opportunities

SPRING’S COMING – AND GROWTH

August 17, 2016 – Robert and Maureen McQuillan reflect on the season…

In the 1979 classic, Being There, Chance, a simpleminded gardener who has resided his entire life in the Washington, DC townhouse of an unnamed wealthy employer and only been educated by television, is brilliantly played by Peter Sellers.

Forced to vacate when the old man suddenly dies, wearing the deceased’s expensively tailored 1920/30s clothes, Chance wanders the unfamiliar streets. An accident leads to meeting Ben Rand, a business mogul and confidant/adviser to the president.

His manners old-fashioned and courtly, Chance is presumed to be an upper-class, highly educated businessman, and mistakenly called Chauncey Gardiner. His simple words are repeatedly misunderstood as profound; in particular, his simplistic utterances about gardens and the weather are interpreted as allegorical statements about business and the state of the economy.

Growth has seasons
One conservation goes this way… (more…)

2016 – A GOOD TIME TO SURRENDER AND DO SOMETHING FOR GOD!

Paul Morgan looks forward to a good 2016 future and challenges…

The events of Genesis 1:14 – ‘And God said: “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky…
and let them serve as signs to mark seasons, and days and years”’ – obviously happened quite some time before January 2016!

But we can see in the first book of the Bible that even as he created this world, God had a plan for it… one including seasons, days, years. Indeed God’s plan includes our lives – yours and mine. I believe that this new year of 2016 is a significant one of opportunity for us as we hear from God and obey. (more…)

EIGHT WAYS TO RESPOND TO RADICAL ISLAM

Mike Shreve, Special to the ASSIST, shares good advice…

Last month many worldwide grieved with the people of Paris who suffered such a tragedy last week at the hands of Muslim extremists. I believe that attacking ISIS militarily is right and should have been done in greater fury long ago.

However, I would urge Christians everywhere to also respond to Muslim-related terrorism a completely different way. (more…)

GOD PRESENT IN ROSEBURG SHOOTING AFTERMATH

Jeanette Chaffee, Special to ASSIST, herself a terrorist survivor, writes:

On October first I was driving around Tualatin, Oregon, and nonchalantly turned on the radio. I heard the horrific news that a gunman had gone on a shooting rampage in a writing class at Umpqua Community College, killing nine and shooting nine others.

Immediately I remembered my own experience surviving a terrorist bombing on TWA Flight 840 back in 1986, how helpless I felt, and how grateful I was that God allowed me to live though other people died. I felt the Lord instructed me to go to Roseburg and help in whatever way I could. I have to admit that it was with some nervousness that I headed 180 miles (290 km) south. (more…)

LIVING LIFE AS USUAL?

Carol Round writes inspirationally…

‘Always be joyful. Always keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus’ (1 Thess. 5:16-18 TLB).

In a recent discussion of 1 Thessalonians in our Sunday school class, one of our members, referencing chapter 5, verses 16-18 made the following statement: ‘Until our family was faced with cancer, we did life as usual. I’m actually grateful, not for the cancer, but that it changed our lives.’ (more…)

REMEMBERING LEADS TO IMPACTING!

Geraldine Brandt reminds us that what Jesus has done for us will strengthen us to influence others…

One of the definitions of ‘remembering’ is ‘bringing the power and reality of the past into the present.’ It is making past events present realities! ‘Impacting’ indicates ‘a strong effect or influence on someone.’

This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit – it is not merely the effort of the mind endeavouring to revert to the past, it is the omnipotence of the Spirit bringing the power of the past into the present. (more…)

WHAT POWER STANDS BEHIND YOU?

Robert and Maureen McQuillan ask some relevant questions:

Amazing photo, isn’t it? Cunard’s Captain Kevin Oprey standing on the bulbous bow (what helps stabilise movement) of the Queen Mary 2, the world’s largest ocean liner, Photographer James Morgan took several photographs to mark the ocean liner’s tenth anniversary and Australia’s Daily Mail ran with the caption, ‘Welcome aboard my little boat.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2575169/Adrift-sea-Extraordinary-photos-captain-Queen-Mary-II-standing

Although small of stature Captain Oprey looks so confident with all that mighty power that he commands behind him! (more…)

THEBUZZ

Disclaimer: Articles and links, as well as the source(s) articles linked to, do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ConnectingwithYou! Recommended: http://www.assistnews.net

MAGNOLIA, MASSACHUSETTS
Elisabeth Elliot receives her reward

Brian Nixon, Special to ASSIST News Service, recalls a special faithful servant of Christ…

Author, missionary, broadcaster, and a woman of deep faith, Elisabeth Elliot (b. 1926 in Belgium) received her reward on June 15, 2015.

Mrs Elliot was the daughter of missionaries to Belgium, having five other siblings. Her family moved to United States while she was young, growing up in Pennsylvania and later New Jersey. She graduated from Wheaton College where she studied Classical Greek and met her first husband, Jim Elliot. (more…)

Connecting with You!

words of encouragement from us