Sunday, June 15, 2014

Sun Jun 15th Todays News

I must choose my words carefully as the boy has died. I respect him, and wish it that others know of him. People talk about intelligence and bravery and resolution, throwing those words around as if they have little currency, and applying them to people in bizarre situations who merely want to live. Jacky's life was tragically short, but he had foreknowledge of it and he faced it. It is a tough thing for the young knowing they are going to die. Jacky did not face an evil scientist who did terrible things for knowledge or pride. What claimed Jacky was historical and even today, not perfectly understood. It was made famous in a movie, Lorenzo's Oil. Jacky had Adrenoleukodystrophy. 

ADL is from a chromosome, involving DNA. What it does is what the body naturally does. There is no known treatment that cures it, yet. It kills people by attacking the brain and central nervous system, reducing them to a vegetative state. Victims rarely live to their teens. Diet can help manage it for a time, as can stem cell therapy. Typically, sufferers have ADD type behaviours. Jacky was superior than a garden variety .. he was smart and capable of resisting temptation which others would succumb. I became aware of him when he was in year 8 and in a high level Mathematic class. He played chess at lunchtime in a room I had set aside for that purpose. He was a little shorter than average stature, but perfectly formed, and I recall him talking about getting a sick note to avoid a test and I suggested that that was not good behaviour. He told me he was sick, and suffered from ADL but hadn't shown symptoms yet .. but that he would die soon after he did show symptoms. He said that doctors had told him that he did not look sick, but that symmetric features sometimes showed good health, but sometimes, as with elfinism, meant someone was very sick. I clocked it mentally, as his year advisor told me it was true and the school knew about it, I didn't need to do anything administrative. 

After I left teaching I reengaged with Jacky on Facebook. He had become a university student studying computer science. He had led a normal life, but began to feel the onset of symptoms his specialists had warned him about towards the end of his first year. He had become a keen Magic the Gathering card player. He got special stem cell treatment, but the disease progressed quickly. Soon he struggled to even work on a computer. He wrote about what was happening to him. And then, surrounded by family and loved ones, he passed away. And while Jacky's early death is a tragedy, his life isn't. He is an inspiration. I am thankful I got to know Jacky when I was a teacher. Todays is his birthday. 
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What happened in the past transformed things, making the present possible. The observation of a 763 BC Solar Eclipse in the Mesopotamian allows historians today to date the ancient events recorded that surrounded it. The 1667 blood transfusion allowed modern medicine. Ben Franklin flying a kite with a key which might have been on this day, effectively showed that lightning was electricity. AGW scientists don't seem to realise that lightning might be an effective, natural renewable energy source. But another event, much more recent, has substantially more enormity than any of those examples. Sometime in late summer 2009, a terrorist was released from camp Bucca in Iraq. al-Baghdadi had become ISIS leader since. One must thank Obama for his enlightened policy of releasing from prison killers who hate America. I don't see this brokering peace in the Middle East. 
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Bacon LuuJacky Dang and Davey Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years. On this day in 1215, King John of England put his seal to Magna Carta. In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study became the basis of motion pictures. In 1919, After nearly 16 hours, the Vickers Vimy flown by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown crash-landed in County Galway, Ireland, to complete the first non-stop transatlantic flight. Suggesting that there is adventure sealed with a big check. Jacky, thank you for sharing yourself in part of my life as a teacher. 
Matches
Despatches
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Increasing youth unemployment a threat to the ongoing stability of the nation

Piers Akerman – Saturday, June 14, 2014 (11:10pm)

