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No one needs to prove to us that we may be watching the death of the germ-cell of civilization, the family. All the signs are abundantly clear all around us. We could drag out all kinds of statistics to indicate the dire situation in the families in our culture. We are all constantly looking at the parade in the media of divorce, sexual rebellion, abortion, sterilization, delinquency, infidelity, homosexuality, women's liberation, children's rights and so on. That has been continually paraded before us for the last ten or twelve years. We are watching the formation of the rope that strangles the family to death.
And many, frankly, are gladly carving out the tombstone for the family, and really doing it happily. In a book entitled, The Death of the Family, a British physician suggests "doing away with the family completely...he says...because it is a primary conditioning device for a western imperialistic world view." Kate Millet(?) who is a very prominent feminist wrote a book called Sexual Politics and in it she writes that the family must go because it oppresses and enslaves women.
The people who hold these perspectives are aggressive, forceful, forthright, domineering and they find their most fertile ground for the propagation of their viewpoints in the universities and the colleges of our society, and consequently they are in the process of significantly reeducating the youth who eventually fall into the category of the leaders and movers and shakers of our society. Mrs. T. Grace Atkinson(?) of The National Organization of Women, seeks to eliminate all sex, all marriage, all motherhood and all love. I'd say that's fairly fatal. She says, "Marriage is legalized servitude and family relations are the basis for all human oppression." What a warped sad view. But in many cases it is the reigning view among the thinkers, the professors, the teachers in our society.
On the other hand, others who are watching the death of the family see it as a disaster, a virulent disease. If the family cannot function, who will raise, who will socialize, who will moralize the next generation?
Dr. Armand Nicolai II (?) of Harvard Medical School sees the trend to destroy the family as a devastating trend. He points to married women with children working outside the home, the tendency for families to move frequently, almost constantly, the dominance of television in the home, the lack of controls in society, the chaos of moral confusion, the lack of communication among families and divorce, and all of those things, he says, are threatening the very life which we live. Let me quote from him. He says, "These trends will incapacitate the family, destroy its integrity and cause its members to suffer such crippling emotional conflict that they will become an intolerable burden to society. What about the future? First, the quality of family life will continue to deteriorate producing a society with a higher incidence of mental illness than ever before. Ninety-five percent of our hospital beds may be taken up by mentally ill patients. This illness will be characterized by a lack of self-control. We can expect the assassination of people in authority to be frequent occurrences. Crimes of violence will increase, even those within the family. The suicide rate will rise. As sexuality becomes more and more unlimited and separated from family and emotional commitment, the deadening effect will cause more bizarre experimentation and wide-spread perversion," end quote. A frankly frightening picture and we are watching it being painted right before our very eyes.
There is no question about the fact that the family is under a major assault, that people want to redefine family in absolutely any terms they want. There's no question that we are watching a generation of young people rising up who have no socialization skills and no moral sense at all. There is chaos. There is murder. There is crime at a rampant level. There is even pleasure in shooting people incidental to you, just for the sheer thrill of killing.
Sociologists, psychologists, analysts and so-called marriage and family experts, psychiatrists and all the rest are scrambling all over the place to try to come up with some kind of solution, and they've been doing that now for a couple of decades with absolutely no impact on the slide. Nothing that they are doing seems to slow down the process of the disintegration of human relationships at the very core of life which is the family. You can tamper with society in a lot of places, but if you destroy the family you destroy society.
It's a fascinating, in a sense, to be alive right in the middle of this. The family is certainly at the head of the endangered species list, much more dangerous than the elimination of some species that occupy people's attention.
And at that point we interject...can the family be saved? And I suppose for the sake of some people we should ask...should the family be saved? Is it worth fighting for? And if so, how? I would add that the church has made some efforts, certainly in the last ten years, the last twenty years there has been a great preoccupation on this subject. Christian bookstores are literally filled with books on marriage and the family. There have been endless sermons and messages and tapes and seminars and conferences go on to deal with the issues of the family. But that, too, doesn't seem to make much difference.
I can remember not too many years ago when I was reading statistics such as...divorce rate among those Christians involved in an evangelical church is one in 500 couples. And now we understand that the divorce rate among Christians in quote/unquote "evangelical" churches is about the same as the national average, one out of every two marriages. And that, at the same time, that we've been trying to escalate our defense of the family indicates that somewhere we've been fighting with the wrong weapons or fighting the wrong enemy.
God has an answer to...should the family be saved?...a.and God has an answer to...can the family be saved?...in fact, the Bible makes it very clear when it says marriage is the grace of life and children are a blessed heritage from the Lord that we must understand the blessedness, the bliss and the purpose of God that unfolds in the matter of marriage and raising children. Family is still the heart and soul of human society and family as it is defined by God. It is the place of intimacy. It is the place of joy. It is the place of memories that build the foundation of life. It is the place of love. It is the place of socialization. It is the place of morality. It is the place of security. It is where you build confidence.
I was talking to one of our professors out at the Master's College the other day who graduated with a Ph.D. from USC particularly emphasizing the field of working with children in education. And he said all of the literature, all of the existing literature today done on the study of children indicates that there is a period of time between the ages of six and twelve when everything foundational is either put down or not put down and those are the determinative years in what that child will become. You can look at the pattern of life in those years and predict almost perfectly whether they will be anti-social in their behavior or whether they will socialize in a normal way. We can see all of the roots of criminal behavior in that period of time in the life of a child.
That makes a lot of sense that the secular world would pick out that time because even in the case of Jesus there is an illustration of the fact that when a Jewish child reached the age of twelve, he was ready on his own to be a son of the Law. I talked about the fact that God has designed parents to strengthen and build up children between the ages of six and twelve so that they can cope with puberty that starts at about that time. And if they don't have the foundations of morality and they don't have the affirmation and self-discipline and self-control that is built in during those years of six to twelve, then they run amuck when their passions take over during that period of time. There is a divine pattern for how a family is to deal with that, for how a marriage is to set a model to be followed, for how a marriage is to be fulfilled and happy and rewarded.
And when we look for that model we need to go no further than the Word of God. It's all laid out there. It's not that complicated and it's not that difficult. When I was preaching this week after I left Illinois I went over to Ohio and I was preaching and after I had preached a lady came up, a sweet young lady, I suppose about 35 years old and she had a whole bunch of little kids, a couple in her arms and some hanging on to her. And she wanted to tell me that she was struggling ten years ago to find some direction in her marriage and she wanted to thank me for some messages she heard that I preached on this particular subject that led she and her husband, led her and her husband to determine the direction based upon the Word of God which in the ten years intervening God had so blessed that she came on a long trip in very difficult weather to express her gratitude to me for the joy that she's experienced both in her marriage and in her family. It's not me, it's the truth of the Word of God that makes the difference. And until people get in line with that truth, they will continue the devastating drift downward that's going to be far worse in the future than it is even now. One can only guess what the next generation is going to be like. Frightening thing to think about.
Now for us to get a grip on what God says about the family, we really find ourselves best served by looking in Ephesians chapter 5. Paul's letter to the Ephesians sort of gives us a place where all of the pertinent material is pulled together and it's a great launching point for us. Around 60 A.D. the apostle Paul wrote this letter and sent it off to the saints who are at Ephesus. It may well be too that the original manuscript didn't say Ephesus and it could have been a circular letter gone through all the churches in the area of Asia Minor of which Ephesus was the first of those churches. But Paul wrote this letter to the Christians in that part of the world and one of the things that was on his heart was the matter of marriage. And when you come down to chapter 5 and verse 18 you begin to get in the flow that leads you to verse 22 and following where the issues of family and marriage are addressed. We're going to talk about a lot of things in this series over the next number of weeks. We're going to touch on a number of subjects and interact with the divine revelation from God, but we'll constantly come back to Ephesians 5 as home base because it's a perfect launching pad for us. And keep in mind, this is not human opinion. I'm not here to give you my opinion. I really don't value my opinion at all. All I want to do is show you what the Word of God says and the applicable wisdom that comes from that. This is the last word on the issue. We don't need experts and psychiatrists and psychologists and analysts and marriage and family people, we can go right to the Word of God. We're not looking for tricks and gimmicks, we're looking for truth that can become part of our lives.
Now in this wonderful epistle that we are familiar with, the epistle of Ephesians, as Paul begins to launch into this subject he starts, at least for us, in verse 18 with a very key premise. And let's begin there. He says, "And do not get drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." That really is the key that unlocks all the rest. From that great principle flows the instruction to the wife in verse 22, the instruction to the husband in verse 25, the instruction to the children in 6:1 and the instruction to the parents in 6:2. All of that marriage and family teaching flows out of this principle in chapter 5 and verse 18. In fact, it is the first of several necessary prerequisites for any successful marriage or any successful relationship.
And the contrast in that verse, as you see it there, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit," it's quite dramatic and remarkable contrast. If you just pick up the book of Ephesians and read that, you might stop and say, "Well why in the world would he contrast drunkenness with being filled with the Spirit? What is the point here? When a person is drunk, they've lost control of themselves and they wander around in an out of control kind of behavior. Is he saying I want you to be out of control but not by wine but by the Holy Spirit? What is he saying here? I want you to yield up the control of your faculties to the Holy Spirit rather than to wine? Why make such a comparison?
Well the answer is found in a bit of the historical context. Let me give you a little bit of background. Ephesus, of course, was in Asia Minor and was dominated by Hellenistic or Greek culture called Hellenistic from the Greek word hellene which means Gentiles. But the Greeks believed that the great god Zeus, they, of course, had a pantheon of gods and Zeus was one of the formidable ones, they believed that the great god Zeus had given birth to a son. And that it had occurred in a very unusual way. And I'll give you a little of the background. They believed that the child was snatched from the womb of its mother, and its mother's name in Greek mythology is Semele. And the child was snatched from the womb of Semele while Semele was being incinerated because she got too close to the burning glory of Zeus. I don't know how Zeus produced this child in her in the mythology but in some way he did it without destroying her but when she sought to get too close to him, she became incinerated and in order to preserve the child of Zeus, the child was snatched out of her womb during her incineration. The child-god who had not yet come to full term was then sown into the thigh of Zeus and kept there until time to be born. That stretches your imagination.
So here is Zeus with this fetus in some point of formation sewn into his thigh. The infant god destined by Zeus to be the world ruler was born eventually out of the thigh of Zeus and then kidnapped by the envious Titans. Titans were called in Greek mythology sons of earth. They took the child, the Titans did, this child of Zeus, tore the child limb from limb, cooked it and ate it. But Zeus found the heart, according to the mythology, revived it and it was reborn as Dionysius. Now if you ever study Greek mythology you come across the name Dionysius quite frequently. Zeus found the heart, swallowed it and eventually the heart formed into the personality of Dionysius and was reborn.
Zeus then blasted the Titans with lightning, incinerating all of them from whom...whose ashes all of humanity came. So that's their creation story. Dionysius was then really someone beyond humanity because all of humanity just rose out of the ashes of the Titans and Dionysius along with Zeus was a god.
Dionysius then, according to Greek mythology, spawned a religion, a religion of ecstasy, ectasia(?) and emotionalism. And the Dionysian cult, this religion of ecstasy and emotionalism, this frenzied kind of religion, saturated the Greek and Roman world. The Dionysian cult was a debauched form of worship and a popular, a dominant form.
The worshipers committed atrocities with human organs. They engaged in orgies of sexual perversion, along with music and dancing and feasting. But there was one common element to all of the Dionysian debacle and that was drunkenness...drunkenness. In fact, if you ever circulate in the Middle East or in the ancient Roman world, you will see Dionysius associated with grapes. When there is a statue or a tribute to Dionysius, some monument to Dionysius, it is always marked out by clusters of grapes because he became known as the god of wine.
The Greek name of Dionysius became in the Roman language, Latin, Bacchus. And Bacchus is the Roman god of wine. When people engaged in these unbelievable drunken brawls, they were called Bacchanalian feasts. And if you've studied any of that, that's a familiar term even today. Take your dictionary out and look up Bacchanalia and it will say a drunken orgy.
The key element then, the key element in pagan worship was drunkenness. That's how...that's how they got their inhibitions out. That's how they dealt with their normal restraint. That's how they dealt with normal feelings of guilt. That's how they dulled their senses sufficiently to quiet their conscience. That's how they dispelled their anxiety and fear and guilt over such vile behavior as they engaged in. That's how they induced a kind of giddiness that substituted for real joy and just catapulted them in to this kind of horrible behavior. They did it by getting drunk and losing all their inhibitions.
So they believed that drunkenness was simply the door into ecstasy, the door into religious expression. And at such drunkenness elevated the believer, the worshiper, to total communion with the deities. So drunkenness was the key to worship, to communion to the deities. The more inebriated they were the more likely they were to get in to the ectasia(?) and enthusiasmos(?), two Greek words, ecstasy and enthusiasm, that spoke about these horrifying often demonic kind of activities.
