Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Written Word:
John 12:20-26: 20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

Catechism: Question 7. What do you believe when you confess your faith in "God the Father Almighty"? That God is a God of love, and that God's love is powerful beyond measure.
· Lam. 3:22 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end."
· Song 8:7 "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one's house, it would be utterly scorned."
· 1 John 4:8 "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love."

Traditional English Version
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN.

Vocab:
dragoman \DRAG-uh-man\ noun, plural dragomans or dragomen. An interpreter or guide.

defenestration \dee-feh-nuh-STRAY-shun\ noun : a throwing of a person or thing out of a window

Quotations of the day:
But I simply can't stand a view limited to this earth, I feel life is so small unless it has windows into other worlds...I like mathematics largely because it is not human. Bertrand Russell – Letters

The situation of Iraqis is as if one eye is crying and one eye is laughing. SAYID HASHEM AL-SHAMAA, a Shiite leader in Baghdad.

News & Virews:
The first meeting on administering postwar Iraq is scheduled for Tuesday between US officials and representatives of the nation's religious and political interests. But long-exiled Ahmed Chalabi, the opposition leader widely expected to head an interim administration, told a Paris newspaper he is "absolutely not" a candidate for any political post. The meeting, at Nasiriyah, comes as US forces arrived at the "transition point" in the war by securing control of Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit.

Families of seven former US prisoners of war were planning excited reunions, a day after their rescue in Iraq. The ex-POWs told The Washington Post they were fed and given medical treatment by their captors, were interrogated, and were often moved. Meanwhile, with coalition troops in effective control of Iraq's main cities, the US is scaling back some forces. Two Navy aircraft carrier battle groups reportedly have orders to leave this week, and the submarine USS Toledo is due to arrive Tuesday at a naval base in Groton, Conn.

In an about-face, senior leaders in China said they are "very worried" about SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), after weeks of maintaining that the illness was under control. New President Hu Jintao visited hospitals in hard-hit Guang-zhou province and called for urgency in combating the problem. But in Hong Kong, seven more deaths from SARS were reported, pushing the global total to 144.

Happy Birthday:
Leonardo DaVinci - painter of the Mona Lisa, (1452-1519)

Just a thought:
Despite its fame, Niagara Falls is only the 23rd highest waterfall in North America.

Monday, April 14, 2003

Good Day! I hope you had a great Palm Sunday! Jesus is good! Today is my day-off so I'll post agian in the morning. Blessing to you and yours! Enjoy Jesus!

Thursday, April 10, 2003

Written Word:
Psalm 27:1-14: 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh - my adversaries and foes - they shall stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. 4 One thing I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. 6 Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. 7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! 8 "Come," my heart says, "seek his face!" Your face, LORD, do I seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation! 10 If my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me up. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out violence. 13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

Catechism:
Question 6. What is the first article of the Apostles' Creed? "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."

Traditional English Version
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN.


Vocab:
henotheism \HEH-nuh-thee-ih-zum ("th" as in "think")\ noun : the worship of one god without denying the existence of other gods

importunate \im-POR-tyoo-nit\ adjective 1 : troublesomely urgent : overly persistent in request or demand *2 : troublesome

Quotations of the day:
"The game is over." Mohammed Aldouri, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations.

"When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary." (William Wrigley Jr.)

News:
Nanotube Web Could Mimic Brain: Technology Research News - April 9, 2003 Researchers from NASA Ames Research Center have found a way to grow minuscule webs of connected carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are rolled-up sheets of carbon atoms that appear naturally in soot, and are central to many nanotechnology projects. Nanotube networks could herald a new type of electronics that have huge numbers of random connections, a setup similar to a brain's synapses. Such networks could also form sensors, parts for conventional electronics, or templates for assembling materials molecule-by-molecule.

Inventor Imagines Future Phones CHICAGO -- Thirty years after the first cellular phone call, inventor Martin Cooper still dreams about the day when futuristic telephone technology is a reality. Cooper's dream telephone is so small that it fits behind his ear, automatically dials out when he thinks about calling someone and it notifies him of incoming calls with a tickle instead of a ring.

