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The oldest continuously worshiping church in the world is the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The church is built above a cave that many believe to be the birthplace of Christ. Now the beautiful thing about this church is that in order to enter through the Church of the Nativity one must pass through a very low gate. You cannot enter without bending low; and then again when one approaches the cave itself, only those who stoop low, only those who make themselves small, like a child, may enter. Jesus said, "Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18: 3). In Matthew 2: 1-12, we learn about the wise men who behaved like children in order to find the Christ Child; and in so doing show us how to find him too…
Like curious children, these wise men said, "Why?" "In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem..." following a star (Matt. 2: 1). Nothing is more childlike then curiosity, then the willingness to go on an adventure of discovery. The first question these wise men asked is not directly stated in this passage…but it is definitely implied. The first question these wise men asked was "Why?" as in "Why did that strange star appear in the east?" It is a sad day indeed when we stop learning, when we stop seeking, when we stop asking questions. May God save us from a jaded indifference that assumes we've already seen it all, done it all, and know it all.
Now these wise men or "magi" from Persia studied the motion of the stars, and so when they saw the star (literally, the astral phenomenon) they asked themselves, "Why?" Why has this light appeared in the sky? I asked my girls what they were most curious about when it came to the story of the wise men…and they said, "The star." I am confident that these wise men saw an extremely bright object in the sky which clearly communicated to them that someone very special was to be born in the land of the Jewish people; and that this "star" led them to Bethlehem. But what was this "astral phenomenon" exactly?
Just over 2000 years ago there was a rare conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn three times in a portion of the sky known as "the Fishes". Jupiter signified the birth of a world ruler. Saturn was the star of the Jews/Palestine; and the fish constellation signified "The Last Days." They interpreted this alignment of stars to mean that a great Ruler who was to usher in a new age was to be born in Palestine the following year. We don't "think" that people interpreted "the star" in this way, we "know" they did… from ancient Babylonian calendar tablets that speak about this event the year before. The wise men saw something in the sky that pointed to an event of great significance… and so they followed the star and its message to Jerusalem. For an excellent survey of opinions on the star phenomenon, see The Magi & the Star by Michael J. Miller.
As I said, the first question these wise men asked was, "Why?" They were wise because they asked questions; they were wise because they knew they didn't know it all. They were wise because they were not afraid to act like curious children. On Christmas Eve, one of our middle school boys had a simple line in a Christmas play loosely based on the story of The Little Drummer Boy. Playing the part of the Bethlehem star, he kept repeating confidently, "I'm a star!" But the big moment came when he declared to the wise men, "I'm a star…but the real star is in there!" (pointing to the manger). The wise men knew who the real star was…and their curiosity brought them to where he was. May God give us the curiosity of a child. May he give us the courage to ask the most important questions of life: Why am I here? Why did God bring me into this world? What is God's will and how can I be part of it?
Like trusting children, these wise men, asked "Where?" "'Where is this child who has been born king of the Jews? For we have observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage.' When King Herod heard this, he was frightened… and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet…" (Matt. 2: 2-5). Notice that these wise men believed so strongly that they were being led to this Child that they boldly walked into Jerusalem and asked Herod, 'Where is he?' In other words, they had faith that he would be there!
Last Sunday, the day after Christmas, I took a quick survey of our families during the worship service. "Who was first to get up Christmas morning?" I asked the children. "Was it you, or was it your mom or dad?" I was wagering that mom and dad did not have to set their alarm clocks on Christmas morning; and the quick survey proved my theory. These kids were the first out of bed...up at dawn…knocking on the door...tugging at their parents' arms...begging them to get up -- even if (like me) you went to bed at 1:00 in the morning after leading a late night Candle Light Service. There was no mercy! And why do children do this? Because of those presents under the tree. They knew…they believed…they trusted that what was in those beautifully wrapped presents was something wonderful, something special, something good; and that trust was confirmed. Which is what happened when these wise men with childlike trust inquired of King Herod where the Messiah was to be born. Their faith was confirmed.... confirmed by the words of the scribes and Pharisees from God's word, confirmed by the promise of God that the Messiah was coming: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times" (Micah 5: 2).
Like amazed children, these wise men said, "Wow!" "When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matt. 2: 11-12). The word that describes the attitude of these wise men when they come to Bethlehem is wonder (or "Wow!" for short). They were "overwhelmed with joy" at the sight of the star which with the aid of God's word led them to Bethlehem… and then even more amazed when they saw the One they had come to greet…the Christ Child before whom they "knelt down to pay homage."