A number of years ago when I made a trip to Israel, I had the privilege of taking a special trek up through Lebanon, up through Beirut, back east of there in a fascinating journey to the city of Damascus. Damascus is pretty deep into the Middle East at this particular point. And when we went into Damascus, a fascinating opportunity on the way to Damascus, we went to the city of Baalbek which was the easternmost point of the Roman Empire, the great Roman Empire extended way to the Middle East, east of Israel. And we went to the city of Baalbek because there are some of the most marvelous ruins that have been preserved there and restored. And they have some obelisks that are almost impossible to understand, to understand how they made them and how they moved them is an ongoing dilemma...massive, massive pieces of stones.
There also has been reconstructed there an incredible temple. And all across this temple, it was devoted to Jupiter, but all across this temple there are grape vines hanging on the columns and across the colonnades at the top. And you are told by the guides who take you through there that this is representative of Bacchus, that the Romans erected at the most eastern point of their empire a temple to Bacchus and there they carried on their orgies. What is fascinating about it, for example, is that in the very center of this large place where they did this, there's a decorated area and then a hole, a deep hole and that was in order that the people might vomit in the process and go back and indulge themselves even more. An unbelievable kind of conduct in which they believed and they did it in temples that they were ascending to communion with the gods. That's what Paul has in mind.
Now go back to verse 18, it takes on different meaning in the light of that context. He is saying to them do not get drunk with wine, all that does is produce dissipation. All that does is take you down. If you want to commune with God, be filled with the Spirit. Our religion is not brought about in its fullness and its richness and its reality by drunkenness but rather by the filling of the Spirit. Don't be filled with alcohol, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Literally, be being kept continuously filled by the Spirit.
If you want true religion, if you want true communion with God, if you want true worship to take place, if you want godly living, if you want to please God, then you must be filled with the Spirit...not controlled by alcohol but controlled by the Holy Spirit. The parallel to this is in Colossians 3:16 where instead of saying be filled with the Spirit, Paul says let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly because that's really the same thing. When the Word of Christ dominates your life and you respond in obedience to it, it's the same as being controlled by the Holy Spirit, of course, who is the author of Scripture. Obedience to the Word is being filled with the Spirit. It's not some kind of mystical experience. It's not some kind of ecstatic thing. It's not something that comes over you and catapults you into some unconscious behavior. It's not being knocked over into a dead faint, as you see so often on television. It's not launching off into some ecstatic speech. It's not going out of yourself or being beyond control. It simply is to be continuously controlled by the Spirit who does it through the Word and that means we are obeying the truth.
So we have to start at that point. Whatever we're going to do in terms of our Christian life, whether it's our marriage or our family, it has to flow out of a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. And that's why the society really has no chance, no hope. They're not regenerate. They don't know God. They have no more hope of getting it right than the people at the Bacchanalian feasts did. It's not going to happen. A right kind of marriage relationship and a right kind of family relationship is built on a redeemed life, empowered and energized by the Holy Spirit in obedience to the Word of God.
Now look at verses 19 and 20. "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord." Let me tell you something. Where the Spirit of God controls a life, where there's a life devoted to the Word of God and obedience to the Word of God, there is praise...that's the first thing. There is praise. And I suppose obviously we could conclude that a worshiping life, a praising life comes from a heart that is filled with joy. It's this simple. You give me an obedient person, obedient to the Word of God, I'll show you a positive, happy, praising, worshiping person whose heart is filled with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, who is singing and making melody in his heart to the Lord, and I'll show you a person who can get along with anybody because they're lost in wonder, love and praise because they're worshiping the Lord.
Verse 20 adds, "Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God even the Father." I'll tell you what, it's very hard to argue with somebody who is thankful for everything...everything. You find a person who is filled with the Spirit, I'll show you a happy person, I'll show you a thankful person. A person obeying the Word of God, a person filled with joy and praise and worship, a person who has nothing but thanks for everything God has done is going to be wonderful to live with. That's the bottom line. We're really talking here not about some kind of gimmicks to make your marriage work. We're not talking about, you know, the kind of things that I read about all the time. And you remember some years ago I told you about a book I read about marriage and said if you really want to have a great relationship with your wife, here's a good suggestion. Go buy her a Teddy bear...a nice little Teddy bear, one of those real soft ones. And bring it home. Wrap it in tin foil and stick it in the back of the freezer. This is in a book. Stick it in the back of the freezer. On the Teddy bear before you wrap it in the tin foil and stick it in the back of the freezer write words of romance and love and then just stick it back there...you know, behind the old lasagna. And some day, and you don't know when, when she is looking for the old lasagna, and she pulls that thing out and unwraps it and finds a frozen Teddy bear with a romance note, the book says when you get home from work it's going to be bliss. Are you kidding me? If you have a bad marriage, it's better to get hit with one that's not frozen. My suggestion would be, leave it thawed, just in case. Stick it in the closet.
Look, we're not talking about that. You're not going to be able to prepare a marriage like that. You're not going to be able to make a meaningful relationship like that. I hear suggestions all the time, take your wife on a date, take her out to dinner. That's all fine. That's not going to repair a marriage that isn't right. There's only one way to cultivate a right relationship with anybody and that's to be filled with the Spirit of God, filled with praise and gratitude to God so that your heart is overflowing with joy. And that's what makes a person someone that you can live with, someone who is a blessing to you. It should be, frankly, almost impossible to start a fight with you because you're just too blessed, too full of praise, too full of thanks, too full of the overflowing grace of God, too controlled by the Holy Spirit. You're so filled with love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control that your spouse may just get upset at their inability to cause conflict. It has to start there.
Now out of those things flows yet another element, verse 21. "And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ." It doesn't mean you're afraid of Christ. It just says be subject to one another. Now look here, we're not talking about who this...this isn't talking about wives to their husbands, this isn't talking about children to their parents, it's talking about everybody. But this is the ground work, folks, this is what makes meaningful marriages. It's a spiritual issue here. It's not a matter of cleverness, it's not a matter of ideas, it's not a matter of scheduling events, it's not a matter of buying her gifts or whatever, or reverse, buying him gifts or cooking his favorite meal. Those are nice little things to do. But with two people who live according to the standards that we've just read, it wouldn't matter whether you did those or didn't do them. That's not the stuff that makes for lifelong joy in a relationship.
Submission does though, and we're talking here about a generic kind of submission, without regard for any specific relationship within the context of a family. The word "submit," by the way, is very graphic, hupotasso, it means to...well it means to rank under, to rank under, it's a military term. We're called on to place ourselves under each other. Here is what makes for meaningful relationships. Someone controlled by the Spirit of God, obedient to the Word of God, filled with joy and praise and thanksgiving to God for every single thing in their life and eager to submit their will to everybody else. That's what we're after here.
We're called on to place ourselves under each other. This principle is dominant in Scripture, by the way, expressing the idea of humility, expressing the idea of meekness that is so basic to Christian character. Now lest you think this is sort of a wandering verse here that just got dropped in, it's all over the New Testament. First Corinthians 16:16, "Submit yourselves to everyone." Hebrews 13:17, "Submit yourselves to the leaders of the church." First Peter 2:15...2:13 rather, "Submit yourselves to the laws of the land." First Peter 5:5, "Submit yourselves to those older than you are." James 4:7, "Submit yourselves to God." And here, "Submit yourselves to each other." This is the idea of humility.
If you want to go back to John 13 you can look at that marvelous illustration of this where Jesus washed the disciples' feet. And then said to them, "I want you to love each other just as I have loved you." And how had He loved them? Enough to humble Himself though He was the incarnate God and wash the dirty, filthy feet of a bunch of proud, self-centered disciples who were arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom while the Lord was on the brink of giving His life for them.
You can look at Philippians chapter 2 and see the same thing. "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself." That's just standard fare. Whoever you live with is more important than you are...their longings, their desires, their needs, their life is more important than your life. And so you set your life aside for them. That's a spiritual issue.
Verse 4, "Do not merely look out for your own personal interest but also for the interest of others." And that is precisely the attitude of Christ who didn't grasp being equal with God but gave it up and humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
Now listen, if marriages and families are to fulfill the divine purpose, these are the issues at stake here. And it becomes a matter of spiritual commitment. If we are willing to be obedient to the Word of God, thus allowing the Spirit of God to control our lives, if our hearts are filled with such overwhelming joy that we sing songs about God, spiritual songs about our own conversion, hymns about the gospel, our hearts are constantly filled with melody. If we are ever thankful for every single thing that comes into our life, if we are willing to submit ourselves to one another in the fear of Christ, that is out of devotion to Jesus Christ, then...then we're going to have meaningful relationships. But apart from unselfish devotion to God and unselfish devotion to each other, it isn't going to happen.
And you look at our society today and you can see that's exactly why it won't happen. Because the mind set today, the current trend today is self-centered pride, isn't it? I'm going to stay with you as long as you give me what I want. And when you don't give me what I want, I'm out of here. Today the emphasis is on individualism, rights, freedoms, liberties, self-esteem. All of that individualistic thinking is absolutely deadly to any meaningful marriage and family relationships. In gaining the rights that the humanists have sold us and gaining the rights of individual freedom, we have lost the privileges of meaningful relationships. The price for our sought after freedom in the end is going to be isolation and loneliness. People become like objects to be used and discarded. They become like strangers and families are more like a bunch of disconnected people living in a boarding house, more interested in self-fulfillment than giving, more desirous of material goods than relationships, more longing to be independent than dependent, more concerned about themselves than anyone else, in fact almost exclusively concerned about themselves...seeing wives or husbands as a burden, an obstacle in their path toward personal freedom and fulfillment, seeing children as a barrier to the fulfillment of their overwhelming selfishness. The Bible is saying if that's the way you choose to live, you can kiss meaningful relationships goodbye.
Families, meaningful marriages which are so essential to society and its preservation...listen...which are so essential to real fulfillment in life are only possible where you have unselfish attitudes, where personal desires are constantly sacrificed for others. And if that's not happening, there cannot be meaningful relationships. You cannot have the collision of two independently selfish individuals and build a relationship. It is a battle of people struggling to humble themselves. That's essential. That's the key to all relationships, to be Spirit filled, to be speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, to be saying thanks and to be submissive. Just those four things, that's the foundation. That is where you have to start this whole thing. Where you have people who walk in the Spirit fulfilling the Word of God in obedience to the truth, where you have people with a song in their heart and a song on their lips, where you have people who say thanks for everything that comes into their life and where you have people who are eager, in fact they're in a hurry to take every occasion to humble themselves and submit themselves to those around them, you have meaningful relationships. That's how you build relationships.
You know, people will ask me...what's the key to your marriage, or what's the key to your family? How is it that your family is so close? Or you're close to your wife and you have such a wonderful relationship...and I can just go back to this. There's no magic. There's no formula. There's no gimmicks. It's not a question of how many times did we do this, or how many times did we do that, or who was in charge of this, or what kind of processes or methods did we use. It's simply a question and it has to start in my heart, am I committed to obedience to the Spirit of God? Am I committed to the controlling influences of the Word of God? Am I going to live out a Christian life? Because that has to be there. Am I filled with joy and happiness or am I ugly and cantankerous and unkind and ungracious and...or is my heart so filled with joy that it touches everybody around me and makes me attractive and makes everything that I believe and love attractive to them? Am I thankful for everything in life, every difficulty, every misunderstanding, every mistreatment that occurs in my life, in family, in marriage? Am I going to be thankful for that and accept all of that with joy in my heart? Am I going to submit myself to them? Am I going to get into their life and do what pleases them? Those are the kinds of issues that we have to have addressed.
And if we don't start there, the rest is just hopeless. Now if you look at that and look at our society, you can see that there's just no way...no way. You have people consumed with iniquity, they're not interested in a Word of God, consumed with doing whatever their driving lust tells them to do, fulfilling their own desires all over the place...infidelity, sexual perversion, whatever it might be. You have people who basically have no joy or very little of it and occasionally find it in a bottle, or because they get a raise at work, or because they're going on a fishing trip, or because they had some great experience somewhere. But generally they don't...their hearts aren't filled with overwhelming joy bursting out all the time. I don't read our society like that. It's a very depressed society. They're not thankful. They never have enough. And they aren't willing to submit anything to anybody else, they want to run their own agenda. There's just no chance.
And you add on top of that the ideological lies, the fortresses of human speculation that are being erected against the Word of God, as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 10, these ideologies that have to do with humanism and sexual freedom and lesbianism and homosexuality and all the things that destroy family, the ideology that you don't need to get married, you can just have sex until you're tired of sex and then you can go find somebody you're not tired of and have some more of it. The idea that you can pregnate women all of the place and just leave them with children in every direction and that's fine, that's fine, that's wonderful, we accept that.
