You Don’t Have to Be a Doormat

You Don’t Have to Be a Doormat

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Bible Reading: John 2:13-17

The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes those he accepts as his children. Hebrews 12:6

CHECK ANY statements that say what true agape love looks like:

_____ Lie down in the doorway at school on a rainy day so people can clean their shoes on you.

_____Invite the clod who dings one door on your car to ding the other.

_____Offer your former best friend your computer and printer so she can make posters that spread ugly rumors about you.

Those weren’t too tough. Agape love doesn’t obligate you to do any of those things. But you might still think agape love-God’s gift-love-makes you into some­one people can abuse. If that’s what you think, you’re missing a clear picture of love. Here are a few more points you need to know about agape.

First, love involves discipline. God is the flawlessly loving Father, yet he “disci­plines those he loves, and he punishes those he accepts as his children” (Hebrews 12:6). In the same way, love confronts people who are out of line-like Christian friends involved in obvious sin-because confrontational love ultimately spares them the painful consequences of their misbehavior.

Second, love can be tough. Jesus-God’s love in human form-unleashed anger at his opponents (see Mark 3:5), verbally blasted hypocrites (see Matthew 23), and physically chased greedy merchants out of the temple (see John 2). Love for your boss might require you to risk your job by confronting him or her about illegal busi­ness practices. Divine love is patient and kind, but it’s anything but spineless.

Third, love can fail. You may remember from some wedding sermon the 1 Corin­thians 13:8 phrase “Love never fails” (NIV). Actually, the right translation is “Love will last forever.” The sad truth is this: Not everyone is won over by love. God loves unbelievers unendingly, but the reality of hell says untold numbers choose to spend eternity there.

God’s perfect love working through you protects and provides for others, but the truth is your best efforts might fail to make a difference in their lives. You might empty yourself of time, energy, and resources protecting and providing for someone only to find she isn’t interested. Then it’s time to remind yourself that God has been in the same spot: Jesus loved his apostles, but one betrayed him (see John 17:12). And God loves the world (see John 3:16), but many run from him (see Matthew 7:13-14).

Don’t give up doing love God’s way.

REFLECT: What does agape love really mean?

PRAY: Ask God to help you love wisely.

Your Route of Escape

Your Route of Escape

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Bible Reading: Proverbs 7:21-27

Don’t let your hearts stray away toward [an immoral woman]. Don’t wander down her wayward path. Proverbs 7:25

IT’S NO SECRET that sexual desires are potent. And like a young guy named Mitch found out, they can blow up on you if you aren’t careful. That’s just as true for girls as it is for guys.

Mitch’s first mistake was deciding to satisfy his growing curiosity about sex in the same ways most of his friends were-by staring at all the sex magazines and vid­eos he could get his hands on. He told himself it was okay because he would find out everything he wanted to know about women and sexuality, and his curiosity would then be satisfied. Since he wasn’t fooling around himself, he thought he could be­come wise about sex without sinning.

But the only thing Mitch accomplished was filling his mind with twisted ideas about sex. When he dated, he could hardly help imagining trying out what he had read about and seen. Instead of satisfying his curiosity, the “information” he stored in his brain from magazines and movies produced huge battles with guilt.

There’s hardly anyone who can claim to be out of reach of the temptations Mitch faced. How can you avoid getting snagged in the same snare?

First, promise yourself that no matter what you ever feel or do sexually, you will find someone-like a parent or a mature friend-to talk to when you need informa­tion or just need to talk. Big hint: Find someone other than your friends, who are go­ing through the same pains you are.

Second, get out your Bible and concordance-or a Bible software program-and search under all the headings like “lust,” “passions,” and “sexual immorality.” Write out what you learn on note cards and read through these cards at least once a week­ more often if your feelings about sex are out of line with how God sees the subject.

Third, write a private note to yourself. On the left half of the page, spell out the specific standards and commitments you want to keep and why. On the right side, write down the best plan you can think of for escaping when you are tempted to sin sexually. You can’t count on having clear, creative thinking when you’re in the mid­dle of intense temptation. That’s nearly impossible. But it’s amazing how God will remind you of what you wrote down earlier as a way of escape.

