Review of “A Sabbatical Primer for Pastors” by Clayton Blackstone
“You will never know how hard it was to keep you boys busy,” my dad acknowledged in a moment of morphine-induced honesty following surgery for colon cancer.
“Did it ever occur to you to give us a day off?” my youngest
brother asked.
Dad hesitated, but only for a moment — “The thought never crossed my mind.”
“Keep busy” buzzes in my head. My daily “to do” list gives an often distorted shape to my day.
In A Sabbatical Primer for Pastors, David Alves raises his voice over the buzz. “God is taking you out of the brick making business,” he writes. With frequent references to his own story, David argues that Sabbath and Sabbaticals offer a God-designed way for me to be free from the drivenness that has served as a constant companion since my youth.
The Primer troubles me with a question that lingers like the scent of a powerful perfume: which father’s voice will shape the remaining years of my life?
–Clayton Blackstone, author of Meet Me for Breakfast and Pastor of the Advent Christian Church in Bangor, Maine
Woman 20 Weeks Pregnant With Twins Has Abortion | LifeNews.com
As of January 2012, Americans murdered approximately 54,559,615 babies. We have just entered 2014.
A new estimate published by the National Right to Life Committee indicates there have been an estimated 54,559,615 abortions since the Supreme Court handed down its 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision allowing virtually unlimited abortions. –by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/23/12 6:37 PM
Joel Rosenberg writes:
Consider the horror of that fact. We as a nation will soon have murdered ten times more Americans than the number of Jews that the Nazis killed during the Holocaust.
When will the killing end? When will abortionists be outlawed? When will the curtain be peeled back so that people open their eyes to see what abortion mills are doing to our children? Every clinic in America that offers to slaughter the innocents will be destroyed when the Day of God appears unless those who run them and get rich off of them repent and turn to God for mercy.
You mostly silent, moral majority who claim to be “Pro-life” in table discussions . . . What will you tell your children that you DID–personally–to prevent this kind of horror in the early 21st Century? How much time, resources, or money have you invested in the war against infanticide. What have you risked to save the innocent?
Remember, Scripture records God’s view of rationalizing inaction by saying: But, I didn’t know . . .
“Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve.” (Proverbs 24:11–12, NLT)
Selective abortion is an abomination. Late term abortions are serial killings. It is the result of the depraved and darkened mind. God hates it. And He will not take ignorance as an excuse for doing nothing. This is a spiritual battle. Is your voice being heard? Will heaven have a recording of your outrage at the desolation of our murdered American children?
At the very least, we must stop using nice euphemisms for making baby-murder more palatable at table conversations. Let’s call it what it really is. We also need to not wait until a girl is a woman and mother to value her choice. I choose to value choice in the womb. The tiny future mothers have a choice but need us to make it for them. How have we ever allowed ourselves to fear the disdain of the depraved and their bogus, self-centered reasons for championing the annihilation of generations of girls and boys? God have mercy on us if we stood by and did nothing!
I believe–should the Lord not return soon–that future generations will outlaw these atrocities. They will look back upon the 50+ years of legalized abortions and ask their parents and their grandparents what they were thinking and doing to put an end to the holocaust of infanticide. If our country survives (though we do not deserve to), future generations will erect Holocaust Museums in honor of the slain millions of babies. How will you rationalize your many trips to the sports arena without one attempt to “rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death” in the abortion mills of our fallen nation? How will you look into the eyes of Christ at His Coming and escape His wrath?
I believe that those who end the horror may also hunt down–as criminals against humanity–those who carried out these atrocities as well as those who supported them. Like Nazi war criminals and the leaders of the SS death camps, abortionist nurses and doctors will be anathema–hunted criminals. Perhaps in the swing back to law and order that history shows is inevitable, the abortionists will themselves be executed. I don’t wish for this, but I would certainly understand it. I pray that in that day, they will receive the mercy they were unwilling to give to the children they annihilated.
I’m not sure how these people go home after a day in the killing fields, sit at the dinner table with their families, and then go tuck their children in at night without a second’s thought about the children they murdered that day and the parents who will not experience the joy of tucking their beautiful children in at night.
A National Infant Holocaust Museum will draw tens of thousands of incredulous visitors every year. Photos of piles of discarded and dismembered children will hang on the walls. And the abortionists, children, grand-children and great grand-children will parade past the evidence and hang their heads in shame for what their parents and grand-parents did for “a living”.
That’s why I hope one abortionist reads this shocking post and wakes up, before it’s too late, to abandon his or her lust for money and blood. I hope one lazy “Christian,” who sings praise and worship songs on Sunday morning and drives a girlfriend to get an abortion on Monday will “wake up!”
