Be it in May or September: Run the race

The last two academic years have been very weird with many restrictions. September is here again and soon it will be October, the month when everybody is back at work or back in school. Once more we faee a new academic and church year. Once more we are reminded we have work to do on this earth. We have our obligations and we have to strive to get some results in what we are supposed to do.

In Belgium, last year, sports were more a thing for one person on his own, because no group events were allowed. Everyone had to stay in isolation and contact sports were not allowed. The text underneath normally was to be published in May, when we had the underneath ‘prayer theme’ for the month, but we got somewhat behind with a lot of work, because other matters, like taking care of people, providing food to isolated people and help for those in need, certainly after the floods, required our attention.

In the Covid period it might not have been easy for many. Now it could well be that this year may be a year of transition, for becoming back to normal.

Jane Edwards has a look at what happened mostly in May. In her country that is the time the sun starts showing herself more and more attention is given to outside sports. She then thinks of the race which we have to finish.

Be it May or September, each day we are confronted with a lot of matters. Every day of the year, we have to get on and continue our way.

°°°

Run the race

When I was at school, the month of May meant only one thing…..
Practicing for Sports day.
Today, children are encouraged to just take part, and they are all winners. Helping others along the way to finish together.

When I was at school, it was all about the winning!
Who could run fastest.
Who could throw furthest.
Who could jump highest.

Winners were winners, and losers were just that – losers.
Winners received prizes, losers were scorned.

There were cheers, and plenty of boos.

I hated Sports day. Whilst I enjoyed hockey and netball – team games, I hated the one against one competition of Athletics – mainly because I was rubbish, and not really built to run!

We are told in the Bible in Hebrews 12 that we need to ‘run the race’ , but we are also told that ‘bodily exercise profits little’ in 1 Timothy 4v8 – which is correct?
Of course we need to exercise.
For our hearts and minds exercise is good, but too much can become an obsession – and take us away from other activities that matter.
So, what race do we need to run?

Of course, this is the race to the Kingdom. This race is much better than the ones I failed miserably at school. This race, (perhaps more apt to call it an Obstacle Course) makes everyone a winner!
It’s about getting to the finish line – some may reach that before others, but everyone has a chance to finish and win… and have help from others along the way.
And the prize – eternal life!
No boos, but cheers from the Heavenly Hosts.
As we watch our children on Sports Day, or think about exercise for ourselves, let us remember the most important race of our lives.

 

 

 

Dear Lord,
Please be with us as we run the race to your Kingdom.
Some of us may be slower through lack of faith, anxiety, and fatigue.
Give us the encouragement and strength needed to make it to the finish.
Please help us to help others to the end,
giving them encouragement as you have to us.
Amen

 

Jane Edwards

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Preceding

Race and Grace

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong

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Additional reading

1. Life is like a ten-speed bike.
2. The high calling of God in Christ Jesus
3. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
4. Followers with deepening
5. Troubles testing your faith and giving you patience and good prospects
6. Matthew 20 Are you willing to work for Jesus?
7. Today’s Thought “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (May 27)
8. Every athlete exercises self control
9. Running the battle
10. A race not to swift, nor a battle to the strong
11. Run for the Everlasting Cure
12. Atonement and the race been bought
13. Being of good courage running the race

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Related

1. “Fit In!”
2. Just Keep Going by Bridget A. Thomas
3. A Crown Beyond the Sun
4. Running The Race
5. Running The Race by Tara Randel
6. Running This Race Called Life
7. His Closed Circuit!
8. Life’s race
9. How do you stay strong in the midst of change
10. ending well
11. Leaning On The Father
12. Running the Race of Holiness: DON’T give up
13. Catching up to the Win
14. Old and Heavy
15. The Race
16. It’s Friday…Run With An Eye For Nothing Less
17. Preparing to Fly!
18. First of All!
19. How To Run A Steady Race Right Into Glory
20. One Thing I Know
21. With “Blinders” of Grace!
22. The Surrendered Disciple!
23. The Funneling Effect!
24. With Reverence, Returning…
25. Reawaken the Redeemed!
26. Saved from Self’s Strainings!
27. The Second Hand’s Moment!
28. His “Stone Soup” Creations!
29. Sunday Morning 7/25: Unit 34, Session 4: Running the Race
30. Clear ye the Way!
31. Shaking the Comatose!
32. Eyes on the Goal
33. A Cloud of Witnesses
34. The Fool’s Boundary!
35. Discarding Camouflage!
36. The Piper’s Promised Peace!
37. Keep the Focus
38. Choice Intersections!
39. Faithful to the End
40. Wholeness…in Him!
41. Running the Race
42. Finishing well

