June 1
"Never underestimate a man that over estimates himself." - Franklin Roosevelt
Panicking when her toddler swallowed a tiny magnet, a mother rushed him to the emergency room.
"He'll be fine," the doctor promised her. "The magnet should pass through his system in a day or two."
"How will I be sure?" she pressed.
"Well," the doctor suggested, "you could stick him on the refrigerator. When he falls off, you'll know."
Immune to Religion
Sir Alexander Fleming, upon introducing his newly discovered drug, penicillin, warned against taking too little of it. An underdose, he said would permit germs to remain in the system thereby allowing one to build up an immunity to the drug. These immune germs could be "passed on to other individuals so that the thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatments may be responsible for the death of another" if not himself as well.
Something similar to this carelessness takes place in the spiritual realm where masses of people seem to be playing with religion - taking in just enough of it to become immune to the real thing. Many people attend just enough religious services to temporarily quiet their conscience; they attend just enough weddings, funerals, and special observances to keep
them from longing for a genuine and thorough encounter with God who is so absent from their commitment. They have just enough religion to make them immune to the real thing.
On a chilly winter evening, my husband and I were snuggled together on the floor watching television. During a commercial break, he reached over and gave my foot a gentle squeeze.
"Mmmmm," I said. "That's so sweet."
"Actually," he admitted sheepishly, "I thought that was the remote."
A young girl of 4 was told she needed an X-ray after an accident. Her mother tried to calm her down, but she was still nervous when the time came for the X-Ray. When she came out of the X-ray room, however, she seemed relaxed and just fine. "They took a picture of my bones." she told her mother.
"Yes, dear," replied the mother. "Did everything go all right?"
"Yeah," said the girl. "It was great! I didn't even have to take my skin off, or anything!"
A millionaire had fallen ill. All the doctors that were consulted did not seem to understand what ailed him. The millionaire let it be known that any doctor who could heal him could have whatever he desired.
A country doctor was able to cure him, and as the doctor was leaving after a week's stay, the rich man said,
"Doc! I am a man of my word. You name it, and if it is humanly possible, I'll get it for you."
"Well," said the doctor, "I love to play golf, so if I could have a matching set of golf clubs, that would be fine."
With that, the doctor left. The doctor didn't hear from the millionaire for some months. Then one day, he got a phone call from him.
"Doc, I bet you thought that I had gone back on my word. I have your matching set of golf clubs. The reason it took so long is that two of them didn't have swimming pools, and I didn't think they were good enough for you. So I had pools installed, and they're all ready for
you now!"
"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." -- Mother Teresa
"Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away." -- Sir Arthur Helps
"We live in the land of the free, only because of the brave." -- Unknown
"Sometimes when we believe we are keeping a secret, that secret is actually keeping us." -- Frank Warren
"Those blessed with the most talent don't necessarily outperform everyone else. It's the people with follow-through who excel." -- Mary Kay Ash
"All adverse and depressing influences can be overcome, not by fighting, but by rising above them." -- Charles Caleb Colton
"I have CDO. It's like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, only in alphabetical order like it should be." – Spike Donner
Hard Times and Revival
Times are changing. The Christian faith once enjoyed a place of privilege in government and society but that is quickly changing. The Christian faith and ethics that holds our nation together is now being viewed as a curse. The privileges and influence the church once
held is vanishing. Hard times may face the future generation of believers if Jesus does not return.
Is that really bad? I ran across this little tidbit of information that caused me to think about what God can do in hard times.
"The American Civil War sparked revival on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Between 100,000 and 200,000 Union soldiers reportedly converted to Christ, as did approximately 150,000 Confederates. Many soldiers' quarters featured chapels, and it was during this conflict that military chaplains became common. During the fall of 1863 and the winter of 1864 alone, some 7,000 of Robert E. Lee's troops became Christians."
Sometimes God does His greatest works during the hard times. Something to think about.
A New Study of Technology
"Few would argue that mobile devices and online technology have become deeply embedded in society," says the latest report from the Barna Group. "Millions of Americans have become dependent upon the new digital conveniences that provide them with entertainment, information, products and content. The impact of these technologies on interpersonal relationships — a domain often called social networking — has begun to rewire the way people meet, express themselves and stay connected."
Some of the results that Barna found include:
* Four out of five Americans (78%) who access a computer have sent an email in the past week.
* Computer users over the age of 50 are just as likely as younger adults to use email.
* One-third of computer users (33%) have used instant messaging (IM) in the past week.
* Thirty percent of Americans have sent someone a text message via a mobile telephone in the past week.
* One-quarter of computer users (23%) has a personal webpage or home page on a social networking site (such as Facebook or MySpace).
* Ten percent of Americans with regular access to a computer have a personal blog (weblog) where they communicate their ideas and experiences.
* Fourteen percent of computer users have posted a comment on another person's blog in the last week.
* Sixteen million American adults use a blog as a pulpit to broadcast their voices to the world. Blogs are most common among single adults, Northeast residents, homosexuals, those not registered to vote, and atheists and agnostics.
* More than seven out of 10 people who have a blog update their online journal at least once a week.
* Some of the more common uses of the Internet in any given week are searching for information or content (84%), online purchasing (27%), watching online videos (26%), downloading music (13%), downloading movies (2%) and viewing pornography or adult content (4%).
Within the Christian community, Barna found that:
* Thirty-eight percent of evangelicals and 31 percent of born-again Christians listen to a sermon or church teaching via a digital recording available on the Internet (often called a "podcast') in the past week, compared to 17 percent of other adults. In macro-terms, that means that roughly 45 million Americans report going digital to acquire sermons and teaching content.
* In all, one out of every four adults (23%) says they download a church podcast each week.
