.
The Master said, He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
~ in Analects
Women and people of low birth are very hard to deal with. If you are friendly they get out of hand, and if you keep your distance, they resent it.
~ in Analects
We don’t know yet about life, how can we know about death?
~ in Aphorisms
Men’s natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them apart.
~ in Analects
The absolute truth is indestructible. Being eternal, it is self-existent. Being self-existent, it is infinite. Being infinite, it is vast and deep. Being vast and deep, it is transcendental and intelligent.
~ in The Doctrine of Mean
The superior man thinks always of virtue, the common man thinks of comfort.
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life.
__________
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Click on image
This Sunday, many preachers will stand in the pulpit and proclaim the virtue of honesty and the primacy of Truth. And, then the church will run an ad in the local paper that seems to ignore that message. Consider the following account shared by Larry Osborne in his book Sticky Church.
“When I first came to North Coast, we were a small church meeting in an old high school cafeteria. I hadn’t been there long when someone showed me an adveertisement we were putting in the local newspaper each weekend. You know the drill: We weere supposedly the friendliest church in town, with great preaching, great worship, and a world-class children’s program.
“The truth was, we had none of those things. Not even close. I’m not sure I would have kept coming if I hadn’t been the pastor.
“The cafeteria was old and smelly. Remnants of food fights hung from the wall. One whole side of the room was a large Plexiglas window, which was cool–except when skateboarders started showing off in the middle of a sermon. That was hard to compete with. Most of the time they’d win. They were a lot more interesting than my early sermons. They’d probably still be more interesting. That’s one reason we moved.
“So I did the only reasonable thing. I canceled the ad. I had enought issues on my hands. I didn’t need the Federal Communications Commission hassling me for false advertising.”
When was the last time you checked your promotional literature for accuracy?
I hasten to say that I think one of the most critical skills of leadership is storytelling. We tell the stories of who we are and in the process we become what we say we are. In this instance, ontology recapitulates philology.
However, leaders need to be circumspect to avoid dishonest misrepresentation. It may not be true that your church is the most loving church in your town, but a similar message can be sent by saying, “We want to be the most loving church in town.” With this alteration you are still casting a transformative vision, you are still painting a picture with which people can identify and an ideal to which people can aspire, but you are not misrepresenting yourself.
So, tell your church’s story, cast your churches vision, but please, please, please be honest about it.
We still haven’t purchased and put up our Christmas tree this year. It isn’t that we are procrastinating, it is just that we are trying to decide between the tree in the article below or a $20 tree from Lowe’s.
Governors of Roman provinces were given freedom to rule them in their own manner so long as they did not mess things up too bad. However, then, like now, there were those governors who pushed the self-destruct button. One such governor of Sicily, Verres, is noted to have spoken openly of the three fortunes he needed to make; one to pay the debts he incurred in getting elected to the office, one to bribe the jurors in chase he was indicted, and another to live on for the rest of his life.
Hmmm…. Sound familiar?
Check out this “I Am Second” video of my friend Pete Briscoe:
I’m going to spend the day napping rather than writing, so rather than post my thoughts today, I thought I would share links to some interesting places I have been on the net lately.
Prayer Requests
A.S. Hodel
Bob “Pink Hat” Cleveland
Humor
D. Burchfiel with some redneck humor
Olympics
Barry Creamer on why Protest Speech is not respected.
Rodney Olsen asks for your greatest sporting moment.
Theology
Criswell College President Resigns
Politics & The Cultural Milieu
Being Five on the Presidential Election (funny)
Susan Stilley on $6 Worth of Gasoline
Sign John Cornyn’s Petition to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid
Mike Huckabee commenting on Barack Obama’s America bashing
Steve Hays fleshes out the Guns=Crime equation
Vaclav Klaus on Global Warming’s treat to freedom (HT: Paul Kuritz)
viva Vox Dei on the beginning of life
Book Reviews
Paige Patterson Applauds Cecil Sherman’s “Reckoning”
Good Deals
Child’s Baseball Cap only 19 cents
Once upon a time in the land of Kevin-is-not-too-bright, I forgot a wedding anniversary. Don’t do that…
Below is a chart to help you add a little special touch to your anniversary gift giving.
| Anniversary | Traditional | Modern |
| 1st | Paper | Clocks, Plastic, Gold Jewelry |
| 2nd | Cotton | China, Cotton, Calico, Garnet |
| 3rd | Leather | Crystal, Glass, Pearls |
| 4th | Fruit, Flowers | Appliances, Linen, Silk, Nylon, Blue Topaz |
| 5th | Wood | Silverware, Sapphire |
| 6th | Sugar, Iron | Wood, Candy, Amethyst |
| 7th | Wool, Copper | Brass, Desk Sets, Onyx |
| 8th | Bronze, Pottery | Appliances, Linens, Lace, Tourmaline Jewelry |
| 9th | Pottery, Willow | Leather, Lapis Jewelry |
| 10th | Tin, Aluminum | Diamond Jewelry |
| 11th | Steel | Fashion, Turquoise Jewelry |
| 12th | Silk, Linen | Pearls, Jade |
| 13th | Lace | Textiles, Furs, Citrine |
| 14th | Ivory | Gold Jewelry, Opal |
| 15th | Crystal | Glass, Watches, Ruby |
| 16th | Silver hollowware, Peridot | |
| 17th | Furniture, Watch | |
| 18th | Porcelain, Cat’s Eye Jewelry | |
| 19th | Bronze, Aquamarine | |
| 20th | China | Platinum, Emerald |
| 21st | Brass, Nickel | |
| 22nd | Copper | |
| 23rd | Silver plate | |
| 24th | Musical instruments | |
| 25th | Silver | Sterling silver |
| 26th | Original pictures | |
| 27th | Sculpture | |
| 28th | Orchids | |
| 29th | New furniture | |
| 30th | Pearl | Diamond |
| 31st | Time Pieces | |
| 32nd | Conveyances (e.g., automobiles) | |
| 33rd | Amethyst | |
| 34th | Opal | |
| 35th | Coral (Jade) | Jade |
| 36th | Bone china | |
| 37th | Alabaster | |
| 38th | Beryl, Tourmaline | |
| 39th | Lace | |
| 40th | Ruby | Ruby, Garnet |
| 41st | Land | |
| 42nd | Developed real estate | |
| 43rd | Travel | |
| 44th | Groceries | |
| 45th | Sapphire | Sapphire |
| 46th | Original poetry tribute | |
| 47th | Books | |
| 48th | Optical goods | |
| 49th | Luxuries, any kind | |
| 50th | Gold | Gold |
| 55th | Emerald | Emerald, Turquoise |
| 60th | Diamond | Gold, Diamond |
| 75th | Platinum | Diamondlike Stones, Gold |
