Scripture Passage for the Day

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Rom. 10:9-10 New International Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

Da peopo dat no mo bad kine stuff inside, dey good peopo, and dey no tink odda guys bad. But da peopo who stay pilau inside dea heart, an no trus God, everyting stay pilaua way dey see um. Mo worse, even da way dey tink stay all pilau, an dey no shame fo do bad ting.

Fo Titus 1:15 Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

To the pure everything is pure, but to the contaminated and the unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and their conscience are polluted.

Titus 1:15 Berkeley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

To the pure all things are pure; but nothing is pure to tainted disbelievers, tainted both in reason and in conscience.

Titus 1:15 Revised English Bible

Scripture Passage for the Day

To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted.

Titus 1:15 New Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

Titus 1:15 New International Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

I shua bout dis: No mo notting can make God stop loving us guys. No matta if we stay alive o we mahke, no matta if get angel guys o leada guys in da sky, o if get spirits wit power dat go agains us, no matta wateva stay happen now o goin happen bumbye, no matta get guys wit power up dea inside da sky, o down dea inside da groun, no matta get all kine odda kine tings dat God wen make -- no mo notting dat can hemo us from God, so he no love us no moa! Cuz us guys stay tight wit Jesus Christ, da Spesho Guy God Wen Send, an he our Boss.

Fo Da Rome Peopo 8:38-39 Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor mighty ones, neither present nor future affairs, neither powers of the heights nor of the depths, neither anything else created shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom. 8:38-39 Berkeley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

For I am convinced that there is nothing in death or life, in the realm of spirits or superhuman powers, in the world as it is or the world as it shall be, in the forces of the universe, in heights or depths--nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom. 8:38-39 Revised English Bible

Scripture Passage for the Day

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom. 8:38-39 New Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom. 8:38 New International Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

Wen you guys stay aroun peopo dat no trus God still yet, try tink first, da way you guys ack aroun dem. Everytime you guys get chance, tell um bout Christ. Weneva you guys talk, no talk any kine -- talk with aloha. An no talk jus bout da junk kine stuff. Dass jalike food dat no mo taste. talk bout da kine good stuff. Dass jallike food dat stay ono, cuz get salt fo taste! Eh! Good fo know how fo talk to any kine guy.

Fo Da Colosse Peopo 4:5-6 Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

Conduct yourselves wisely toward the outsiders, using your time to the best possible advantage. Let your speech always be gracious and so well reasoned out that you will know how to reply to each individual.

Col. 4:5-6 Berkeley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

Be wise in your dealings with outsiders, but use your opportunities to the full. Let your words always be gracious, never insipid; learn how best to respond to each person you meet.

Col. 4:5-6 Revised English Bible

Scripture Passage for the Day

Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

Col 4:5-6 New Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Col 4:5-6 New International Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

So den, wat we goin say bout all dat? God stay fo us guys to da max. Cuz God stay lidat, who going agains us? No mo nobody!

Fo Da Rome Peopo 8:31 Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

Then what conclusion do we draw? If God is for us, then who is against us?

Rom. 8:31 Berkeley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

With all this in mind, what are we to say? If God is on our side, who is against us?

Rom. 8:31 Revised English Bible

Scripture Passage for the Day

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Rom. 8:31 New Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Rom. 8:31 New International Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

My friends, you guys no make lidat. Make yoaself come strong inside, an trus God, cuz you guys trus da spesho stuff from God. Pray wit da power God's Spesho Spirit give you guys. Wateva you guys do, rememba how plenny love an aloha God get fo you guys. Hang in dea an wait, cuz our Boss Jesus Christ give you guys chance. He goin take you guys all da way, so you guys can live to da max foeva. Give um chance to da guys who not shua dey trus God. You guys gotta give da odda guys chance so dey no wipe out, jalike you try take someting outa da fire so no burn up. But watch out you no do da pilau kine stuff jalike dey do.

From Jude 20-23 Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

You, however, beloved, as you build yourselves upon your most holy faith and are worshiping by the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, all the while awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. Convince certain ones who separate themselves, but save others by snatching them from the fire; on still others have pity mingled with great caution, loathing even the clothing that has been polluted by their sensuality.

Jude 20-23 The Berkeley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

But you, my friends, must make your most sacred faith the foundation of your lives. Continue to pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God, and look forward to the day when our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy will give eternal life. There are some doubting souls who need your pity. Others you should save by snatching them from the flames. For others your pity must be mixed with fear; hate the very clothing that is contaminated with sensuality.