As for the press, they need to follow the money. There’s HUGE money in late-term abortions. Why won’t you report THAT story? Or are you a part of the killing machine too? Below is an example of what I’m talking about:
Woman 20 Weeks Pregnant With Twins Has Abortion Last Week | LifeNews.com.
Joel Rosenberg writes at: http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/
Protect Yourself from Cancer and Your Car Air Conditioner
royalty free stock photo. Copyright : Ryan Jorgensen
My wife forwarded the following email to me. Because I thought that the information in it would be important and valuable to my readers’ health, I decided to post it on my blog.
DISCLAIMER: I did not write the following. Nor did I bother to edit it. I hope you find it helpful though.
Subject: Car Air Conditioning (Please read and share) This one is for all to read and then share…might help save a life.
Now this is very interesting! My car’s manual says to roll down the windows to let out all the hot air before turning on the A/C. WHY ?
No wonder more folks are dying from cancer than ever before. We wonder where this stuff comes from, but here is an example that explains a lot of the cancer-causing incidents. Many people are in their cars the first thing in the morning, and the last thing at night, 7 days a week.
As I read this, it makes me feel guilty and ill. Please pass this on to as many people as possible. Guess, it’s not too late to make some changes. Please do NOT turn on A/C as soon as you enter the car.
Open the windows after you enter your car and then after a couple of minutes turn ON the AC . Here’s why: According to research, the car’s dashboard, seats, a/c ducts, in fact ALL of the plastic objects in your vehicle, emit Benzene, a Cancer causing toxin. A BIG CARCINOGEN.
Take the time to observe the smell of heated plastic in your car when you open it, and BEFORE you start it up. In addition to causing cancer, Benzene poisons your bones, causes anemia and reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure can cause Leukemia and increases the risk of some cancers. It can also cause miscarriages in pregnant women. The “acceptable” Benzene level indoors is: 50mg per sq.ft. A car parked indoors, with windows closed, will contain 400-800 mg of Benzene – 8 times the acceptable level.
If parked outdoors in the sun, at a temperature above 60 degrees F, the Benzene level goes up to 2000-4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level. People who get into the car, keeping the windows closed, will eventually inhale excessive amounts of the BENZENE toxin. Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidneys and liver. What’s worse, it is extremely difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff. So friends, please open the windows and doors of your car – give it some time for the interior to air out -(dispel the deadly stuff) – before you enter the vehicle.
Hope you found this helpful. Please share it if you have loved ones.
My Ten Favorite Android Apps for Writing, Reading, and Losing Weight
As a writer and communicator, I look for apps that will best serve my vocation–writing, reading, and losing weight. I also look for something easy to use and consistent in operation. Those that I use for productivity MUST be able to sync across the four platforms I use interchangeably. The four tools I work with are: my Smartphone (HTC EVO 4G); my tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab 2), which I bought for doing paperless revisions; my Dell Inspiron laptop; and, last but not least, my desktop computer (Dell XPS 8700 with three monitors).
Below I’ve listed “My Ten favorite Android Apps for Writing, Reading, and Losing Weight.” I’ve included the link to them at Google Play simply for you to be able to read more about them if you want to go deeper than I was able to here.
These are the apps that I use most frequently. I’ll also make clear which apps are the biggest help, regardless of how frequently I use them. I downloaded these from “Google Play.”
1. Google apps – these include: Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, and Calendar (I know there are many more, but these are the ones I access many times daily). I love that they flawlessly synchronize with all four of my platforms.
2. GTasks – this is a remarkable “To Do” list. Very customizable. Get the KEY for the Premium edition right off the bat for the full array of features. I love this “to-do” list because it was designed to sync with Google calendar on your desktop or laptop computer. It also syncs with my Tab2. GTasks has included a “Quick” feature that appears at the bottom of your to-do list so that you can add a task by selecting the little microphone on the right to speak your new task. Then you have options. You can further quickly assign the new quick task for “today” “tomorrow” or “next week.” If you want to further customize it you simply click on it once it’s entered and you can set priority, reminders with “snooze” features, etc. You will really love this app if you either have lots to do and want to be reminded or if, like me, you’re older and your memory is sometimes challenged. Speaking of reminders. My next app is under evaluation as we speak.