Guys and girls choose all kinds of ways to quench their curiosity about sex. Friends may pressure you to join them in actions that mess up your mind-and your body. But by choosing your own, better way to handle sexual pressure, you gain genuine independence. You grab hold of your God-given freedom to choose.

REFLECT: What are you going to do to avoid being hooked by sexual snares?

PRAY: Ask God to help you set biblical sexual standards-and keep them.

The Dating Game

The Dating Game

Monday, July 29, 2019

Bible Reading: Galatians 5:16-18

Live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. Galatians 5:16

JOSHUA AND KAYLA were masters at hiding their relationship from their parents. They snuck around and built a relationship on high-pressure lip locks. Joshua thought it was true love. When the parents of this high school sophomore found out he was going steady with Kayla-and communicated their disapproval-he pouted. “If we ever break up,” he hollered, “it will be your fault!” But a month later when Kayla dumped Joshua, he wondered if he had just wasted half a year on a girl who drained his wallet and then ditched him.

Do you want to come out a winner in your experience with love? If so, here are five massively important questions to ask yourself about dating.

Am I mature enough to date? A person isn’t ready to date until she has devel­oped the character-spiritual, emotional, and physical-to look a person who is pres­suring her straight in the eyes, say “No,” and put off immediate gratification. Sex is fun, especially in God’s timing and context. But it takes maturity to say “no” now so you can say “yes” to something better later in life.

What kind of person will I not date? Will you date-even once-someone whose moral convictions and choices are significantly different from yours? If you will, you’re headed for situations where you might face great pressure to compro­mise your own standards.

What are my standards for physical affection? Here’s where maturity-or im­maturity-shines through. It’s easy to tell yourself, “Hey, I’m not going to do any­thing stupid. But I can at least enjoy myself.” There’s nothing particularly wrong with that, but in a world that often promotes warped sexual values, it’s tough to think straight. If you think enjoying yourself means lots of physical affection, and if getting physical is a high priority in dating, you might not be ready.

How will I control my passions? To be ready to date, you have to be prepared to control the sexual passions God means for you to unleash only in marriage. That can get tough for some people. The best thing you can do is set your standards long before you head out on your first date. Decide now to avoid any situation or event that will get you sexually heated.

If I blow it, what will I do? Admit that you blew it, be restored through honest repentance and forgiveness, and commit yourself to standards of purity.

REFLECT: What are you doing to win at love God’s way?

PRAY: Tell God what is going on in your love life-and how you would like him to guide and guard you.

The Alarming Bed

The Alarming Bed

By Harrington A Lackey

Bryan Fall never could wake up on time to get ready for work. Every morning the alarm next to his bed rang loudly at 6:00 AM, but Bryan always turned his alarm off and slept much later than he should. His boss - Mr. Dan Dollar at the Bluntrust Bank warned Bryan that if he came in late one more time, he wouldn't hesitate to fire him. Dollar suspected Bryan needed a reliable alarm clock - one that would wake him up and stay awake. So he told Bryan about a business that had just opened up called "Alarm Beds", which sold beds that were built to wake up a person up at the right time and make him stay awake.

Bryan took his boss' advice and drove to "Alarm Beds". As soon as he opened the door to the store, he was greeted by a chipper young lady with a squeaky voice, "Welcome to Alarm Beds. My name is Barbara. May I help you find the perfect bed that will wake you up?"

Bryan asked her if she could show him some of their models. "We have a few model beds that are guaranteed to wake our clients up. Each is designed with a particular wake up feature. For example, our best seller is the bed with sharp spikes that rise out of the mattress after the alarm goes off. It is our most expensive."

Bryan's mind went numb. "Spikes?"

"Do you want to see a demonstration?" Barbara asked.

Bryan agreed. So Barbara set the bed's alarm clock to go off in 2 minutes. When the clock rang, long spikes rose up quickly through the entire mattress. Bryan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and thought that bed was too violent. 
"What other beds do you have?"

Barbara walked to the back of the store and showed him a bed with a mattress that folded quickly like a sandwich from the head to the feet. Bryan shivered when he saw what that mattress could do to a body. Barbara showed him another bed with a mattress whose springs flipped it over to a vertical position throwing the sleeper on to the floor.

