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.