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Sermon 1468. The Philosophy and Propriety of Abundant Praise
(No. 1468)
"They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness." Psalm 145:7.
THIS is called "David's Psalm of praise" and you will see that all through it he is inflamed by a strong desire that God maybe greatly magnified. Hence he uses a variety of expressions and repeats himself in his holy vehemence. Run your eyes downthe Psalm and notice such words as these-"I will extol You." "I will bless Your name." "Every day will I bless You." "I willpraise Your name forever and ever." "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised." "One generation shall praise Your worksto another." "I will speak of the glorious honor of Your majesty." "Men shall speak of the might of Your terrible acts" andother words of the same meaning down to the last verse-"My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh blessHis holy name forever and ever."
David is not content with declaring that Jehovah is worthy of praise, or with pleading that His praise ought to be felt inthe heart, but he will have it publicly spoken of, openly declared, plainly uttered and joyfully proclaimed in song. The inspiredPsalmist, moved by the Holy Spirit, calls upon all flesh, yes, and upon all the works of God to sound forth the praises ofthe Most High! Will we not heartily respond to the call? In following out his design of praise, David had spoken in versefive of the majesty of God, the glorious King. His eyes seems to be dazzled by the glorious splendor of the august Throneand he cries, "I will speak of the glorious honor of Your majesty." Then he thinks of the power of that Throne of majestyand of the force with which its just decrees are carried out and, so, in verse six he exclaims, "Men shall speak of the mightof Your terrible acts and I will declare Your greatness."
Here he speaks briefly both as to the majesty and the might of the dread Supreme, but when he turns his thoughts to the Divinegoodness, he enlarges and uses words which indicate the stress which he lays upon his subject and his desire to linger overit. "They shall abundantly utter," says our text, "the memory of Your great goodness." Now, our desire, this morning, is thatwe, also, may praise and magnify the name of the Infinite Jehovah without limit and may especially have our hearts enlargedand our mouths opened wide to speak abundantly of His great goodness. O that in the whole of this congregation the text maybecome true-"They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness"-and having uttered it in plain speech, may weall rise a stage higher and, with gladsome music, sing of His righteousness!
You see our objective, an objective in which, I trust, you all sympathize. Come, one and all, and praise the Lord! Is theinvitation too wide? Observe the ninth verse-"The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works. AllYour works shall praise You." I will not limit the invitation of the Lord since you all drink of the river of His bounty!Render to Him, all of you, such praises as you can. But there is a special invitation to His saints. Come and bless His namewith spiritual, inward, enlightened praise. "Bless the Lord, O house of Israel. You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord." Inyour heart of hearts, extol, adore and make Him great, for it is written-"Your saints shall bless You."
Verily this shall not be written in vain, for our souls shall bless the Lord this day as the Holy Spirit shall move withinus! We shall speak upon two things that we may promote the objective we have in view. The first is, the method of securingthe abundant utterance of God's praise as to His goodness. And, secondly, the motives for desiring to secure this abundantutterance.
I. THE METHOD OF SECURING THE ABUNDANT UTTERANCE OF THE DIVINE PRAISE CONCERNING HIS GOODNESS. Our text gives us the mentalphilosophy of abounding praise and shows us the plan by which such praise may be secured. The steps are such as the best mentalphilosophy approves. First, we shall be helped to abundant praise by careful observation. Notice the text-"They shall abundantlyutter the memory of Your great goodness." Now, in order to memory, there must first of all be observation. A man does notremember what he never knew! This is
clear to all and, therefore, the point is virtually implied in the text. In proportion as a fact or a truth makes an impressionupon the mind, in that proportion is it likely to abide in the memory.
If you hear a sermon, that which you remember afterwards is the point which most forcibly strikes you while you are listeningto the discourse. At the time you say, "I will jot that down, for I should not like to forget it, for it comes so closelyhome to me." And whether you use your pencil or not, Memory obeys your wish and makes a record upon her tablets. It is sowith the dealings of God towards us. If we want to remember His goodness, we must let it strike us-we must notice it, considerit, meditate upon it, estimate it and allow it to exert its due influence upon our hearts-then we shall not need to say that"we must try and remember," for we shall remember as a matter of course. The impression being clearly and deeply made willnot easily fade away, but we shall see it after many days.
The first thing, therefore, towards the plentiful praising of God is a careful observation of His goodness. Now, see whatit is that we are to observe-God's goodness. Too many are blind to that blessed object. They receive the bounties of His liberalityand are in His care, but they attribute all that they receive to themselves or to secondary agents. God is not in all theirthoughts and, consequently, His goodness is not considered. They have no memory of His goodness because they have no observationof it! Some, indeed, instead of observing the goodness of God, complain of His unkindness to them and imagine that He is needlesslysevere.
Like the unprofitable servant in the parable, they say, "I knew You, that You are an austere man." Others sit in judgmentupon His ways, as we find them recorded in Holy Scripture, and dare to condemn the Judge of all the earth! Denying the goodnessof Jehovah, they attempt to set up another god than the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who for this enlightened 19th Centuryis a god much too just. In this house, however, we worship Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-the God and Fatherof our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ-and none other than He. In many a place of worship this day they adore new gods, newlycome up which our fathers knew not-not like the God of the Old Testament, who, in the opinion of modern philosophers, is asmuch out of date as Jupiter himself.
This day we say with David, "This God is our God forever and ever." "O come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel beforeJehovah our Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hands." As we find the Lordrevealed both in the Old and the New Testament, making no division in the Revelation, but regarding it as one grand whole,we behold abundant goodness in Him! Mingled with that awful justice which we would not wish to deny, we see surpassing Graceand we delight that God is Love. He is gracious and full of compassion. He is slow to anger and of great mercy. We have nocomplaints to make against Him! We wish to make no alteration in His dealings or in His Character! He is our exceeding joy-ourwhole heart rejoices in the contemplation of Him. "Who is like unto You, O God? Among the gods who is like unto You?"
We are, then, to consider what many will not so much as believe-that there is great goodness in Jehovah, the God of Creation,Providence and Redemption-the God of Paradise, of Sinai and of Calvary. We are to thoroughly acquaint ourselves with Him asHe has made Himself known and we are continually to consider His great goodness, that we may retain the memory of it. If weare willing to see, we shall not lack for opportunities of beholding His goodness every day, for it is to be seen in so manyacts that I will not commence the catalog since I should never complete it! His goodness is seen in Creation-it shines inevery sunbeam, glitters in every dewdrop, smiles in every flower and whispers in every breeze.