Bryan thought these beds could, without question, wake him up on time, but he didn't want them to kill him. Besides they were too expensive. "Do you have any that are less expensive? I really can't afford much."

"Well, we do have a single that's on sale for much less, but I don't know much about it. A young man brought it here a couple of days ago. He said he didn't care about getting paid for it, which was strange. Also, he seemed to be in a hurry. Anyway, we took it and put it back here," Barbara said.

Bryan asked if he could test it. Barbara told him he could, and opened the door for him to try it. Bryan walked around the bed examining it. Then, he lied down on it, testing it for comfort. He got up and said, "I'll take it! How much do you want for it?" 
"Let me talk to my manager." She walked off and brought the manager back with her. She shook hands with Bryan and then asked, "What about $50?"

Bryan looked stunned and then said, "What a deal. I'll take it!"

He left the room, walked to the counter and reached into his pocket handing them a fifty dollar bill. He asked for a receipt, but the manager only wrote out a bill of sale that read, "Alarm Bed: $50 No returns." Then she signed her name at the bottom. 
Bryan called a few friends who would be by within the next 30 minutes to put the bed on their old Ford pickup truck. As soon as they arrived, they went back to the room where the bed stood. When they got all of it on the truck, they rode to Bryan's apartment and set it in his bedroom.

No sooner had Bryan thanked them, the door to his room closed shut. He didn't understand this. So, he turned the handle and the door opened. Then, it suddenly slammed shut in his face, which knocked him out for several minutes. When he recovered he heard a low evil voice laughing. Bryan thought it might be his friends playing a joke on him. "OK. Guys... Open the door."

Then the door opened slowly by itself, but Bryan didn't think much of it. He went to work until it was time for him to go to bed. That night he came home, brushed his teeth and got ready for bed. As soon as he shut his eyes, the bed started shaking violently so much that he fell off the bed. Then, he heard a disembodied woman's voice screeching, "We're going to kill you!"

Bryan suddenly sat up shaken. "Who said that?"

"We did! We're your friends. We are Legion!" A male voice shouted sarcastically with a growl.

"Who are you?" Bryan said in a quiet voice. Then he heard a multitude of evil hissing and cussing. All night Bryan was tortured physically and verbally. By early morning, Bryan ran from his apartment as fast as he could, got in his car and sped away to a friend's house.

His horrible night reminded him of the frightening 1973 movie, "The Exorcist" in which priests were called in to exorcise evil spirits from hell that were inside a girl. At his friend's house, Bryan looked up a Catholic Church which he attended when he was a boy and called for a priest to come and remove the demons. However, when he talked to a priest named O'Leary about his problem, he asked him if he could come and exorcise his demon-infested bed. O'Leary sneered and denied there were such things as demons and told Bryan to talk to a psychiatrist about the problem. 
Bryan became furious and slammed his phone against the wall, smashing it to pieces. He decided what to do to resolve the situation. He cautiously returned to his apartment and took the covers off the bed. Although the spirits taunted him, calling him names, he stepped outside and called his friends again to help him take the bed out of his apartment.

When they came he told them he wanted to take the bed to the Catholic Church. After they came and took the bed, they drove to the church, parking it in front of the church. They unloaded the bed to carry it in. Most of the church's clergy did double-takes when they saw the bed being carried into the church. Although Bryan heard whispered evil laughter coming from the bed, he asked a nun where O'Leary's office was located.

She said, "His office is just down the hall. Why does he need a bed?" Bryan answered sarcastically, "It's a donation. I thought he might find a charitable use for it."

How to Read the Bible - 5 Steps

How to Read the Bible - 5 Steps

By Marco A. Bomfoco

The two fundamental pillars of Western culture are the Bible and the Greek philosophy. The Bible is the best-selling book in the world. There are several reasons why we should read the Bible. The Bible gives us discernment, it makes us much wiser. It builds our relationship with God.

The Bible is a library; it is a collection of sixty-six books. It was written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek), by forty authors, over a period of 1.400 years. These holy men were powerful kings and simple men, living on two continents. The Bible speaks both the language of fact and of symbol.

