We Gotta’–We Gotta’ Let THE Light Shine!

Source: LoonWatch.com

Some of my favorite verses in the Bible have to do with “Light.” We have:

Matthew 5 (“Be the light of the world…let your light shine before men.”);

Luke 11 (“See to it that the light inside you is not darkness.”);

Romans 13 (“Put on the armor of light.”);

Ephesians 5 (“Live now as children of light.”);

1 Peter 2 (“…praise Him who called you out of darkness and into His Wonderful, Glorious light.”)

As children we sang the Bible-school/kids church staple, “This little light of mine…” …or the more upbeat, contemporary Hillsong Kids version, “Let your light shine- ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh!”

But how real is this simple truth in our lives?

Where have we let the darkness of this world seep in, slowly and subtly?

Even though I have only been in three private Christian schools, I have sadly noticed that each year my spiritual innocence & purity has dwindled some. The Word was all I and my siblings knew and all we were allowed.

And that was perfectly fine with me. Jesus was my Life, I never desired anything–not movies, shows, inappropriate clothing, disobedient actions, video games–from the world.

Not that I am no longer in love with Jesus–that, by GOD’s AMAZING GRACE, will never be true!!–but I have noticed how I have let other things occupy my thoughts and time more than just HIM.

I have noticed when I used to go to the Word of God for satisfaction and rest, I now go to other things–mere distractions, time-wasters, and fleeting entertainment that seems to satisfy but only for a moment. And when it’s over, you end up more empty than before.

It’s too easy to look to the things of this world because they are ridiculously available. But if that’s all we fill ourselves with, that’s all anyone’s gonna ever get out of us.

If we put in a mixture of light and darkness, then a combo of faith and doubt, love and judgment, praise and murmuring, worry and patience, or truth and dishonesty is all that’s come out. And when has having opposing forces in the same situation ever worked for someone? They are bound to cancel each other out.

And it makes for a very confusing, hypocritical and contradictory personality.

Source: The Seed that Grew Blog

 

Now all of our actions, whether godly or sinful, are covered by Grace and Jesus’ sacrifice. Living like that just makes for a lousy witness for Jesus…

From experience, I can say: the more time and energy you give to Him, the more time you spend reflecting and meditating on His Word or basking in His Presence, the more HE will flow out of YOU. And you will find that it’ll come effortlessly!

 

And you will find yourself being a shining light of God’s Love, Life, Grace and Peace to people around you without even trying to.

You’ll be like the moon, which reflects the sun (or in our case, the SON) to a dark world.

Source: Eating Life Raw on BlogSpot

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I meant to publish this post weeks ago.

But since I didn’t, I thought today would be quite an appropriate day to do so as a tribute to the release of Kari’s new CD on iTunes.

Source: Christian Music Zine

My favorite song so far on her new CD is “We Are”: Kinda’ a new version of “This little Light of mine…”

This first video is of Kari singing live in a studio. Its more intimate and features just single acoustic instruments.

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This second one is just a recording of her voice in the original version of the song, which has more of a small orchestra sound, and includes some deep drum beats/rhythm/tempo. The video also includes the lyrics…so you can sing along!!

I think I prefer this version but I just love music that has rhythm that I can feel. But BOTH are beautiful!

Check the Bat and Buy a Mask.

I just thought these were quite humorous…

(Source: http://www.comicallyincorrect.com/both%20sides2%20sm.jpg)

So there can be some point to this post:

Let’s discuss what we can learn from these?

• Make sure the words on your prop bat are always facing away from the camera…
• If you’re gonna talk out of both sides of your mouth, then perhaps buy a costume face mask with a different face on both the front and the back (with one mouth hole per side); that way you can switch it around per opinion, and no one will ever know its you!

Greetings: The Big Mac comes in peace….

Ok. So see all the yellowish-lime green countries?

All those countries have a McDonald’s within their borders.

Now see all the blue?

Those countries don’t have any golden arches…like, at all.

None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

(It’s a bit hard to grasp. I know.)

Got it? Ok.

Now.

This is Nazareth.

No–not the city–I’m talkin’ bout the man (Over on the right…right hheerree.—>

Coincidently: the man named after that city in Israel.

And he is one of my favorite Christian comedians of all time.

Although born in Nazareth, he grew up in Kuwait and then his family moved to the states when he was 20, and boy, does he love this country.

I know, I know: What does a random Middle Eastern funny man have to do with McD’s-deprived-nations?

Well I shall tell you.

A couple years ago, I saw this video (it’s below) of a comedy show routine he did where he cracks a joke about junk food (starting about 2:10 of the video) and unhealthy food joints. He says that wherever there is junk food, there is peace. He even makes mention of Burger King at around 2:45.

When I saw that map–you know, the green-blue one above?– I immediately thought of his comment.

I took another look at the map.

Sudan. Syria. Iran. Afghanistan. North Korea.

These names popped out at me this time.