FORGET Generation X, Y and Z; the real threat to the ongoing stability of the nation is Generation M — M for Missing.
While the official employment figures for May look reasonable they mask an underlying and growing crisis.
The number of young people in employment is continuing to shrink at a steady rate.
Youth employment peaked in mid-2008.
Since then it has shrunk by more than more 7 per cent. That is, 140,000 young people have dropped out of the official record.
In some areas, youth unemployment is now more than twice the national average.
Under-employment of young Australians also ­exceeds that of the broader ­labour market, with around 30 per cent of young workers without work or sufficient hours of work.
The chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Kate Carnell, says a lost generation is being created.
“The youth participation rate measures the number of young people in the work force in any form,” she said.
“If they’re getting the dole, they’re in the participation rate. But these young people have just disappeared. They’re not there. They’re not working or looking for work, they’re not earning or learning.”
Carnell thinks some may be working in the cash economy, others may be simply sitting on the family couch.
“There’s a clear disengagement and if they’re disengaged at 25, they’ll be disengaged at 45 and they’ll become long-term unemployed,’ she said.
The prospect of hundreds of thousands, if not future millions, floating in society constitutes a very real problem.
ACCI’s director employment, education and training, Jenny Lambert, said policy decisions by the previous federal government to reduce apprenticeship incentives and of state governments which have seen support funding for training in key entry level occupations fall dramatically have also failed young Australians.
And unions continue to hinder the chances of young people competing in the job market by seeking wage rises for apprentices and juniors.
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Lefties living in a parallel world

Miranda Devine – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (6:35pm)

IN an episode of the classic science fiction TV series, The Twilight Zone, astronaut Major Robert Gaines returns to Earth and discovers he has slipped into a surreal parallel universe in which everything looks the same but nothing makes sense. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Lefties living in a parallel world'
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THEY ARE CHANGING

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (6:19am)

“Where will I live?” wonders a mutant dog/koala hybrid at yet another coal protest:

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A better question: how will you live? An abomination like that surely isn’t viable, neither in kennel nor tree. Where did it come from? What does it eat? Why is it alive?
This could indicate a previously unnoticed species-morphing ability. It is possible that protesters are now beginning to … transform. Examine further evidence in the upper left corner of the same photograph:

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This seems to be a bearded blonde woman wearing a miniskirt. She/he carries an appropriately astonished bear image, probably as a guide to his/her eventual appearance, once the shape-shifting is complete. Remain vigilant.
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BUDDY BEATS BANDANA

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (6:01am)

Al Qaeda sorry man Peter FitzSimons can’t pick winners in radio or the AFL. Back in March, FitzSimons declared Lance Franklin a Buddy disaster for the Sydney Swans: 
The deal between the Swans and Franklin last year – whereby a club famous for its team-first, team-always culture put $10 million over nine years towards a 27-year-old party fiend with chronic knee problems who didn’t finish in the top 10 of the best and fairest in his last season with Hawthorn – might have been a tad close to the worst decision made by a sporting organisation since Balmain decided to get Alan Jones to coach them in 1989. 
Great call, raghead: 
Lance Franklin deserves another truckload of cash after single-handedly dragging the Swans over the line against top team Port Adelaide at the SCG.
In a spectacular performance before a near capacity crowd of 41,317, Franklin kicked the Swans’ last five goals as they fought gallantly to win a finals-like clash by just four points. 
You were saying, Peter?
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DAM DROUGHT OVER

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (5:42am)

NSW is close to getting its first new dam in almost 30 years, with $300 million set aside in next week’s budget for a dam in the Central West of the state …
It will be the first built in the state since Split Rock at Tamworth in 1987, and is funded from the long-term lease of Port Waratah and Port Botany. 
Our tax-funded protest community will find some reason to oppose this.
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JULIA AHEAD 4-2

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (5:26am)

Abbott: Mike, Canadia.
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WHO SAVES ME FROM DYING? MY PA!

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (5:01am)

Useful parenting instructions for Fairfax’s Sam De Brito, whose child is needlessly terrified of global warming:

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TOTALLY RACIST

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (4:49am)

Crikey‘s Bernard Keane identifies global warming’s racial component: 
There’s a certain inevitability about Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper standing shoulder-to-shoulder in an effort to stymie international action on climate change. That’s not just because they’re middle-aged white conservatives, which is defining demography of climate denialism?--?if CO2 caused baldness and erectile dysfunction climate change would have been addressed decades ago ... 
Mark Steyn responds
It’s good to know opposing climate change is, like everything else, totally racist. Like most people who drone on about middle-aged white men, Bernard Keane is a middle-aged white man. He doesn’t appear to be bald, but the erectile dysfunction of hockey-stick climate alarmism seems to be getting to him. 
Unlike YouTube viewers, who resolutely stay away from Keane and his fellow bores. Further from Steyn: Is Michael Mann a blood-drinking shape-shifting space lizard?
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RIDE BICYCLES, COMRADES