All of those ideologies compounded with this personal selfishness leave nothing but disaster, absolute disaster. This
whole idea of submission I want to address a little further. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and we'll get in to this a little more when we talk about husbands. Somebody at this point might misunderstand and say, "Well wait a minute, if everybody is submitting, nobody's in charge." And I just want to defer to that query for a moment.
God has designed authority into a family. And in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 3 Paul says, "I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man and the man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ." We aren't saying that there's no authority in the family, there is. There is authority at the father level and there is authority over children at the parent level, we understand that. We're not talking about the responsibility of leadership. We're not talking about the responsibility of caring and protecting which is what that authority is. We're not talking about the authority of teaching them and raising them and nurturing them in the Lord when it comes to children.
What we are talking about here is this kind of mutual submission that says, "Though I may be your leader and protector and your provider, your longings and your heart desires and your needs compel me more than my own." That's what creates the balance that is necessary. I'm not abdicating my responsibility as a husband to lead, preserve, protect, care for my wife. I'm not abdicating my responsibility as a father to provide for my children, to protect my children, to give them direction in leadership and discipline and build self-control into them, but I do that with the passion of my heart being the recognition that this best serves their needs. And whatever other needs they would have, I would eagerly desire to meet to the sacrifice of my own, if my heart is right, and I'm speaking that as anyone would.
And the perfect picture of that right there in verse 3 is that Christ is the head of every man and God is the head of Christ. Is God superior to Christ? No. Is God of a different essence than Christ? No. Are God and Christ one? Yes. It simply means that in the economy of redemption Christ submitted Himself to the purposes and plan and power of the Father. In every sense He was equal and yet submissive. And the Father was completely sensitive to the heart of the Son.
Christ totally and willingly submitted to the needs of man, submitted Himself to the purposes of the Father. Came and committed really what was the greatest act of unselfish love ever, dying on a cross to satisfy the Father and to satisfy us. He was Lord over mankind, He was the sovereign who submitted. He was the King who became a servant. He was the rich man who became poor. He was the sinless one who bore sin. He was the author of life who accepted death. He was God dying for man. That's the heart attitude.
There's no question that He's the head of man and yet He's the servant of man. The picture there in verse 3 is a marvelous one. He was equal with God and yet He submitted to God. He was over man and yet He submitted to man and to the need of man. He stooped to meet man at the deepest point of His need. On both counts we see the illustration of the submissiveness of Jesus, to the Father's will, to the need of man. Even through great anguish and drops of blood He said, "Not My will but Thine be done." Do you remember that the Scripture says, "Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love," the book of Romans, "in honor preferring one another." That's the idea. That's the idea.
Before we can talk about the role of the wife or the role of the husband or the role of the parents or the role of the children, we have to talk about the role of everybody. With Christ you have equality with God and yet submission. And in all of our relationships there will be a spiritual equality, there will be spiritual authority and there will still be a spirit of submission. In Galatians, just to kind of wrap this thought up, in Galatians 3:26, it's important to note this, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were immersed into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Now there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman," and then this, "there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
When it comes to the spiritual, we're all one. My wife is a believer, my children are believers, we're all one in Christ. None of us is superior spiritually to one another and we are all equal on the spiritual level. And yet there is authority in that family given to the father and given to the parents. That does not preclude spiritual equality, it's simply a duty, it's simply a role, it's simply an assignment for the wisest care of that unit which God has ordained. You have the same thing in the church. We are all one in Christ. There's neither male nor female, bond nor slave, Jew nor Greek in the church, whether you're a man or a woman, whether you're an employee or an employer, whether you're rich or poor, whatever culture you might have come from, we are all one in Christ. And yet though we are all equally...we are all equally spiritually, 1 Timothy 5:17 says the elders that rule well are worthy of double honor. And 1 Thessalonians 5:12 and 13 says, "We beseech you, brethren, know those who labor among you who are over you in the Lord." Acts 20 verse 28 tells the elders to take the oversight over the flock. First Peter 5, your shepherds over the flock. Hebrews chapter 13, the elders live a life of faith and the people are called to follow that. The people are told that those elders are over them in the Lord and have to give an account to God. Spiritual equality but differing responsibilities. But even in those responsibilities we operate with an attitude of submission.
I suppose to bring it into a very vivid illustration, just because it's so obvious tonight. Here I stand in a position of authority by virtue of teaching you the Word of God. You sit in a position of submission. And somebody might conclude that I am a sort of a demigod, I am some kind of an autocrat who stands up here and all of you just sit there and do what you do and there's some kind of disparity between us spiritually. That's not true. We are spiritual equals. I simply have a responsibility and a duty that gives me this task.
Not only that, I have to render this task with a greater concern for you than for me. What drives me to do what I do is not me but you. You understand that? And that's how it works in a family. I already know this stuff. I'm not here telling me this, I'm here telling you this because my concern is for you. And that's how it has to work in a marriage. We all submit in the marriage even though we have different roles.
One other passage comes to mind as we just kind of lay this foundation tonight. First Corinthians chapter 7, this is a very interesting section on the mutual submission in marriage, just to sort of drive the point home. Verse 1, "Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman." Now what he's saying here is celibacy is good. There were some questions among the Corinthians about should you get married, shouldn't you get married and so forth. He's saying celibacy is good, it's not bad, it's okay. "Touching a woman" is a euphemism for intercourse, for the union in a marriage. So what he is saying is concerning the things about which you wrote, they obviously had a question about it...it is good for a man never to have that relationship, it's good, it's okay, it's fine. Later on, by the way, he makes this really clear in verse 26, "I think then that this is good in view of the present distress that it is good for a man to remain as he is," meaning he's single, stay that way, it's good. Verse 29, "This I say, brethren, the time has been shortened so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, those who weep as though they didn't weep, those who rejoice as though they didn't rejoice, those who buy as though they didn't possess, those who use the world as though they didn't make full use of it, for the form of this world is passing away." He's saying you're living in troubling times, you ought not to get too attached to those. Verse 32, "I want you to be free from concern, one who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord how he may please the Lord. But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world how he may please his wife."
Listen, folks, marriage brings complications. You can't be single minded for the Lord, you have to be concerned about your wife. Verse 34, "Thus your interests are divided. But the woman who is unmarried and the virgin," unmarried referring to someone divorced, "and the virgin never married is concerned about the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in body and spirit. One who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband." Oh you, if you want to stay single, it's great to stay single, it's...it's much more focused. It isn't necessary but it certainly isn't bad, it is good. Some of the orthodox Jews of Paul's day believed marriage was an obligation. If a man didn't marry and produce children, the Jews said he has slain his posterity and he has therefore lessened the image of God in the world. The idea was you want to proliferate the image of God and since the image of God is in every person, you want to proliferate persons. If you don't marry, you slay your posterity and lesson the image of God in the world.
The Jews even went so far as to say seven kinds of people are excluded from heaven. And the first one on the list, the Jew who has no wife. And the second one, a wife who has no children. Pretty serious to say you couldn't get into heaven under those conditions. And that's probably what brought rise to these questions and Paul is saying being single is good, not wrong.
But verse 2, "But because of immoralities, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband." What are you saying here? It's good to be single but because single persons might be tempted into immorality, it's better to marry. That's the general rule, for the sake of purity, and, of course, Genesis 1:28, for the sake of procreation, and Genesis 2:18, for the sake of partnership, a help meet, and Song of Solomon, Hebrews 13:4, for the sake of pleasure. It's good for the sake of purity, procreation, partnership, pleasure. So it's better if you have those longings and those desires for everybody to have his own wife or husband.
And then we come to verses 3 to 5, and that's what I'm driving at here. "Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife and likewise also the wife to her husband." In this context it's talking about a conjugal duty, the marriage obligation, to give yourself physically to one another as well as in love. But the idea is now that you're married you don't withhold that kind of thing because you're preserving yourself from impurity by getting married on the assumption that you can enjoy the richness of that relationship which God has wonderfully designed. And so, let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. And then this wonderful thing, "The wife does not have authority over her own body but the husband does. And likewise, the husband doesn't have authority over his own body but the wife does." Stop depriving one another.
In other words, you have to mutually submit to one another. You've got to dispense with "I have a headache" argument. Verse 5, "Stop depriving one another, except by mutual agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer and then when that time is over come together again, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control."
Marriage carries a mutual obligation. And the language here indicates that you have a debt to your husband, ladies. And, gentlemen, you have a debt to your wife. Pay that debt. At the very basic level of sexual desire, this mutual submission can be seen. Marriage then becomes a permanent surrender of all you are to your partner. She is what you are to one another, it's an equality. I belong to you, and you belong to me. Mutual agreement is necessary, by the way, for withholding. It's not fair to say, "Don't bother me, I'm praying." It's mutual, only for a set time.
And yet, even in this mutual submission in marriage, obviously we're not negating authority. In 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 11, "Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet, for it was Adam who was first created, then Eve. It was not Adam who first was deceived but the woman being quite deceived fell into transgression," and so forth. There's still authority in submission but the heart of it is mutual, humble service.
When we've said all of this, we've laid all the ground work, really. Our authority is soft, gentle, tender, caring. It's the authority of one who provides. It's the authority of one who protects, who cares, who meets needs, who by strength and wisdom insulates, preserves, secures. It's illustrated so wonderfully in the teaching about how you deal with your children, you don't provoke them by your harsh leadership. You nurture them.
And I'll tell you, if you don't start with this, there's not much hope, in fact there's not any. Oh I suppose you could grit your teeth and decide to stay together for the sake of whatever. But apart from this kind of pattern laid out in Ephesians chapter 5, marriage and family becomes an incredibly difficult struggle, very unfulfilling. It becomes a battle for individual rights. It becomes a terrible conflict. And we watch the conflicts blow up. Every year millions of hopeful couples pledge themselves in marriage or live together with a view to building a life, and half of them end in a fight that splits the marriage. And those who have that one split to on to marry again, two thirds of them will split. Ministers are even designing divorce services, like running the film backwards, I suppose. Divorce is epidemic and where you don't have divorce you often have conflict or you have ongoing infidelity. Men are often oppressive and insensitive. And women, as well, can be disloyal, unresponsive and seeking liberation. Children have no real examples. The chaos is absolutely tragic...absolutely tragic.
So when we think about this whole subject of family, we have to start with these spiritual issues. And from there we can start to talk about specifics. If you have a Spirit-filled, obedient, praising, worshiping, thankful, submissive heart, you've got the stuff that's going to make a wonderful family, a wonderful marriage and a wonderful life. Anything else is a battle for your own way, it's that simple. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can overrule this and produce joy.
D.L. Moody, the evangelist, once asked his audience a simple question. He said, "I want you to tell me how to remove the air out of a glass," and he held it up in his hand.
One man yelled, "Suck it out with a pump."
Moody replied, "That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass."
And several other impossible answers were called out, such as, you can hardly believe this, "Turn the glass upside down." Finally, Moody reached over on the side of the pulpit where the water and the glass stood, picked up the pitcher, filled up the glass. "There," he said, "all the air is out now."
It's perfectly simple, in that sense. You can eliminate the stale air of marriage but not with the pumps of human psychology. Only when you fill your life with the living water, the Spirit of God and divine truth. And that's the key. That's where we have to start. You have to make that commitment. If you do, I can promise you all the bliss of the grace of life and the joy of marriage and family will be yours. Let's pray.
Father, we thank You for the foundations which You've given to us in Scripture. Lord, we know these things start deep down in the heart, spiritual matters have to be dealt with. I pray, Lord, for each person here that You would lead them to the place of devotion to the Spirit of God to be filled with the Spirit so that they might have a rejoicing, happy heart, thankful and submissive and thus be so easily to live with. Lord, we want happy marriages, we want fulfilled families and You've showed us how. And when it doesn't happen, we need to get off the superficial issues and get back on our knees and get our heart right with You. You want us unselfish, more concerned about others than ourselves, filled with thanksgiving for everything in our lives, no matter how difficult. And we know how much conflict comes into marriages and families where we don't think things are going the way we'd like them to go. But where there is incessant thankfulness, constant praise, constant obedience, humility, there will be joy and fulfillment. May it be so in all of our lives. That's Your plan for our joy and Your glory. We thank You for it in Christ's name. Amen.