U.S. Forces Take Control of Baghdad: by Patrick E. Tyler http://www.nytimes.com/todaysheadlines

KUWAIT, Thursday, April 10 - Much of Baghdad tumbled into American hands on Wednesday as Saddam Hussein's image was pulled down from pedestals and portraiture in the city. But American and British commanders said the war in Iraq, including the battle for Baghdad, was not over and faced critical days ahead.

Just a thought: College protests in America began in the 1960s, right? Not quite. Back up a couple hundred years. What did Harvard students have to complain about back in 1766? The impending war? Unmanageable class sizes? The cost of quill pens? Nope, it was all about butter. Known historically as the Great Butter Rebellion, the students were upset at the poor quality of the butter that was being served with their meals, so they did what most college students would do - they griped about it. "Behold, our butter stinketh!" wrote Asa Dunbar, Harvard student and later grandfather of none other than Henry David Thoreau. Did the establishment buckle, and provide the students with the better butter they bitterly battled for? Of course not. Instead, they punished over half the student body with suspensions and expulsions. Perhaps they should have asked: "Parkay?"

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

Written Word:
John 10:1-18: 1 "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away - and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Catechism:
The Apostles' Creed: Question 5. What does a Christian believe? All that is promised in the gospel. A summary is found in the Apostles' Creed, which affirms the main content of the Christian faith. John 20:31 "But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name."

Traditional English Version
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN.


Vocab:
qua \KWAH\ preposition: in the capacity or character of : as

charisma \kuh-RIZ-muh\ noun 1: a personal quality of leadership arousing popular loyalty or enthusiasm *2: a special magnetic charm or appeal

Quotations of the day:
"The end game is the end of the regime, and that's a lot closer now than it was." - MAJ. GEN. STANLEY A. McCHRYSTAL

"The man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance." (Laurence J. Peter)

News:
Thirty-one antiwar protesters were arrested and a dozen were hurt, along with six bystanders, when police in Oakland, Calif., fired nonlethal weapons to disperse a rally outside the city's seaport Monday. It was one of the most violent such incidents since the Iraq war began. Police Chief Richard Word said some in the crowd threw rocks and started a fire, but pledged to review the use of projectiles.

COMPUTERS TO WATCH YOU WHILE YOU WORK: With today's computer users increasingly overloaded by a combination of e-mail, instant messages and phone calls, researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Ontario are designing technology that will enable a PC to gauge their user's attention level and sort out which messages and phone calls are important. "Today's digital lifestyle has the unfortunate side effect of bombarding people with messages from many devices all the time, regardless of whether they're willing, or able, to respond," says Human Media Lab director Dr. Roel Vertegaal. "We now need computers that sense when we are busy, when we are available for interruption, and know when to wait their turn -- just as we do with human-to-human interaction." Techniques used to evaluate PC users' availability include an eye contact sensor that enables the PC to determine whether the user is present and whether he or she is looking at the screen. (BBC News 8 Apr 2003) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2925403.stm

Advisory information about SARS provided by Health Ministries: The latest health advisory information about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was recently added to the Web site of Health Ministries USA (www.pcusa.org/health/usa) to help parish nurses and health ministry personnel to answer questions from congregation members.

The U.S. Department of State encourages American citizens traveling abroad to familiarize themselves with the information available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) about SARS.

But I didn't open any of it… From little Twizel, New Zealand, comes word that some residents recently received, all at once, eight years' worth of mail - letters, bills, even wedding invitations. Reason: The part-time postmistress couldn't keep up with the flow and let it pile up until a visiting government inspector discovered it. The fact that she's "quite highly respected" around town didn't prevent her from being fired.

Just a thought: The westernmost state capital in the lower 48 states is Salem, Oregon.
Good morning! Jesus loves you!

Monday, April 07, 2003

Greetings! I hope you had a blessed weekend! Jesus loves you!

Written Word:
Romans 9:19-33: 19 You will say to me then, "Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" 20 But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is moulded say to the one who moulds it, "Why have you made me like this?" 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction; 23 and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea, "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people', and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved'. " 26 "And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people', there they shall be called children of the living God."

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively." 29 And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors to us, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah."

30 What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31 but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32 Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling-stone, 33 as it is written, "See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."

