July 12

"You will find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy." -- Lydia M. Child

"Heaven is full of answers to prayer for which no one bothered to ask." -- Billy Graham

"We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons." -- Jim Rohn

The world is not moved only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." -- Helen Keller

The quality that should mark the Christian church is not goodness, but grace, not merit, but mercy, not moralism, but forgiveness, not the enshrinement of success, but the acceptance of failure . . .
Lacking the nerve of failure, we have suffered a failure of nerve-to dare to dream dreams, venture visions, and risk getting splinters that come from cutting against the grain. Leonard Sweet


Question: What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?
Answer: Psalm 117.
Question: What is the longest chapter in the Bible?
Answer: Psalm 119.
Question: What chapter is in the center of the Bible?
Answer: Psalm 118.
Fact: There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118.
Fact: There are 594 chapters after Psalm 118.
Ad these numbers together and you get 1188. And what is the center verse in the Bible?
Answer 118:8.
The next time someone says they would like to find God's perfect will for their life, and that they want to be in the center of God's will, just send them to the center of His Word--the Bible.
"It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in man" (Psalm 118:8).

A garden center customer picks up a container of insecticide and asks the salesperson, "Is this good for red ants?"
"No," says the salesperson. "It'll kill 'em!"

“I believe the recipe for happiness to be just enough money to pay the monthly bills you acquire, a little surplus to give you confidence, a little too much work each day, enthusiasm for your work, a substantial share of good health, a couple of real friends and a wife and children to share life's beauty with you.” -- J. Kenfield Morley

"I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves." -- Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt

"We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world." -- Helen Keller

The belief that youth is the happiest time of life is founded on a fallacy. The happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts, and we grow happier as we grow older. William Lyon Phelps

Time
From birth to age 12 seemed like it took 20 years.
From 12 until age 16 felt like 15 years to me.
From 16 to age 21 was another 10 years.
From age 21 to age 30 was a tough 15 years.
From 30 to the age of 50 seemed like it only took
about 8 years.
From 50 until age 60 was very strange--I went to
bed one night at 50 and woke up 60!
After age 60 you get up in the morning, grab
something to eat, and presto it's midnight.
Value every year, every day, every hour and even every minute. Don't spend a lot of time looking forward to some 'certain event'; it will surely come soon enough. Spend your time and thoughts in the wonder and the miracle of "today". Grab hold of this day with passion, desire, love, and with a positive outlook. Life is a wonderful adventure. I sure wish I had found that out at the beginning of this journey.

Not Knowing What Is Going to Happen Next Re Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Etc.
By Michael Josephson of Character Counts 625.2)
No matter how much we fear it, try to escape it, or ignore it, death comes to everyone. Wealth, fame, even wisdom and virtue provide no sanctuary.
It comes at its own time and place without regard for our readiness or its impact on survivors.
This week brought news of three deaths, each momentous in its own way as each life had its own unique path forged by circumstances and choices.
Ed McMahon, announcer, pitchman, and sidekick of Johnny Carson, died at 86. A former Marine Corps fighter pilot, his jovial nature attracted a large posse of friends and admirers and helped him achieve a hugely successful career and millions in earnings. None of these things, however, guaranteed happiness or security as his last years were spent in debt, ill health, and contentious litigation.
Farrah Fawcett, an iconic beauty known for her glamorous pin-up pictures and for being one of Charlie's Angels, died at 62 after a hard, long public battle with cancer. She died with her companion for 27 years, actor Ryan O'Neal, at her side, struggling with all her might to enjoy her relationships a little longer.
These obituaries were eclipsed by the sudden death of 50-year-old "King of Pop" Michael Jackson. The one-gloved, red-jacketed, surgically altered, moon-walking singer/dancer was, for more than a decade, the brightest star in celebrity heaven. Once able to buy anything he wanted including a private zoo and the bones of The Elephant Man, Jackson also died in debt and in emotional prison--never able to overcome a host of personal demons.
Gilda Radner, another celebrity who died early, said: "I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing...taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.


"Fear knocked. Faith answered. No one was there."

"The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind."
"No matter what happens in your life, know that God is waiting with open arms."
"The law of any church is, and always will be, evangelize or fossilize."

TIMELY SUGGESTIONS
1. No one can ruin your day without YOUR permission.
2. Most people will be about as happy, as they decide to be.
3. Others can stop you temporarily, but only you can do it permanently.
4. Whatever you are willing to put up with, is exactly what you will have.
5. Success stops when you do.
6. When your ship comes in ... make sure you are willing to unload it.
7. You will never "have it all together."
8. Life is a journey ... not a destination. Enjoy the trip!
9. The biggest lie on the planet: "When I get what I want, I will be happy."
10. The best way to escape your problem is to solve it.
11. I've learned that ultimately, 'takers' lose and 'givers' win.
12. Life's precious moments don't have value, unless they are shared.
13. If you don't start, it's certain you won't arrive.
14. We often fear the thing we want the most.
15. He or she who laughs ... lasts.
16. Yesterday was the deadline for all complaints.
17. Look for opportunities ... not guarantees.
18. Life is what's coming ... not what was.
19. Success is getting up one more time.
20. Now is the most interesting time of all.
21. When things go wrong ... don't go with them.