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (3:32am)

The 425-horsepower CFMEU ute was prominent at recent anti-Abbott demonstrations in Melbourne. Apparently our unionist bruvvers have abandoned their previous save the planet campaign.
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CRAZY ATTRACTS CRAZY

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (2:43am)

One of Bob Ellis’s valued readers exposes the great O. J. Simpson/World Cup conspiracy
OJ Simpsons wife and lover were killed the saturday immediately proceeding the opening of the (soccer) World Cup in the USA because gridion players and baseball players had been on strike for a year and there was a real chance these homegrown games would suffer permanent value impairment if soccer had been given clean airtime so despite the fact the victims had 50 plus defensive wound apiece in what was given the injuries sustained obviously a desperate struggle and Simpson had a simple working man nick on one finger the black guy was chased on TV and dramatically charged and the entire process managed to maximise the blackout of what was supposed to be soccers coming of age in the US of A 
So now you know.
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MISS METH

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (2:40am)

There are Adelaide names and then there are Florida names.
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The Bolt Report today, June 15

Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (6:00am)

My guest: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Iraq.  The panel: former Treasurer Peter Costello and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa on the AWU scandal and more.
NewsWatch: Rowan Dean. Fact-checking the media narrative of a stumble-bum PM.
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Truss: voting for Palmer betrays democracy

Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (5:55am)

I very much hope Truss is right:
NATIONALS leader Warren Truss reckons Clive Palmer could go the way of other political “saviours” such as Pauline Hanson…
“Those who throw away their vote in some kind of protest are in fact ignoring their obligations to their democracy but also putting their country at risk.”
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Kind media outlet helps struggling Clinton daughter. Mum should be grateful

Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (5:38am)

Chelsea Clinton’s mum, tipped to be the Democratic nominee for President, should be grateful for this astonishing largesse:
On Friday morning, Politico published on the previously unknown and “closely held” details of former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton’s contract with NBC News. According to the story, Clinton was given an annual salary of $US600,000 when she joined NBC News as a “special correspondent” in November 2011. Based on these figures, Clinton has earned about $US26,724 for each minute she subsequently appeared on air.
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ISIS leader was a US detainee

Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (5:28am)

Just a little something to think about for all the libertarians who demanded detainees go free:
When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi walked away from a U.S. detention camp [in Iraq] in 2009, the future leader of ISIS issued some chilling final words to reservists from Long Island.
“He said, ‘I’ll see you guys in New York,’” recalls Army Col. Kenneth King, then the commanding officer of Camp Bucca…
King had not imagined that in less that five years he would be seeing news reports that al-Baghdadi was the leader of ISIS, the ultra-extremist army that was sweeping through Iraq toward Baghdad.
UPDATE
Obama pulled US forces out of Iraq in 2011.
David French was a soldier in Iraq at the height of trouble:
I remember what Iraq was like in late 2008, when I left. My unit. . .had largely cleared out one of the last areas of al-Qaeda dominion in Iraq. At high cost we had taken thousands of square kilometers back from enemy control, broken the back of enemy resistance, and given the local population the chance to live something approaching a normal life. Want a measure of our success?
When we arrived in November 2007, in Diyala Province (labeled the Islamic Caliphate of Iraq by the al-Qaeda forces in control) every time any convoy rolled out of the gate, it had a greater than 25 percent chance of enemy contact — IEDs, ambushes, or sniper fire. When we left in late September 2008, that chance was down to approximately 1 percent.
Good men died making that progress. Friends and brothers, all of them.
But that’s not to say that al-Qaeda was completely defeated. Even as we prepared to hand over the battle space to an incoming unit, al Qaeda struck one last blow – killing a very dear friend of mine when our troopers cornered a senior leader.
The bottom line was that Iraq was under control, but still in a state of low-intensity war. Iraqi forces, with the help of small groups of American advisers and — in extreme circumstances — American air power, were more than capable of handling large-scale threats from jihadists but weren’t yet capable of stopping all violence (and, indeed, may never have been). The situation was stable, and — here’s the key — sustainable.
Yes, to sustain it would have required the continued presence of American troops, and those troops may have sustained occasional additional casualties, but that’s the price we pay to secure hard-won victories.
UPDATE
Our immigration program remains of great concern:

