Sunday, February 22, 2009

The SON is shining; He can use you.

My sister Beryl (Lady B) sent me a presentation with lots of beautiful photos, and a more beautiful message...especially for those who may feel either inadequate or overwhelmed. I will forward it on to family members, but I thought it might be interesting to look at it this way also:

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old.
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Jeremy and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan Woman was divorced...more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer
and
Lazarus was dead

And Jesus helped them all. Not only that...
He used them all.
No more excuses! God can use you to your full potential.

The presentation also included the following ten (10) thoughts:

1. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts
2. There is no key to happiness...the door is always open
3. Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted
4. Do the math...count your blessings
5. Faith is the ability not to panic
6. If you worry, you didn't pray
If you pray, don't worry
7. As a child of God, prayers are like calling home every day
8. The most important things in your home are the people
9. When we get tangled up in our problems...
God wants us to be still, so He can untangle the knot.
10. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

AUSTRALIAN FIRES

The following is a Letter to the Editor of the Herald Journal, which was published Sunday, February 15, 2009.

HJ asks “Is global warming contributing to Australia fires?” Feb 11, 2009.

I have been emailing friends and relatives throughout Australia regarding recent events. Obviously the fires have been of great concern to the nation as a whole. I did notice a few blogs blaming global warming…some blaming government…one even blaming the USA. But I asked my friends to comment on the HJ’s question…”Is global warming contributing to Australia’s fires?” The immediate response was “No way mate!” One friend noted…”it is truly pathetic for global warming activists to attempt to gain capital from a national disaster”.

The facts are these: It is hot in Australia every summer. When it is really hot, natural flammable oils in eucalyptus trees vaporize. Under that condition, the possibility of spontaneous combustion (and a firestorm) in eucalyptus forests is real…and terrifying. No-one knows how the recent fires started, but the HJ article correctly notes that “tens of thousands of such blazes erupt across Australia every fire season”. So Australians live with the threat of bush fires. And it is an historic fact, that since 1860, there have been much larger fires in Australia, in terms of area burned. Global warming did not contribute to recent Australian fires, any more than it contributed to even larger fires, recorded over the past 150 years.

The recent loss of human life is tragic and unprecedented. The loss of animal life is sad but typical. And to those who would lament the loss of a thousand square miles of forest land…no worries…the eucalyptus forest will survive and even thrive. It is an historic fact that the original native inhabitants deliberately cleansed Australia’s forests with fire in the spirit of sustainability.

And since the issue is global warming, just yesterday a journalist friend in Melbourne reported that ABC conducted an on-line poll asking Australians…“Is Global Warming a Myth?” Of course, ABC was expecting a specific result, but after it had received 15,000 responses, 90% of which were “YES!”, ABC shut down the poll, then pulled it from its web site. As my journalist friend reported with professional concern…”it just disappeared”. And ABC bills itself as “Australia’s most trusted news source”.

Most Australians are amazed, thrilled and proud of how the nation is “coming together” in the wake of the natural disaster. So to HJ and other global warming activists, please don’t embarrass yourselves, by asking questions which my OZ friends regard as “truly pathetic”. There are more constructive questions to be asked.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Global Warming - Poll From DownUnda

My journalist friend in Melbourne sent me an incredible article by one of his journalist friends who survived the current bush fires. The details were incredible...he lost his home, all the family pets, but he saved his family. The central point of his article was that life is precious and family is everything. There were dozens of responses to this wonderful article which were genuine expressions of love and support. Unfortunately some chose to make a point of blaming global warming for the wildfires...some blamed the government...incredibly one blamed the US for not coming to the aid of Victoria in its urgent need.

When I commented on this to Tony, he sent me the following:

"Glad you liked the piece. Agree about those pathetically wanting to make global warming capital out of it, notwithstanding that the northern hemisphere is freezing and Queensland is deep under floods. And there have been plenty of worse bushfires in Victoria way back to 1860, in terms of area burnt, etc.

There was an amusing poll on the ABC online, "Is global warming a myth?" The result from 15,000 responses was 90% yes, which was so embarrassing to the ABC that they took the poll off their site...it just disappeared."