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THE BODYGUARD's Heather Headley to Perform at THE NIGHT OF 1,000 STARS Gala, May 5
According to the Daily Mail, Heather Headley, star of The Bodyguard at the West End's Adelphi Theatre, will sing two songs from Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along at The Night of 1,000 Stars gala at Royal Albert Hall, May 5, in celebration of Hal Prince. Denise Van Outen will also perform, and the evening will be hosted by Alan Titchmarsh.
Read the original report here.
The Night of 1,000 Stars, the annual, star-studded event celebrating musical theatre at the Royal Albert Hall, will be in support of cancer charity The Caron Keating Foundation.
Tony and Grammy award-winning Heather Headley is making her West End stage debut as Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard. Having originated the role of Nala in The Lion King on Broadway, Headley went on to play the title role in Aida for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her debut solo album, This is Who I Am, was nominated for two Grammy Awards. Her third studio album, Audience of One, won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album. In recent years she has worked extensively with Andrea Bocelli on his American and international tours and sung at the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2008.
The Night of 1000 Stars, and its sister event The Night of 1000 Voices, has delighted capacity audiences at the Royal Albert Hall since 1999 and has annually raised thousands of pounds for UK-based charities. On Spring Bank Holiday, Sunday May 5, 2013, the international star performers and VIP Guests, the West End Chorus, Stephen Disley (organ) and The City of London Philharmonic will perform a musicals' night to remember.
In 2013, The Night of 1000 Stars will celebrate music from the productions of Harold (Hal) Prince including songs from West Side Story, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Follies, Cabaretand Parade.
These are just a few of the great shows to be given The Night of 1000 Stars treatment, together with a sprinkling of some that may not be quite so well known
The West End's distinguished maestros, David Firman and Stuart Morley, will once again supervise the massed musical forces and director Hugh Wooldridge says "This evening is a must for all who love musicals. Come along and hear the best performers in the world performing some of the world's greatest songs. Come and join in the fun; come and raise funds for a most splendid charity at the Royal Albert Hall."
The Night of 1000 Stars takes place on Sunday May 5, 2013 at 8.00pm. Tickets start at £15.50 and are available from the Royal Albert Hall box office on 020 7589 8212 or by visiting www.royalalberthall.com.
For more information about the event, visit www.thenightof1000voices.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Triad Health Project hosting Winter Walk for AIDS to raise money to support people living with AIDS and their families, War Memorial Stadium, Greensboro; details online.
Triad Health Project Winter Walk for AIDS
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Ep 33: Back to Whatever Normal Is
Through the lens of the devastating floods across Nashville and Middle Tennessee in May of 2010, Lori Shinton of Hands on Nashvile and Regine Webster from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy talk about disaster response and the challenges organizations and communities face in the aftermath.
8.19.19 US News
Manhattan Institute distributes Civil Society Awards, Obama Foundation names first president, Foundation for Global Sports Development launches Courage First initiative, and more.