Jude 2-23 Revised English Bible

Scripture Passage for the Day

But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

Jude 20-23 New Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Jude 20-23 New International Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

Az why I gotta suffa, you know. But no matta! I no mo shame fo suffa. I know Jesus, dass why. He da One I trus. I know dis fo shua: He wen give me one big job fo do, and he stay trus me fo do um da right way. An I can do um, cuz Jesus get da power fo take care everyting till da end come.

Numba 2 Fo Timoty 1:12 Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

On this account, too, I suffer this way; but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and an convinced that He is able to guard safely my deposit, entrusted to Him against that Day.

2 Tim. 1:12 Berkley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

This is the reason for my present plight; but I am not ashamed of it, because I know whom I have trusted, and am confident o his power to keep safe what he has put into my charge until the great day.

2 Tim. 1:12 Revised English Bible

Scripture Passage for the Day

and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.

2 Ti 1:12 New Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

2 Ti 1:12 New International Version

Photo Restoration

Here's a bit of restoration I did to an old damaged photo of my late father-in-law.

Original Damaged Photo

Restored Photo

Colourized Version of Restored Photo

Isn't Photoshop Amazing!

Scripture Passage for the Day

Auwe! I stay all sore inside! Jalike no mo nobody dat can take me outa da bad kine stuff befo all dat go cut me off from God! But you know wat? God, he da One dat can get me outa dat! Mahalo plenny to God cuz our Boss Jesus Christ can do um!

Fo Da Rome Peopo 7:24, 25a Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

Man of toils and troubles that I am, who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God because of Jesus Christ our Lord!

Rom. 7:24, 25a The Berkeley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

Wretched creature that I am, who is there to rescue me from this state of death? Who but God? Thanks be to him through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Rom. 7:24, 25a The Revised English Bible

Scripture Passage for the Day

Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Rom. 7:24-25a New Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Rom. 7:24, 25a New International Version

Island Dreams

View of the Maui Countryside near Hana

Scripture Passage for the Day

Dis how da real kine love stay: God wen get love an aloha fo us guys, no matta us guys neva get love an aloha fo him. An he wen send his Boy fo mahke so he can be da sacrifice dat hemo da shame fo all da bad kine stuff we wen do. My good friends, cuz God wen show dat kine love an aloha fo us guys, den us guys gotta show love an aloha fo each odda too.

Da Letta Numba One From John 4:10, 11 Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

. . . which love exists in this, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Loved ones, if God loves us so much, we ought to love one another too.

I John 4:10, 11 The Berkeley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

This is what love really is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to atone for our sins. If God thus loved us, my dear friends, we also must love one another.

I John 4:10, 11 The Revised English Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

I John 4:10, 11 New Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

I John 4:10, 11 New International Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

You know, da Jewish peopo, dey everytime like us guys fo do someting awesome fo show proof dat we get God's power. An da Greek peopo, dey ony like hear da smart kine stuff dat dey tink az da trut. But us guys dat talk fo God, we stay tell peopo all ova da place how God wen send dis Spesho Guy Christ ova hea, an how odda guys wen hang um on top one cross an kill um. Da Jewish peopo, wen dey hear dat, dey no can handle, cuz dey tink God's Spesho Guy no goin mahke eva. An da Greek peopo, wen dey hear um, dey tink, "Dass stupid!" But get odda peopo, some a dem Jewish peopo and some a dem not Jewish, dey da ones God wen tell fo come be his peopo. Fo dem, Christ show um dat God get plenny power an he stay real smart. Cuz no matta da peopo tink God stupid, he still mo smart den dem. No matta dey tink God not strong, he still mo strong den dem.

Numba 1 Fo Da Corint Peopo 1:22-25 Da Jesus Book (Hawaii Pidgin New Testament)

Scripture Passage for the Day

And while Jews request signs and Greeks search for wisdom, we on our part preach the crucified Christ; an obstacle to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, God's power and God's wisdom. Because the folly that has its source in God surpasses human wisdom and the weakness that springs from God surpasses human strength.

I Cor. 1:222 The Berkeley Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

Jews demand signs, Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ nailed to the cross; and though this is an offence to Jews and folly to Gentiles, yet to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, he is the power of God and the wisdom of God. The folly of God is wiser than human wisdom, and
the weakness of God stronger than human strength.