Earth and sea and air, teeming with innumerable forms of life, are all full of the goodness of the Lord! Sun, moon, and starsaffirm that the Lord is good and all terrestrial things echo the proclamation. His goodness is also to be seen in the Providencewhich rules over all. Let rebellious spirits murmur as they may, goodness is enthroned in Jehovah's kingdom and evil and sufferingare intruders! God is good towards all His creatures and especially towards the objects of His eternal love for whom all thingswork together for good.
It is, however, in the domain of Divine Grace that the noblest form of Divine goodness is seen. Begin with the goodness whichshines in our election and follow the silver thread through redemption, the mission of the Holy Spirit, the calling, the adoption,the preservation, the perfecting of the chosen-and you will see riches of goodness which will astound you! Dwell where youmay within the kingdom of redemption and you will see rivers, yes, oceans of goodness! I leave your own minds to rememberthese things and your own lips to abundantly utter the memory of the Lord's great goodness in the wonders of His salvation!It is not my design to speak for you, but to stir you up to speak for yourselves!
The point which struck the Psalmist and should strike us all, is the greatness of the goodness. The greatness of the goodnesswill be seen by the contemplative mind upon a consideration of the person upon whom the goodness lights. "Why me?" will oftenbe the utterance of a grateful spirit. That God should be good to any of His people shows His mercy, but that He should makeme to be one of His and deal so well with me-here His goodness exceeds itself! Why me? Is this the manner of man, O Lord?What am I, and what is my father's house? It is great goodness because it visits persons so insignificant, yes more-so guiltyand so deserving of wrath! Blessed be God that He is good to persons so ungrateful- to persons who cannot, even, at the best,make any adequate return-who, alas, do not even make such return as they could! Ah, Lord, when I consider what a brutish creatureI am, it is easy to confess the greatness of Your goodness!
The greatness of the goodness becomes apparent when we think of the greatness of God the Benefactor. "What is man that Youare mindful of him, or the son of man that You visit him?" That God Himself should bless His people. That He should come inthe form of human flesh to save His people. That He should dwell in us, walk in us and be to us a God-a very present helpin trouble-is a miracle of love! Is not this great goodness? I can very well understand that the infinity of His benevolenceshould commit us to the charge of angels, but it is amazing that it should be written, "I the Lord do keep it: I will waterit every moment lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."
Oh, the greatness of such personal condescension, such personal care! O heir of Heaven, from the fountain of all goodnessshall you drink and not only from its streams! God Himself is your Portion and the lot of your inheritance! You are not putoff with creatures-the Creator, Himself, is yours! Will you not remember this and so keep alive the memory of His goodness?The greatness of the goodness is, on some occasions, made manifest by the evil from which it rescues us. Nobody knows so wellthe blessing of health as he who has but lately been tortured in every limb-then for his restoration he blesses Jehovah Rophi,the healing Lord. None know what salvation from sin means like those who have been crushed beneath the burden of guilt andhave been racked by remorse.
Did you ever feel yourself condemned of God and cast out from His Presence? Did the pangs of Hell commence within your startledconscience? Did your soul long for death rather than life, while thick clouds and darkness shrouded your guilty spirit? Ifso, when the Lord has put away your sin and said, "You shall not die." When He has brought you forth from the prison, brokenyour bonds asunder and set your feet upon a rock, then has the new song been in your mouth, even praise forevermore! Thenhave you known it to be great goodness which thus delivered you. We may imagine what the bottom of the sea is like and conceivewhat it must be to be borne down to the lower deeps where the weeds are wrapped about the dead men's brows, yet, I guaranteeyou that our imagination but poorly realizes what Jonah experienced when the floods compassed him about and he went down tothe bottom of the mountains!
When the Lord brought his life up from corruption, then he had a strong and vivid memory of the great goodness of God, seeinghe had been delivered from so great a death! It is in the storm that we learn! O praise the Lord for His goodness and forHis wonderful works to the children of men! If I might have it so, I could wish my whole life to be calm as a fair summer'sevening when scarcely a zephyr stirs the happy flowers. I could desire that nothing might again disturb the serenity of myrestful spirit-but were it to be so, I suspect I should know but little of the great goodness of the Lord. The sweet singerin the 107th Psalm ascribes the song of gratitude not to dwellers at home, but to wanderers in the wilderness-not to thosewho are always at liberty, but to emancipated captives-not to the strong and vigorous, but to those who barely escape fromthe gates of death. Not to those who stand upon a sea of glass, but to those who are tossed in tempests upon a raging ocean.Doubtless so it is-we should not perceive the greatness of goodness if we did not see the depth of the horrible pit from whichit snatches us.
You were almost ruined in business, Friend, but you escaped with the skin of your teeth-then you praised God for His greatgoodness! Your dear child was given up by the physicians; your wife apparently sickened for death-but both these have beenspared to you and herein you see the heights and depths of mercy! Now, therefore, lay up this great goodness in your memoryto be the material for future Psalms of praise! Nor is this the only way of estimating God's great goodness-you may estimateit by the actual greatness of the benefits bestowed. He gives like a king! No, He gives like a God! Behold, your God has notgiven you a few minted coins of gold, but he has endowed you with the mines, themselves! He has not, as it were, handed youa cup of cold water, but He has brought you to the flowing fountain and made the well, itself, your own. God Himself is ours!"The Lord is my Portion, says my soul."
If you must have a little list of what He has given you, ponder the following items-He has given you a name and a place amongHis people. He has given you the rights and the nature of His children. He has given you the complete forgiveness of all yoursins and you have it now. He has given you a robe of righteousness and you are wearing it now. He has given you a superlativeloveliness in Christ Jesus and you have it now. He has given you access to Him and prevalence at the Mercy Seat. He has givenyou this world and world to come. He has given you all that He has! He has given you His own Son! And how shall He now refuseyou anything? Oh, He has given like a God!