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Avis Car Rental operates one of the world's best-known car rental brands with approximately 5,450 locations in more than 165 countries. Avis has a long history of innovation in the car rental industry and is one of the world's top brands for customer loyalty.
You can benefit from an award-winning service at any location around the world and drive away with 500 Skywards Miles on each qualifying car rental, regardless of your tier.
In addition, Emirates Skywards members can enjoy generous discounts on vehicle rental. Simply quote the Avis Worldwide Discount (AWD) numbers corresponding to your tier during booking:
Please quote your Emirates Skywards membership number when booking online or over the phone or present your card when booking in person.
If the name on your rental agreement doesn't match the name on your credit or debit card, please let the Avis Sales Associate know before your rental starts. For online transactions, you can call the nearest Avis rental office for instructions. Find your nearest Avis rental office(Opens an external website in a new tab).
If you would like to claim missing Miles for an Avis car rental, you can do so by visiting Avis online(Opens an external website in a new tab) and clicking on ''Missing Miles''.


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For anything not covered by these guidelines, or for further information, please contact your Local Representative.
We have made changes to our policy for candidates with specific needs with effect from 2019. Even if you have entered candidates with specific needs for exams before, please take the time to read the policy and FAQs as there may be important changes you need to note.
The policy is available in alternative formats upon request.
Key points to remember:
If you have questions relating to access arrangements or reasonable adjustments, you may find the answer in our FAQs below. Alternatively, please contact the Access Coordinator on the details at the bottom of this page.
Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments Policy 2019 (PDF)
FAQs Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (PDF)
ARSM involves no supporting tests, or anything which requires candidates to respond to questions from the examiner, so extra-time allowances are not normally needed. However, if a candidate has access requirements that the examiner should be aware of, please contact our Access Co-ordinator at the time of entry with the relevant details. We will then liaise with the applicant, the examiner and the exam venue to ensure that all appropriate arrangements are made.
Applicants are also welcome to contact the Access Co-ordinator before making an entry, for further information or to discuss arrangements.
Deaf and hearing-impaired candidates are welcome to bring a sign-language interpreter. We do not need prior notification of this.
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for candidates who will be bringing an interpreter (Practical). A candidate who is not comfortable using English is allowed to bring an independent person as interpreter – Regulation 13 (b)
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What was I really doing?
This photograph, recently brought to my attention by Smogranch follower and long-time friend Eric Labastida, makes me wonder on several fronts. This was made in Tijuana WAY back in the day. I'm guessing 1996 or 1997.
You will often find me at the fringes, sitting with my journal and making notes. This part I get. But it appears like I'm wearing some kind of sportcoat, which really puzzles me. What was I doing? Why a sportcoat in TJ? I am wearing my favorite ALL TIME boots, Browning Featherweights, but back when the made them in dark, dark green Kangaroo hide. If they still made these boots I would buy piles of them. But alas, like most things I fall in love with…they went away.
Just looking at this image jarred something loose. I did a show in Tijuana. I did. All those years ago and I totally forgot about it. It was something like "Building Bridges." A great space, great building but the show coincided with a huge soccer game. People still came. I can't remember who else was in the show. I do remember I did HUGE prints, analog style. I can't remember who printed them, poor bastard, it had to be Hell.
Well, whatever was going on it must have been okay. I'm still here.
I LOVE looking at old photographs.


