into church membership. These figures trace back to the Institute for American Church Growth, which asked 10,000 people about their pilgrimage. What led them in? Answers were:
Special need, 2 percent;
Walk-in, 3 percent;
Pastor, 6 percent;
Visitation, 1 percent;
Sunday school, 5 percent;
Evangelistic crusade, 5 percent;
Program, 3 percent;
Friend/relative, 79 percent.
SO....get out there and spread the word!!
**Number of nonchurched Americans who listen to Christian radio: 1 in 6. Stats from WMBI-FM, Chicago-Il.

So, you think a gallon of gasoline is expensive, huh?? Check this out...
Diet Snapple 16oz for $1.29 = $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea 16oz for $1.19 = $ 9.52 per gallon
Gatorade 20oz for $1.59 = $ 10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray 16oz for $1.25 = $ 10.00 per gallon
Pint of milk 16oz for $1.59 = $12.72 per gallon
Evian water 9oz for $1.49 = $ 21.19 per gallon
STP Brake Fluid 12oz for $3.15 = $ 33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil 6oz for $8.35 = $ 178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol 4oz for $3.85 = $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout 7oz for $1.39 = $25.42 per gallon
Scope 1.5oz for $0.99 = $ 84.48 per gallon