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Journal — November 2006 |
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AN ONGOING
SPIRITUAL WEBLOG
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November
30, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI is in Turkey and today held
a prayer service with the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I leads about 250 million Orthodox
Christians. Nearly a 1,000 years ago a split over the role of the
papacy created a split with the result being two primary Christian denominations
- Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians. The Pope, in his homily,
stated that the divisions that exist among Christians is not helpful
in the proclamation of the gospel. Indeed, as Jesus stated that
we are all to be one.
Turkey is a predominately Muslim country and you may recall that the
Pope's remarks in September about Islam when he quoted a 14th century
Christian emperor who characterized the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings
as "evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the
faith he preached.". The pontif has been sensitive to the criticism
of these remarks and on this trip has called for religious freedom and
decries any violence in the name of faith.
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November
29, 2006
Will the new movie, The
Nativity Story, inspire viewers and get more people focused
on what Christmas is really about? The movie opens this Friday
in theaters and you can find out more about the film at the official
site, thenativitystory.com
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November
27, 2006
The Thanksgiving holiday, a feast and time for counting our blessings,
has come and gone. Our stomachs are full, we've had some time off
from work and now it is time to get back to our duties. Hopefully,
the past few days have given us an opportunity to get a "check up from
the neck up". The attitude
of gratitude should remain with us all year. The latest
Living the Solution article is on this subject - here.
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November
20, 2006
People tend to think more about the needy at this time of year with Thanksgiving
and the Holidays. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, because
we need to always have care and concern for the hungry and poor.
However, year-round there is always a need to help the hungry. Make a
commitment to do for others, whether it is a local food drive or giving
to an organization that does so much for the battle against hunger, like Food
for the Poor.
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November
15, 2006
Alcohol and chemical addiction is a serious problem. That's probably
not a huge revelation to you. However, few truly understand what
goes on in the mind, the body - and the soul of the addict or alcoholic. The
malady requires a spiritual recovery path.
Actually, my personal belief is that we all need a spiritual path to
deal with life and all the challenges of living in this world. For
those dealing with chemical and alcohol dependencies (or those interested
in recovery information) there are places to find it, like NICD
- National Institute on Chemical Dependency.
I've had a link for them on Living the Solution for years and the monthly
email newsletter is rich in content. Something new from their recent
issue is a link to "Your Personalized Spiritual Recovery Page for Today". Check
it out here.
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November
9, 2006
Two prominent people have faced scrutiny and embarrassment this past
week.
You may have seen the news about Ted Haggard, former
president of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor
at the New Life Church with 14,000 parishioners in Colorado Springs.
A Denver man and admitted male prostitute claims Haggard had a drug and
sex relationship with him for three years. We’ve seen this before,
a noted pastor and evangelist caught in a web of deceit over the kind
of behavior condemned by him/her from the pulpit. Haggard has confessed
to lying and sexual immorality and is currently undergoing a program
of “spiritual”rehabilitation.
Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense under President
George W. Bush, resigned yesterday. The Democrats big win on Election
Day no doubt triggered this resignation. There have been calls for him
to step down for months because of the flawed war in Iraq strategy.
We as a culture seem obsessed with celebrities and scandal. While those
who “fall”from their positions must be accountable, we too
must look at how we view such people. We must be careful that we don’t
get self-righteous - high and mighty. Is there some compassion and a
willingness to pray for others? We all have faults.
The book review just posted to our site (Free of Charge –see
here) has much to say on the topic of forgiveness, as well as how
to give. I found the book well written and spiritually educating.
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November
8, 2006
Yesterday after work (and a long day at that) I went for a run. I've
been training for a marathon coming up in January. I'm doing it
partly to be in better shaper, but mostly to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma
Society find a cure for blood cancers.
Team
in Training is an organization that is part of this and helps
train everyday people like you and I. The training is going pretty
good, but the Sunday runs together are when the greater motivation is
there. When I have to run on my own during the week it is harder
sometimes to get going.
However, yesterday's four miler had some fine moments. Dare I say
it was even spiritual at times. There was a spectacular New Mexico
sunset as I was running the first half. On the way home as darkness
was all around I could see the twinkling lights of the city nestled against
the Sandia Mountain and I found myself thinking about life, God and others. These
are good topics to direct my attention to, instead of my often self-centered
thoughts. At the end of the workout I felt tired, but good, and
grateful that God was along for the run.
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November
6, 2006
Tomorrow Americans will go to the polls on Election Day and cast ballots
for various public offices and referendums. Hopefully, if you vote, you
will use your conscience and God speaking to you. You have to be informed,
of course, and I'm trying to get past all the political maneuvering and
negative ads to make good choices.
Regardless of the outcome, pray that our leaders will be inspired by
God and that they will work honestly and with integrity to fairly represent
ALL their constituents. Our country, now more than ever, needs good leadership.
And we need each of you to be citizens first of God's kingdom, and good
neighbors. Yes, that is the hard part, isn't it? We need to hold our
leaders accountable, and we need to love our neighbors - even when it
hurts.
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November
3, 2006
Another weekend is here. We all look forward to times of recreation.
Hopefully a weekend gives you the time to do that. Think of the word
recreation. Re-creation. We need to recoginize that God is a constant
creator and is recreating through us!
If you want to watch some spiritually uplifting movies check out a new
resource that sends you DVDs of inspiritng spiritual movies. It's not
a rental. For a small fee they will send you up to four a month and you
get to keep them. The
Spiritual Cinema Circle is worth investigating.
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| Read past Journal entries here. |
Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved
throughout the world. Used by permission of International
Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the offering
of goods or services requires the prior written consent of International
Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New
Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission of Tyndale
House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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PSALM 118:24
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"This
is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad
in it."
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(NIV)
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