I have hope

I have hope
That the world will become better.
I have my reason for this hope;
I meet many kind,
Loving people daily;
Who are working
To make the world a better place.
I have hope;
That the combined effort of these
Loving souls
Will change the world.
I have hope;
That good will overcome evil;
As good is stronger than evil.
I have hope;
That the world will become
An excellent place
For everybody to enjoy.
I encourage you
Who love for an excellent world;
Keep on; persist;
Your efforts will be rewarded.
We will have an excellent world;
And everybody will enjoy;
It will take long;
But it will come.
I have hope;
And invite you ALSO to have hope.

For those Christians who say they are the Victim

You Are Not A Victim

Nova Scotia, Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Paul Van Buren, a preacher born in Nova Scotia, Canada who lived in so many places since then considers himself to be called by God at the age of 19 but knows that calling was knit into him before his birth.

Being a father of 11 children and husband to a most wonderful lady, he is the pastor of a Holy Spirit directed church in LaSalle, Quebec where  he is having the time of his life. On his Pastor’s Blog he writes that it frustrates him when Christians play the part of victim.

He writes:

Victimized Christians do not know who they are in Jesus and it is a shame that they are wasting the precious days they have been given in this world.

Probably he thinks of the many gifts we are given: first of all life itself and secondly many gifts when we grow up and try to make something of our life.

Having lots of messages circulating on the media, with lots of horrible pictures of terrorist acts lost of people are getting so afraid that our Western World would become Islamised and that we Christians should have to convert to Islam or being killed. Strange is that not more people question how it comes that so many left Christianity or Christendom and became Muslim and do not wonder how it comes that so many Christian churches are getting more and more empty.

Clearly we should question Christians how they live their faith. Is not many their faith as dead? What are they doing to bring others into the faith?

How are they helping those who have doubts and wonder if those Muslims are not right?

Let us have a look on what Paul Van Buren writes:

Paul first reminds Timothy that he has been raised and trained in a life of faith. It was demonstrated to him in his mother and grandmother. Paul encourages Timothy by stating that he is confident that this same faith resides in Timothy. Then:

Because of this, I’m reminding you to revive God’s gift that is in you through the laying on of my hands. (v. 6)

I like this. Because of this faith Timothy I am reminding you to operate in it. Live by the Spirit. Do what you have been equipped to do. The Spirit provides the equipping but we are responsible to operate in it. Then Paul writes what we all must grasp:

God didn’t give us a spirit that is timid but one that is powerful, loving, and self-controlled. (v. 7)

This is not personality. Personality type does not play in your calling and equipping. Look at many of the servant’s of the past who tried to get out of their calling with excuses, like Moses and Jonah. It has everything to do with the spirit he has given to us and it is one of boldness. He has equipped us with his power, his love and the power to be self-controlled. This is good stuff that we simply have to act on, in faith that it is so.

Too many Christians seem not to feel that power which they have received, or what has happened more likely when getting older and more trapped by this materialistic world they have lost he fire of their faith and the flames are only burning very weakly or not at all.
Several people are also born in a Christian family and lots of them were even baptised before they could properly think or understand what God and faith really meant. This also makes that many of those name Christians never ever did feel that Spirit in them. They only got the name or the label ‘Christian’ on them and want to consider themselves Christians because they want to belong to the general group of the West.

Now the West comes under threat again from Muslims going to the west, like they had already done before and had conquered Spain, now Europeans are having fear those Muslims will conquer the whole of Europe. But when they would have a strong faith, why should they than be so full of fear?

For sure it is because most of those Europeans do not have any faith in God or do have no idea at all what their faith-groups stands for or if that faith-group follows really the Holy Books or not. The same for the many Muslims here, lots of them born in that faith-group and not knowing enough their own holy books, they do not react strong enough against those who defile their holy books and the teachings of Muhammad. They should have reacted much more against those criminals who defile the Name of God in name of the Muslims, blackening their ummah and making it more difficult to have a peaceful life here in the West.

Today we are living again in a similar time when Noah was alive. Everywhere around us we can see how people live against nature and against God’s Wishes. In a certain way it would be no wonder if God would shaken the world once more to awaken them. But it is not God Who brings terror and horror over people. It are the people themselves who bring cruelty over themselves.