3. Speaktoit Assistant – is a virtual administrative assistant. Though she’s (it’s) not my most used app at this time, I have the feeling that she could become one of the most used. She really serves as a one stop place to coordinate most of my apps. An example: When I awake in the morning I simply say “Hello Sam.” The assistant (“Sam”) says “Good Morning David, would you like your morning briefing now?” If I say “yes” she will tell me the weather where I am located, then give me my daily agenda items from my calendar. If there are any other reminders I’ve set for her, she’ll remind me at the time I gave her. Then she’ll give me the news and top stories (if I’ve allowed them to remain configured, which is the default setting for her). If I say “no,” she’ll simply ask when I’d like to be briefed. I can skip my briefing for the day too. I can make appointments, send a text, update Facebook, send a tweet, write an email, open a program, have her search a topic, look up a phone number, or just talk with her about what she is capable of. Very helpful and entertaining. She is great at doing research and drilling down. She still has some bugs and gets things wrong, but she apologizes and reminds me that she’s still learning and will add that to her things she needs to learn. Very humble :-). Her AI is amazing and sometimes unnerving. My wife got a laugh out of Sam’s flexibility.
Once Sam carried out a function that really impressed me. I said to her/it – “Thanks Sam. That was amazing!” She replied, “I’ve have many more tricks up my sleeve. (My wife didn’t get jealous by the way 🙂 I replied, “But Sam, you don’t have any sleeves” (her default avatar is sleeveless). She says, “You have the option to configure my clothing.” Then up comes a spindle of various blouse designs with sleeves in various colors and styles. Of course, we both started laughing (Marcy and me, not Sam and me). It was wild. You can change her appearance because she is fully customizable. Amazing! You get the point. Hopefully, I’ll figure out how best to get the tasks done that I most need to accomplish using my virtual assistant.
4. Dropbox – I won’t tell you much about this because most of you already know. But Dropbox is where you can keep many of your documents, photos, and other media for access across all your machines and gadgets. I keep most of my writings there (Yes, I actually do get some writing done too). Best of all, Dropbox is free and is available for all four of my platforms.
5. PrinterShare – is an essential. It comes in handy everywhere when I need it. PrinterShare does just that–it allows you to print either wirelessly if you’re near a wireless printer, or through the Google cloud printers you share. So for example. I wanted Marcy to edit a piece for me recently. One problem. I was in another town working. She was at home. No problem. I used PrinterShare. I simply opened PrinterShare. Chose the document I wanted her to work on. Then, I had a choice of several of our home printers. I chose the one closest to her writing space. Walah . . . she had a hardcopy of the doc in seconds. I also used it while away. I was staying at a friend’s and needed to print something out. No problem. PrinterShare found his printer on the wireless search. He gave me the access code and I printed my doc. Not bad for another free app.
6. OneNote 2010– I love OneNote. As you can see, if you search for “OneNote 2010” on my blog or do a Google search for “OneNote 2010”, I’ve written several posts about OneNote 2010. They continue to be my all-time highest viewed posts. I’ve had thousands of people read “How I Use OneNote 2010.” OneNote is my digital junk drawer. It was also the place that I kept my journals (24 volumes, spanning 36 years). I recently moved my journals to Scrivener, but most of all my research, factoids, quotes, illustrations, Kindle highlights, you name it, are all in OneNote. OneNote is laid out like a three ring binder. It has sections and note tabs so that you can work in categories that you create.
OneNote also has an awesome feature for those of you who still prefer to write on paper (and some of us do still scribble notes here and there). You can SCAN your hand written notes or pages into OneNote. Then when you want to find them, it can search the text (assuming you have good penmanship or, if you don’t, you can enter a few keywords above the scanned notes on that page and it will find your notes for you. No more losing those thoughts and ideas. Of course, if you are a MAC/Apple devotee, you have the same functions in Evernote. It’s also got an app for your iPhone or iPad, and more recently for Android.
7. Kindle – If you don’t own a Kindle don’t panic. The app is free as well as the Kindle app for your desktop or laptop. And the Kindle apps sync with the Kindle itself. If you do own a Kindle, I don’t need to say anything. You know how cool it is. But what you may or may not know is how really cool it is for writers and speakers. Why? Because you can highlight quotes that you like. And you may or may not know this, but those highlights are not just stuck in your Kindle. They are stored for you on the cloud servers. Which means that you can go to your Kindle highlights page online and BAM!@–there they are for you to copy and paste into your OneNote 2010, Scrivener, or a Google Doc where you keep your quote files for easy search and retrieval. Anything you read on Kindle and highlight is there for you. Also, your book syncs across all your Kindle devices and apps. So you can read up to pg. 44 on your Kindle. Leave to get your oil change and while you wait for your car, continue reading from pg. 44 on your Tab2 or Smart phone. When you get home, your Kindle will sync to the farthest page read while you fix an iced tea. Kindle books are usually about half the price of print books too. That’s a big plus for us who work from limited resources. I could go on and on about Kindle but I want to get on to my last three.