Catechism:
Question 4: How do you live in the communion of the Holy Spirit? By the Holy Spirit, I am made one with the Lord Jesus Christ. I am baptized into Christ's body, the church, along with all others who confess him by faith. As a member of this community, I trust in God's Word, share in the Lord's Supper, and turn to God constantly in prayer. As I grow in grace and knowledge, I am led to do the good works that God intends for my life.
· 1 Cor. 12:27 "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."
· Gal. 3:27 "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
· 1 Cor. 6:17, 19 "But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?"
· 2 Pet. 3:18 "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
· Eph. 2:10 "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life."


Vocab:
ephemeral \ih-FEH-muh-rul\ adjective: lasting a very short time

gimcrack \JIM-krak\ noun: a showy object of little use or value: gewgaw

Quotations of the day:
Human law is law only by virtue of its accordance with right reason, and by this means it is clear that it flows from Eternal law. In so far as it deviates from right reason it is called an Unjust law; and in such a case, it is no law at all, but rather an assertion of violence. Thomas Aquinas - Summa Theologica

Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education. FYODOR DOSTOEVSKI

News:
The Rev. Tandy Sloan has presided over many a funeral and memorial service in his decades as a pastor in a section of the city that has seen its share of violence.He has consoled weeping mothers, crestfallen fathers and widows searching for answers. He has held them gently and told them that for those who believe, a reunion will take place, someday soon. But today it was Mr. Sloan, a preacher at the Historical Greater Friendship Baptist Church here in the Forest Hills section of Cleveland, who was looking for answers, discontented with consoling words. With his head slumped, he said the knots were growing tighter and larger in his stomach as he wondered, tried to find some understanding, of why his only child had to die 6,000 miles away in Iraq.

An estimated 12 percent of African-American men ages 20 to 34 are in jail or prison, according to a report released yesterday by the Justice Department. The proportion of young black men who are incarcerated has been rising in recent years, and this is the highest rate ever measured, said Allen J. Beck, the chief prison demographer for the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the statistical arm of the Justice Department. By comparison, 1.6 percent of white men in the same age group are incarcerated. The report found that the number of people in United States jails and prisons exceeded 2 million for the first time last year, rising to 2,019,234.

Check this out: SARS VIRUS RAISES FEARS IN TECH INDUSTRY - Intel has backed out of two major road shows in Beijing and Taipei this month, citing concerns over SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that's sweeping rapidly through Asia. The cancellations lend credence to warnings by analysts that the mysterious illness could cripple the high-tech industry if it's not brought under control soon. In addition to Intel's change of plans, Motorola temporarily closed a Singapore factory last week after one of its workers was diagnosed with the disease and Acer has advised its employees against nonessential visits to plants in China. Aberdeen Group analyst Russ Craig says that the industry has become too reliant on China for semiconductors and basic components for laptops, DVD players and televisions, and warns that SARS could cause serious manufacturing disruptions, schedule slippages and transportation delays that could derail the global tech industry. (AP 3 Apr 2003) http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030403/D7Q5VMU00.html

Just a thought: The shortest song to hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart was "Stay" by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, clocking in at 1:38.

Friday, April 04, 2003

Written Word:
Jer. 23:1-8: 1Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. 2Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. 3Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.

5The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."

7Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, "As the LORD lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt," 8but "As the LORD lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them." Then they shall live in their own land.

Catechism: Question 3. How do you live for the love of God? I love because God first loved me. God loves me in Christ with a love that never ends. Amazed by grace, I no longer live for myself. I live for the Lord who died and rose again, triumphant over death, for my sake. Therefore, I take those around me to heart, especially those in particular need, knowing that Christ died for them no less than for me.
· 1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us."
· 2 Cor. 5:15 "And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them."
· Rom. 12:15-16 "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are."

Vocab:
quintessence \kwin-TES-ens\ noun: 1. The pure, concentrated essence. 2. Most perfect embodiment of something.

farrago \fuh-RAH-goh\ noun: a confused mixture: hodgepodge

Quotations of the day:
"Having traveled hundreds of miles, we will now go the last 200 yards." PRESIDENT BUSH, on the war in Iraq.

Rome has spoken; the case is concluded. Saint Augustine: Sermons

News:
"We will not stop until Iraq is free," President Bush told Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Thursday, praising the sacrifices of US-led coalition forces. "By defending our own security, we are freeing the people of Iraq from one of the cruelest regimes on earth," Bush said. The president and first lady Laura Bush also met privately with families of Marines killed in the conflict. The visit came as US military officials warned of possible heavy resistance, or even Iraq's use of chemical weapons, once troops enter the capital, Baghdad.