The head of the al-Risalah Islamic Centre in Sydney, where both Sulayman and Cerantonio have lectured, Wissam Haddad, said Muslims were rejoicing at ISIS’s stunning gains. “There’s a feeling of joy,’’ Mr Haddad told The Weekend Australian.
(Thanks to reader David.) 
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Solar promise fried

Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (5:02am)

I don’t wish embarrassment on the Environment Minister, the very nice Greg Hunt, but I am very grateful that the tap is finally being turned off the great global warming waste
Mr Hunt took his colleagues by surprise when he announced to an industry gathering last November that the Coalition was committed to its $500 million ‘’1 Million Solar Roofs’’ program....
But Mr Hunt’s ‘’shining beacon’’, a leftover from the 2010 election campaign, had not been approved by Prime Minister Tony Abbott or his top economic ministers ... 

In his presentation to the Clean Energy Council on November 29 last year, the Environment Minister declared: ‘’The government will provide $500 million for the 1 Million Solar Roofs program. And a further $50 million each,’’ he added, would be given to ‘’the Solar Towns and Solar Schools programs’’…
Mr Hunt was ultimately forced to abandon all but $2 million of his $600 million in promised policies.
The 2014-15 budget allocated no money for solar roofs and nothing for solar schools. Just $2.1 million was given to the solar towns policy despite Mr Hunt promising $50 million in November.
UPDATE
Plain sense said plainly:
TONY Abbott has visited the energy capital of the USA to insist he does not want the battle against climate change to limit the use of any type of fuel.
Promoting his plan to scrap the carbon tax in front of an audience of energy executives in Houston, Texas, Mr Abbott said he wanted Australia to become a centre of cheap energy…
“Affordable, reliable energy fuels enterprise and drives employment,” Mr Abbott said…
“For many decades at least coal will continue to fuel human progress as an affordable, dependable energy source for wealthy and developing countries alike.”
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4 her, so she can see how I see her


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Beautiful building in Dresden, Germany designed to collect rain and turn it into music. ~ not actual music...but makes the rain interesting! Love the design
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around ten to two -ed
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" One of the IEI's minor investors is Australian news mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch is interested in IEI because there are also massive deposits of oil shale in Australia. If IEI's pilot is successful, Australia will doubtlessly follow Israel's lead in developing its own energy independence through oil shale development."

Rupert at his age is way ahead of the rest of us as always.
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Can’t afford a pricey trip to Africa? Consider these#ObamaMiddleClassVacationIdeas ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/06/14/cant-afford-a-pricey-trip-to-africa-consider-these-obamamiddleclassvacationideas/
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Noe Vela and I are working on a new project called A Mythological History of Mexico. Here's one of his illustrations, which shows the dual god Ometeotl as s/he begins to dream and plan creation.
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Allyson Christy
And too, a means at diversion under the shadows of scandals....

"United States military support for Syrian rebels will include small arms, ammunition and possibly anti-tank weapons, according to two officials familiar with the matter. The weapons will be provided by the CIA, the officials said.

On Thursday, the White House said Syria had crossed a "red line" with the use of chemical weapons against rebels and added -- without specifics -- that the United States would increase the "scale and scope" of support for the opposition.

"What we need, really, is weapons and ammunition, and especially anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles," Salim Idriss, the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Friday." -CNN Breaking News

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Allyson Christy
Once again, a reminder that the World Council of Churches, sanctimoniously mounted atop a familiar high horse, spews a vitriolic agenda; one aimed at utilising and stirring tired pots of scapegoating, habitual lies drenched in centuries of foul hatred and a sustained lifeline connected to ignorance and stupidity.