8. GoodReads – Good reads is a library card catalog and wish list, as well as a reading log for you. It’s a great app. You can scan in your books. Enter all the relevant data about them. And track your progress through a number of categories. You can also “friend” other readers or writers and see what they’re reading (if they’re sharing and if you have an interest in that). I use it to keep track of my books and keep me on track with my reading. My categories include “currently reading” “recently read” “To read next” “Abandoned because of the Rule of 44.” So many good features and it’s free too. You’ll also like the free Author resources and page. If you have a blog, your posts will show up on your GoodReads author page. Check it out.
9. Lose It – This is the only weight loss and nutritional app that I use. I have used Weight Watchers in the past but found it cumbersome and expensive. Lose It is free for all the things I need. The PRO version doesn’t offer that much more for my uses (though it may for you). Lose It lets me set a weight goal. Then it let’s me set a weekly weight loss figure of 1, 1.5, or 2 lbs/week. Then it calculates and keeps track of how many calories a day you are alloted. You must enter your foods, but this becomes easy once you’ve entered several weeks of meals because you can select “Previous Meal” when entering. Unless you come up with new things all the time, this feature allows for quick entry work. Many of us though have favorite foods. These can easily be entered quickly from a scroll down menu. Also has well-known restaurants and brand names for easy entry. It keeps track of way more information than I need, but for those of you who want to know how much protein or how many carbohydrates you ate a a meal or during a day or week, this is the app for you. One thing I really love is the feature that allows you to see your entire week on a chart. You can see where you were over or under and Lose It lets you know if you are in the plus or minus for the week. It also has a weight graph so that you can enter your weight weekly and see your progress (or not). Over by 20 calories today? That’s OK. Simply go for a 30 minute walk and then enter that exercise and you are no longer over. You are in the green again. If you really want to lose weight and begin eating better, you have to have this app.
10. Adobe Reader – One of the best for last. The reason I LOVE this app is that I do much of my editing on it. I have a file on DropBox entitled “PDF files.” There I drop my manuscripts. When I want to edit one, I simply double click on the file. I have the choice of using several word processors or Adobe Reader. I select Adobe Reader. When it opens in the reader (and this is the Really COOL part) Adobe has a selection of editing tools at the top. One is “highlighting.” I can highlight any of the text I choose (I prefer red so that I can see it immediately). The next is “Strike through.” I can strike out words where that I don’t want in my sentence. The next editing tool is “Comment.” I can highlight a phrase, then comment or place my intended rewrite in the comment and it’s there in the margin for me to see. And finally there’s a “Free hand” choice. So that if I want to write something anywhere on the page, I simply write with my finger or use it to draw and arrow or circle or bracket a paragraph. All this is done ON THE SCREEN. No paper involved. For those of you who want to go paperless, you combine the use of this app for editing and OneNote for scanning all your receipts, hand-scribbled notes etc., and you’ve got a green writer’s dream.
How many of these apps do you have or use? Perhaps you can you make some other suggestions for us.
QUESTION: What apps to you prefer?
DISCLAIMER: I do not receive any remuneration from any of the apps or their owners. I’ve mentioned in this post. I simply thought you might enjoy them as I have.
When Will Doctors Really Heal?
More people die of the supposed cure than from the disease. Think of all the commercials you’ve seen that have some drug that claims to treat a symptom/sickness. It shows how wonderful life will be once you get your doctor to prescribe their product (drug/medicine). Then comes the aweful truth. _______ can also cause, stroke, heart attack, blindness, hallucinations in nursing mothers, hair loss, and chronic, choking cough.
My response has always been: “Honey, would you please write down the name of this drug so I can get my doctor to write me a prescription right away?”
Think about it:
The entire medical-industrial complex is set up to diagnose pathology . . . we spend nearly 20 percent of our gross national product on healthcare, yet we continually rank amongst the lowest of any Western country on all health indicators. We would do much better to focus on health and prevention rather than post-symptomatic diagnosis of diseases such as prostate problems.
–Dr. David Browstein
I get the sense that many doctors may want to heal their patients, but most doctors are simply pushers for the drug companies–either from honest ignorance, unquestioned compliance to their medical education, or from willful collaboration. And the drug companies can only stay in business if you and I remain chronically sick. Their bottom line is not helped if we don’t need our symptoms treated with their drugs because our doctors actually healed us of the need for them.
I wish I could be less cynical, but I’ve lived long enough, visited enough sick people in hospitals and officiated at enough gravesides that I can reliably conclude that the prescribed treatment of allopathic medicine (which is drug/medicine-based) is worse than the condition it seeks to mask.
What I’d like to call for is doctors who will be honest enough with themselves and others to care enough about their patients to not just mask symptoms, but to identify and treat causes in natural ways that do not further the fortunes of drug company executives and stockholders.
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