Month: December 2007 | Ain't Complicated

To Ask Your Doctor

“Are you in treatment for any sort of addiction?”

(Follow-up questions encouraged.)

Troubling cases in which doctors were accused of botching operations while undergoing treatment for drugs or alcohol have led to criticism of rehab programs that allow thousands of U.S. physicians to keep their addictions hidden from their patients.

Nearly all states have confidential rehab programs that let doctors continue practicing as long as they stick with the treatment regimen. Nationwide, as many as 8,000 doctors may be in such programs, by one estimate.

I know that’s a MessNBC story, but still . . . .

You Reap What You Sow

Over the last two or three months, I’ve had reason to think about that.

And how easily we forget it. Or purposefully ignore it. Even when we know it. And maybe even believe it.

Oh the foolishness (stupidity, if you will) of planting something that will bring us a heart-breaking harvest later!
• contempt and scorn
• mockery and disrespect
• deceit and hypocrisy
• pride and cockiness
• ungodliness and impurity
• wrong example and unwise counsel

So stop and think and analyze and look to the future.

(Yes, this applies to you, believe it or not!)

Elsewhere you can find more I wrote on this subject: here and here.

Well, I ask you right now — do you want to harvest what you planted earlier today?

If not, maybe it’s too late. (Though it certainly isn’t too late to confess and abandon the wrong planting.)

And for sure it isn’t too late to start planting something better — something that you can look forward to harvesting.

For myself, my harvesting continues to this very day. Too much of it is quite wretched. (Yes, I’ve been in some kind of a downer of late.)

Now, having written all that, I urge you to hope! You reap what you sow works for the good harvests just as well as it does for the bad ones.

Anyway, eventually it dawned on me that this might make an interesting search term: you reap what you sow.

So I tried it and among the top 10 (of 208,000) Web-search results are these:

What You Do Comes Back To You

The words “What you do comes back to you” are an excellent paraphrase of the Biblical truth, “You reap what you sow.” You plant the seeds (sow), and then later you gather the resulting harvest (reap). The harvest that you reap depends on the kind of seeds you sow. If you sow corn, you will not reap olives.

1 Way Only–You Reap What You Sow

…what you sow in life has a direct relationship to what you’ll receive in your life. In other words, your actions all have consequences. Good actions result in good consequences, and bad actions result in bad consequences.

…But don’t ever be fooled into thinking that your actions don’t have consequences. Don’t think you can get away with bad choices even if you don’t seem to get caught. Remember verse seven tells us that God cannot be mocked. He sees it all. You reap what you sow.

You Reap What You Sow

Another so-called exception to the rule is the belief that time alters the reap-and-sow principle. That is, if the penalty or reward for an act doesn’t come quickly, it isn’t coming at all, and hence the law of cause and effect is broken.

And among the top 10 (of about 35) news-search results are:

Frost Illustrated: Morality in Media leader offers explanation for mass killings

“There is a saying, ‘You reap what you sow,’ and the American people are reaping what the entertainment media have sowed and we have bought for more than forty years.”

allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Govt Distributes 535 Ploughs to Farmers

“Let us take heed of the saying ‘you reap what you sow’ and make use of the ploughs given to you today. Sow the seed that will give us a bumper harvest,” he said.

Moultrie Observer – Rants and Raves for Dec 11

â€œIf we are not careful, nobody will want to come here to coach. No true support, no participation, and we expect to win. After what happened to Coach Singletary, you reap what you sow boys! Football is not king anymore! Queen at best!

And among the top 10 (of about 14,440) blog-search results are:

Everyday Woman Radio Show with Vicki Hinze: Stealing Religion

But first itâ€™ll be a long look into a harsh mirror in which nothing is hidden and all that is true is exposed. Then the thief will learn the penalty of his/her actions, and then s/he will suffer the utmost consequences. Because in the very symbols stolen are promises that remain intact: you reap what you sow. And from that, the thief cannot hide.

I wonder. When the thief sows, feels the full weight of the consequences of his/her actions, how will s/he feel about stealing then? Because the truth is, the thief(s) might have stolen and damaged and destroyed that familyâ€™s property. But s/he did far more lasting damage to him/herself. The kind self-inflicted that requires far more than mere repayment to be satisfied. It requires forgiveness, and that requires divine grace.

You reap what you sow

It is said that we reap what we sow.

In fact, it could be argued that even the most fertile soil throughout the world is barren unless time and effort is expended to take seeds and have them properly planted, cultivated and nurtured.

December 17

OK, so on this day in 1903 the Wright brothers did the first successful manned, self-propelled airplane flights.

But what else happened on December 17 down through the years?

1777 — France recognized American independence.

1843 — Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was first published.

1862 — General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11 expelling Jews from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

1944 — Japanese-Americans are released from detention camps.

1947 — The Arab League announced it will use force to resist partition of Palestine.

1948 — “Operation Magic Carpet” begn to take Yemenite Jews to Israel.

1969 — The US Air Force closed its Project “Blue Book” by concluding that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.