We better should think again of those times, what happened after the water came down and Noah got promises from God. We also should remember how people at the time of Moses very fast had forgotten how God ahd liberated them and how fast they went worshipping other gods again.

Pastor Paul writes:

When Moses was about to die he addressed the nation and told them to possess the land because Yahweh had told them to possess it. He encouraged them:

Be strong! Be fearless! Don’t be afraid and don’t be scared by your enemies, because the Lord your God is the one who marches with you. He won’t let you down, and he won’t abandon you. (Deuteronomy 31:6) 

Two things right there are the source of our boldness. First, our God is always with us, going before us, always preparing the way. He abides in us. Psalm 139 states we can never escape him, even more now that he lives in us. This is for our encouragement.

The second thing the pastor wants to highlight is that we may count on God:

He won’t let you down. That is a big one all on it’s own and can only be understood in the context of a loving, intimate relationship.

Though in his text we have the impression he , like so many Christians got two Biblical characters mixed up. He namely continues than with looking at Jesus, who is the sent one from God, and not God Himself.

As Christians, being followers of Christ, we should believe the words of this Nazarene teacher and see how his heavenly Father protected him and gave him special gifts. In the knowledge that this man also did not tell lies, because he did not sin, we may assume that also his promises will come true.

Jesus promised that he would be with us until the end of this age. He said his desire was for us to be one with him in the same way that he is one with Father. The Way, the Truth and the Life is in you. The one who declared that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, is intimate with you. The one who stated that he is the Resurrection walks with you every day.

With that knowledge we should have our minds at rest. It should be a comforting thought that at the end times those who love God shall find peace after the big battle or the Big Tribulation, which nobody can escape. Yes the big trouble shall come over us all. But Jesus has told about the signs and it is up to us to recognise them and to prepare ourselves for that time of the Last Days.

It is not that we ourselves shall have to go into the battle and have to be conquerors.

Paul wrote that we are more than conquerors, we are overcomers. We are not victims. We are not powerless. We are not timid, because our God has given us the authority to forgive. Thank about that for a moment. The power does not rest in the hands of the offender but in the hands of the offended. Without your forgiveness, the offender will have to give account for their actions. With your forgiveness that offence is wiped away. By offering forgiveness you are also set free from the cage of victim. That is power and that is what has been given to you with the responsibility to love your enemies.

We cannot and must not live with a victim mentality. Jesus has made us greater, more powerful than people can grasp. Now walk in the boldness you have been given and dare to love where others have failed.

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Preceding: Fear for rebel groups and men

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Related articles

• DIG for Tuesday the 15th of March…..we can know His will, He has revealed it to us…..Ephesians 1 v 9
• Trails and Tribulations
• Do You Long to FEEL the Holy Spirit in Your Life?
• The Holy Spirit and Being Guilty (Word to the Wise)
• Sparked Up
• Building Our Faith
• The holy spirit will bring back to your minds all the things told
• Why is the Holy Spirit sometimes called the Holy Ghost?
• If you’re not baptized in Jesus’ Name according to Acts 2:38, do you need to be re-baptized from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19)?
• God is Jehovah Shammah-God is There!

Christians remaining hidden not sharing the gospel

Witness well Net knows that we are not human beings who like to come in the open easily. It says

we have a tendency to remain hidden and not share the gospel. {How pre-judging others has a serious effect on evangelism}

Some of us want to be so much like God and cast judgement on a person’s receptivity toward the message of salvation that they forget the love message.

Placing a gag over our mouth that keeps us from proclaiming His name rather than allow His Words to overflow from our hearts can be a result of pre-judging the condition of a person’s soil. {How pre-judging others has a serious effect on evangelism}

Talking about a saving relationship with Christ, Dave Malnes from the website Witness well tells us that we should trust his promises that our righteousness is secure because of his faithfulness – not our own; his obedience and not our own; his trustworthiness and not our own. {How evangelism rests on trust and what you possess}

He writes that

Evangelism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

World religions attempt to search within to find true meaning and purpose. The object of their faith is themselves. Biblical Christians trust squarely on Jesus promises as the object of their faith. Peace and joy is not something that is self-generated, but Spirit-filled. {How evangelism rests on trust and what you possess}

Jesus-army-bus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Though we do find still  too many Christians counting too much on worldly arrangements and governments. Also a lot of Christians do not know their Bible. Some of them know perhaps several phrases from the New Testament, but do not see the whole picture.