The greatness of His goodness this tongue can never hope to tell and so I ask you to think it over in a quiet hour at home.As for myself, I will speak of my Lord as I find Him, for the old proverb bids us do so. Whatever you shall say, Brothersand Sisters, I have nothing to speak but what is good of my God, my King from my childhood until now. He amazes me with Hismercy! He utterly astounds me with His loving kindness! He causes my spirit to almost swoon away with delight beneath thesweetness of His love! Yet He has not spared me the rod, nor will He and, blessed be His name for that, also! "Shall we receivegood at the hands of the Lord and shall we not also receive evil?" asked the Patriarch.
But we will go beyond that and assert that evil is no evil when it comes from His hands! Everything is good which He ordains.We may not see it to be so at the time, but so it is. Our heavenly Father seems to rise from good to better and from betterto yet better in infinite progression! He causes the roadway of our life to rise higher and higher and carries it over loftymountains of loving kindness. Our life path winds always upward to yet higher summits of abounding mercy-therefore let Hispraise increase and the name of the Lord be still greater and greater!
I want to urge you, dear Friends, to observe the goodness of God carefully for your souls' good. There is a great differencebetween eyes and no eyes-yet many have eyes and see not. God's goodness flows before them and they say, "Where is it?" Theybreathe it and they say, "Where is it?" They sit at the table and they are fed upon it! They wear it upon their limbs! Itis in the very beating of their heart and yet they say, "Where is it?" Be not blind! "The ox knows his owner and the ass hismaster's crib"-let us not be more crude than beasts of the field-but let us know the Lord and consider well the greatnessof His goodness!
I have said that the text contains the philosophy of great praise and we see this in the second stage of the process, namely,diligent memory. That which has made an impression upon the mind by observation is fastened upon the memory. Memory seemsto be in two things-first in retaining an impression and then in recollecting it at a future time. I suppose that, more orless, everything that happens to us is retained in the mind, but it is not easy to reproduce the fainter impressions whenyou wish to do so. I know in my own mind a great many things that I am sure I remember, but yet I cannot always recollectthem immediately. Give me a quarter of an hour to run through a certain arrangement of ideas and I shall say, "Oh yes, I haveit. It was in my mind, but I could not recall it at the time." Memory collects facts and afterwards recollects them. The mattersbefore us are recorded by memory, but the tablet may be mislaid-the perfection of memory is to preserve the tablet in a well-knownplace from which you can fetch it forth in a moment.
I have dwelt rather long upon observation with the view that you may begin aright from the beginning and, by getting vividimpressions, may be the better able to retain and recall them. We cannot utter what we have forgotten and, therefore, theuse of close observation to make a strong memory touching the Lord's great goodness. How are we to strengthen our memory asto God's goodness? First, we should be well acquainted with the documents in which His goodness is recorded. A man may besaid to keep in memory a fact which did not happen in his own time, but hundreds of years before he was born-he remembersit because he has seen the document in which the fact is recorded.
In a certain sense this is within the range of memory-it is within the memory of man, the united memory of the race. Beloved,be familiar with the Word of God! Store your memory with the ancient records of His great goodness! Drink in the whole narrativeof the Evangelists and despise not Moses and the Prophets. Soak in the Psalms and the Song of Solomon and such Books tillyou come to know the well-recorded goodness of the Lord! Have His Words and deeds of goodness arranged and at your fingertipsbecause they are in your heart and then you will be abundantly sure to utter the memory of His goodness, for "out of the abundanceof the heart the mouth speaks."
Next, if you would strengthen your memory, diligently observe the memorials. There are two in the Christian Church. Thereis the memorial of your Savior's death, burial and resurrection which is set forth in Believers' Baptism, wherein we are buriedand risen with the Lord Christ. Forget not that memorial of His deep anguish when He was immersed in grief and plunged inagony, for He bids you observe it. And as for the Holy Supper, never neglect it, but be
often at the table where, again, you set forth His death till He comes. He has bid you do this in remembrance of Him- devoutlycherish the precious memorial!
Great events in nations have been preserved upon the memory of future generations by some ordained ceremonial and the Lord'sSupper is of that kind. Therefore observe well the Table of the Lord that you forget not His great goodness. Look how theJews kept their Exodus in mind by means of the Paschal Lamb-how they ate it after the sprinkling of the blood-how they talkedto their children and told them of the deliverance from Egypt, abundantly uttering the memory of God's goodness and then aftersupper they sang a hymn, even as our text bids us sing of the righteousness of God. Strengthen your memories, then, by reverentattention to the historical documents and the memorial ordinances.
Still, the most important is the memory of what has happened to yourself, your own personal experience. I will not give apenny for your religion unless it has taken effect upon yourself. The power of prayer! What of that? Did you ever receivean answer to prayer? Did you ever wrestle with the angel and come away victorious? What do you know about prayer if you neverprayed? You are very orthodox? Yes, but unless the Doctrines of Grace have brought to your soul the Grace of the doctrines-andyou have tasted and handled them-what do you know about them? Nothing certainly to remember! O, dear Heart, were you everborn again? Then you will remember His great goodness! Were you ever cleansed from your sin and justified in Christ? You willremember His great goodness! Have you been renewed in heart so as to hate sin and live in holiness? If so, you will rememberbecause you know something which flesh and blood have not revealed unto you. Let every personal mercy be written upon yourpersonal memory!
I have heard that the science of mnemonics, or the strengthening of the memory, for which I have not a very high esteem, liesin the following of certain methods. According to some, you link one idea with another-you remember a date by associatingit with something that you can see. Practice this method in the present case. Remember God's goodness by the objects aroundyou which are associated with it. For instance, let your bed remind you of God's mercy in the night watches and your tableof His goodness in supplying your daily needs. My garments, when I put them on this morning, reminded me of times when myhands were unable to perform even that simple task. All around us there are memoranda of God's love if we choose to read them.
The memory of some deed of Divine goodness may be connected with every piece of furniture in your room. There is the old armchairwhere you wrestled with God in great trouble and received a gracious answer. You cannot forget it- you do not pray so wellanywhere else as you do there-you have become attached to that particular chair. That thumbed Bible, that particular one Imean-it is getting rather worn, now, and is marked a good deal, but, nevertheless, out of that very copy the promises havegleamed forth like the stars in Heaven and, therefore, it helps your memory to use it. I remember a poor man giving me whatI thought great praise. I visited him in the hospital and he said, "Ah, you seem to have hung this room round with your texts,for everything reminds me of what I have heard you say, and as I lay here I recollect your stories and your sayings." In muchthe same way we should remember what God has done for us by looking at all the various places, circumstances, times and personswhich were the surroundings of His mercy. O for a clear remembrance of the goodness of God!