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After many weeks of off and on work, this website is hereby declared as officially and publicly online, semi up to date, and containing lots of pretty colours.
*appropriate party noise*
Now, if you are new here, and you want to know what this is all about, check out the about page or simply skip the boring stuff and go right to the real stuff. There are games there, with links to download and play.
If you check out any of the stuff, please do not hesitate to give us some feedback so we can make even more awesome stuff in the future.
Lastly, there are also a YouTube channel, where you can find videos of our latest games and other things, a Twitter page, where we post random bits, mostly related to amulware or games and game making in general and our forum where we post about these things and where you are invited to join in discussion.
And thus, let us end as we started:
Alea iacta est.


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BERKELEY, Calif. — No matter what Arkansas did Monday night, nothing seemed to work on offense.
BERKELEY, Calif. — No matter what Arkansas did Monday night, nothing seemed to work on offense.
The Razorbacks fell into a big hole in the first half and couldn't complete a comeback en route to a 75-64 loss to California in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament.
California (21-13) advances to the NIT quarterfinals to play No. 1 SMU in Dallas on Wednesday night. The winner will move on to the NIT's Final Four in New York City on April 1-3. Arkansas ended its season with 22 wins, the most victories in three years under coach Mike Anderson.
"(Cal) came out hitting a lot of shots and we couldn't hit anything," Arkansas senior Kikko Haydar said. "We couldn't get any stops, and when you dig yourself into a hole, you try to fight back, but we ran out of time."
Guard Jabari Bird led California with 19 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Tyrone Wallace had 16 points and junior forward David Kravish added 13. California shot 55.3 percent, which was its highest field goal percentage since Jan. 18.
Cal coach Mike Montgomery said his plan for Arkansas was to always stick with zone defense, something his team did in an 85-77 victory against the Razorbacks on Nov. 25 at the Maui Invitational.
"We actually worked for three days on covering the zone, trying to hit the high post," Montgomery said. "(Arkansas) had 79 shots to our 47, so thank goodness they didn't make a lot of them, but 17 offensive rebounds is a product of the zone.
"We're not very big in the zone right now, so we challenge our guards to get rebounds and our guys did a terrific job."
The Razorbacks (22-12) got several open looks from the perimeter against Cal's zone, but didn't have any success early. In fact, Arkansas missed 14 straight during a stretch that lasted 8 minutes, 32 seconds. Arkansas missed 30 shots in the first half and went 1-for-12 behind the 3-point line, digging itself into a lopsided deficit.
Meanwhile, Cal added to its lead by getting the ball inside, mostly to Kravish, who finished the first half with nine points and five rebounds. Kravish also added three blocks, which makes 72 blocks this season, adding to his own single-season record.
Cal led 31-8 with 5:08 left before halftime after Bird drove the middle of the lane on a fast break, made a layup and was fouled by Arkansas senior guard Fred Gulley.
But the momentum changed a few seconds later when Gulley got the ball in the right corner, drove the baseline and dunked one-handed over Cal guard Jeff Powers. Game officials initially called a charge against Gulley, but later overturned it to a block against Powers, giving Gulley the chance to complete the 3-point play.
"I told the guys at halftime that we have to attack," Anderson said. "Our first play was a dunk in the first half, and so now why do you go away from what's working? I thought we were just trying to win with offense. We were shooting perimeter shots and (Cal) was laying it up over on the other end. We just didn't attack the zone properly."
Arkansas went on to end the first half on a 15-7 run and pull within 15 at the break.
In the second half, Arkansas closed within eight points when guard Ky Madden hit a jumper in the lane with 3:58 left. But that was the closest it got for the Razorbacks, who finished the game shooting 25 of 78 (32 percent).
Madden led the way for Arkansas with 15 points and five rebounds while both Bobby Portis and Alandise Harris had 12.
Portis said despite the loss, winning more than 20 games and making a postseason tournament should gives fans hope the program is headed in the right direction.
"It gives our team and our state hope that Razorback basketball is back," said Portis, who confirmed he'll be back at Arkansas for his sophomore season. "It gives the players some confidence for next year also."


text: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, and CIRTA Electro Mechanical and Maintenance, a Khalifa Fund member, have signed an AED 8 million agreement that will see CIRTA develop customised software for the airline's cabin crew transport system. The agreement was recently signed at the Etihad Airways Centre in Abu Dhabi by Robert Webb, Etihad Airways' Chief Information & Technology Officer, and Abdulla Al Shammari, Chief Executive Officer of CIRTA Electro Mechanical and Maintenance.Mr Webb said: "CIRTA's software will be tailored to Etihad Airways' unique specifications and will significantly improve the crew transportation routes for travel to Abu Dhabi airport."The automatic optimisation system will analyse flight departure times for the crew, identify their locations in Abu Dhabi, schedule pick-up time and produce an optimised transportation route."This will increase the efficiency in the transport management system and decrease the number of buses needed. The system will deliver an ideal one-stop solution that will help reduce transportation costs, lower fuel usage, and lower CO2 emissions."Mr Al Shammari said: "This agreement opens the doors for CIRTA to enter the local market and support one of the leading companies in the region. We look forward to providing Etihad Airways with a world-class service and software."H E Abdullah Al Darmaki, Chief Executive Officer of Khalifa Fund, said: "By awarding contracts to Khalifa Fund members, Etihad Airways is supporting the growth of the UAE, improving standards of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), and encouraging competition in the market."Government and semi-government entities should follow this example and give SMEs support and encouragement to enable them to play their role in the development of the national economy."Etihad Airways' procurement department also hosted a workshop to familiarise more than 70 Khalifa Fund members with the airline procurement procedures.Adil Al-Mulla, Etihad Airways' Vice President Procurement and Supply Management, said: "The workshop introduced Khalifa Fund entrepreneurs to our business which will increase their opportunities to bid for further contracts with the airline."As the national airline of the UAE we are committed to supporting our community, including small and medium size enterprises across the country." Vind ons leuk Bezoek onze Facebookpagina! Bekijk ons Bekijk ons YouTube-kanaal! Volg ons Etihad Airways | Etihad Aanbiedingen | Etihad Help | Etihad Rewards


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We pack a lunch for our 2 1/2 year old four times a week. Inspired by sites like Wendolonia, I've been challenging myself to build interesting, healthy lunch menus that will keep him interested in trying new things and please him with familiar favorites.
I share photos and details of his lunches regularly (though not every day) over on the Snackreligious Tumblr feed. Check it out!


