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Connections
Connecting man
to man to God!
Week of February
10, 2008
Issue 194
"He
who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and
honor."
Proverbs 21:21
CONSIDER
"Be
always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and
let each new year find you a better man." Benjamin
Franklin
NEW
MAN TALKS TO SUPER BOWL CHAMP DAVID TYREE
On
February 3rd, over 90 million people watched Super Bowl XLII.
Some watched because they were legitimate fans of either New
England or New York. But truthfully, most likely watched to see
history made one way or another -- either the Patriots were going
to finish out a perfect season at 19-0 or the NFC's fifth-seeded
Wild Card Giants were going to shock the world and play the
ultimate role of spoiler.
Of those two scenarios, very few
prognosticators, fans or casual bystanders gave much hope for the
latter to happen. But when New York pulled off the historic
17-14 upset, at least one member of the team wasn't surprised.
"It felt like it was destiny," Giant's player David....
Read this in full
at
http://www.newmanmagazine.com/e-magazine/020708/david-tyree.php
12 TOP EVANGELICALS IN SPORTS
LIST
* Joe Gibbs -
owner of champion NASCAR team, Joe Gibbs Racing, and until January
8, 2008, the head coach and team president of the Washington
Redskins
* Mariano Rivera - relief pitcher for the New York
Yankees who helped the team win four World Series titles
throughout his career
* Derek Fisher - point guard for the Los
Angeles Lakers
* Shaun Alexander - running back for the Seattle
Seahawks, 2005 NFL MVP
* Allyson Felix - track and field
sprinter, won three gold medals at the Outdoor World Championship
in Japan in 2007
* Hunter Smith - punter for the INDIANAPOLIS
Colts
* Jake Peavy - pitcher for the San Diego Padres
* Tony
Dungy - coach for the Indianapolis Colts
* Curt Schilling -
pitcher for the Boston Red Sox
* Tim Tebow - quarterback for
the Florida Gators at the University of Florida
* Michael
Waltrip - driver and owner of Michael Waltrip Racing
* Zach
Johnson - American golfer, won the 2007 Masters
Tournament
http://www.beliefnet.com/gallery/TopEvangelicalsInSports.html
DON'T FORGET!
Valentine's
Day is Feb. 14
REKINDLING ROMANCE
from
FamilyLife.com
What do Sean Connery and Harrison Ford have in
common? Whether playing James Bond or Indiana Jones, these
actors have been Hollywood's idea of a manly man for decades.
They're rough and tough, and can fight, shoot, punch, or drop-kick
their way through a crowded alley of bad guys . While barely
cracking a sweat. They're unstoppable.
Unflappable.
And they usually get at least one girl in the
end. After all, jumping in the sack with any available warm
body just goes with the action-hero territory. They reach
for the thrill of sex without paying the price of intimacy.
Take James Bond. Give him an adventure, and he'll be in and
out of more beds than a mattress salesman.
In the absence
of models who know how to love, cherish, and relate to one woman
over a lifetime, is it any wonder that for the last few decades
boys have grown up to be men who are equally clueless about how to
give themselves to a lifelong love? Taking their cues from
Hollywood they enter into marriage with guns blazing, thinking
that their tough guy routine will save the day. But the show
barely gets started when they find out how woefully ill-equipped
they are to give a woman what she craves most. A
relationship.... Read this in full
at
http://tinyurl.com/ynlxhd
NATURE & LOVE
"Christians
see the creation as an indicator of God's character. When we look
at nature, we are immediately impressed by its creativity and
beauty. Think for a moment of chameleons with their independently
bobbling eyes, or deep-sea creatures that glow to light their own
way. Apple blossoms and honey bees cooperate to assure that
fruit develops and the bees are sustained. Nature is
incredibly varied and astoundingly beautiful. Christians wonder
why beauty should exist in such abundance if the creative reason
did not mean to communicate love (see Psalm 19:1)."
Charles Colson, The Faith
(www.zondervan.com/TheFaith)
THE CASE FOR THE REAL JESUS: THE
MISQUOTED JESUS
by
Lee Strobel
"This week we're wrapping up a series on the
misconceptions about Jesus. We've looked at the mythological
Jesus, the uncrucified Jesus, the powerless Jesus, and the Gnostic
Jesus. This week, we look at the fifth false picture of
Jesus: the misquoted Jesus.
The phrase "misquoted
Jesus" comes from the title of the huge bestselling book
Misquoting Jesus by agnostic professor Bart Ehrman.
Ehrman
correctly points out that we don't have the original copies of the
New Testament. They crumbled into dust long ago.
Before they did, however, Christians began copying by them by
hand. For about 1,500 years, until the invention of movable
type printing, this is how the New Testament was preserved.
Of
course, along the way these scribes made mistakes and even some
intentional changes. In fact, Ehrman correctly says, we have
200,000 to 400,000 variants, or differences, between handwritten
manuscripts. The implication is obvious: How can we trust
the New Testament if don't have the original copies and if the
manuscripts we have are pockmarked with errors?