Memory is sometimes helped by classification. You send a servant to a shop for a variety of articles-she will forget someof them unless you so arrange the order that one suggests another. Take care, then, to set God's mercies in order before youand reckon them up in number, if you can, and so fix them in your memory. At other times, when persons have very bad memories,they like to write down on a piece of paper that which is important to remember. I have often done so and have placed thepaper where I have never found it again. A thread around the finger, or a knot in a handkerchief and many other devices hasbeen tried. I do not care what it is, so long as you try and remember God's mercy to you by some means or other. Do make somerecord of His goodness.
You know the day in which you lost that money, do you not? "Yes, very well." You remember the day of the month of Black Friday,or Black Monday, up in the City. You have evil days indelibly noted in the black pocketbook of memory-do you remember, aswell, the days of God's special loving kindness to you? You should! Take pains to make notes of notable benefits and to markremarkable blessings and so you shall, in future days, utter the memory of God's great goodness! The first two processes forsecuring abundant praise are observation and remembrance.
The next is utterance "They shall abundantly utter." The word contains the idea of boiling or bubbling up like a fountain.It signifies a holy fluency about the mercy of God. We have quite enough fluent people about, but they are, many of them,idlers for whom Satan finds abundant work to do. May the Lord deliver us from the noise of fluent women-but it matters nothow fluent men and women are if they will be fluent on the topic now before us. Open your mouths! Let the praises pour forth!Let rivers of it come! Stream away! Gush away all that you possibly can! "They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your greatgoodness." Do not stop the joyful speakers-let them go on forever. They do not exaggerate-they cannot!
You say they are enthusiastic, but they are not half up to the pitch yet! Bid them become more excited and speak yet morefervently. Go on, Brother, go on! Pile it up! Say something greater, grander and more still fiery! You cannot exceed the Truthof God! You have come to a theme where your most fluent powers will fail in utterance. The text calls for a sacred fluencyand I would exhort you to exercise it liberally when you are speaking of the goodness of God. "They shall abundantly utterit"-that is, they shall constantly be doing it-they shall talk about God's goodness all day long! When you step into theircottages they will begin to tell you of God's goodness to them! When you bid adieu to them at night you shall hear more lastwords upon their favorite theme!
Very likely they will repeat themselves, but that does not matter, you cannot have too much of this truly good thing. Justas the singers in the temple repeated again and again the chorus, "His mercy endures forever," so may we repeat our praises!Some of God's mercies are so great and sweet that if we never had another thought throughout eternity, the recollection ofthe single favor might forever remain! The splendor of Divine Love is so great that a single manifestation of it is oftenall that we can bear! To have two such revelations at once would be as overpowering as though God should make two suns whenone already fills the world with light! Oh, praise the Lord, my Brothers and Sisters, with boundless exultation! Awaken allyour faculties to this Divine service and abundantly utter the memory of His goodness!
You cannot praise abundantly unless your memory supplies materials and, on the other hand, your memory will lose strengthunless you utter what you know. When you went to school and had a lesson to learn, you found out that by reading your lessonaloud you learned it more quickly, for your ears assisted your eyes. Uttering the Divine goodness is a great help to the memoryof it! By teaching we learn-by giving the Truth of God expression, we deepen its impression upon our minds.
Now I come to the last part of this admirable process. When we have abundantly uttered, then we are to sing. In the old Greekmythology, Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, is the mother of the Muses and surely where there is a good memory of God's lovingkindness the heart will soon produce a song! But what is surprising in the text is that when the joy is described as mountingfrom plain utterance to song it takes another theme-"Sing of Your righteousness." When the heart is most adoring and selectsthe grandest theme for reverent song, it chooses the meeting of goodness and righteousness as its topic. How sweet is thatcanticle-"Mercy and Truth are met together, and Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other." The Atonement is the gemof the heart's poetry. Do not your hearts burn within you at the very mention of the glorious deed of Jesus, our great Substitute?
Parnassus is outdone by Calvary! The Castalian spring is dried and Jesus' wounded side has opened another fountain of song!The goodness of the Lord to us in all the blessings of His Providences we gladly chant, but when we tell of the Grace whichled our Lord Jesus to bleed and die, "the Just for the unjust to bring us to God," our music leaps to nobler heights! IncomparableWisdom ordained a way in which God should be righteous to the sternness of severity and yet should be good, illimitable good,to those that put their trust in Him! Lift up, then, your music till the golden harps shall find themselves outdone! Thus,we have explained the method of securing an abundant utterance-may the Holy Spirit help us carry it out.
II. In the second place, we shall very briefly note THE MOTIVES FOR THIS ABUNDANT UTTERANCE. These
are right at our fingertips. The first is because we cannot help it. The goodness of God demands that we should speak of it.If the Lord Jesus, Himself, should charge His people to be silent as to His goodness, they would scarcely be able to obeythe command. They would, like the man that was healed, blaze abroad the mighty work that He had done. But, bless His name,He has not told us to be quiet-He allows us to abundantly utter the memory of His great goodness! The stones of the streetwould cry out as we went along if we did not speak of His love!
Some of you good people seldom speak of the goodness of God! Why is this? I wonder how you can be so coldly quiet. "Oh," saidone in his first love, "I must speak or I shall burst" and we have sometimes felt the same when the restrained testimony wasas fire within our bones! Is it not a sacred instinct to tell what we feel within? The news is too good to keep! Indulge tothe fullest the holy propensity of your renewed nature! Your soul says, "Speak," and if etiquette says, "Hush, they will thinkyou a fanatic," regard it not, but speak aloud and let them think you are a fanatic if they please! Sir, play the organ verysoftly when the subject is your own praise, but when you come to the praises of God, pull out all the stops-thunders of musicare all too little for His infinite goodness!