The same about one of the tasks Jesus has given and as such has to be one of the many works of faith we do have to do. We do have to become one in Christ, like Christ is one with his heavenly Father. In case we would think like trinitarians, that would mean they have to become like God and some of them consider themselves to be like Christ, to be God.

The Elohim, who has sent His only begotten son to this world, commissions believers in Christ to sow the seeds of the gospel and to become humble like Jesus humbled himself. By embracing this role, Christians find joy and peace in encouraging and equipping others with the faith in Christ and in Only One true God (the heavenly Father of Jesus).

When we call ourselves Christian we should show others that we are willing to become like Christ and like him have faithfully responded God’s call to sow the seeds of the gospel and trusting God His promise that the harvest may be plentiful.

4 days of Evangelism Training in Southern California provided by LivingWaters Ministry. Obeying the great commission of Jesus Christ. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone” Mark 16:15 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Full enjoyment and trust we should bear the Good News in our mind and be of full courage to share the message of encouragement and uplifted spirit of rejoicing being presented to us by the acts of the apostles. Their work must have been an amazing experience, but is not finished yet. We do have to continue the work of the apostles and those first Christians.

Followers of Christ should be giving themselves totally to Jesus, willing to become in Christ Jesus, a part of a bigger picture as partakers of the Body of Christ, being those who have been set apart as God’s children through God’s grace.

It is by grace, God’s undeserved love that makes us Christians. No wonder we can rejoice through any circumstance that comes our way when we can be assured of our status before God, not by what we have done or what we are doing, but what God has already done for us. {An appropriate benediction}

We should be so tankful for Jesus proving to us that man is able to put his own will aside for doing God’s Will, and giving himself for atonement, paying the ransom prize for the sins we did.

For this liberation we can have joy which comes from trusting God’s promises that we will receive liberation from the curse of the Fall and that Jesus restored the relationship between God and man and has received authority to be the mediator between God and man and the judge at the end times, where it is him who shall decide who shall be able to enter the Kingdom of God.

An evangelist fully trusts God’s promises associated with being His messenger. Sharing the message of the gospel is not about us, but proclaiming the power of the message. In Christ, we conquer fear, worry, and guilt. By remaining in Christ, we bear fruits of the Spirit that reflects the light of Christ and introduces His presence to the world. {How evangelism rests on trust and what you possess}

The Bible teaches that God “gave” to certain people the gift of evangelism to build up the church (Eph. 4:11). We marvel and rejoice at these gifts as one who has the gift of music. Most believers like myself do not have the gift of evangelism, but we are not excused from the work of evangelism (2 Tim. 4:5). God commissions all believers to go, teach, and baptize (Matthew 28:19-20). {Twelve Things Successful Evangelists Do}

Dave Malnes believes these are twelve things that successful evangelists do:

Love Successful evangelists speak the truth that is prompted by love and concern for the soul.

Joy Evangelists reflect the gospel light in their own lives that attracts unbelievers.

Peace   Evangelists find their identity in Christ that washes away guilt.

Patience Evangelists understands the fruit of patience ripens into persistence by keeping God’s timetable and not our own.

Kindness Evangelists sacrifice acts of kindness and generosity with no strings attached.

Self-control Evangelists resist the need to win the argument and focus on winning the soul.

Goodness Evangelists consistently extend grace to those who are least deserving.

Gentleness Evangelists express humility and give all credit and glory to God.

Pray continually Evangelists give thanks in all circumstances and reflects this pattern in an ongoing prayer life.

Perseverance Evangelists never, never, never give up.

Faithfulness Evangelists rely on God’s faithfulness to renew their own faithfulness by regularly reading, studying, and praying over God’s Word. {Twelve Things Successful Evangelists Do}

We have to set our mind on Christ Jesus and nurture our and others their need for a goal, a focus, instructions, and a hero. When we are afraid to tell others about our faith we do need to conquer our fear with our faith. We also should remember that “Everything God has made is an assignment”. In the knowledge that our future is the seed for the one we chose to honour we should be pleased, showing our joy in the Messiah. Our gratitude should be a seed for more. and we should not be afraid to sow seed wrapped with expectation and faith in the harvest.

When having become a Christian we have come into a covenant with Jesus that gives purpose and then we should follow his rules and given tasks, sowing our seed for a desired harvest.