The Bible contains two great divisions, familiarly known as The Old and New Testaments. They are "the books", which came from the Greek expression ta biblia. The Bible contains thirty-nine books of the Old Testament (or Covenant) and twenty-seven of the New. The Old and New Testaments are inseparably bound together, they are complementary the one to the other. Christ is in all the Bible. The New Testament stands at the end of the Bible. They are the Christian writings of the single generation of the Apostles. It is important to note that there are over five thousand Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.

The Bible exists to be read and understood. I suggest bellow five steps for the beginner Bible reader:

1. Ask some questions. Who wrote, when he wrote, to whom he wrote. What are the main theme and the purpose of the book?

2. Let's begin with the book of the Psalms. The Psalter is a collection of lyrical poetry by different authors. The German reformer Martin Luther said that they may be called a little Bible, in which everything that is in the whole Bible is contained. It offers us a great religious experience of faith and hope; it teaches us how to pray.

3. The four Gospels. Here we are in the world of Jesus. We shall begin with Mark, because it is the oldest text and the most narrative of the Gospels. Mark tells vividly a story; it is full of interest and action. It should be read "at one sitting".

4. The Acts of Apostles. The book tells stories about the foundation and teaching of the Church. Pay attention to the speeches of the apostles.

5. The beginning. The Genesis embraces the period of the creation. Now we can read the historical, the poetical and the prophetical books of the Old Testament. The last book of the Bible is Revelation. A vision of what the end times will be like. And about the advent or second coming of Christ.

Leaders Responsible For Managing Learning Conditions

Leaders Responsible For Managing Learning Conditions

By Jeff C. Palmer

As standards-based reform has directed attention to schools as the unit of organizational accountability with the most influence on teaching and learning, principals have become the education leaders most responsible for managing learning conditions. The movement to reform and improve schools demands that principals be visionaries focused on improving teaching and learning to ensure their students' success; they must be leaders capable of promoting their vision throughout the school community and knowledgeable of the specific practices that will bring it to reality. However, principals report little in their preparation or ongoing professional development to equip them for their multifaceted leadership role.

What do principals need to know about instruction and learning, and what must they be able to do to transform their schools into high-performing learning communities? This paper provides an overview of the principals' research-based recommendations for successful leadership that will enable all schools to become high-performing learning communities.

School Reculturing

Schools committed to improvement must reculture by creating an environment receptive to new operating procedures and new ways of thinking. New systems of teamwork, communication, and collaboration must be established. Employees must develop continuous improvement skills. Principals must create a common culture of professional values, mutual interdependence, and high expectations for student learning based on methods for exercising differential treatment of teachers with regard to the school's level of progress in reform. They must replicate desired classroom practices in administrative actions and in collegial interactions. Principals must talk about practice in a nonthreatening, critical, and supportive way. In addition, they must help their staff to internalize the expectations of standards-based instruction, develop positive professional face-to-face relationships, and facilitate collaboration. They must develop collective accountability for the quality of their own and their colleagues' instructional practice and the level of student performance. It is the principal's responsibility to foster agreement among teachers, parents, and students about school goals and how to achieve them.

Distributed Leadership

The theory and practice of distributed leadership as shaped by Richard Elmore (2000) suggest this type of leadership collaboration can provide the guidance and direction needed to lead in today's schools. Distributed leadership recognizes that people typically specialize or develop particular competencies that are related to their interests, aptitudes, prior knowledge, skills, and specialized roles. Additionally, competency varies considerably among people in similar roles; some professionals are simply better at doing some things than others. Partnering these persons in a complementary manner brings new capabilities and efficiency to an organization.

Adopting the premise of Elmore's work, distributed leadership should entail:

a) the principal's dissemination of decision making, supervisory roles, and other duties to able stakeholders in the school community, and

b) collaboration with peers outside the school for guidance. The application of this leadership model to the principalship would improve schools by connecting principals with new ideas and each other in a consultative, mentoring network.

Distributing leadership within the school community to local school councils - including parents, students, and other external stakeholders - assistant principals, counselors, curriculum specialists, teachers, and teacher teams develops ownership and responsibility and appears to increase the effectiveness of the work. This kind of leadership, often informal, is not within the purview of one individual, but rather a collective leadership. Schools successful at implementing new curriculum, for example, have been found to have a variety of individuals - principals, teachers, office staff, and external advisors - performing overlapping roles, bringing their complementary skills and knowledge to the work.