I Cor. 1:22-25 The Revised English Bible

Scripture Passage for the Day

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Co 1:22-25 The Revised Standard Version

Scripture Passage for the Day

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

I Cor. 1:22-25 New International Version

Another Island Dream

More Island Dreams

University Avenue Baptist Church, Mid Pac Academy, UH Manoa

Swimming Hole near Hana, Maui

Maui Surf

Quote for the Day

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."

-- Eric Hoffer

Quote for the Day

"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation."

-- Jean Kerr

Quote for the Day

"Honesty pays, but it don't seem to pay enough to suit some people."
-- Kin Hubbard

Island Dreams

A Waianae Sunset

Photo Restoration

I've been testing a plug-in for Photoshop that speeds up restoration of old damaged photos. Here's a photo of my wife's uncle, aunt and cousins that I made a quick cleanup on.

Quote for the Day

"Vegetarians have never been able to explain why the first sin was eating fruit."

-- Unknown

Quote for the Day

"Once again, we come to the holiday season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice."

--Dave Barry

Quote for the Day

"Christmas, with its spirit of giving, reminds us of what we all most deeply and sincerely believe in. I refer, of course, to money."

Tom Lehrer quoted by Steve Hayes at Notes from underground

An Authentically Christian Response to Islamic Terrorists

Christian janitor died saving Muslim students

At a time when many "Christians" are screaming hatred toward Moslems, here is an example of a truly Christian response to Islamic Terrorism.

Listen - - -

Saw a sign at a church that said, "Have you talked to God? He's listening." I want to stop and tell them to change it to, "Have you listened to God? He's talking."

Imagine what would happen if we listened to God instead of talking all the time!

Still Another Old Kumabe Family Photo

Just finished another Old Kumabe Family Photo -- I bet Kathy's dad took this picture because when he visited us in Zimbabwe, he took a photo of Kat, Malaika and me at Victoria Falls. He cut off my head. If he took this one, maybe it was just the way he took pictures and not an attempt to get me out of the picture. ;-)

Another Old Kumabe Family Photo

This is my father-in-law in his youth taking a trip.

Neither Nor

Too often the positions and actions of the "Christian Right" have proven to be neither Christian nor right.

Rich Germans demand higher taxes

Rich Americans would never do this:

Rich Germans demand higher taxes

Rich Americans and Republicans would do this:

We woke up this morning to learn that the new center-right coalition of Ms Merkel’s CDU and Mr Westerwelle’s FDP have decided to cut taxes.

Thanks to Loomnie for bringing this to my attention.

Quote for the Day

"During the thirties a woman came to Sevagram asking Gandhi to get her little boy to stop eating sugar; it was doing him harm. Gandhi gave a cryptic reply: 'Please come back next week.'

The woman left puzzled but returned a week later, dutifully following the Mahatma's instructions. 'Please don't eat sugar,' Gandhi told the young fellow when he saw him. 'It is not good for you.' Then he joked with the boy for a while, gave him a hug, and sent him on his way. But the mother, unable to contain her curiosity, lingered behind to ask, 'Bapu, why didn't you say this last week when we came? Why did you make us come back again?'

Gandhi smiled, 'Last week,' he said to her, 'I too was eating sugar.'"

Told in Gandhi the Man by Eknath Easwaran

Widget

Transparency Is Essential for Christian-Based Organizations in Islamic Countries

Someone has gotten the right idea!

Transparency Is Essential for Christian-Based Organizations in Islamic Countries

Bible Too Liberal? Conservative Bible Project Will Fix It

Will the abuse of the Bible never end? Canaan Banana (former ceremonial president of Zimbabwe and Methodist pastor) wrote a book suggesting that the Bible should be re-written. Are conservative Americans taking up the challenge (though moving in a different direction than Banana suggested)?

Bible Too Liberal? Conservative Bible Project Will Fix It

Quote for the Day

"The unity of the church -- no, the church itself -- is called in question when groups of Christians segregate themselves on the basis of such dubious distinctives as race, ethnicity, sex, or social status."

-- David J. Bosch Transforming Mission

Quote for the Day

"Through their conduct, believers attract outsiders or put them off . . .. Their lifestyle is either attractive or offensive. Where it is attractive, people are drawn to the church, even if the church does not actively 'go out' to evangelize them."

-- David J. Bosch Transforming Mission

Quote for the Day

A story from Steve Hayes at Notes from underground:

A very rich man who lived in Alexandria prayed to God every day that the lives of the indigent be made easier. On hearing about this, Abba Makarios sent him a message: 'I would like to own all your estate.'