To wit, herein.....

"Any honest and unbiased reader of the Bible knows otherwise, and should reject this anti-Jewish theology. Anybody, the WCC included, who singles Israel out as the sole villain that threatens world peace, who points fingers at Israel, the least troublesome element in the Middle East, is, by definition, anti-Semitic. Masquerading such sentiment as Christian love only adds insult to injury." - Tsvi Sadan, Israel Today

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June 15Father's Day in various countries (2014); Flag Day in Denmark
Jean-Baptiste Denys
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,”Philippians 3:20 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Delight thyself also in the Lord."
Psalm 37:4
The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is here described as a delight in God, and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to most men, that no two words in their language stand further apart than "holiness" and "delight." But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. They who love God with all their hearts, find that his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. Such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving him from custom, they would follow him though all the world cast out his name as evil. We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.
Delight and true religion are as allied as root and flower; as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious jewels glittering side by side in a setting of gold.
"'Tis when we taste thy love,
Our joys divinely grow,
Unspeakable like those above,
And heaven begins below."

Evening

"O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face ... because we have sinned against thee."
Daniel 9:8
A deep sense and clear sight of sin, its heinousness, and the punishment which it deserves, should make us lie low before the throne. We have sinned as Christians. Alas! that it should be so. Favoured as we have been, we have yet been ungrateful: privileged beyond most, we have not brought forth fruit in proportion. Who is there, although he may long have been engaged in the Christian warfare, that will not blush when he looks back upon the past? As for our days before we were regenerated, may they be forgiven and forgotten; but since then, though we have not sinned as before, yet we have sinned against light and against love--light which has really penetrated our minds, and love in which we have rejoiced. Oh, the atrocity of the sin of a pardoned soul! An unpardoned sinner sins cheaply compared with the sin of one of God's own elect ones, who has had communion with Christ and leaned his head upon Jesus' bosom. Look at David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look at his repentance, and hear his broken bones, as each one of them moans out its dolorous confession! Mark his tears, as they fall upon the ground, and the deep sighs with which he accompanies the softened music of his harp! We have erred: let us, therefore, seek the spirit of penitence. Look, again, at Peter! We speak much of Peter's denying his Master. Remember, it is written, "He wept bitterly." Have we no denials of our Lord to be lamented with tears? Alas! these sins of ours, before and after conversion, would consign us to the place of inextinguishable fire if it were not for the sovereign mercy which has made us to differ, snatching us like brands from the burning. My soul, bow down under a sense of thy natural sinfulness, and worship thy God. Admire the grace which saves thee--the mercy which spares thee--the love which pardons thee!
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Timotheus, Timothy

[Tīmō'theŭs, Tĭm'o thy̆] - honored of god, worshiping god or valued of god.A young man of Lystra, son of Eunice, a Jewess, by a Greek father who was probably dead when Paul first visited the home (Acts 16:1).

The Man Who Confessed a Good Confession

As Paul contributes a full portrait of his spiritual son, many years his junior, let us string together the salient features of Timothy.
I. He was the child of godly heritage ( 2 Tim. 1:5). His mother was a Christian Jewess and the daughter of another devout Jewess, Lois. His Greek father's name is unknown. It may be that Eunice became a Christian when Paul visited Lystra, a town not far from Paul's birthplace, Tarsus.
II. He was a youthful reader of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:15). From a "babe" he had had knowledge of the Truth. How blessed children are if cradled in the things of God!
III. He was Paul's child in the faith (1 Cor. 4:17; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2 ). Probably Paul, a visitor of Timothy's house, led the young lad to Christ during his ministry in Iconium and Lystra since he refers to his persecutions there, which Timothy himself knew about (2 Tim. 3:10, 11). One writer suggests that when Paul recovered from his stoning at Lystra it was in Timothy's home he found shelter and succor.
IV. He was ordained as a minister of the Gospel (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6, 7). Conscious of Timothy's unique gifts, especially of evangelism (Rom. 16:21; 2 Tim. 4:5 ), it was fitting that Paul should choose him as a companion and fellow-worker. Faithfully he served Paul "as a son with his father," in the furtherance of the Gospel (Phil. 2:22). How indispensable he became to the apostle (Acts 17:14, 15; 18:5; 20:4)! Paul had no other companion so "like-minded" as Timothy, who enjoyed Paul's constant instruction (2 Tim. 2:3; 3:14).
V. He was an ambassador charged with difficult tasks. The responsible and delicate mission of restoring a backsliding church required both gift and grace (1 Cor. 14:17), as did the comfort of believers in the midst of tribulation (1 Thess. 3:2).
VI. He was co-sufferer with Paul in the afflictions of the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:8 ). Tradition says that Timothy died as a martyr for his faithfulness as a bishop in the reign of Domitian or Nerva. While attempting to stop an indecent heathen procession during the Festival of Diana, this God-honoring minister sealed his testimony with his blood. The two epistles Paul addressed to Timothy are rich in their pastoral counsel.
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Everything New - A Weeekly Devotional