Distributed leadership in schools also suggests that principals consult peers for support and coaching in successful school practices. New principals need the consistent support of knowledgeable mentors to shape instructional practice and exercise visionary school - community leadership. New and experienced principals often need assistance in dealing with new structures critical for contemporary school leadership, including data-driven decision making that transforms low performing schools into high performing communities; aligning standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment; building school leadership team capacity; and connecting schools, families, and the community.

Strategies such as in-district principal peer groups, monthly support sessions, and retreats are forums for review and assistance in development and implementation of school improvement plans. Cross district cohorts and regional networks offer similar opportunities for growth and allow for inter-district and school visitations so that principals can gain a broader understanding of promising practices in school leadership.

Instructional Improvement

Instructional improvement is necessary for creating high-performing learning communities. In order to achieve effective instruction, principals must:

- understand that teaching requires a body of skills and knowledge that can be developed. 
- institute a systemic change in teaching and learning sustained over time. 
- know how to create an environment of collective learning in which teachers' knowledge and skills are continually enhanced for improved student learning. 
- model skills and engage teachers in analysis and collective understanding of effective educational practices. 
- establish effective modes of shared monitoring of curriculum and instruction. 
- establish and moderate settings for teachers to address ongoing acquisition of new content and instructional skills with opportunities for practicing valued behaviors within the school organizational setting.

Conclusion

Standards-based reform has placed new and broadened demands on principals. Education has changed so dramatically in recent decades that a redefinition of the knowledge and skills needed for effective school leadership has occurred. Today's principals must be instructional leaders who are knowledgeable of best practices for teaching and learning and can work to ensure that these practices are evident in their classrooms and the school culture.

The preservice preparation and inservice experiences of most principals have not prepared them to lead in this new paradigm. Current professional development programs have also failed to strengthen principals' procedural knowledge and understanding of instructional leadership and how to share leadership in their schools for true reform. Widespread implementation of this professional development design is essential to creating and retaining visionary principals.

Jeff C. Palmer is a teacher, success coach, trainer, Certified Master of Web Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com. Jeff is a prolific writer, Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having written many eBooks, articles and special reports.

The Diet, Death and Prophesy of King Henry VIII

The Diet, Death and Prophesy of King Henry VIII

By Harrington A Lackey

England's most tyrannical monarch had many things: power, wives, lots of rolling heads, and food. The latter became the primary source for the Tudor monarch's early death. One item that the King did not enjoy was many years added to his life because during the last ten he ate massive amounts of food every day.

Before Henry became bloated, he would have been a model customer at Weight Watchers. However, after being severely wounded after a jousting accident, dear old athletic Henry became a vegetative ruler, sitting around his throne in London at his palace at Whitehall. In just one day the king consumed a shopping cart full of every kind of meat available which made the chefs in the royal kitchen constantly busy cooking his food. In addition, Henry ate two more shopping carts which included a lot of bread, strawberries and many bottles of wine. He consumed roughly 5000 calories or more of food, eating eighteen times a day. Multiply the staggering number of calories by 365 days over 10 years.

Although the king became extremely ill, nothing could stop his body from deteriorating. It came as no surprise that he died on January 1547 at the age of 55 - a relatively young age. Nobody at the court had heard of the terms "diabetes" and "high blood pressure" but modern doctors have overwhelmingly confirmed that these illnesses caused his death.

The next task involved highly envied courtiers who cleaned and anointed Henry's massive 400-pound body before being placed in a lead coffin. The "big" question became how anybody could lift the corpse into a coffin. Perhaps the fact it took two weeks for his coffin to begin its 22-mile procession from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle can give us a clue.

As the journey began most everyone that the entourage passed hated the king. They watched the tyrant's coffin and hesitantly gave it semi honorable pomp. After eight miles of carrying the coffin, the procession stopped for the night at Syon House, a country home. Although he was unwelcome there, those carrying the coffin stayed the night. The next morning, as the entourage came to get Henry's coffin, they immediately noticed a foul smell and the coffin's sides extended. Underneath it was a large pool of blood and pus. Henry's corpse had exploded.