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War veterans hail meditation as beneficial, cost-effective Post Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment
War veterans struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are increasingly turning to alternative therapies in an effort to overcome the psychological scars left by conflict.
In the United States and Australia, PTSD is an unfolding generational catastrophe affecting an estimated 20 to 30 per cent of veterans.
And there are concerns that when the ADF pulls out of Afghanistan at the end of the year, there will be a higher number of veterans requiring treatment.
Like many others, US war veteran Jason Lebrecht struggled with anxiety, loneliness and depression.
Eventually he found the answer to his problems lay within and is one of a growing number of damaged veterans turning to meditation, in particular transcendental meditation (TM).
The technique was first perfected and successfully marketed in the 1960s by the counterculture figure, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who became famous as a guru to The Beatles.
What is transcendental meditation?
- Started in India in the 1950s by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
- Involves two 20-minute sessions of meditation per day
- Practitioners sit with eyes closed and silently repeat a mantra
- Technique taught in standardised seven-step course by certified teacher, who assigns each student a specific mantra
- Adherents say more than five million people worldwide practise TM
"TM has allowed me to clean the slate, to get rid of those self doubts, to trust in myself and my abilities and remind me that I have this long list of accomplishments," Mr Lebrecht said.
Dr Sarina Grosewald is just one of a growing number of researchers who champion TM as an effective treatment for PTSD.
She is working with the US veterans' administration on two research projects.
"The social workers that we work with say they haven't seen anything that works this effectively and this quickly, so were seeing very, very dramatic results," she said.
"I can tell you informally that we're seeing very, very good results.
"We're talking about changing someone's life - people who were on the verge of taking their life who are suddenly saying 'I have something to live for'."
Dr Fred Travis is another of those convinced by the results achieved with TM and last month he was in Australia talking up the research.
"What we find is about a third of the veterans respond almost immediately - they start TM and [respond] in a matter of one or two days," he said.
Relief from suicidal thoughts, insomnia, depression, anxiety
The US studies have shown that within a week or two another third of the research group have also experienced some relief from suicidal thoughts, a decrease in insomnia and some significant relief from depression and anxiety.
"One individual learned TM and said after two days suicidal thoughts stopped coming to mind - what you're doing is changing the whole process of how you see the world," Dr Travis said.
In percentage terms, the incidence of PTSD in Australia mirrors those in the United States.
Dr Renee Ireland is now working on an Australian study into TM and PTSD, set to get underway next year.
She says one of the big attractions of meditation is that it is so different from the standard treatment, known as prolonged exposure therapy.
"I think the main goal is to help people manage the impact that the effects of trauma has had on their life," Dr Ireland said.
"One of the drawbacks of this kind of therapy is that some people find it really difficult to relive the traumatic event that's responsible for them having PTSD in the first place."
Doctors advise caution on meditation's benefits
Some psychiatrists and trauma specialists have urged caution about seeing TM as a cure, arguing that PTSD is a condition that has to be managed.
But the tidal wave of sadness is causing even conservative institutions, like the military, to look for answers in some unusual places.
The results from research on US veterans are promising and appealing, as no drugs are involved and it is extremely cost effective.
But many doctors say more study does need to be done and meditation should still be seen as an adjunct to other therapies and treatments.
Topics: mental-health, health, diseases-and-disorders, defence-forces, defence-industry, defence-and-national-security, australia, united-states
First posted


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Master jacket-tailoring techniques and make fit issues disappear. Reshape shoulders, busts and waists as you alter jackets for the best possible look.
Upgrade ready-to-wear and home-sewn jackets with tailoring lessons from alterations expert Angela Wolf. Discover the secrets of ready-to-wear jacket construction as you go inside the seams, and find out how to tell whether or not a jacket can be altered. Use the petite adjustment to remove side-seam wrinkles. Raise shoulders for perfect seam placement and jacket sleeves for a better fit through the arms. Take in side seams, center-back and princess seams for a better fit and a slenderizing look. Hem lined jackets from the bottom for the length you want. Plus, hem sleeves from the shoulder to preserve buttonholes or embroidery decorations. Get comfortable identifying fit issues and tailoring jackets to look and feel custom-made.
If you're not delighted with your Bluprint experience, we'll make it right or give you a full refund.


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EOQ Business Leaders' Club (EOQ BLC) is the European business leaders network to achieve competitiveness and sustainable success.
EOQ BLC meeting - Malta, September 19th, 2011
The EOQ Business Leaders' Club meeting of September 2011 was organized with the kind support of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, the EOQ National Representative organization for Malta.
Interesting presentations related to energy efficiency were presented and discussed during the meeting, hosted at Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort Malta.
- Mr. Winston J. Zahra, CEO of Island Hotels Group Holdings informed about "Energy Saving in Hotels and New Concepts". The presentation, made by Mr. Ray Vassalo showed design, architectural, mechanical, electrical and water-based solutions applied at the holdings' hotels to save energy and water.
- Mr. Niyazi Akdas, President of EOQ made antoher presentation on "City of Ankara's Waste Management System". In this respect, the main conclusion was that the applied waste management system in Ankara not only provided a cleaner and more hygienic environment but also created added value by producing electrical energy as a result of the waste processing procedure and this electrical energy is currently being used at many houses and companies located around the waste processing base of ITC in Ankara
Information about the EOQ meetings in Malta was published in the weekly newsletter of Malta Chamber, Chamberlink.


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Haggis Shepherd's Pie
Joe McPherson lives in Korea and his blog, ZenKimchi Food Journal is all about collecting "recipes for cooking Korean food in Korea or abroad and recipes for recreating western food with Korean ingredients". I don't know how many Koreans or Westerners would be willing to eat the Haggis Shepherd's Pie he recently managed to cobble together, as it looks about as nasty as the name would suggest—it's the Haggis part of the equation that gives me pause—but I do give him points for being both crazy enough to think it up and intrepid enough to actually execute the idea.
(If you've never had haggis but think you might like to, McLean's of Scotland will happily ship you some, ready-to-cook, from between $40 to $265. Better your tastebuds than mine.)
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.


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Iran is the crisis of the hour in Washington, and for the first time in recent memory talk now routinely turns to military action. In an effort to forestall Tehran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon, the United States has launched a worldwide effort to limit Iran's oil exports and increase the economic stress on the Iranian regime. Where sanctions on Iran were once seem as a somewhat quixotic American campaign, they are about to go worldwide; the United States will soon sanction firms that do business with Iran's Central Bank, which now processes a large percentage of oil transactions. The European Union, meanwhile, is poised to embargo Iranian oil and Asian countries, including South Korea and Japan, are enlisting in the effort to economically isolate Iran.
As this effort proceeds, Americans will inevitably look to India, the fourth-largest importer of Iranian oil. But they will see a view of Iran that looks very different in New Delhi than it does in Washington. This difference over Iran poses a genuine problem to the two countries and, unless it's bridged, it could throw a tremendous spanner into the machinery of U.S.-India relations.
It's difficult to overestimate the importance of the Iranian nuclear threat in the minds of most American policymakers. They see in Tehran a regime that pursues an atomic weapon capacity at the same time that has aided American enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, supports Hizbollah, Hamas and the thuggish regime in Syria, allegedly tries to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, and threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz, all while denying the Holocaust and threatening death to America. An Iranian nuclear weapons capacity, many policymakers fear, could hand Tehran a deterrent behind which to pursue an even more aggressive drive for regional domination, set off a regional arms race, and threaten the stability of the Middle East.Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
In New Delhi, the picture looks very different. India imports roughly 12 percent of its oil from Iran, and because Pakistan blocks Indian commerce through Afghanistan to Central Asia, Iran forms a key transit Indian transit route. Indian Shia comprise a relatively small percentage of the population, but represent an important swing vote in elections. India and Iran have long cultural and population ties, and in 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went so far as tell an American interviewer that, "Our relations with Iran, we cherish a great deal."
Yet this has begun to change around the edges. The talk of cherishing ties has faded, and India has begun increasing its purchases of Saudi oil. Singh has said explicitly that India opposes an Iranian nuclear weapon, and New Delhi voted to censure Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Still, the new U.S.-led sanctions push may put Washington and New Delhi on opposite sides of this critical issue. Asked about America's new sanctions, Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said this past week: "We have accepted sanctions which are made by the United Nations. Other sanctions do not apply to individual countries. We don't accept that position." Indeed, he went further, noting that an Indian delegation would travel to Iran to "work out a mechanism for uninterrupted purchase of oil from Iran." And India and Iran have reportedly agreed to settle some of their oil trade in rupees to avoid restrictions on dollar-denominated trade.