HONEST TO GOD

The prophet Isaiah put it this way: “For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived” (Isaiah 59:12-13).
Notice the key to the lock here: acknowledge.
In one breath, the prophet lays out a glossary of sin (offense, iniquity, rebellion, treachery, oppression, revolt, lies), and he establishes that we sin in thought (what the heart conceives), word (lies), and deed (all the rest). “Thought, word, and deed” is a way of talking about the whole of our lives. It is a way of saying, “God, I need my whole life to be exposed to your healing touch. I need to be honest about my transgressions that are overt acts, those that are careless words, and those that are imaginings which spring from secret motives.”
We can be thankful that sin, in its essence, is the negation of what is good. It is the “-less” or the “un-” of the created order: lovelessness, lawlessness, godlessness, unbelief, thanklessness, disobedience, faithlessness–in other words, darkness. Why be thankful about that? Because sin has no existence in and of itself. Go into a dark room, turn on a light, and the darkness disappears. “The darkness is passing and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).
I’ve met many people who feel utterly hopeless about their faults and transgressions. They feel terrible that they keep disappointing God, and they wonder whether anything will ever be different. And this is key: they view their mistakes as an essential part of who they are rather than a good gone wrong.
Sin must be taken seriously. This disconnect from God is the universal condition of the human race, as Scripture makes abundantly clear: “There is no one who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46); “No one living is righteous before you” (Psalm 143:2); “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?” (Proverbs 20:9); “the whole world is a prisoner of sin” (Galatians 3:22 ); “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check” (James 3:2); “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
But, on the other hand, we must keep remembering that mankind was made “in the image of God.” Good. More than that, very good.
We must be honest about our failings and our sins–otherwise we will never find forgiveness and healing. But no one should ever think his or her essential identity is darkness. Christ is the light, and he wants to shine in our lives. [More on that, next time.]

Resources

About The Author - Mel Lawrenz serves as minister at large for Elmbrook Church and leads The Brook Network. Having been in pastoral ministry for thirty years, the last decade as senior pastor of Elmbrook, Mel seeks to help Christian leaders engage with each other. Mel is the author of eleven books, the most recent for church leaders, Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement.
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Change a Life, Give a Bible - Muslim Converts Plead for Bibles
Hello friend,
When a Muslim comes to faith in Jesus Christ, the one thing they plead for is a Bible.
And now we have been offered a $10,000 Challenge Grant to provide these desperately needed Bibles! But we needyour help to meet this challenge!
Sadly, Bibles are scarce in most Islamic countries where it's illegal to be a Christian. Which is why we have set a goal to deliver at least 4,000 Bibles to our suffering brothers and sisters in these countries over the next four months.
And now... if we meet this $10,000 Challenge Grant... we can meet this goal! But we need your help... which is why I'm asking you to give an online gift to Open Doors today.
Through your gift, you'll not only help meet the challenge... but help deliver Bibles to Muslim converts who risk their lives every day to follow Christ. You'll be giving strength, hope, and encouragement to those who so desperately need it!
So thank you for your gift. And thank you for standing with those who are suffering the most for their faith.
Carl A. Moeller Signature