The man was puzzled, and sent one of his servants to ask what [Abba Makarios] would do with all that wealth.

Abba Makarios said: 'Tell your master that I would immediately answer his prayer.'

Quote for the Day

"God in Christ has accepted us unconditionally; we have to do likewise with regard to one another."

-- David J. Bosch Transforming Mission

Quote for the Day

Got this great quote from Spookyrach at Skewed View:

"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?"

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Learning to Love

This came from a missionary friend's newsletter:

'If you want to learn to love better, you
should start with a friend who you hate.'
Nikka - age six (we need a few million
more Nikka's on this planet)

Love of money [and power] is the root of all evil.

Desperation stalks Zimbabwe's white farmers

Bill Moyers on the Man Behind the March

Bill Moyers gives us insight into the "Do as I say not as I do" aspect of the health care debate. Remember the adage, "Whenever you encounter propaganda [advertising], ask yourself, 'In whose interest is it that I believe this?'"

Bill Moyers on the Man Behind the March

Quote for the Day

"If you want to know and reach Christ, you will arrive much sooner by following him than by reading about him."

-- M. Basil Pennington Lectio Divina

Quote for the Day

"The Bible is not intended only to tell us about God but to transform us according to the form of Christ."

-- M. Basil Pennington Lectio Divina

Quote for the Day

Speaking of reading the Bible:

"The fool falls into the temptation of saying, 'I already know this text!' The wise one knows that it is one thing to know the chemical formula of water and another to savor it by a spring on a summer's day."

-- M. Basil Pennington Lectio Divina

"In God We Trust"

Based upon the greater importance placed upon insurance company profits over affordable health care for all citizens in the current debate, it is appropriate that the phrase "In God We Trust" is emblazoned upon our currency. Money is truly the god of the USA today.

We venerate the profits while castigating the prophets. May the God of all creation have mercy upon us and lead us to repentance.

Quote for the Day

"God is not truly God for us if we do not listen to him."

-- M. Basil Pennington Lectio Divina

Quote for the Day

"An important disposition for the operation of living faith within us is humility, the full acceptance of reality. . . . Humility is the acceptance of our profound ignorance with regard to God as well as to so many other things. We know what we know, and it is not very much. We know what we do not know, and that is a lot more. And we accept the fact that beyond this there is an infinity that we do not even know we do not know."

-- M. Basil Pennington Lectio Divina

Quote for the Day

"Our communication with our Divine Friend needs to be a two-way street. And if we are smart, we let God get the first word in. For he surely has a lot more that is worth saying."

--M. Basil Pennington Lectio Divina

Quote for the Day

"What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain."

-- Maya Angelou Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Quote for the Day

"Perfection does not consist in feeling perfect or being perfect, but in doing what we are supposed to do without noticing it: loving people without taking any credit. Just doing it."

-- Thomas Keating Intimacy With God

Quote for the Day

"Divine love is not a feeling. It is a disposition or attitude of ongoing self-surrender and concern for others similar to the concern God has for us and every living thing."

-- Thomas Keating Intimacy With God

Quote for the Day

"St. John of the Cross wrote, 'The Father spoke one word from all eternity and he spoke it in silence, and it is in silence that we hear it.'"

-- Thomas Keating Intimacy With God

Quote for the Day

"A good and faithful Christian is one who lives the gospel in everyday life, not one who only reads about it or tries to manipulate God to fit his or her particular needs."

-- Thomas Keating Intimacy With God

Quote for the Day

"The emphasis in the New Testament is on listening and responding to the Spirit rather than initiating projects that God is expected to back up, even though God had little or nothing to do with them."

-- Thomas Keating Intimacy With God

Quote for the Day

"Human nature prefers to offer substitute sacrifices to placate God rather than to offer the sacrifice that God clearly states in Scripture is the only acceptable one, which is the gift of ourselves."

-- Thomas Keating Intimacy With God

Quote for the Day

"Prayer is not a method or power given to us so that we can order God around, or tell God how to run the world (or our own world). It is a way to express our love for God and our dependence on God's mercy."

--William A. Menninger The Loving Search for God

Quote for the Day

"A loving person is interested in the conversion of a sinner but not in chiding him or her. He is apt to err by kindness rather than severity."

--William A. Menninger The Loving Search for God

Quote for the Day

"We need no further motive for loving God than loving God. We love God for God's own sake, because God is worth loving."

