Connecting man to man to God!

Week of September 3, 2006

"We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next."  Romans 5:3-4 (Msg)

     CONSIDER

"Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning."  Rick Warren

     THE FIRST PERSONAL EPIPHANY

by Malcolm Muggeridge

(In atheistic despair over the meaninglessness and futility of life and the universe, Muggeridge decided to commit suicide in 1942, by walking out into the sea and drowning himself.  But something strange happened to prevent this, as he recalls below.)

Suddenly, without thinking or deciding, I started swimming back to shore ... I shouted foolishly for help, and kept my eyes fixed on the lights of Peter's Cafe and the Costa da Sol.  They were the lights of the world; they were the lights of my home, my habitat, where I belonged.  I must reach them.  There followed an overwhelming joy such as I had never experienced before; an ecstasy.  In some mysterious way it became clear to me that there was no darkness, only the possibility of losing sight of a light which shone eternally; ... that our sufferings, our affliction, are part of a drama -- an essential, even an ecstatic part -- endlessly revolving around the two great propositions of good and evil, of light and darkness.  A brief interlude, an incarnation, reaching back into the beginning of time, and forward into an ultimate fulfillment in the universal spirit of love which informs, animates, illuminates all creation, from the tiniest particle of insentient matter to the radiance of God's very throne ...

Though I scarcely realized it at the time and subsequently only very slowly and dimly, this episode represented for me one of those deep changes which take place in our lives; as, for instance, in adolescence, only more drastic and fundamental.  A kind of spiritual adolescence, whereby, thenceforth, all my values and pursuits and hopes were going to undergo a total transformation -- from the carnal towards the spiritual; from the immediate, the now, towards the everlasting, the eternal.  In a tiny dark dungeon of the ego, chained and manacled, I had glimpsed a glimmer of light...

(From Chronicles Of Wasted Time, Regnery Gateway, 1973)

     SURVEY: PARENTS DON'T KNOW THEIR TEENS' BEHAVIOR

The results of an annual back-to-school survey about risky teen behavior came back with a warning to parents: "Wake up and smell the beer and pot!"  In a random-sample national survey of over 1,000 teens and nearly 600 parents, findings showed that parents are blind to their teens' behavior.  Only 12% of parents see their kids having a problem with drugs and alcohol and 27% of kids say it is a big deal for them....  Read this in full at

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060820/23847.htm

     U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP

Now - Sept. 10

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/index.html

     NFL KICKOFF

Sept. 7

http://www.nfl.com/kickoff

     SPORTSCASTER PAT SUMMERALL RECOUNTS GOD'S GRACE

In his new book, "Summerall: On and Off the Air," Pat Summerall describes in detail how an addiction to alcohol ruined his life.  He ultimately shut out the world around him.  Summerall alienated his wife and children, and he almost drank himself to death.  Fortunately, Summerall's friends and family cared about him too much to let him do that.  In 1992, they staged an intervention on Summerall's behalf, encouraging him to get professional help for his alcohol problems.  Summerall began weeping tears of regret and reluctantly agreed to enter rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic.  It was a decision that changed his life.  At the clinic, Summerall not only found freedom from alcohol.  He also encountered the grace of God....  Read this in full at

http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=2366

     ANGRY CITIES

The top 10 angriest cities are Orlando (FL), St. Petersburg (FL), Detroit (MI), Baltimore (MD), Nashville (TN), Wilmington (DE), Miami (FL), Memphis (TN), Jacksonville (FL), and St. Louis (MO). The search for evidence of U.S. urban anger began with the percentage of men with high blood pressure, followed by FBI rates of aggravated assaults, and Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers on workplace deaths from assaults and other violence.  And because rage and the road often go hand in hand, also included are traffic-congestion data from the Texas Transportation Institute, as well as speeding citations per state from the Governors Highway Safety Association....  Read this in full at

http://health.msn.com/centers/highbloodpressure/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100142599&GT1=8503