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Preceding

Witnessing because we love

Is being a humanitarian enough to convey the full love of Christ?

Preaching Christ Is Not Enough

A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways

Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news

An uncovering book to explore

Preaching by example

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Additional reading

1. A question to be posed
2. Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness
3. Written down in God’s Name for righteousness
4. A way to look for Christ, the Bible, Word of God
5. The Right One to follow and to worship
6. The Almighty Lord God of gods King above all gods
7. Jehovah God Almighty greater than all gods
8. Glory of only One God Who gives His Word
9. Necessary to be known all over the earth
10. Appointed to be read
11. Focussing on oneness with Jesus like Jesus is one with God
12. Not able to make contact with God because to busy
13. Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian
14. Atonement and the race been bought
15. Atonement And Fellowship 1/8
16. Atonement And Fellowship 2/8
17. Atonement And Fellowship 3/8
18. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
19. Atonement And Fellowship 5/8
20. Atonement And Fellowship 6/8
21. Atonement And Fellowship 7/8
22. Atonement And Fellowship 8/8
23. The manager and Word of God
24. The Metaphorical language of the Bible
25. Scripture alone Sola Scriptora
26. Let us become nothing, and Christ everything
27. Be an Encourager
28. Foundation for a good relationship with God
29. Apple of Gods eye
30. A “seed” for the blessing of all mankind would come through the family of Abraham
31. Our relationship with God, Jesus and eachother
32. Sow and harvests in the garden of your heart
33. Bearing fruit
34. Rejoicing in the day
35. She who sows thistles will reap prickles
36. You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone
37. Picking Stones
38. The Big Conversation
39. John 4 according to the Scriptures

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Further reading

1. Simple John
2. Seeds that you plant
3. With the Patience of a Saint
4. 7 Laws to Create Uncommon Success
5. The Good Gardener
6. Others before myself
7. Leviticus 2:8-16: The First-Fruits Offering
8. A Spiritual Harvest
9. Sharpen Your Blade!
10. The Secret to Successful Gardening
11. Your Mind is the Garden
12. No Soup For You!
13. Who is Going to Tell Them?
14. Dying Field
15. IF: I listen, can I hear You?

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Related articles

• 2-3-2016 Find Jesus In Scripture
• Thank You…. Precious Lamb Of God
• Joy Unspeakable
• On the Necessity of Justice for Mercy
• DIG for Thursday the 4th of February…..faith not works, that is what is required…..Hebrews 11 v 29
• Showing by the scriptures that …
• Flowing out from a genuine spiritual “heart”
• To find ways of Godly understanding
• Romans 4 and the Sacraments
• If you’re not baptized in Jesus’ Name according to Acts 2:38, do you need to be re-baptized from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19)?

Another Beginning

Having to go back to school gives us an occasion to meet more people than we would do when in our family, staying in our own habitat, enjoying our little cocoon.

A view of the academic wing of BOHS. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Going back to school or to work shall bring us again on the streets, taking public transport, facing many different faces each day, meeting again old but also new faces.

In the school-year we shall have many occasions to meet people to hear to them but also to talk to them.
We also should take many opportunities to talk about that what is deep in our heart and gives us a fury love.

Being in the world does not mean we do have to be off the world and have to take part in all those things which we should consider not applicable. So, again we shall have to make choices and show to others which High-Way we want to go.
This shall create again some new important moments for us to witness.
Let us not forget to proclaim that Good News which gives us hope and gives us every time over and over again some new energy.

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Remember:

• reflect upon the summer and think about the hopes
• encouragement can go a long way
• a small hug or word can change an entire day around
• make an effort to read Scripture every single day
• do not walk in step with the wicked
• do not stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers
• set goals for yourself
• Be an encourager

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Preceding:

Helping each other with prayer to start the new academic year

For mams and dads it is also back to ‘normal’

The Door is Open

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Related articles

• UAE- How Adec plans to safely transport kids to schools (menafn.com)
• 9 Fab Tips For A Successful School Year (madamenoire.com)
• Opinion: Making school less stressful (laketahoenews.net)
• Green Your School Year with These Eco-Friendly Tips (greenandcleanmom.org)
• Wake schools expecting more growth (abc11.com)
• Bus refund (timesofmalta.com)
• $1.4 million deficit could mean 21 layoffs for Saginaw’s bus system (mlive.com)
• London public transport tagging scheme (wiki.openstreetmap.org)
• If You Want Better Public Transport, You Probably Shouldn’t Use Uber (gizmodo.com.au)
• Smart cities on electronic paper: digitalized public transport information in Slovene capital (visionect.com)

mingle with mo

Endings are a great way to begin. Today marks my last day of summer. I am sad to see it go, but I am happy to embrace the new school year ahead. Tomorrow morning I will be loading up the car, packing it extremely tight just to fit everything I “need” and I will make the journey back to campus.

