calling

KNOW AT LEAST ONE JEWISH FAMILY?

(February 17, 2022) Robert and Maureen McQuillan challenge…

Halfway through February already!

On Sunday, with great-granddaughter Avaleigh’s help, we celebrated Robert’s birthday entrance into the Octogenarian Club (Well, there must be one somewhere!).

Put this picture on FaceBook with a note that he was now officially an Octogenarian, but which one is the bub(:-)?

Seriously though, every February not only reminds us of Robert’s birthday and the usual one-year older challenges, but this thought also…

If God were to judge our proposed 2022 achievements by a row of lit candles, He’d be reminding us that one is already snuffed out and we’ve only eleven more before the year is gone.  

Book 3 of Virgil’s Georgics, line 284 explains fugit inreparabile tempus as ‘It escapes, irretrievable time.’ We usually say, ‘Time is on the wing!’– our proverbial explanation of tempus fugit.

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‘YOU CAN’T JUST SIT THERE!’

stuasrt-reynolds(January 10, 2017) Stuart Reynolds brings a timely 2017 challenge…

Thirty-five years ago the media outlets in the United States carried a most unique story about a 33-year-old man called Larry Walters. Perhaps approaching an early mid-life crisis, Larry decided he wanted a new perspective on life where he lived.

He came up with an ingenious plan – he purchased 42 weather balloons which he inflated, having friends attach them to his securely anchored lawn chair.

Along with some refreshments for the journey he also took a pellet gun, so he could shoot each balloon as he would make his descent. Walters thought the balloons would only take him a few hundred feet in the air – the reality was that they launched him some 15,000 feet and into the flight traffic pattern for the nearby Los Angeles International Airport!

Realising his dilemma, he frantically started to shoot the balloons, but in his panic dropped his gun. After two hours of ‘flight’ it finally took an Air Force helicopter to bring him down.

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(Link: https://alchetron.com/Larry-Walters-789956-W)

When the ‘Lawn Chair Pilot’ (as he became known as) was safely back on terra firma and charged by the police, he faced the music of the news reporters. He was asked, ‘Were you scared?’ His response was, ‘Yes, I was, but wonderfully so!’

When asked ‘Why did you do it?’ he replied ‘Because you can’t just sit there.’

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CONFUSION IN THE CHURCH – PART 4

Jim McClureDr Jim McClure, noted theologian, shares more current church dangers…

‘When I came to proclaim to you God’s secret purpose, I did not come equipped with any brilliance of speech or intellect. You may as well know now that it was my secret determination to concentrate entirely on Jesus Christ and the fact of his death upon the cross. As a matter of fact, in myself I was feeling far from strong; I was nervous and rather shaky. What I said and preached had none of the attractiveness of the clever mind, but it was a demonstration of the power of the Spirit! Plainly God’s purpose was that your faith should not rest upon man’s cleverness but upon the power of God’ (1Corinthians 2:1 1-5 JB Phillips). (more…)

LEADERSHIP

TRUTH AND ERROR – A MAJOR LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE TODAY
Tim Jack
Tim Jack reminds leaders that Paul’s visit to the city of Athens was eventful – to say the least – and points out that…

Athens, at that time, was a centre for religious and philosophical diversity. A centre of major international connections, Athens was a place where ideas were shared, philosophies were promoted and religion flourished. (more…)