Another motive for abundantly uttering the praises of God is that other voices are clamorous to drown it. What a noisy worldthis is with its conflicting and discordant cries. "Lo here," cries one. "Lo there," shouts another. This uproar would drownthe notes of God's praise unless His people uttered it again and again! The more there is said against our God, the more shouldwe speak for Him. Whenever you hear a man curse, it would be wise to say aloud, "Bless the Lord." Say it seven times for everytime he curses and make him hear it. Perhaps he will want to know what you are doing and you will then have an opportunityof asking what he is doing-and he will have more difficulty in explaining himself than you will in explaining yourself.
Try, if you can, to make up for the injuries done to the dear and sacred name of God by multiplying your praises in proportionas you hear Him spoken ill of. I say unless you give forth abundant utterance, God's praise will be buried under heaps oferror, blasphemy, ribaldry, nonsense and idle talk! Abundantly utter it so that some of it, at least, may be heard! Praisethe Lord abundantly because it will benefit you to do so. How bright the past looks when we begin to praise God for it. Wesay, "I am the man that has seen affliction," and we are to fill the cup of memory with gall and wormwood-but when we seethe goodness of God in it all, we turn the kerchief with which we wiped our tears into a flag of victory-and with holy praise,in the name of our God, we wave the banner!
As for the present, if you think of God's mercies, how different it seems. A man comes to his dinner table and does not enjoywhat is there because he misses an expected dainty. But if he were as poor as some people, he would not turn his nose up,but would bless the goodness which has given him so much more than he deserves! Some I know, even among Christians, are growlersin general and always finding fault. The best things in the world are not good enough for them. Ah, my Brother, abundantlyutter the memory of God's goodness and you will find nothing to grumble about-nothing to complain about-but everything torejoice in! As for the future, if we remember God's goodness, how joyfully we shall march into it. There is the same goodnessfor tomorrow as for yesterday and the same goodness for old age as for youth-the same God to bless me when I grow gray aswhen I was a babe upon my mother's breast. Therefore, forward to the future without hesitation or suspicion, abundantly utteringthe loving kindness of the Lord.
Again, I think we ought to do this because of the good it does to other people. If you abundantly talk of God's goodness youare sure to benefit your neighbors. Many are comforted when they hear of God's goodness to their friends. Draw a long faceand lament the trials of the way-sit down with somber brethren and enjoy a little comfortable misery and see whether crowdswill ask to share your vinegar.-
"While here our various needs we mourn, United groans ascend on high,"
says Dr. Watts, and I am afraid he speaks the truth, but very few will be led in this way to resolve-"We will go with thesepeople, for we perceive that God is with them." Is it good reasoning if men say, "These people are so miserable that theymust be on the way to Heaven"? We may hope they are, for they evidently need some better place to live, but then it may bequestioned if such folks would not be wretched even in Heaven!
You smile, dear Friends, as if you said you would not be much attracted by sanctimonious misery, nor do I think you would.Therefore do not try it yourselves, but, on the contrary, talk much of the goodness of the Lord! Wear a smiling face! Letyour eyes sparkle and go through the world as if you are not slaves under the lash, or prisoners in bonds, but the Lord'sfree men! We have glorious reasons for being happy-let us be so and soon we shall hear persons asking, "What is this? Is thisreligion? I always thought religious people felt bound to be down in the dumps and to go mourning and sighing all their days."When they see your joy they will be tempted to come to Christ! There is a blessed seductiveness in a holy, happy life. Praise,then, His name! Praise His name forevermore! Abundantly utter the memory of His great goodness and you will bring many toChrist!
Such happy utterance will help, also, to comfort your own Christian friends and fellow sufferers. There is a deal of miseryin the world-just now more than usual. Many are sorrowing from various causes. Therefore, my dear Friends, be happier thanyou ever were. That venerable man of God, now in Heaven, our dear old father Dransfield, when it was a very foggy morningin November, used to always come into the vestry before the sermon and say, "It is a dreary morning, dear Pastor. We mustrejoice in the Lord more than usual. Things around us are dark, but within and above all is bright. I hope we shall have avery happy service today." He would shake hands with me and smile till he seemed to carry us all into the middle of summer.What if it is bad weather? Bless the Lord that it is not worse than it is! We are not altogether in Egyptian darkness-thesun does shine now and then-and we are sure it is not blown out.
So, when we are sick and ill, let us thank God that we shall not be ill forever, for there is a place where the inhabitantsare no more sick. And now, today, if your harps have been hanging on the willows, take them down! If you have not praisedthe Lord as you should, begin to do so! Wash your months and get rid of the sour flavor of murmuring about bad trade and badweather! Sweeten your lips with the pleasant confection of praise. I will tell you this, Brothers and Sisters, if any of youshall confess to me that you have sinned by going too far in blessing God, I will, for once, become a priest and give youabsolution! I never tried my hand at that business, before, but I think I can manage as much. Praise God extravagantly ifyou can. Try it! I wish you would say within yourself, "I will go beyond all boundaries in this matter," for there are noboundaries to the deserving of an ever-blessed God!
Lastly, let us praise and bless God because it is the way in which He is glorified. We cannot add to His Glory, for it isinfinite in itself-but we can make it to be more widely known by simply stating the truth about Him. Don't you want to givehonor to God? Would you not lay down your life that the whole earth might be filled with His Glory? Well, if you cannot coverthe earth with His praises as the waters cover the sea, you can at least contribute your portion to the flood! Oh, keep notback your praises, but bless and magnify His name from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same!
It will lift earth upward and heavenward if we can all unite in praise-we shall see it rising as it were beneath our feet-andourselves rising with it until we shall stand as upon the top of some lofty Alp that has pierced the vault of Heaven! Andwe shall be among the angels, feeling as they feel, doing as they do and losing ourselves as they lose themselves in the eternalhallelujah of, "Glory, and honor, and majesty, and power, and dominion, and might be unto Him that sits upon the Throne, andunto the Lamb forever and ever."


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Abandon Interactive Entertainment just announced that it's releasing Freaky Adventures, which is the largest content update to the ever-expanding MMO game Freaky Creatures. Freaky Adventures offers, for the very first time, Player vs. Environment gameplay, which will challenge you to go further into the Freaky Creatures Universe to encounter all-new enemies and characters.
Play For FREE!