Panicking when her toddler swallowed a tiny magnet, a mother rushed him to the emergency room.
"He'll be fine," the doctor promised her. "The magnet should pass through his system in a day or two."
"How will I be sure?" she pressed.
"Well," the doctor suggested, "you could stick him on the refrigerator. When he falls off, you'll know."
Immune to Religion
Sir Alexander Fleming, upon introducing his newly discovered drug, penicillin, warned against taking too little of it. An underdose, he said would permit germs to remain in the system thereby allowing one to build up an immunity to the drug. These immune germs could be "passed on to other individuals so that the thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatments may be responsible for the death of another" if not himself as well.
Something similar to this carelessness takes place in the spiritual realm where masses of people seem to be playing with religion - taking in just enough of it to become immune to the real thing. Many people attend just enough religious services to temporarily quiet their conscience; they attend just enough weddings, funerals, and special observances to keep
them from longing for a genuine and thorough encounter with God who is so absent from their commitment. They have just enough religion to make them immune to the real thing.
On a chilly winter evening, my husband and I were snuggled together on the floor watching television. During a commercial break, he reached over and gave my foot a gentle squeeze.
"Mmmmm," I said. "That's so sweet."
"Actually," he admitted sheepishly, "I thought that was the remote."
A young girl of 4 was told she needed an X-ray after an accident. Her mother tried to calm her down, but she was still nervous when the time came for the X-Ray. When she came out of the X-ray room, however, she seemed relaxed and just fine. "They took a picture of my bones." she told her mother.
"Yes, dear," replied the mother. "Did everything go all right?"
"Yeah," said the girl. "It was great! I didn't even have to take my skin off, or anything!"
A millionaire had fallen ill. All the doctors that were consulted did not seem to understand what ailed him. The millionaire let it be known that any doctor who could heal him could have whatever he desired.
A country doctor was able to cure him, and as the doctor was leaving after a week's stay, the rich man said,
"Doc! I am a man of my word. You name it, and if it is humanly possible, I'll get it for you."
"Well," said the doctor, "I love to play golf, so if I could have a matching set of golf clubs, that would be fine."
With that, the doctor left. The doctor didn't hear from the millionaire for some months. Then one day, he got a phone call from him.
"Doc, I bet you thought that I had gone back on my word. I have your matching set of golf clubs. The reason it took so long is that two of them didn't have swimming pools, and I didn't think they were good enough for you. So I had pools installed, and they're all ready for
you now!"
"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." -- Mother Teresa
"Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away." -- Sir Arthur Helps
"We live in the land of the free, only because of the brave." -- Unknown
"Sometimes when we believe we are keeping a secret, that secret is actually keeping us." -- Frank Warren
"Those blessed with the most talent don't necessarily outperform everyone else. It's the people with follow-through who excel." -- Mary Kay Ash
"All adverse and depressing influences can be overcome, not by fighting, but by rising above them." -- Charles Caleb Colton
"I have CDO. It's like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, only in alphabetical order like it should be." – Spike Donner
Hard Times and Revival
Times are changing. The Christian faith once enjoyed a place of privilege in government and society but that is quickly changing. The Christian faith and ethics that holds our nation together is now being viewed as a curse. The privileges and influence the church once
held is vanishing. Hard times may face the future generation of believers if Jesus does not return.
Is that really bad? I ran across this little tidbit of information that caused me to think about what God can do in hard times.
"The American Civil War sparked revival on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Between 100,000 and 200,000 Union soldiers reportedly converted to Christ, as did approximately 150,000 Confederates. Many soldiers' quarters featured chapels, and it was during this conflict that military chaplains became common. During the fall of 1863 and the winter of 1864 alone, some 7,000 of Robert E. Lee's troops became Christians."
Sometimes God does His greatest works during the hard times. Something to think about.
A New Study of Technology
"Few would argue that mobile devices and online technology have become deeply embedded in society," says the latest report from the Barna Group. "Millions of Americans have become dependent upon the new digital conveniences that provide them with entertainment, information, products and content. The impact of these technologies on interpersonal relationships — a domain often called social networking — has begun to rewire the way people meet, express themselves and stay connected."
Some of the results that Barna found include:
* Four out of five Americans (78%) who access a computer have sent an email in the past week.
* Computer users over the age of 50 are just as likely as younger adults to use email.
* One-third of computer users (33%) have used instant messaging (IM) in the past week.
* Thirty percent of Americans have sent someone a text message via a mobile telephone in the past week.
* One-quarter of computer users (23%) has a personal webpage or home page on a social networking site (such as Facebook or MySpace).
* Ten percent of Americans with regular access to a computer have a personal blog (weblog) where they communicate their ideas and experiences.
* Fourteen percent of computer users have posted a comment on another person's blog in the last week.
* Sixteen million American adults use a blog as a pulpit to broadcast their voices to the world. Blogs are most common among single adults, Northeast residents, homosexuals, those not registered to vote, and atheists and agnostics.
* More than seven out of 10 people who have a blog update their online journal at least once a week.
* Some of the more common uses of the Internet in any given week are searching for information or content (84%), online purchasing (27%), watching online videos (26%), downloading music (13%), downloading movies (2%) and viewing pornography or adult content (4%).
Within the Christian community, Barna found that:
* Thirty-eight percent of evangelicals and 31 percent of born-again Christians listen to a sermon or church teaching via a digital recording available on the Internet (often called a "podcast') in the past week, compared to 17 percent of other adults. In macro-terms, that means that roughly 45 million Americans report going digital to acquire sermons and teaching content.
* In all, one out of every four adults (23%) says they download a church podcast each week.
posted by joypastordon at 4:19 PM
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