ECFA A higher standard. A higher purpose.
Picture of girlJust $5 will send one desperately needed Bible
to a Muslim convert.
Send a Bible!
"Fifty years of serving and strengthening persecuted Christians worldwide - that is the legacy of Open Doors.
An important part of that legacy has beenOpen Doors' passion for motivating, mobilizing, and educating the
body of Christ in the West to reach out to our suffering brothers and sisters."
- Rick Warren, Author of
"The Purpose Driven Life"
Visit Open Doors - Serving persecuted Christians Worldwide - to give Bibles.
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Today's reading: Ezra 9-10, Acts 1 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Ezra 9-10

Ezra's Prayer About Intermarriage
1 After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. 2 They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness...."

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 1

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
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Glynnis Whitwer
June 14, 2011
Faith that Moves God's Heart
Glynnis Whitwer
"To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless..." 2 Samuel 22:26(NIV 2011)
"Are you scared?" my daughter asked. Nibbling on fingernails, she glanced at the harnesses hung on pegs, then to the mountain and finally to my face to assess my take on the situation.
Shading my eyes, I looked up the same mountain to the highest landing, barely visible between branches. Within a few minutes we'd be there, strapped into harnesses and hooked onto a thin wire. Her apprehension was clear.
"No, I'm not scared," I answered honestly. I trusted the harness and wires to keep me safe. I trusted the staff who'd done this with thousands of other people. Beyond explanation, I (the person who avoids wasting any adrenalin) had faith I'd be safe zipping through the canopy.
As I waited my turn to get trussed up, God whispered in my heart, "That's the kind of faith I'd like you to have all the time - only in Me."
That thought settled in my heart and begged me to explore it. My initial response was a tad bit defensive. Sometimes my faith is strong. Haven't I leapt into situations trusting You to make a way, I asked God. Before I could start reminding Him of specific instances, the Holy Spirit nudged me to go deeper. So I did.
In the most honest places in my heart, I had to admit that often - even those areas I almost bragged about - my trust was in God and my exit strategy.
I trusted God, but I also trusted the strength of my arm or my ability to negotiate a positive outcome. It was like I said, "I trust You but just let me get this harness strapped on and hooked to the wire."
I knew God was speaking about faith with no backup plan. Faith that really gets His attention - where there's no harness or wire. No experienced staff. No net. There's just God. I've tasted that faith, but not often enough.
God is calling me to a higher place of faith. It's a place where I believe God can and will provide for me. And therein lies the hard place. I've anchored my life in the belief that God can do anything, but somehow feel presumptuous believing He will for me.
That's doubt masquerading as false humility. And that, my friends, saddens God and limits His work in my life.
Scripture shows us God is moved by followers with faith. There's not enough space in this devotion to list the miracles God performed when people had faith. Nor is there space to list those times when doubt made a difference.
God's whisper challenged me to submit my unbelief to Him once again in my pursuit to become a woman of faith. My heart longs to be completely sold-out for Jesus, following Him without doubt. I want the same faith in God I had when I jumped off a platform 100 feet above the jungle floor and laughed with the sheer joy of soaring. Yes, that's the type of faith I want in God. All the time.
Dear Lord, I declare today that You are faithful and worthy of all my faith. You never lie, will never leave and never break Your promises. Help me to be a woman who follows You with complete trust. Help my unbelief. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
P31 Woman magazine
Visit Glynnis' blog for more on how to overcome doubt.
Worship: Nearing the Heart of God by Brian T. Anderson & Glynnis Whitwer
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Application Steps:
Using a concordance, or www.Biblegateway.com, do a search in the New Testament for the word "faith." Make a list of what happened when people had faith.
Reflections:
Why is it easy to trust God in some areas of my life, but not others?
What areas do I wish my faith was stronger? What is the common denominator in those areas?
Power Verses:
Matthew 14:31, "Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'" (NIV 2011)
James 1:5-7, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord." (NIV 2011)
© 2011 by Glynnis Whitwer. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
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Matthews, NC 28105
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