You can try Freaky Creatures AND Freaky Adventures for FREE by signing up at www.FreakyCreatures.com.
Let's Get Freaky
In Freaky Adventures you'll get to go deeper into the Freaky Creatures universe as you explore uncharted territory and unexplored environments that include tons of strange life forms, items and enemies with new and unique abilities and powers. A new world map gives you easy access to over 40 missions and your very own missions log helps you keep track of your own progress. The new lands in the game include:
Along the way you'll earn the experience you need to level up your creatures and gain access to powerful new parts, powers and lair objects.
Exclusive Screenshots
Check out the latest screen shots from Freaky Adventures:
Related Stories:

subset: commoncrawl


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We create. You'll grow
Okay, you're right. Our head office is located in Zutphen. We come from the big city and still come to Amsterdam on a weekly basis to consult with our customers. The benefits: we feel the heartbeat of the west and work everything out in the tranquility of the east. For us the best combination.
We won't only develop a website, but we'll create your online business model. A website is much more than an online business card. It is a process from idea to concept and realization.
It doesn't stop there. After the launch we will help you with content creation, marketing, management and maintenance. We'll keep an eye on the goals set by monitoring and analyzing different data flows and making adjustments where necessary. This allows you to maximize your online activities while you can do what you do best. Curious?
Ilja Vinzenz
I am a full stack developer at Snoober Media and I love creating Apps, webshops, games and websites. Any questions?
Trusted as our capital
Thanks to our experience at home and abroad, we know Amsterdam entrepreneurs want and work a little bit different than many media companies are used to.
This means you get a beautifully fitting solution that feels just as familiar as our own Amsterdam. Take a walk over to Arena Fysio and Athletic Fitness and ask why they chose us.
We are happy to chat about how we can do this for you. Soon you will just drop by at our new office in Amsterdam. Call or send us a message so we can schedule an appointment with you.


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In today's podcast, we're talking about The Bank of Mom and Dad – and it's not what you think! Teaching kids about money is a challenge! How do you help kids learn from their own money mistakes while protecting them from financial disaster?
The Bank of Mom and Dad
Our special guest today is James Lenhoff, a Certified Financial Planner and the author of "Living a Rich Life: The No-Regrets Guide to Accumulating and Spending Wealth." James is married with three children. He is very active in service projects through his church including financial literacy education programs, and missions work in Haiti.
In today's podcast we discuss:
- The Bank of Mom & Dad concept and how James uses it to teach his kids how to handle money wisely.
- Kids and credit cards – when should your kid get one?
- Buyer's remorse and the lessons learned from it
- Why it's important to allowing your kids to fail financially and NOT bail them out


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Combinations for the United Kingdom
If you'd like to report a picture for any reason, send me an email.
Roya from Afghanistan and Adnan from the United Kingdom
Adnan married for the third time on 29 January 2010 - Roya Faryabi the daughter of a retired diplomat and army general.
Leandro from Argentina and Katie from the United Kingdom
Happy couple: Katie has returned to Argentina with her boyfriend Leandro just two weeks after she visited to meet his parents.
Bess from Australia and Dave from the United Kingdom
For over thirty years, Dave, an Irish Catholic from Newcastle and Bess, a Walpiri woman from Yuendumu, have been married, raising a family, and working for the betterment of Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory.
Cleane from Brazil and Shashi from the United Kingdom
Shashi and Cleane met in Glasgow, Scotland. Shashi was born in India but grew up in the UK. We now live in the US but go frequently to both India and Brazil.
Crystal from Canada and Craig from the United Kingdom
AJ from China and Natalie from the United Kingdom
They met on the streets of Beijing and tell their tale of how their love has led them to start a new life together.
Marie Christine from the Czech Republic and Michael from the United Kingdom
Heidi from Germany and Seal from the United Kingdom
Married in 2005.
Charles from Denmark and Maud from the United Kingdom
Dodi from Egypt and Diana from the United Kingdom
Alfonso from Spain and Eugenia from the United Kingdom
Alfonso XIII was married to Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Queen Ena), daughter of HSH Prince Henry of Battenberg and HRH Princess Beatrice of Great Britain and Ireland in 1906).
Joensuu from Finland and Chloe from the United Kingdom
Since their relationship is still young, Chloe and her partner are enjoying living close in proximity, sharing the local culture and their budding harmony together.
Rob from Fiji and Dessa from the United Kingdom
Rob is Hindi from Fiji, Dessa is Scottish-Hungarian. The couple met in Surrey and have been together for more than 11 years.
Catherine from France and Henry V from the United Kingdom
Marie-Chantal from the United Kingdom and Pavlos from Greece
While her sisters Pia Getty and Alexandra von Furstenberg also married well, Marie-Chantal is the only Miller sister to marry official royalty.
Rob from the United Kingdom and Jessica from Indonesia
Steven Donlon from the United Kingdom and Sushmita DuttaGupta from India
Married since May 24 2013.
Katie from the United Kingdom and Giancarlo from Italy
I was an artist when Giancarlo and I met in 1996. He'd commissioned me to paint Italianate murals in one of his restaurants. He said that when he saw me he decided, then and there, to marry me.
Alison from the United Kingdom and Vinnie from Jamaica
John from the United Kingdom and Yoko from Japan
Married in 1969.
Julia from the United Kingdom and Krenar from Kosovo
The couple married on Christmas Eve at their local church, St Anne's in Nantyglo, South Wales, with their one-year- old daughter, Hattie, as bridesmaid, and their dog, Cupe (the name is Albanian for "little girl") as a guest.
Frances from the United Kingdom and George from Sri Lanka
It's only when Frances and I go back and look at our wedding album that we realise quite what a meeting of cultures our marriage was. Not so much for the two of us but for our parents.
Michael from the United Kingdom and Aung from Myanmar
Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi (1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient) were married in 1972.
Fern from the United Kingdom and Mau from Mexico
Spencer from the United Kingdom and Vibeke from Norway
We met at the Taj Mahal in India whilst waiting for the sunrise. Because the Taj Mahal was bathed in thick fog, we got chatting and ended up travelling together for two weeks before I changed my air tickets for Gibraltar rather than Nepal.