King Abdullah of Jordan, a US ally to date, bowed to vehement domestic protests of the war, calling it "an invasion" and Iraqi civilians who've died "martyrs."

WAR WAGONS FOR PEACE TIME: U.S. automakers are busy designing cars of the future that will incorporate many of the guidance and control features now being battle-tested in the war in Iraq. General Motors executive says, "We will know traffic conditions. We will know if you are starting to get sleepy. We will know if it's raining. We will know if it's below 35 degrees outside." A Ford executive says the company has developed some experimental vehicles "that can detect an accident before it happens" by using a radar system to detect an oncoming collision and responding by applying the brakes and tightening passenger seatbelts. Another new feature being refined by GM is a so-called "Heads-up Display" that uses fighter-jet technology to project a "floating" digital display panel over the dashboard directly in front of the driver, so that s/he doesn't have to look away from the road ahead. (USA Today 3 Apr 2003)

Check this out Now! The 1990s saw Americans widely adopt the personal computer. During the second half of the decade, the Internet and cell phones became mainstream. What technologies have ridden the wave of expansion in America since the turn of the millennium? In the current study we explore Americans and technology, including:
· The massive rise in personal home entertainment technology - such as DVD players and home theater systems
· The growing use of technologies that enable Americans to live increasingly mobile lives
· How the use of desktop computers has slowed down, but use of the Internet - and penetration of high-speed Internet connections - has continued to make headway among consumers
· The profile of the most (and least) technologically enabled groups - including the technology usage of born again Christians
To read the report visit our website http://www.barna.org.

Just a thought: The first cartoon developed specifically for television was "Crusader
Rabbit."

Thursday, April 03, 2003

Greetings & Jesus loves you!

Written Word:
Romans 8:12-27: 12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ - if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Catechism:
Question 2: How do you live by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? I am not my own. I have been bought with a price. The Lord Jesus Christ loved me and gave himself for me. I entrust myself completely to his care, giving thanks each day for his wonderful goodness.
· 1 Cor. 6:19-20 "You are not your own for you were bought with a price"
· Gal. 2:20 "And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
· Ps. 136:1 "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever

Vocab:
carillon \KAR-i-lon\ noun. A set of stationary bells in a tower, usually played from a keyboard.

artless \ART-luss\ adjective
1: lacking art, knowledge, or skill : uncultured
2 a: made without skill: crude *b: free from artificiality: natural
3: free from guile or craft: sincerely simple

Quotations of the day:
One of the most constant characteristics of beliefs is their intolerance. The stronger the belief, the greater its intolerance. Men dominated by a certitude cannot tolerate those who do not accept it. Gustave Le Bon - Opinions And Beliefs

"The little brat's caused a big stir in this county. As soon as she's capable, we're planning one heck of a big shindig." GREGORY LYNCH SR., father of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, after her rescue from Iraqi captivity.

News:
Army PFC Jessica Lynch was rescued after 10 days as an Iraqi prisoner of war, the US Central Command announced. The remains of 11 others also were recovered in the raid by special forces on a hospital in Nassiriya, and some were believed to be American soldiers. President Bush welcomed news of the raid, which provided a morale boost as coalition forces launched a major drive toward Baghdad. "The circle is closing," Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said Tuesday, while denying reports of cease-fire talks.

Twelve more deaths from the disease now known as SARS were reported by authorities in China, and the UN's World Health Organization said it did not believe the spread had peaked. The latest fatalities bring to at least 78 the number reported worldwide, with more than 2,300 other cases suspected and thousands more people under quarantine as a precaution. The WHO urged travelers to avoid southern China, where the infection is believed to have originated, and Hong Kong.

In what turned out to be a false alarm, an American Airlines jet was quarantined briefly at San Jose International Airport in California Tuesday, after five people on the flight from Tokyo showed symptoms of the so-called Asian mystery illness. All 139 passengers and crew were later cleared by health officials. SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is blamed for at least 78 fatalities worldwide. No deaths have been reported in the US from the disease.