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1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk (I used skim milk, and it seemed fine.)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Scotch (optional, I used Bourbon, and I guess it just added a different flavor.)
1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
3 Tbsp honey
3 eggs, seperated
1/3 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 350º. Butter a shallow baking dish. Whisk together the flour and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, lemon juice, butter, honey, Whiskey (if using), and yolks. Mix into the flour. Whip egg whites in a clean bowl on high speed until frothy. While whipping, slowly add sugar, about 1 tbsp. at a time. Whip until shiny and holds a stiff peak. Carefully fold into mixture. Pour into pan, and bake in a water bath for 45-50 minutes.


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There's a lot more to saving biodiversity than huge international conferences. This is why today fifty cities from thirty countries met in Bonn to discuss the role of local authorities in achieving the 2010 biodiversity target.
Speaking at the opening of the Mayors' Conference "Local Action for Biodiversity" taking place in parallel to COP9, William Jackson, IUCN Deputy Director General reminded mayors of the scale and the urgency of biodiversity loss, and asked them to take responsibility for biodiversity beyond their city borders.
"No agency is better positioned to manage urban biodiversity and to educate citizens about its importance than local government," states the draft Bonn Call for Action, a joint statement to be presented during the high-level Ministerial Segment at COP9 on Thursday. Delegates to the Convention on Biological Diversity had agreed on a recommendation on cities and biodiversity yesterday.


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Alhambra Mini Shirt Dress
- A rounded hem that dips at the back and a drawstring for an adjustable fit and a flattering silhouette.
- Neat fitting on the shoulders with slightly shaped side seams.
- Sleeves can be worn long or tacked up with sleeve tabs for versatility.
Your Heidi Klein resortwear is made from the most luxurious fabrics. With a little care, it will stay looking beautiful, wear after wear:
- DO hand wash your resortwear in cold water using a mild detergent
- DO rinse bright colours in cold water before use: even the most premium fabrics are not completely colourfast
- DO iron on low heat
- DON'T dry clean
- DON'T bleach or tumble dry
- DON'T dry in direct sunlight
- DON'T forget to send us a postcard
Take Me Somewhere Lovely...
At Heidi Klein, we love seeing our resortwear in action, in some of the most beautiful places in the world. So please, tag us in your pictures - we'd love to see you #wearingheidiklein
Most orders are dispatched within 24 hours however occasionally there may be a delay if we need to review your order or during busy periods. Please note all orders are sent using registered post or courier and therefore must be signed for. For more information on worldwide delivery please visit our shipping page.
Returning an item couldn't be simpler. Try your swimwear on in the conveninece of your own home and if you need to send them back, you have 21 days from the date you received your order to exchange or return any unworn, unwashed merchandise. For more information please visit our returns page.
Don't for get to contact our Personal Swimwear Fit service to find the perfect size and style to make you feel gorgeous on your holiday..


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The Forest Milestone Blanket
Regular price $49.95
."The Forest" baby milestone blanket. Available as a cozy velveteen micro fleece blanket and a premium Sherpa blanket - both 50" x 60". The design is printed on the front of the blanket only with the Sherpa blanket having the luxurious Sherpa (faux micro mink) on the back (un-printed) side.
A great gift for new parents! Its an exciting way to document a baby's progress as he/she grows up through their first 12 months. Its also a high quality general use blanket.
⮞ Just click "Customize" to enter your own custom name.
✈ Shipping:
This item is hand made and customised to you. Ships within 7 business days via courier from the USA. Please allow 2-5 business days for delivery. International orders take 10-28 days depending on your location.
👕 Size Guide:
Blanket size is 50" x 60" with the print on the front only.


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In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, we are making the largest interactive WWII collection on the web free to the public during December. Featuring over 10 million records, documents and photos from the National Archives, this collection helps family members and historians better understand the people and events of WWII.
Included in this exclusive collection is the Interactive USS Arizona Memorial. This online version allows people to view the actual wall of names and search for those they know. An interactive box for each name on the wall features additional information about each veteran and includes a place where anyone can contribute photos and stories. View the Captain of the USS Arizona, Franklin Van Valkenburgh, on the interactive wall.
It's estimated that a little over 2 million WWII veterans are still alive in the United States today. However, thousands of veterans are passing away every month taking with them many of the stories from WWII. Footnote.com is making an effort to help preserve these stories by digitizing documents from the National Archives and providing interactive tools to help people connect with each other.
Christina Knoedler from Pennsylvania used the Missing Air Crew Reports on Footnote.com to discover information about her father-in-law, who is a WWII veteran. "The other night, I showed him what I had found," explains Christina. "He couldn't believe that these papers existed. They had not only his name but also his buddies' names. He started to reminisce and it was quite an evening. This will allow me to go back and document many more events in our family's history for the generations to come."
The Missing Air Crew Reports are just one of the record collections found on Footnote.com. Other WWII collections on Footnote.com include:
- Pearl Harbor Muster Rolls
- U.S. Air Force Photos
- Submarine Patrol Reports
- Japanese Air Target Analysis
- Army JAG Case Files
- Navy JAG Case Files
- Naval Press Clippings
- Allied Military Conferences
- Holocaust Records
"People are making fascinating discoveries in these records," says Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. "Reading some of the first-hand accounts helps you develop a different view and appreciation of our WWII heroes and what they went through."
To experience the Interactive USS Arizona Memorial and the World War II visit www.footnote.com/wwii/.


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OTTAWA - Federal lawyers are suiting up for a legal battle over whether a new code of conduct should be retroactively applied to the country's wireless service providers.
Industry Canada has asked the attorney general to step in after the Federal Court of Appeal ruled last week that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission could not speak on its own behalf in a lawsuit filed last year.
"Our government will intervene in this case on behalf of Canadian wireless consumers to ensure that their voices are heard," said Jake Enwright, press secretary for Industry Minister James Moore.
The CRTC introduced the new code in June 2013 to give consumers better protection against high cellphone roaming charges and wireless contract cancellation fees.
Wireless operators including Rogers Communications, Telus and BCE Inc. launched legal action last July after raising concerns that some provisions of the code would apply retroactively to all of their customers once fully implemented.
Soon after the carriers challenged certain aspects of the code, the CRTC jumped to its own defence, but a Federal Court of Appeal justice ruled that the telecom regulator was overstepping its bounds by doing so.
As a result of that ruling, the government is stepping in because it supports the regulator's plan, said Enwright.
Story continues below
"We support the CRTC's decision to apply the Wireless Code retroactively," he said in an email Wednesday.
"We are committed to protecting consumers' interest by upholding the retroactive portion of the Wireless Code currently under appeal."
The move means the CRTC is no longer effectively helpless to defend its own code, which was enacted in December and is scheduled to be fully implemented on June 3, 2015.
The Opposition New Democrats are welcoming government intervention, but say it should have happened before the CRTC was admonished in court.
"I think they're stepping up to the plate because they were called out on the fact that they were doing nothing," said NDP critic Peggy Nash.
"Thank goodness they are finally stepping forward and defending consumers and defending the code."
Once in force, the wireless code would require carriers to limit early cancellation fees, data roaming fees and overage charges.
It also imposes restrictions on the locking of wireless devices, on security deposits and on device disconnection.
Should the wireless carriers lose the court battle, the code would apply to all of their customers, regardless of when they signed contracts.
The carriers want the wording of the code changed so that it only applies to customers who sign up for services after the code goes into effect.
No date has been set for a hearing, which is expected to take place in Toronto.


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Gloss and shine for fine hair
Product Actions
Our lemony lightweight conditioner is perfect for fine-haired folk and vegans, or anyone who wants a post-shampoo rinse that won't weigh hair down. Made with a mineral-rich agar agar gel base to soften hair and a herbal rosemary and lavender infusion for a healthy scalp, this one also delivers beautiful glossy shine thanks to lemon oil and juice.
How to use: After shampooing, smooth conditioner through your hair, concentrating on the ends. Rinse out and you're done!
Fresh ingredients
Lavender Flower Infusion (Lavandula angustifolia) Rosemary Infusion (Rosmarinus officinalis) Agar Agar Gel (Gelidium cartilagineum) Cetearyl Alcohol Propylene Glycol Cetearyl Alcohol and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Cetrimonium Bromide Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum) Benzoin Resinoid (Styrax tonkinensis pierre) Fresh Organic Lemon Juice (Citrus limonum) *Citral *Limonene Fragrance Methylparaben
*Occurs naturally in essential oils
Natural ingredients
Safe synthetics


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