-- William A. Menninger The Loving Search for God

Quote for the Day

"As for the devil, I do not fear him. Nor can I approve of those who seem to be living a kind of constant 'devil theology.' It almost seems as if they pay more attention to the devil than to God. They see him behind every telephone pole and under every bed. He seems to play a great role in their lives, as they are always talking about him.

"I would rather talk about God and see God where God is -- behind every telephone pole and under every bed and everywhere else. . . . As for me, and, I hope, for you, dear friend, I will continue on in the loving search with the help of God's grace and 'even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for God is with me.'"

-- William A. Meninger The Loving Search for God

I once visited a church in California while on furlough from Zimbabwe. The Sunday School class I attended was doing a prolonged and intensive study of the devil. There was a strange fascination with the topic (and some rather bizarre interpretation of Scripture) with no mention, and seemingly no interest in God, Himself, or Jesus in particular. I suggested to the pastor that he might want to monitor the class to see if the devil had taken the members eyes off of God. What occupies our minds controls us.

I heard of a fellow who was challenged by a fundamentalist rabble-rouser, "Do you believe in a literal devil?" He replied, "I don't believe in the devil, but I've met him in the streets among the drug dealers and pimps. I BELIEVE in Jesus." A good response.

Quote for the Day

"Externally motivated enthusiasm is not from God. It may be good and useful or it may be evil, but it is not spiritual. I am sorry to say that we see a great deal of this kind of enthusiasm today passing off for religion. Television seems to be a popular medium for this kind of hype. Beware of emotional responses generated by overenthusiastic 'Bible thumping' preachers or by media-generated audience enthusiasm, stimulated by stage effects and electronic embellishments."

--William A. Meninger The Loving Search for God

Quote for the Day

"If you want to be a true lover of God, you must love God even more than you love yourself."

-- William A. Meninger The Loving Search for God

Quote for the Day

"I plead with you, for the love of God, do not give up on your prayer. Start over again every day. Do not look for consolations. Remember again and again that love begins when nothing is expected in return. You will have consolations enough when God wills it. Enjoy them when they are given, but do not look for them or become attached to them. Seek the giver, not the gifts."

-- William A. Meninger The Loving Search for God

Quote for the Day

"A real Christian, as opposed to a cultural Christian, is not one who never sins. He or she is one who, having sinned, is willing to reach out and find his or her sufficiency in Christ and start over again--today!"

--William A. Meninger The Loving Search for God

A Dirty Story - Quote for the Day

"Many years ago there lived a scholar who asked an old rabbi what could be learned from the Talmud. The rabbi told him of two men who fell down a chimney. One man arrived at the bottom dirty, while the other arrived clean. Is that the lesson of the Talmud? the scholar asked. No, replied the old rabbi, listen to me: the dirty man looked at the clean man and thought himself clean. Is that the lesson of the Talmud? asked the scholar. No, replied the rabbi, for the dirted man looked at his own hands and seeing them sooty knew he'd been dirted. This then is the lesson of the Talmud? said the scholar. No, said the rabbi. Then what am I to learn from the Talmud? asked the scholar. The rabbi told him: You will learn nothing from the Talmud if you start by believing that two men can fall down a chimney and not both be dirtied."

-- Len Deighton City of Gold

Quote for the Day

"We were taught, as much by example as precept, to respect our minds and to use them; to examine the evidence before rushing in with our opinions; to distinguish between fact and theory; to see history through the eyes of the poor and vanquished, not merely those of the powerful and the conquerors; not to believe that something is true simply because it would be pleasant or convenient if it were and, when exposed to propaganda, to ask ourselves, 'In whose interest is it that I should believe this?'"

-- P. D. James Time To Be In Earnest

Unfortunately, this lesson has not been taught or learned by the majority of citizens of the U.S.A. today. We are too quick to voice opinions and too ready to view history through the eyes of the powerful and conquerors rather than consider the view from the eyes of the poor and vanquished. (This is a complete departure from the attitude of God revealed in the Bible and especially in Jesus. Ironic for a nation which so many claim to be a Christian Nation. Especially since those voicing the claim tend to be the ones least likely to empathize with the poor and vanquished.)

A good place to begin practicing to learn this lesson is the current health care debate. When confronted with the TV ads and proclamations of the politicians and lobbyists, let us ask ourselves, "In whose interest is it that I should believe this?" There is clearly a divide between those seeking to maximize profits and those seeking to maximize "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" of the citizens of this country.