Wal-Mart widens lead as the biggest of big US companies: Discount retail titan Wal-Mart held onto the top spot in Fortune magazine's latest annual ranking of the 500 largest US corporations. Wal-Mart managed 12 percent growth, the magazine noted, in a year when the overall 500 shrank 6 percent, on average.

Check this out Now! Who was Malcolm Muggeridge and Why Should I Care?
He once was a household name-ubiquitous on television, radio, and print journalism. As a young man he chronicled the decline and fall of the British Empire from locations like India and Egypt. As a socialist writer, he went off to the Soviet Union in search of paradise and was expelled for reporting on the truth he found: lies, genocide, and the dark truth about the dictator the West still thought of as "Uncle Joe" Stalin. During World War II, he was a pioneering British spy. He took a boring, timid magazine intended for doctor's offices and turned it into one of the edgiest journals of political and cultural satire of his time, helping to inaugurate a revolution in political journalism. He was one of the first television personalities to stop treating politicians and others in authority with deference and instead became a leading model for "adversarial" journalism. In 1953, he dared to call the obsession with the British Royal Family a "soap opera" and got banned from the BBC for two years for doing so. Late in his life he converted to Christianity and castigated the West for moral and spiritual decadence. He has been reviled as an annoying gadfly and hailed as a prophetic voice, valiant for truth. Who was this man? Malcom Muggeridge, one of the most fascinating personalities of the twentieth century, and the subject of a biography by Image's editor, Gregory Wolfe. The year 2003 marks the centenary of his birth, and to celebrate the occasion and promote a wider knowledge of his writings and legacy, Wheaton College and Image are co-sponsoring a conference, "Muggeridge Rediscovered," May 22-23 on their campus outside of Chicago. For more information, go to: http://www.muggeridge.org/

Just a thought: The New Jersey Turnpike was built to connect two cities, neither of which are in New Jersey (Philadelphia and New York).

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

I'm back in MN from Ft Meyers, FL.. I had a great time visiting with my sister and her family. I rode my bike, swam, laid in the sun, prayed and worshipped. It was all about Jesus and His grace, mercy and love!

Written Word:
Romans 8:1-11: 1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4. so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law - indeed it cannot, 8. and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Catechism:
Question 1: What is God's purpose for your life? God wills that I should live by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the love of God, and in the communion of the Holy Spirit.
· 2 Cor. 13:13 "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you."

Vocab:
travail \truh-VAYL\ noun Painfully difficult work; agony, anguish; the pain of childbirth. verb intr. To work strenuously, toil; be in labor.

factitious \fak-TIH-shus\ adjective 1: produced by humans rather than by natural forces 2 a: formed by or adapted to an artificial or conventional standard *b : produced by special effort : sham

Quotations of the day:
"What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure." (Samuel Johnson)

"I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind! The answer is 12? I think I'm in the wrong building." (Charles M. Schulz, in "Peanuts")

Devotional:
Galatians 5:1: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. - In North Africa, hunters have an interesting way of catching monkeys. They take a gourd, make a hole in it big enough to place its hand in, fill it with nuts and hang it from a thick tree branch at sunset. The monkey smells the food sometime during the night, places his hand in the gourd and grabs a handful of nuts. The only problem is the hole is only big enough for an open hand, it's too small for a clinched fist. The monkey doesn't have enough sense to let go of the food. So when the morning comes the monkey is captured.

Often we are just like the monkey with his hand in the gourd. We hold onto all sorts of things. We hold on to our possessions, past hurts, grudges, unforgiveness, the things people did to hurt us, or the love they never gave us. We don't realize that as long as we hold on, we're stuck. We can't move ahead with our lives. If we're still holding on with clenched fists, we'll never grow in God. Get on with your life - LET GO! Let go and be free Friend - you are a child of the King -- not a monkey. George Whitten Editor of Worthy News

Check this out Now!
Here is an urgent SARS infection global health alert. Why SARS infection has the power to become a global plague, in a similar way to the 1918-1919 flu epidemic which killed 30 million peoople. See: http://www.globalchange.com/sars.htm

Also: analysis of the Iraq War and how it will impact the way world affairs are conducted in future. http://www.globalchange.com/iraqwar.htm

Just a thought: Opossums don't "play dead" - when scared, they actually pass out.