Bill from the United Kingdom and Pamela from New Zealand
Munnawar from the United Kingdom and Angie from the Philippines
Jenny from the United Kingdom and Peter from Sweden
Peter and I met at a wedding in Sweden in 2001. Or rather, on a blind date a couple of days before. He was 'advertised' as a handsome, blond Swede: and he was. We began a relationship: he'd come to Scotland to see me, and I'd visit him in his university town near Stockholm.
Steve from the United Kingdom and Diana from Singapore
Diana met her husband, Steve in university where they were both doing the same course. They have two children, Amelia and Haley.
David from the United Kingdom and Iman from Somalia
On April 24, 1992 they got married in a private ceremony in Lausanne.
Phil from the United Kingdom and İlknur from Turkey
Married for 25 years. Met at a school where we were both teaching, married in 1990 and have three daughters. Ece is 23, Naz and Ceren are 18
Sylvier from the United Kingdom and Kabaka from Uganda
The king of Uganda's Buganda tribe, one of Africa's most glorious and powerful 19th century kingdoms, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, and his new wife Queen Sylvier Nagginda step out of church after their wedding at an Anglican Cathedral near Kampala, Uganda, Friday, Aug. 27, 1999.
Nick from the United Kingdom and Stephanie from the United States
Met online, fell in love and endured a long distance relationship. Six years later we're about to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary!
Elka from the United Kingdom and Thien from Vietnam
We met in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and have never lived anywhere else together. I have been in Vietnam for going on 17 years and Thien has been here for 10 years.


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IL ODYSSEY Benetti Yachts
If you have any questions about the IL ODYSSEY information page below please contact us.
A Summary of Motor Yacht IL ODYSSEY
Hailing from the Benetti Yachts shipyard in Italy the IL ODYSSEY is 33 m 108 (ft) in length. Christened for 1967 this boat's interior design and decor confirms the classical sagacity which are originating from Liz Downes and the owner who commissioned the yacht. Superyacht IL ODYSSEY can accommodate up to 9 guests with 6 professional crew. The old, former or build project names were Globran Ii; Khirama Khirama; Princess Vanessa; Admiral Bolitho. She is able to attain a maximum speed of 12 knots.
The Building & Yacht Design for Luxury Yacht IL ODYSSEY
Fratelli Benetti Yacht Design was the naval architect involved in the professional vessel composition for IL ODYSSEY. Also the company Fratelli Benetti expertly collaborated on this project. Interior designer Liz Downes was selected for the creative internal styling. Built by Benetti Yachts this vessel was completed in the known yacht building country Italy. She was successfully launched in Viareggio in 1967 before being transferred to the owner. The core hull was constructed with steel. The motor yacht main superstructure is made mostly using aluminium. With a beam of 6.25 metres / 20.5 ft IL ODYSSEY has moderate size. A shallow draught of 2.29m (7.5ft) selects the list of overall harbours she can visit, contingent on their individual depth at low tide. She had refit maintenance and modification completed by 2007.
The Engineering And The Crusie Speed That M/Y IL ODYSSEY is Able To Achieve:
The 16V 71N engine powering the yacht is produced by GM. Her propulsion units are twin screw propellers. The main engine of the ship produces 750 horse power (or 559 kilowatts). She is equiped with 2 engines. The sum output for the boat is 1500 HP / 1118 KW. As far as stabalisers are concerned she uses Vosper.
Aboard Superyacht IL ODYSSEY There is The Following Accommodation Layout:
With room for a maximum of 9 visiting passengers staying on board, the IL ODYSSEY accommodates everyone luxuriously. Under normal conditions she utilises approx 6 capable crewmembers to operate.
A List of the Specifications of the IL ODYSSEY:
|Superyacht Name:
|Motor Yacht IL ODYSSEY
|Globran Ii; Khirama Khirama; Princess Vanessa; Admiral Bolitho
|Built By:
|Benetti Yachts
|Built in:
|Viareggio, Italian
|Launched in:
|Refitted in:
|Length Overall:
|33 metres / 108.3 feet.
|Waterline Length:
|28.4 (93.2 ft)
|Naval Architecture:
|Fratelli Benetti, Fratelli Benetti Yacht Design
|Interior Designers:
|Liz Downes
|Gross Tonnes:
|Nett Tonnes:
|Hull / Superstructure Construction Material:
|steel / aluminium
|Owner of IL ODYSSEY:
|IL ODYSSEY available for luxury yacht charters:
|Is the yacht for sale:
|Helicopter Landing Pad:
|Material Used For Deck:
|The Country the Yacht is Flagged in:
|United Kingdom
|Official registry port is:
|Home port:
|Frejus, France
|Class society used:
|BV (Bureau Veritas)/HR
|Completed survey under Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) Large Yacht Code:
|Max yacht charter guests:
|Number of Crew Members:
|The propulsion comes from two 750 Horse Power or 559 Kilowatts GM. Model:
|16V 71N diesel.
|Giving the combined power of 1500 HP /1118 KW.
|Cruise Speed:
|10 knots.
|Her top Speed is around 12 knots.
|1600 at a speed of 10 knots.
|Bunkering capacity:
|Lancing 2 times 35 kilowatts.
|Stabaliser Stabality devices:
|Waterline Length (LWL):
|Draught at deepest:
Further Information On The Yacht
She has a teak deck.
IL ODYSSEY Disclaimer:
The luxury yacht IL ODYSSEY displayed on this page is merely informational and she is not necessarily available for yacht charter or for sale, nor is she represented or marketed in anyway by CharterWorld. This web page and the superyacht information contained herein is not contractual. All yacht specifications and informations are displayed in good faith but CharterWorld does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the current accuracy, completeness, validity, or usefulness of any superyacht information and/or images displayed. All boat information is subject to change without prior notice and may not be current.
Quick Enquiry
Positive Customer Review: "One of the most memorable parts for me was the launch. I went with my wife, and Benetti had a Roman Catholic priest bless the yacht. It was very beautiful with all the Italian music and then the British national anthem, and it was all very unexpected. I thought I was just going to be putting the boat in the water, but in fact it turned into a very emotional day!" - Owner of a Benetti called motor yacht 11:11


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From the monetary reform (which was defended by Martin Wolf, chief economist at the Financial Times, and Thomas Mayer, chief economist at the Deutsche Bank until 2012) to the return of the gold standard (which was advocated by economists from the Austrian School such as Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk) in order to take from the banks their hegemony over the money, because most of the money in circulation is not generated by the central banks but by the private entities (with the well-known "multiplier effect").