This has
shaken the faith of many people; but actually, we have good reason
to believe the New Testament has been well preserved -- and here's
why....
Read this in full
at
http://www.pastors.com/rwmt/article.asp?ArtID=11044
LEADERSHIP TIPS (BUSINESS,
FAMILY, LIFE)
"I
cannot give you the formula for success but I can give you the
formula for failure, which is: try to please everybody."
Herbert Bayard Swope
VERSE TO PONDER
"And
we know that God causes all things to work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are called according to His
purpose." Romans 8:28 (NASB)
CONSIDER
"Every
problem is a character-building opportunity, and the more
difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual
muscle and moral fiber." Rick Warren
THE UNEXPECTED MONKS
Some
evangelicals turn to monasticism, suggesting unease with
megachurch religion -- and the stirrings of rapprochement with the
Roman Catholic Church. In an era in which televangelists and
megachurches dominate the face of American evangelicalism,
offering a version of Christianity inflected by populist
aesthetics and the gospel of prosperity, the rise of the New
Monastics suggests that mainstream worship is leaving some people
cold. Already, they are transforming evangelical religious
life in surprising ways. They are post-Protestants, breaking
old liturgical and theological taboos by borrowing liberally from
Catholic traditions of monastic prayer, looking to St. Francis
instead of Jerry Falwell for their social values, and stocking
their bookshelves with the writings of medieval mystics rather
than the latest from televangelist Joel Osteen.... Read this
in full
at
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/02/03/the_unexpected_monks/
DEAR GOD:
I
want to thank You for what you have already done.
I am not
going to wait until I see results or receive rewards; I am
thanking you right now.
I am not going to wait until I feel
better or things look better; I am thanking you right now.
I
am not going to wait until people say they are sorry or until they
stop talking about me; I am thanking you right now.
I am
not going to wait until the pain in my body disappears; I am
thanking you right now.
I am not going to wait until my
financial situation improves; I am going to thank you right
now.
I am not going to wait until the children are asleep
and the house is quiet; I am going to thank you right now.
I
am not going to wait until I get promoted at work or until I get
the job; I am going to thank you right now.
I am not going
to wait until I understand every experience in my life that has
caused me pain or grief; I am thanking you right now.
I am
not going to wait until the journey gets easier or the challenges
are removed; I am thanking you right now.
I am thanking you
because I am alive.
I am thanking you because I made it
through the day's difficulties.
I am thanking you because
I have walked around the obstacles.
I am thanking you
because I have the ability and the opportunity to do more and do
better.
I'm thanking YOU, God...You haven't given up on
me.
NORTH
KOREA REMAINS NO. 1 PERSECUTOR OF CHRISTIANS
This
year's No. 1 spot on Open Doors' 2008 World Watch List is North
Korea, which has now topped the list for 6 years in a row.
There is no other country in the world where Christians are being
persecuted in such a horrible and relentless way. The
kingdom of Saudi Arabia holds a solid second place, followed
closely by Iran, then Maldives, Bhutan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Laos,
Uzbekistan, and China.... Read this in full
at
http://www.opendoorsusa.org/content/view/434
HOPE
"Much
that we hold fast to we will let loose, and much we have lost we
will find, and for those as long accustomed to the dark as we, the
great light will doubtless bring great tribulation as well as
great benediction before we rise up in the splendor of it whole
and new at last. But greater things than this we shall see
is the promise, and, by God's grace, greater things than this we
shall become." Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark:
A Life in Sermons
NEW
BOOK SUMMARY DETAIL ONLINE
The
Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas à Kempis in 1418, is
widely considered one of the greatest manuals of devotion to
Christ ever published. It's now summarized in detail online.
The book's message: Many desire the grace and comfort of God
through Christ, but few accept the responsibility of pursuing it.
The grace and comfort of God come through humility, abasement,
seclusion, suffering, contemplation of Christ and the Cross, and
the Holy Sacraments. Those who will not take up these
pursuits will know little of piety and holiness and will little
please God.... Read the summary
at
http://www.christianbooksummaries.com/
PERSONAL BEST: STAYING A STEP
AHEAD OF AGING
While
you will slow down as you age, you may be able to stave off more
of the age deterioration than you thought. Researchers also
report that people can start later in life -- one man took up
running at 62 and ran his first marathon, a year later, in 3 hours
25 minutes.
It's a testament to how adaptable the human
body is, researchers said, that people can start serious training
at an older age and become highly competitive. It also is
testament to their findings that some physiological factors needed
for a good performance are not much affected by age.. Read
this in full
at
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/31/healthscience/31best.php
GOUT SURGE BLAMED ON SWEET
DRINKS
Sugary drinks
have been blamed for a surge in cases of the painful joint disease
gout. Men who consume two or more sugary soft drinks a day
have an 85% higher risk of gout compared with those who drink less
than one a month, a study suggests. Cases in the US have
doubled in recent decades and it seems fructose, a type of sugar,
may be to blame, the British Medical Journal study reports.