I wonder: Is there really a link between peace and the availability of unhealthy junk food? Are companies like McD’s and Burger King aware of this? Have they tried to advertise and put their products in these poor turmoiled countries? And been rejected or run-off and turned away?

Is it because of the stiffness and warring (whether by savage terrorists, restricting government officials or controlling dictators) that a country never gets to enjoy the salty crispiness of golden string fries or the sweet joys of an ice-cold chocolate frosty?

How sad.

So next time you see a billboard advertising a McD’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese or a Burger King Whopper,

…instead of cursing the unrealistic tempting images…

Look to Heaven and thank God for the peace we have been gifted with.

And we said ‘OK’…

A couple days ago I received an email from my lovely grandmother.

On it, she had pasted this commentary that written and then recited by Ben Stein on CBS Sunday Morning Show.

You know, Ben Stein: the terrible, monotone-voice teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

I was first introduced to him, actually in, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a truly fascinating documentary done by Stein, in which he examines academic freedom in universities and areas of academia when it comes to the topic of intelligent design. I highly recommend it.

Anyway…Back to the beginning:

So I read Stein’s CBS Monologue and was really impressed by his words and wanted to share them with you.

Enjoy and be moved.

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“My confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.

And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees…

I don’t feel threatened.

I don’t feel discriminated against…

That’s what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me.
I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto.

In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.

It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu…
If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians.

I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.

I have no idea where the concept came from: that America is an explicitly atheist country.

I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way:

Where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we    understand Him?

I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too.  But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different:

This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ (regarding Hurricane Katrina)…

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said:

‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.  And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.  How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?’

In light of recent events (terrorists, school shootings, etc.)…

I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.  The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide).  We said an expert should know what he’s talking about…

And we said OK.

Nowwe’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.

I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben S.

{Isa’s Note: All emphasis marks (bold, italicized) are mine.}

*****

It’s stuff like this that I sometimes want to yell from the rooftops. To show the world the truth.

Sometimes, when I get frustrated over how twisted the world is, I have to remember that they are blind.

Blinded and deaf to the Truth, the Light and the Life of the Word.

Without Christ, their “eyes” are spiritually unable to see or perceive goodness. For them to understand, comprehend and accept is absolutely impossible.

Sad. But very true.

Question is, what are we gonna do to change that?

From the Characters of Pride and Prejudice Comes… Tips for Public Speaking?

In my PR class today, we were asked to choose one of our favorite movies and find things from instances or characters in the movie that we could learn from in the area of public speaking tips.

The first movie that came to mind was Pride and Prejudice. You know, the one with Matthew McFadyen and Keira Knightly– <sigh> one of my all-time favs.

Just Oh-So Beautiful!

At first, I didn’t know how I could learn anything about public speaking from a movie.

I know, I know: how could I ever possess such primitive and ignorant thinking?

Well, you can breathe easy now, because I quickly realized that I was wrong.

I really started to think about it and realized how much I actually could get from the iconic characters of Jane Austen’s masterpiece. I thought that the tips I gathered were worth blogging about and sharing.

So without further ado, here’s what I gathered about good or bad public speaking from Pride and Prejudice:

Mrs. Bennet

• Mrs. Bennet: Don’t talk too much. Pause every once and a while—take a breath. And if all you do is gossip, complain and demand, no one will not only ever want to listen to you, but also not want to be around you in general.

Mr. Bennet

• Mr. Bennet: Have a mind of your own. Don’t just repeat what others say or demand you to say. Include your own opinion when appropriate. People don’t want to hear what they just heard from the other guy/girl. Be original.

The Charming and Deceptive Foot Soldier Wickham

• Mr. Wickham: Be charming and know how to draw emotions. It sure worked for him…

Mr. Collins, The Dreaded Cousin

• Mr. Collins: Please know how to relate to your audience and hold their interest. God forbid you are boring, monotone and bulldoze straight above anyone else about issues that no one cares about.

The Dry, Gray and Depressing Mary Bennet

• Mary Bennet: Learn to be a bit exciting. Don’t be afraid to speak up and voice your opinion…unless its boring and unrelated—then it’s probably best that you hold your tongue. 😉

Fitzwilliam Darcy... oh, Darcy

• Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Don’t give the appearance of or gain the reputation of being prideful and egotistical, without a care for anyone or anything. That turns people off right away…or does it? 🙂

Her "Royalness" High-n'-Mighty-(n'-Stuck-Up) Lady Catherine De Bourgh

•  Lady Catherine de Bourgh: Demand respect but don’t instill fear in your audience. And then, in return, you also be respectful by having tact and not mindlessly offending others just because you think you’re better than them.

And... the unspoken and honest Lizzy.

• Elizabeth/Lizzy Bennet: Be passionate. Be witty. Be confident. Don’t be ashamed of being yourself. (I wish I could be as beautifully poetic as Lizzy… or any of the Austen Characters really!) Oh, and having un-embarrassing, discreet and graceful family members is a plus…

If anyone thinks of anything else to include or another note-worthy character, please add to the list!!