1992 — US President H. W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Is that all? Nope. There were nuclear tests hither and yon. And other stuff, including this strange one:

1967 — Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappeared while swimming near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.

Do your own search if you’re that interested in what else happened on December 17. 🙂

Adopt a Plane

Adopt a Plane – Mission Aviation Fellowship

You can help an MAF airplane bring desperately needed aid and assistance to needy people in remote places. For only $1 a day you can adopt a plane and help open the doors to the Gospel in places you’ll never go.

In the remote regions where MAF serves, daunting geographical barriers isolate people living in remote areas. These barriers prevent access to the Gospel and life-sustaining services, isolate millions. Most languish under spiritual and physical oppression, lacking the most basic resources.

Your caring sponsorship helps to transform lives. When you adopt a plane, you help cover fuel and maintenance costs for MAF planes to continue flying throughout the world. More than 600 Christian and humanitarian organizations as well as thousands of isolated nationals rely on MAF planes everyday.

Last year, the MAF fleet of 53 aircraft executed 37,490 flights, logged more than 3,014,031 miles, transported 111,459 passengers, and delivered 10,240,209 pounds of cargo–all on 1,700 rough, unimproved dirt and grass airstrips, or waterways.

In case you think they’re only after your money, go to their site and order an absolutely free-to-you book. Even if you don’t make any sort of donation.

Or, if you want to save them some money, buy the same book (different cover) by clicking the left image below. 😀

Jungle pilot;: The life and witness of Nate Saint

December 7

1431 — In Paris, Henry VI of England was crowned King of France. (Weird)

1787 — Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1917 — The United States declared war on Austria-Hungary. (Thankfully, that was the war to end all wars.)

1926 — The gas operated refrigerator was patented by The Electrolux Servel Corporation.

1941 — The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Be sure to read today’s piece by Chuck Colson!

1972 — Apollo 17 was launched at Cape Canaveral. It was the last U.S. moon mission.

1992 — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Mississippi abortion law which required women to get counseling and then wait 24 hours before terminating their pregnancies.

1998 — The U.N. evacuated 14 peacekeepers that were trapped by fighting between army and rebel forces in central Angola. (“There’s no peace to keep here — get us out!”)

1998 — U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of President Clinton over 1996 campaign financing. (I wonder if Alberto Gonzalez ever thought of her “luck”?)

McAfee Warns . . . .

I’m bumping this up to current date and time to let you know that you can get some protection software free (after rebate and excluding shipping, of course) at Frys.

Original Post — December 05, 2007 @ 06:40 follows:

If you’re reading this, it applies to you.

Especially if you’re on your own computer.

So be warned and take this seriously.

McAfee Warns of Impending ‘Cyber Cold War’

Some analysts now fear that the world is about to be crushed within the icy grasp of a “cyber cold war”.

The frightening concept comes after prominent security company McAfee released their annual report last week. According to the new study, over 120 countries are now engaged in developing tools for using the web as a weapon, targeting home and corporate users, their bank accounts, stocks, and even the computer systems of their governments.

There’s little doubt that the report is meant to be a wake-up call.

Make sure your computer and your ISP are well firewalled. And anti-virused and anti-spammed. And so forth.

Maybe this software is what you need: McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008 with SiteAdvisor by McAfee

Or this hardware: D-Link DSD-150 SecureSpot Internet Security Adapter

Or this software: Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 3-user

Or this software: Norton 360 All-In-One Security Annual Subscription – 3 PCs

The Hidden Palestinian Crisis

Or maybe it should be called the “unmentionable” Palestinian Crisis.

Expert: “Christian groups in PA to disappear”

“The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs,” said Justus Reid Weiner, an international human rights lawyer in an address at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, where he serves as a scholar in residence.

He cited Muslim harassment and persecution as the main cause of the “acute human rights crisis” facing Christian Arabs, and predicted that unless governments or institutions step in to remedy the situation – such as with job opportunities – there will be no more Christian communities living in the Palestinians territories within 15 years, with only a few Western Christians and top clergymen left in the area.

“Christian leaders are being forced to abandon their followers to the forces of radical Islam,” Weiner said.

Facing a pernicious mixture of persecution and economic hardships as a result of years of Palestinian violence and Israeli counter-terrorism measures, tens of thousands of Christian Arabs have left the Palestinian territories for a better life in the West, in a continuing exodus which has led some Christian leaders to warn that the faith could be virtually extinct in its birthplace in a matter of decades.

The Palestinian Christian population has dipped to 1.5 percent of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, down from at least 15% a half century ago, according to some estimates.

No one city in the Holy Land is more indicative of the great exodus of Christians than Bethlehem, which fell under full Palestinian control last decade as part of the Oslo Accords.

Or maybe that’s all a bunch of Israeli or Jewish or Zionist or American or Christian or anti-Palestinian or anti-Arab or anti-Muslim propaganda. You know, trying to distract from the “more prominent” problem of the Palestinian right of return and right to a Palestinian state. Or something.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And her people. All her people. Amen.