The
symptoms of painful, swollen joints, mainly in the lower limbs,
are caused when uric acid crystallizes out of the blood into the
joints. US and Canadian researchers say the increase in
cases has coincided with a substantial rise in the consumption of
soft drinks. Previous research has also shown that fructose
increases levels of uric acid in the bloodstream.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7219473.stm
IF YOU GET HIT BY A BUS TOMORROW
Mark Balduzzi isn't old.
He isn't sick. He isn't paranoid, either. But he's
seen enough shootings, car accidents, and 52-car pile ups to know
his life could end at any moment. "Even though I think
I have another 30 good years left, I know tomorrow I could get hit
on the road by some nitwit," says Balduzzi, 50, who was a
police officer for 15 years and a paramedic for eight in New York
and is now a health and safety consultant for the insurance
industry.
That's why he has all his ducks in a row: He's
filled out all the right forms so his wife can make medical and
financial decisions for him in case he can't make them himself.
We don't like to think about it, but any of us could get hit
tomorrow by a nitwit. So here, step by step, is what to do
now to prepare.
Step 1: Put crucial medical information in
wallet and glove box
Step 2: Put your "in case of
emergency" numbers in wallet, glove box, cell phone
Step
3: Appoint someone to make decisions for you
Step 4: Don't
forget the HIPAA release form
Step 5: Give these forms to
several people, and tell your family whom you've appointed to make
decisions for you.... Read this in full
at
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/02/07/ep.if.i.die/index.html
Also
see
ice4safety.com
http://ice4safety.com/
CONSIDER
"We
must become holy not because we want to feel holy, but because
Christ must be able to live his life fully in us."
Mother Teresa
VERSE
TO PONDER
"Let
those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his
faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked."
Psalm 97:10
THIS
WEEK'S HYMN: BELOVÈD, LET US LOVE
Words:
Horatius Bonar, 1880
Music: Alfred H. Brewer, 1916
Belovèd,
let us love: love is of God;
In God alone hath love its true
abode.
Belovèd, let us love: for they who love,
They
only, are His sons, born from above.
Belovèd, let us
love: for love is rest,
And he who loveth not abides
unblest.
Belovèd, let us love: for love is
light,
And he who loveth not dwelleth in night.
Belovèd,
let us love: for only thus
Shall we behold that God Who loveth
us.
>from CyberHymnal
at
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/b/l/u/bluslove.htm
PRAYING
IN PUBLIC
by
Richard Mouw
I pray in restaurants. It is a practice I
learned in childhood, and I have consciously embraced it as an
adult. In certain circumstances, I feel awkward doing so. On
some occasions, I even decide not to do it – for example,
when I am with folks who might find it unsettling after they have
started on their salad for me to stop the conversation for a
silent prayer. But in the vast majority of occasions when I eat in
a restaurant, I bow my head to pray before taking my first bite.
A Christian friend once asked me about it. "Isn't
it a bit artificial to do that kind of thing? I mean,
sitting in a booth at Burger King, with noisy kids running around
-- can you really get yourself into a praying mood?" My
answer was that I seldom find myself in a praying mood while
sitting in a restaurant. But I typically don't pray because
I am feeling especially "spiritual." If I had to
wait for those moods to set in, I would not pray very often!
Indeed, it is precisely because the praying mood doesn't come
naturally to me that I make it a habit to pray in restaurants.
My restaurant prayers are opportunities for me to pause
and remind myself that there is indeed a God whose mercy reaches
out to me even when I am sitting in a Burger King booth with noisy
kids running past me. I don't need to be in any special kind of
mood to give myself that kind of reminder....
Read this in full
at
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/5/story_580_1.html
PRAY
FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS TODAY
http://christiansincrisis.net/
DAILY
BLESSING PACT
Use the following list
as your daily prayer guide. Think of a brother or situation that
applies and lift them up in prayer.
I am agreeing in
prayer with you for God’s blessings to overtake you!
PERSONAL
Marital harmony
Family unity
Children saved
Faithful pastor
Spirit-filled church
Real friendships
Relatives redeemed
Educational benefits
Recreational time
Fulfilling career
Favor with God and man
Be in God’s will
FINANCIAL
Better Jobs
Raises or bonuses
Benefits
Sales &
commissions
Business Growth
Settlements
Estates &
inheritances
Investment increase
Rebates & returns
Checks in the mail
Gifts & surprises
Money to be found
Bills decrease while
blessings increase
"And all these
blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt
hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God" (Deut. 28:2).
[As you travel on
business or vacation, let me know if you'd like the church guys to
pray for your safety and spiritual effectiveness. I'll add your
name to the list for the time you'll be away.]
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that's why they call it the present.
Min. Frank Coleman,
Editor
frank@newjoydivine.org
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