Four Lessons on Life:
1) Never take down a fence until you know why it was put up.
2) If you get too far ahead of the army, your soldiers may mistake you for the enemy.
3) Don't complain about the bottom rungs of the ladder--they helped to get you higher.
4) If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the storm.
Life
How America Is Changing
According to the Census Bureau: 24% — Proportion of residents who are 18 and under, an all-time low1 in 7 — New marriages that include spouses of different racial or ethnic backgrounds41% — The share of births by unmarried women (up from 26% in 1990)40 million — Number of additional people living in the suburbs
Dating or Hooking Up?
72% of college students say they have “hooked up.” What is “hooking up”? Here’s a breakdown of sexual activity on most recent hookup: 35% kiss, touch12% hand-to-genital stimulation12% oral sex40% intercourse 28% of young adult women say they are virgins. The percentage of young adults who say they’ve never had sexual contact with another person:Ages
The Wisdom of Pixar
An Animated Look at Virtue – Robert Velarde. IVP Books. “Pixar tells stories. These stories, in turn, have the power to wholly engage us–heart, soul, and mind. The characters and plots need not be overtly Christian in order to instruct us in virtue. Christ engaged his listeners by telling parables, not by preaching to them
The Message of Holiness
– Derek Tidball. IVP Academic. “Christians universally agree they aspire to holiness, but to what, really, are they aspiring? Derek Tidball surveys the Scriptures for a comprehensive biblical understanding of this elusive mandate from God to “be holy as I am holy.” The triune God of glory, he contends, sets us on paths that lead
Does God Really See Me and Hear Me When I Pray?
Hezekiah was “mortally ill” and God sent the prophet, Isaiah to him to let him know that his time was up. Hezekiah’s FIRST response (as always with this godly leader) was that he “turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord” (2 Kings 20:2). The Bible does not record that he even
"I concede that we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the World---That the rod of tyrants may be broken into pieces, and the oppressed made Free---That wars may cease in all the Earth, and that the confusions that are and have been among the Nations may be overruled for the promoting and speedily bringing on the holy and happy period, when the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and all the people willingly bow to the Sceptre of Him who is the Prince of Peace."
- Governor Samuel Adams, calling Massachusetts to prayer in 1797
Prayer
"We may not be responsible for all the things that happen to us, but we are responsible for the ways we react when they do happen."
- Unknown
"Choices are the hinge of destiny." - Edwin Markham
"It is never right to do wrong. It is never wrong to do right."- Robert Flatt
"Choices not chance determine your destiny." - Barbara Johnson"Choose to love rather than hate,
Choose to smile rather than frown,
Choose to build rather than destroy,
Choose to persevere rather than quit,
Choose to praise rather than gossip,
Choose to heal rather than wound,
Choose to give rather than grasp,
Choose to go rather than delay,
Choose to forgive rather than curse,
Choose to pray rather than despair."
- Unknown
Choices
Who Approves of Gay Marriage?
In a May 2011 survey of more than 1,000 American adults, the overall majority said they favor or strongly favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry. Favor Oppose General Public 51% 43% No Religious Affiliation 77% 18% Catholic 56% 36% White Mainline 55% 39% Minority Christian 37% 57% White Evangelical 23%
Media and Technology
An April report from The Nielsen Company on family and the media found: Hispanics are more likely than the average household to have cell phones with Internet (55 percent) and video (40 percent) capabilities. Hispanics also text more than any other race or ethnicity, sending an average of 943 texts per month. The average African-American
Least Funny Nations
Renowned for engineering, Germany was ranked last in a funniest country survey by the social networking website, badoo.com. “Germans are brilliant at so many things, including making cars…unfortunately, telling jokes isn’t always one of them.” The 5 Least Funny Nations:1) Germany2) Russia3) Turkey4) United Kingdom5) United States 2ProphetU2ProphetU is an online magazine/website, started by Warren
The Ancient World: The Bible and the Land
Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller – Gary M. Burge. Zondervan. The new Ancient Context, Ancient Faith series explores the ancient stories of the Bible and shows us how to look at them through new lenses. Each volume features full color photography and maps and draws upon the very best biblical scholarship, archaeology, and the traditions