As the handful of hours I do have left pass by, I cannot help but reflect upon the summer and think about the hopes I have for my sophomore year. I had a wonderful summer filled with work, trips, family and friends. I explored the west coast of Michigan, flew on 5 different planes, found out that LAX does not have a lot of food choices and a saw a black bear in the Smoky Mountains. This summer was special to me and it gave me a lot of memories…

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Many plumes give you strong wings

We are thankful to the Flemish organisation “Bond zonder naam” that we are allowed to publish their positive notes.

Movement without a Name
is convinced that ‘values’ inspire individual and social change. They are the key to living and working together in harmony with one another.

Many plumes give you strong wings!

Every human being needs encouragement. A baby is encouraged to eat, a toddler and a child are constantly encouraged to walk, to talk and to learn. There is no need to convince any parent of this fact. Children who are encouraged will thrive, grow and improve.
 
Until children become adults.
Then something seems to change in human psychology. We stop to encourage our older children and later also our colleagues, our employees or simply our fellow human beings. As if, for whatever reason, this is not required anymore. As if grown-ups do not need this anymore. Nothing is further from the truth.

Negligence?
This kind of negligence probably finds its origin in the fact that , if we are no longer positively valued, we neglect to encourage others, while carrying this need inside us since childhood.
The attentive spectator will however see that we are all constantly waiting for encouragement, … a pat on the back!

Bond Zonder Naam = Movement without a Name

Give people a plume and they get wings.
This was the proverb that MWN published some years ago. Many of the readers and members, reacted to this. Why?
Because people recognized in these ‘winged’ words, meant as a pun, their need to receive  a plume… or  to give one. Toddler or child, worker or leader, they all need that pat on the back. Only when acknowledged do people get confirmation for what they are doing. People want to hear and feel that they are appreciated for what they are trying to realise, often with a lot of dedication and effort.

And give people many plumes,  then they get strong wings.

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Find out Who the Movement without a name is

Phil Bosmans and the Bond Zonder Naam (Union Without a Name): Movement Without a Name

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Additional reading:

1. Importance of parents 1
2. Dignified role for the woman
3. Duty of encouragement
4. Change
5. Companionship
6. Encouraging one another
7. Be strong and take courage
8. Press on and exhort
9. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
10. Happiness 🙂
11. Subcutaneous power for humanity 5 Loneliness, Virtual and real friends
12. Words to push and pull
13. Bible Word from God

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Related articles

• Face of Flanders (flanderstoday.eu)
  Phil Bosmans Father Phil Bosmans, the co-founder and face of the Bond Zonder Naam (Union Without a Name), has died in hospital in Mortsel, near Antwerp, from complications of bronchitis, at the age of 89. Father Bosmans had long suffered the after-effects of a stroke in 1994, and spent his last years living in a convent in nearby Kontich.
• “One of the best days of my life”. (René Sperling, Dutch fisher) (through-the-gaps.co.uk)
  A day of fishing in an exchange program. René (Dutch fisher) said that at the kitchen table of Dale (Canadian fisher) after a day of lobster fishing in the Bay of Fundy. René normally fishes for plaice and sole in the North Sea. The day of lobster fishing and the discussions with Dale had opened his eyes to another way of fishing – of life, in fact – which had inspired him. He confessed at the same kitchen table that he had texted his father that he ‘was born on the wrong side of the ocean’. The impact of ‘another way of fishing’ would have been much less would he have read an article in a magazine about lobster fishing in Canada. As Kunzi, a Chinese Confucian scholar, so nicely expressed centuries ago:

  “What I hear I forget,
  what I see I remember,
  what I do I understand.”