July 5

"Heaven will be the perfection we've always longed for. All the things that made Earth unlovely and tragic will be absent in heaven." -- Billy Graham


How much is a billion? What's the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire?

A million seconds is 13 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years!

A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.
A billion hours ago man had not yet walked on earth.

A billion dollars ago was yesterday at the U.S. Treasury.



Pledge of Allegiance by Red Skelton
As a schoolboy, one of Red Skelton's teachers explained the words and meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance to his class. Skelton later wrote down, and eventually recorded, his recollection of this lecture. It is followed by an observation of his own.

I - Me, an individual, a committee of one.

Pledge - Dedicate all of my worldly good to give without self-pity.

Allegiance - My love and my devotion.

To the Flag - Our standard; Old Glory; a symbol of Courage; and wherever she waves there is respect, because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts, Freedom is everybody's job.

of the United - That means that we have all come together.

States - Individual communities that have united into forty-eight great states. Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose. All divided by imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common cause, and that is love of country, of America..

And to the Republic - A Republic - a sovereign state in which power is invested in the representatives chosen by the people to govern. And the government is the people; and it's from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.

For which it stands

One Nation One Nation - meaning, so blessed by God.

Indivisible - Incapable of being divided.

With Liberty - Which is Freedom; the right of power for one to live his own life, without fears, threats, or any sort of retaliation.

And Justice - The principle, and qualities, of dealing fairly with others.

For All - For All - that means, boys and girls, it's as much your country as it is mine.

Now, let me hear you recite the Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands; one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country, and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance: Under God.


“When you begin to walk with God, He may permit you to walk by sight more than faith. But after a while, He will begin removing the visible symbols and let you tremble. When that happens, you can be sure that He is about to teach you how to walk by faith.” (Oswald Chambers)

What‘s Wrong in America. “Jesus showed us that the surest road to wisdom is not speculation, reasoning, or reading human books, but by meditating on the Word of God.” (Charles Haddon Spurgeon) [Christian Bookstores have an awful lot of pretty books on the shelves, but too few broken hearts on the altar, too few teary eyes on the Savior.]

Money is never an object; flaunting it is all too frequently the object.

In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away...


GOD BLESS AMERICA
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).

LAND THAT I LOVE
"Bring them up ... into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8).

STAND BESIDE HER AND GUIDE HER
"Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ... your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast" (Psalm 139:7,10).

THROUGH THE NIGHT WITH A LIGHT FROM ABOVE
"And by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night" (Exodus 13:21). "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path" (Psalm 119:105).

FROM THE MOUNTAINS, TO THE PRAIRIES,
TO THE OCEANS WHITE WITH FOAM
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place" (Psalm 8:3). "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it" (Psalm 24:1).

GOD BLESS AMERICA, MY HOME SWEET HOME
"And I'll gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today, 'cause there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA!" ("God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood)

You do not have to agree with all that is going on in our country to be proud of your country. Urge your people this weekend to be men and women of prayer, patriotism and great faith ... that is our nation's only hope. God Bless America!


The American Creed By Chuck Colson 7/3/2009
'We Hold These Truths...'
The great British intellectual G. K. Chesterton wrote that “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on [a] creed.”
Think about that for a moment. Other nations were founded on the basis of race, or by the power of kings or emperors who accumulated lands and the peasants who inhabited those lands.
But America was—and is to this day—different. It was founded on a shared belief. Or, as Chesterton said, on a creed.
And what is that creed that sets us apart? It is the eloquent, profound, and simple statement penned by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
I’ll never forget when I graduated from Brown University during the Korean War. I couldn’t wait to become a Marine officer, to give my life if necessary, to defend that creed. To defend the idea that our rights come from God Himself and are not subject to whims of governments or tyrants. That humans ought to be free to pursue their most treasured hopes and aspirations.
Perhaps some 230 years later, we take these words for granted. But in 1776, they were earth-shaking—indeed, revolutionary.
Yet today, they are in danger of being forgotten altogether. According to Gallup, 66 percent of American adults have no idea that the words, “We hold these truths . . .” come from the Declaration of Independence. Even worse, only 45 percent of college seniors know that the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are proclaimed in the Declaration.
As America grows more and more diverse culturally, religiously, ethnically, it is critical that we re-embrace the American creed.
America has always been a “melting pot.” But what is the pot that holds our multicultural stew together? Chesterton said the pot’s “original shape was traced on the lines of Jeffersonian democracy.” A democracy founded on those self-evident truths expressed in the Declaration of Independence. And as Chesterton remarked, “The pot must not melt.”
Abraham Lincoln understood this so very well. For him, the notion that all men are created equal was “the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world.”
So tomorrow, go to the Fourth of July parade. Go to the neighborhood barbecue and enjoy the hot dogs and apple pie.
But here’s an idea for you. Why not take time out at the picnic to read the Declaration of Independence aloud with your friends and your neighbors.
Listen—and thrill—to those words that bind us together as a nation of freedom-loving people: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
These are the words Americans live for and, if necessary, die for.