Also see

ANGER SPEEDS UP DETERIORATION OF LUNGS

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060830/hl_nm/lungs_dc

Anger Is a Choice by Tim LaHaye & Bob Phillips

http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780310242833

     THIS YEAR'S COLLEGE FRESHMEN GREW UP WITH BAR CODES, ONE GERMANY, AND NO SOVIET UNION

Each fall since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin releases the Beloit College Mindset List, which looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today's first-year students.  Most 18-year-old students entering the class of 2010 this fall were born in 1988.  Among the items on the list:  They've known only two U.S. presidents.  They have never heard anyone actually "ring it up" on a cash register.  They are wireless, yet always connected.  Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.  DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.  "Google" has always been a verb....  Read this list at

http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset/

     INTERVIEW: RICK WARREN BACK FROM 7-WEEK PEACE JOURNEY

Purpose Driven Pastor Rick Warren recently returned from a 48-day trip around the world, launching P.E.A.C.E. Plans and training tens of thousands of church leaders in nations where Warren's name and bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life, are far from foreign.  Warren was also one of a still small number of faith leaders, as many Christian leaders had indicated, who spoke at the world's largest AIDS conference in Toronto which concluded late last week.  After a good 28 hours of rest upon returning home to Saddleback, Calif., Warren spoke with The Christian Post about his global journey and the ever-present AIDS pandemic.

CP: Can you first give a reflection on the 14-nation tour that you recently concluded?  Any new revelations or eye-openers?

Warren: I came away from the 48-day trip in 14 nations with a couple of attitudes.  One is an attitude of gratitude of what God is doing in the world.  It's very exciting to see.  I really believe that the future of Christianity is Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  It's not North America and it's not Europe.  And I think that's very obvious.  We saw the church growing in a number of different places.  It's very fulfilling to see the Purpose Driven paradigm, the Purpose Driven strategy being used in all kinds of situations -- rural, urban, suburban, poor, and wealthy places; everything from peasants to presidents.

There were a number of really neat stories. One of them was when I was flying in from Hong Kong to Manila and the flight attendant gave me a copy of the Manila paper. On the front cover was an article about this communist leader who had read The Purpose Driven Life and accepted Christ and was now trying to serve the Lord....  Read this interview in full at

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060824/23958.htm

     NORTH AMERICA PEOPLE GROUPS PROJECT

Based on 2000 census data, this site offers national origin data on people living in the U.S.

http://www.peoplegroups.info/

     RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS AND MEMBERSHIP 2000

Get a feel for the shifts and trends in U.S. religious life from one census to another.  For example, the three largest religious bodies in the U.S. are Catholics (62 million), Southern Baptists (20 million), and United Methodists (10 million).  Catholicism has 62 million U.S. adherents in nearly 22,000 congregations....

http://www.glenmary.org/grc/RCMS_2000/findings.htm

     VERSE TO PONDER

"I have set the Lord always before me.  Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."  Psalm 16:8

     CONSIDER

"The highest reward for a person's work is not what they get for it, but what they become because of it."  John Ruskin

     CREED

by Steve Turner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Turner_%28writer%29)

This is the creed I have written on behalf of all us.

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin

We believe everything is OK

as long as you don't hurt anyone,

to the best of your definition of hurt,

and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that sodomy is OK.

We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything is getting better

despite evidence to the contrary.

The evidence must be investigated

And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in

horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons;

Jesus was a good man

just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher

although we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same--

at least the one that we read was.

They all believe in love and goodness.

They only differ on matters of

creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing

Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.

If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,

then it's compulsory heaven for all

excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.

What's selected is average.

What's average is normal.

What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.

We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors

and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.

It's only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society.

Society is the fault of conditions.

Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.

Reality will adapt accordingly.

The universe will readjust.

History will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth

excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,

and the flowering of individual thought.

"Chance" a post-script

If chance be the Father of all flesh,

disaster is his rainbow in the sky,

and when you hear

State of Emergency!

Sniper Kills Ten!

Troops on Rampage!

Whites go Looting!

Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

(Source: http://members.aol.com/OrthoVox/creed.html)

     9/11 ATTACKS SHOW NO LASTING INFLUENCE ON AMERICANS' FAITH

With the 5th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Americans are looking back at how their lives have changed in the half decade since that tumultuous day.  How have people's spiritual lives been affected?  A new study by The Barna Group shows that despite an intense surge in religious activity and expression in the weeks immediately following 9/11, the faith of Americans is virtually indistinguishable today compared to pre-attack conditions.  Read this report in full at

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=244

     CHRISTIAN BOOK SUMMARY

What's Heaven going to be like?  What will occupy our time there?  Will it ever become boring?  If you've ever pondered questions like these, you'll discover answers in Randy Alcorn's book Heaven.  Alcorn invites us to picture Heaven the way Scripture describes it -- a vibrant new Earth brimming with Christ's presence and the richness of human culture God intended.  Read this comprehensive summary of the book at

http://www.christianbooksummaries.com/

     VERSE TO PONDER

"To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."  Philippians 1:21

     CONSIDER

"We must not measure the reality of love by feelings, but by results.  Feelings are very delusive.  They often depend on mere natural temperament, and the devil wrests them to our hurt.  A glowing imagination is apt to seek itself rather than God.  But if you are earnest in striving to serve and endure for God's sake, if you persevere amid temptation, dryness, weariness, and desolation, you may rest assured that your love is real."  Jean N. Grou (1731-1803)

     THIS WEEK'S HYMN: BELOVED, LET US LOVE

Words: Horatius Bonar, 1880

Music: Alfred H. Brewer, 1916

Beloved, let us love: love is of God;

In God alone hath love its true abode.

Beloved, let us love: for they who love,

They only, are His sons, born from above.

Beloved, let us love: for love is rest,

And he who loveth not abides unblest.

Beloved, let us love: for love is light,

And he who loveth not dwelleth in night.

Beloved, 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

     GOD FAQ

Question 88: What shall immediately follow after the resurrection?

Answer: Immediately after the resurrection shall follow the general and final judgment of angels and men; the day and hour whereof no man knows, that all may watch and pray, and be ever ready for the coming of the Lord.

http://www.shortercatechism.com/

     SPIRITUAL WINGS

Receive daily meditational ponderments capsulized as simple one-liners in your e-mailbox as yet another path to spark the soul in thought. Includes a daily spiritual acronym; a weekly spiritual affirmation, a weekly spiritually oriented artwork, a weekly spiritual sharing, a weekly spiritual prayer, a weekly spiritual poem, a weekly spiritually oriented joke, and a weekly spiritually oriented cartoon. Ecumenical, nondenominational.

-"May the road always lead, where you need to be."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpiritualWings/

     ON PRAYER

"He that hears without ears understands us without our words.  Yet as language is of absolute necessity in social prayer, that others may join with us in our addresses to God, so for the most part we find it necessary in secret, too, for there are few persons of so steady and fixed a power of meditation as to maintain warm devotion and to converse with God, or with themselves profitably, without words."  Isaac Watts

     PRAY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS TODAY
http://christiansincrisis.net/

     PRAY FOR A COUNTRY TODAY
http://www.gmi.org/ow/index.html

     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.]

     CLASSIFIEDS

Are you looking for something or do you have something to sell?  Let me know and I'll put it in this newsletter.

     SHARE YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITES

Tell us what sites you find enjoyable and why.

Juggler (game)

http://www.coldtomatoes.com/games/juggler/pongleur5.swf

Great books online

http://www.bartleby.com

20-part series on Rick Warren in the Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1256351.php

All links to websites are provided as a service, and do not imply endorsement by our church.

(BTW: whenever the URLs in this newsletter are too long to turn into links on your e-mail program, just copy the entire URL (two lines or more) and paste it into a temporary email message.  Then delete the return in the middle of it and copy it again.  Then paste it into your web browser and hit enter.)

If you're headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns.

Min. Frank Coleman, Editor

[email protected]

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