  (Xunzi, Chinese Confucian scholar)

• Phil Bosmans and the Bond Zonder Naam (Union Without a Name): Movement Without a Name (fromguestwriters.wordpress.com)
  For most people in Flanders Bosmans was bestknown as the source of countless uplifting and inspiring aphorisms, later collected into books with titles like Best Wishes and Happy Together, which became best sellers in Flanders, the Netherlands and Germany. His collections were translated into 26 languages and sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. As a child I grew up with his writings, having each new proverb read and discussed at dinner table and put on the cupboard good in view for everyone to be remembered. ‘Menslief, ik hou van je’ was really a best-seller for our generation, inspiring us to spread the agape love.

 

Happiness :-)

Lots of adults have lost the innocence they had as baby. Many of them also got so spoiled in their life that they can not find happiness any more in the small things of life.

We should cherry each moment of the day that we can be alive and share our time with others.

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To remember:

Thought-provoking article  “10 Things to Give up in Exchange for Happiness.”

Only about 10%  will succeed in keeping New Year’s Resolution resolution.

Like to-do lists > never-ending.

We are  image-conscious

It’s hard to please anyone when you’re completely helpless

Better  replace gossip by words of hope and encouragement.

Give up spending money on what you don’t need in effort to buy happiness.

We would say also do not waste time nor spent money on unnecessary things and activities

Give up control.

Happiness is just another emotion = like all emotions subject to our circumstances.

For instance, sadness over the loss of a loved-one or other bad news, immediately destroys any happiness that we might have had.

Joy might be hidden for a time but Hope in God is like a compass that leads us back to joy.

Joy is “the source or cause of great happiness.”

Look to God for hope and you’ll find true and lasting joy and that joy will result in happiness.

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Find also:

1. Hope for the future
2. Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark
3. Hope does not disappoint us
4. Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope

Related articles

• Be Strong (antoinettevdberg.wordpress.com)
  Some consider it a trivial matter for a believer’s mind to be confused, swirling with doubts and fears, but God doesn’t think so. Our Master doesn’t want us to be fearful. Instead, he wants us to be without worry, doubt, and cowardice. Our Master doesn’t think as lightly about our unbelief as we do.
  When we are in despair, we are suffering from a terrible illness which should be carried at once to the beloved Physician. Doubtfulness and discouragement is a disease, which can become an epidemic, spreading among the Lord’s flock. One downcast believer can influence twenty others, for better or worse.
• Happiness (magdalenaperks.wordpress.com)
  There is no wrong in being happy, feeling grateful, or looking for joy. The real concern for Christians is that we displace our dependency on and faith in God while seeking these pleasures. While all measures of such positive emotions must be, in some way, a gift from God, we are concerned principally with receiving these graces directly from God, and not from our own selfish pursuits.
• Idle Gossip (focusedandfree.com)

  The issue of gossip is repeatedly addressed in both the old and new testaments. The Scriptures make clear that “the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’” (Matthew 15:18).

  A gossip is a person who spreads rumors or idle, fruitless tales. The apostle Paul described some of the early believers as “not only idle but gossips [tattlers, KJV] and busybodies” (1 Timothy 5:13). Jesus said, “For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).

• God’s Heart was Broken (butchdean.wordpress.com)
  There are many lessons to be learned in these passages, but I wonder if we ever focus on…

  “…and his heart was filled with pain.”

• An Innate Ability to Perceive (robertjrgraham.com)
  Emotional intelligence, also known as EI, is the innate ability of a person to perceive, assess, and influence one’s own emotion and the emotions of other people around them. The term emotional intelligence itself originated with Dr. Wayne Payne 1985, but the term became popular with the book Emotional Intelligence, written by Daniel Goldman in 1995.
• Thought, Word, Deed (robertjrgraham.com)
  Life is a creation, not a discovery. You do not live each day to discover what it holds for you, but to create it. You are creating your reality every minute, probably without knowing it.

Unshakable Hope

From what I’ve observed, healthy babies, like my 6 month old grandson, are generally happy babies. It seems that we are created to be happy, so why are so why are many adults unhappy?

I recently read a thought-provoking article titled “10 Things to Give up in Exchange for Happiness.” The article wasn’t written from a Christian perspective, but I think everyone, regardless of their beliefs, would probably agree with the author’s following suggestions.

They’re good suggestions, but…

According to research, only about 10% of those who make just one New Year’s Resolution will succeed in keeping that resolution. I think the problem with the list is that the author is essentially asking us to make multiple resolutions in our pursuit of happiness. What are the odds?

Even if some strong-willed person succeeded in overcoming every one of these 10 happiness thieves, do you think they’d really be happy? My experience with battling…

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