Out-of-the-Box Résumés

I enjoyed looking at these.

With regards to the interests and skills of some of my fellow classmates also involved in marketing and graphic design, I think some of them would too.

Its a slideshow collection of different résumés that people (mostly creative graphic designers) have put together.

I encourage you to take a look. Its quite impressive.

Click HERE to see some ridiculously creative résumés.

(Tip: Make sure you take your mouse of the slideshow after each time you click to the next one so that the black borders disappear. That way you can see the whole thing.)

ENJOY!

 

 

The Axe of God…

I just thought this was humorous.

Enjoy.

LOL.

Thank God that Christ was a carpenter and not a lumberjack...

The Little Boat that Felt.

“ When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity. ”

— Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)

I saw this somewhere and immediately thought: PR.

PR pros need to know how to appeal to people’s emotions and senses and satisfy their sensibilities. They need to understand how people feel and respond and think in order to do their job properly… and relate to the public.

It’s true that most people normally live by their emotions, making decisions or responding based on what feels good or right to their mind and soul or is beneficial to them.

They are like a boat on an unruly sea: one minute their calm and sunny, another moment they are in a messy, emotional storm, and yet another, where they are bobbing up and down with uncertainty and apprehension.

This is so unreliable. And they can never be sure how they’re going to feel or be next. They have no stability– nothing to be absolutely sure of. They almost have to wait to be told how to feel by events or individuals in their environment.

And if what their emotions don’t line up with the moment they have to hide them, which just causes more emotional confusion.

This is especially true for those that are without Jesus– living according to their prejudices, senses and feelings is all they have and know. They are not living with the very Spirit of God Almighty within them, and therefore are still unrenewed in their thinking.

Those of us living with the Spirit of Yahweh, the King of Kings, inside of us need not focus on nor be ruled by things of this earth, whether circumstances or emotional turmoil. We get to abide by and dwell in the peace and joy and eternal grace of our Heavenly Father. For when we accepted Jesus, we consciously cast off our old fleshly nature of this earth and put on a new spirit man which is continuously being renewed when we are with Jesus, receiving from Him.

This is explained by Paul to the Churches in Ephesus and and Corinth:

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

– Ephesians 4:22-24

and,

2 Corinthians 4:11, 14 & 16b-17, which says:

“For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body… we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus… inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

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Give me a quote and I’ll start to preach 😉 Ooops.

What do you think about this quote?

“I solemnly swear to spin, twist, hide and deceive!”

Oh, why does reality have to be so ironic sometimes?

The journalists and <cough> politicians <cough> –the very people who are supposed to be telling us the truth and nothing but, tend to be the ones getting away with exaggerating, making promises they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can’t keep, hiding facts, deceiving their audience, and spinning words and motives. And sometimes they act accordingly for reasons that fit their own personal agenda. And not those in the best interest of the public or their constituents.

I have to be careful to not make too much of a blanket statement, because I know its not the case for all politicians and journalists. And yet…

When did politics become synonymous with dishonesty or irrationality? Ugghh– its one of my pet peeves!

They promise “transparency” and honesty, as they represent us to the world. Sometimes it seems like a normal human being gets into public office and his/her sensibilities and principles goes out the window. It’s kind of sad.

And for the journalism side, it’s so easy for us as humans to see something and automatically make assumptions, creating a story in our heads about what we saw or heard. When in reality, it’s probably not the whole story. As someone presenting facts to a relatively trusting and perhaps impressionable audience, it’s so important that the writer gets his story straight, checks it with other sources, gets ahold of all info possible, keeps personal biases and reasoning out, and avoids adding facts like a fill-in-the-blank for MadLib.

God forbid someone is misled after reading something we wrote.

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…I seem to have a small running blog topic thread of honesty…hmmm.

Too Tedious of Social Networking? Why, Not a Problem! :-)

I found this to be somewhat humorous. It’s so true though!

What’s the easiest way to not waste time on all the sites??

Just don’t have them.

Oh the Horror! The Agony! And endless boredom! Whatever would we do with the hours in front of our computer screen?!?

(See Isa’s Note Below)**

No worries: I think we’d survive.

Barely.

But we would make it. <Add hint of sarcasm and smirk here.>

It’s kinda’ like the story of the husband who came home from the grocery store, proclaiming to his wife excitedly that he saved X amount of money by taking advantage of not 1, but 5 BOGO (buy one, get one free) deals. The items purchased were not necessities, and were not even regularly family bought items, but sweets and treats. The wife looks at the frivolous (and somewhat fattening) items and replied that he would’ve saved even MORE money had he not even bought any of the items.

What’s the easiest way to save your money? Not spend it at all!

**(Isa’s Note: I sincerely apologize for the brief expletive at the very end of the video. This video in no way represents my own practices of language.)