A plumber was called to repair the coffin that reeked of the rotting smell of Henry's rapidly decaying corpse. As the coffin was raised, a dog wandered into the room and began to lick up the blood. Even when they tried to chase it away, it continued to stay.

What is hair-raising is not the stench of Henry's body, but the presence of the dog. Years earlier while Henry and one of his previous wives - Ann Boleyn attended mass, a preacher named William Peto boldly gave a sermon, that compared Henry to "King Ahab" who had married "Jezebel" (Ann Boleyn) who replaced worshipping God with "Baal" (the devil). Peto prophesied that since Henry continued in his ways, his corpse would suffer the same fate as Ahab's and "wild dogs licked up his blood" (1 Kings 22:38).

Henry and Ann should have paid careful attention to Peto's sermon very carefully. When Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon couldn't give him a male heir, he lusted after Ann Boleyn. Henry divorced Catherine who was Roman Catholic and married Ann Boleyn, who seductively persuaded him to convert and force England to convert to Protestantism.

Henry was probably the worst monarch who ever lived. He was hated by his subjects due to the legal and political ramifications of divorcing five of his wives who could not give him a male heir to take his place as king. Ultimately he was reduced to a 400-pound corpse which exploded and the only thing that loved him was a dog.

Tourism at Bandhavgarh National Park in India

Tourism at Bandhavgarh National Park in India

By Uday Patel

In the seventies, I made my first visit to Bandhavgarh National Park in Central India. It was a small park barely visited by the tourists except by one or two photographers from overseas, and some drop ins who had heard about the destination from friends.

Desolate and untended, the sparks of tourism were barely seen but nevertheless gauging the potential MPTDC had set up a property consisting of four rooms and a small bar cum dining. The place was aptly known as White Tiger Lodge, for the famous white tiger Mohun was discovered nearby by then Maharajah of Rewa.

A lone rest house belonging to the forest department with office at Umaria the district head quarters was available for accommodation at preposterously cheaper rates. The food was cooked at the kitchen if you carried ration with you. The rest house was well maintained along with a dormitory nearby.

There was no wildlife resort in picture and you had to rely on the FRH being available for accommodation. The Maharani Kothi was private property of Maharani of Rewa and out of bounds to most.

Umaria to Manpur Highway, the entrance to Bandhavgarh at Tala Village was accessible by bus service connected with Katni and Umaria. These townships were well connected with Jabalpur a major railhead and now an airport connected with New Delhi. A railway station at Umaria at distance of thirty two kilometres was connected with New Delhi.

Even though the connectivity was good the trickle of tourists was small. The reason was that ecotourism in India had not take off at that time and global reckoning was absent.

It was in the late eighties onwards that films on Indian Wildlife were becoming popular thanks to the major film companies. The gradually increasing tourist flow peaked in the nineties and tour operators/investors were quick to grab the opportunity and they started leasing or building properties here with limited facilities.

Till this day Bandhavgarh Reserve is one of the most popular safari destination in India. With plethora of avian species it is slowly becoming a hot spot for birders from all over th World. The National Park is one of the most frequented destination for wildlife and tiger photography in India.

On my consequent visits, I realized that the rising popularity of the park, and the commercialization of the destination. Bandhavgarh the land of the tiger was in the public eye now and had become part of the hospitality industry in India.

This brought financial benefits to the local population empowering the communities which still goes on. The popularity of the tiger reserve has enhanced conservation efforts as well. The tourist infrastructure has greatly improved with good roads, better connectivity and large number of wildlife resorts.

From the list of resorts at Bandhavgarh on the Internet you can choose your stay. The resorts offer diverse services at budget or luxury tariff. There are few hotels with star rating but for budget travelers most of the cheap resorts are situated on the main road at Tala Village.

Jabalpur provides the best connectivity, but the park is also connected with Kanha National Park and Siddhi Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

Uday often writes about the resorts at Bandhavgarh National Park in MP in India. He also writes on wildlife photography at Bandhavgarh organised by the tour operators. Uday loves to write on wildlife travel in India.