This is the so-called "scriptural money", a source of dynamism but also of instability; it is "a huge hole in the heart of our economies", according to Mr Wolf. Among those reformists who aim at simplifying the banks' responsibilities is are two experts: Joseph Huber, economist at the University of Halle, who founded the Monetative Association in 2009 to give the central banks the exclusive power over the money; and Hans Christoph Binswanger, professor at St Galler, who wants to reduce the massive pressure derived from the economic growth.
Thomas Mayer wants to get rid of both the scriptural money and the control of the money by the government. At the same time, the German media point at the need of more money in the Eurozone in order to grow at all costs. What about the Oxford's idea of throw money for everybody from a helicopter? "If 275 million workers and retirees from the Eurozone received a €500 check, this would boost the demand by €34 billion," according to calculations by professor of economy John Muellbauer, at the University of Oxford.
"The States would collect more taxes and would be able to reduce their debts."
The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper from Munich asked if that is really the solution –after seeing how the Japanese economy fell into recession again, despite Shinzo Abe tried to boost the economy and the private consumption with a huge program of spending. The Japanese economy not only is unable to start but it also retreats with a 1,6% fall in the 3Q14. And that is what will happen in our European economy –which has been already classified as a "tortoise economy" by many experts.


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Maximize Your Selling Price by Finding the Right Buyers
Not every offer will be a reasonable one. If you're using business-for-sale websites, you will likely receive lowball offers. Avoid them with these tips.
Most companies that decide to sell have some characteristics that can drive down the value of their company, such as customer concentration or having management all from the owner's family. In this article we will discuss how to minimize the discounting of the market by locating the right buyers.
Selling Process
We are in the middle of a merger and acquisition engagement, representing a Human Resources Consulting company. We have contacted several industry players and have gotten some good initial interest. Several buyers dropped out because the seller's entire management team was comprised of family members. We asked our client to take their company off the market and to bring in at least one non-family executive who had the authority and the ability to run the company. They successfully implemented this change and asked us to take them back out to market.
Because their business is counter cyclical and actually grew during the economic downturn, they posted some pretty impressive growth and profit numbers. It was difficult to determine how much of the improvement was due to the addition of the new senior manager.
As we re-launched our marketing efforts, we identified several interested buyers. One buyer was particularly interested and, after signing the confidentiality agreement and reviewing the memorandum, contacted us almost daily with additional detailed information requests. Before long, he started to grill us about selling price expectations. As we usually do, we deflected his requests and asked him to put together his letter of intent based on the value of the business to his company.
He started giving us a lecture about valuing service companies whose assets (meaning people) walked out of the door every evening. He pointed out that their revenues were based on new sales each year and not "contractually recurring revenue." We had our client put together a chart that showed the "historically recurring revenue" generated from their top 20 clients over the past five years. This was our way to demonstrate some consistency and predictability of revenues.
As we conversed further, my radar started buzzing loudly. This guy was getting ready to provide a lowball offer and was trying to sell me on all the reasons why I should go back to our client and pitch his offer. I politely listened to his well-practiced approach for a little while longer. Then he came up with the statement that I just could not let go. He said that last year's revenues were an unusual upward spike and, "I am just going to use 2015's revenues as my basis for my offer." I asked him how he would have made an offer if last year was unusually bad, but the prior five years were strong. He would not respond, but, of course, the answer was that he would have made his offer based on the new trend.
Stand Strong
There are thousands of business buyers out there that are just like this guy. There is a famous residential real estate investor who wrote a book and gives classes to help individuals become real estate moguls. I could sum up his book and his class in one sentence: Find 100 people with their homes for sale, approach them aggressively and make a lowball offer and one of them will take it.
Then I reviewed where our buyer had originated, I traced it back to a posting we had made on our business broker's association website. As I think about it, these Business-for-Sale websites actually give these buyers a powerful tool to actively and aggressively contact their 100 potential sellers. I have seen this behavior repeated multiple times and the source was always a Business-for-Sale website.
So we are always preaching to our prospective clients to get multiple buyers involved in the process. If they post their business on one of the Business-for-Sale websites, they may get multiple buyers interested, but they are those buyers that are contacting 100 sellers very efficiently through the power of the Internet in order to make their lowball offers.
The good news is that we had six other industry buyers that we had contacted and they were looking for acquisitions that were based on acquiring new customers or adding another product offering, or leveraging their sales force or install base. In other words, their buyer motivation was not to buy a company with a lowball offer.
Encourage Fair Offers
The only way we can encourage buyers to make fair offers is to conduct an outbound marketing campaign to industry buyers that have strategic reasons for making acquisitions. If we can get several involved, then the buyer that comes in and says that she is going to base her offer on 2015 performance is easily eliminated from consideration. If a business seller is only going to attract these inbound, bargain seeker buyers from websites, he/she will only be getting low ball offers and waste a lot of time.
Related Terms
Written by Dave Kauppi
Dave Kauppi is a Merger and Acquisition Advisor with MidMarket Capital, Inc. Dave is based out of the greater Chicago area and specializes in Technology, Information Technology, Healthcare and intellectual property focused companies. Dave is also the author of the Exit Strategist Newsletter.


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The night I realized I would be spending my summer as staff at copper creek camp it felt like the night before camp started every summer for 8 years. Chills, absolute chills. There is nothing more exciting than knowing you will land in Reno and drive for a couple of hours filled with mixed feelings. The nerves and the excitement make me feel like a little kid again on my way to board the battleship.
My name is Emiliano de las Fuentes and I am from Mexico. I am currently a junior in college where I'm majoring in Economics and Finance. I am passionate about sports, whether it is trying new ones or competing at a high level in others, there is no activity I won't do. In camp, my schedule favorites include: mountain biking, nameball, super secret surprise activity, and my #1 highlight: capture the flag!!! As a camper, I admired staff members and considered them important role models when I was growing up. I wish to assume that role and make a positive impact on this years' campers, or at least get some ab crunching laughs out of them. Summer can't get here fast enough!