Children teach adults how to say, "Wow!" When a child is born, there is an adult who is saying, "Wow!" When a toddler first begins to walk, there is an adult who is saying, "Wow!" When a baby says her first words, someone is saying, "Wow!" I read about several children that made me say "Wow!" recently. In April of this year, 16 year old Alex Griffith, who was adopted as a baby from a Krasnoyarsk Russia hospital by a Maryland couple, raised over $60,000 to design and build a playground for the orphans back home. Alex has cerebral palsy. In August, 9 year old Logan Hearn saved the life of his 2 year old brother when he saw him floating face down in the family pool thanks to a CPR class he took and his willingness to correct his distraught parents who were doing it incorrectly. In March, a 12 year-old girl saved the lives of hundreds of island inhabitants off the coast of Chile, when she sounded the village alarm following the massive 8.8 earthquake warning them of the giant tsunami wave that soon followed....
Children teach us to say, "Wow!" And no Child has wowed us more than the One born in Bethlehem's stable…. We wonder at the humility of our Lord who chose to be born not in a palace, but in poverty, in a cave most likely, where he lay in the crook of a woman's arms. The same amazement that we feel even today in his presence…was felt by the wise men also as they knelt down to worship, open their treasure chests, and then return by another road. First, they knelt down and worshiped, they gave honor to the King of kings. Next, they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts (and the best gift of all, was the gift of their love and their loyalty). Then, warned by an angel, they returned by another road. Now that's a phrase we can easily pass over. But it's an important one. King Herod wanted these wise men to return to Jerusalem and inform him where the Christ Child was…not so that he could worship him, but so that he could destroy him. But they were so amazed at the Christ Child that they chose to obey the heavenly vision instead of King Herod.
As a boy, one of my favorite memories was our summer vacations at my grandparents' farm house in Belen, New Mexico, where my dad and his sister grew up. We looked forward to seeing our grandma and grandpa, and to playing with our cousins. Now beside their house were some huge cottonwood trees that the four cousins would play beneath for hours… swinging on the tire swing, building forts and lighting a few stolen matches; going fishing with grandpa, and hunting arrowheads with grandma. We didn't care about the heat of August or the mosquitos…. they were some of the happiest days of our childhood. About four years ago, we had a wonderful family reunion in the Sacramento mountains of New Mexico…and after it was over we drove up to Belen; to the land on which my grandparents' house was built. Grandma and Grandpa are in heaven now, and the house is no longer standing, but the huge cottonwood trees are still there, just as strong and beautiful as ever. So I decided to take some fallen wood from that tree and with it I fashioned a two foot cross, which hangs in my office. That cross reminds me of my childhood…and the Great Family Reunion that is coming for all who trust in the Savior. It reminds me of the little town of Belen, which is Spanish for Bethlehem. And it reminds me of Jesus who said, "Let the little children come to me for to such belongs the Kingdom of God." Christmas is past…but the same Jesus who was born in the little town of Bethlehem invites you to come to him today as the wise men did two thousand years ago…with the curiosity, the simple trust, and the wide-eyed amazement of children as we receive Gods' greatest gift…who is Christ himself.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Christmas Price Tag
There are few people on earth who have not felt cold and dreary, or who have not experienced days when it seemed like it would be "always winter and never Christmas" (to borrow a phrase from The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe); days that seemed frozen in darkness. But I'm here to proclaim to you the good news that the blazing Light of Christmas has come. For as the shepherds gathered around a warm fire, "keeping watch over their flock by night," an angel of the Lord stood before them "and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for I bring you good news of great joy for all the people!'" news that the light of the world has come, news that the long winter was over and that the gift of Christmas, the Light of the World, has arrived: "for to you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:11). In the Greek text, three simple words follow one after another in this verse: For you (humin)…today (sameron)…a Savior (soter)! I'd like to focus on each of these in turn, because they remind us that Christmas has both a gift tag and a price tag.
The gift of Christmas is given for you. I remember how exciting it was to awake on Christmas morning to a tree surrounded by gifts…and see on the gift tag the miraculous words, "To Steve." I love the personal nature of the angels words: "There is born for you (humin can be trans. either "to you" or "for you" )…a Savior."
The angels do not make their announcement in some vague, impersonal way. This was no automated email confirmation; no computerized mass mailing telling me that I've won some bogus prize…if I subscribe to three magazines. No, this was a personal invite to the most important event in history: "There is born for you…a Savior" and it was said to shepherds keeping watch over their sheep. Remember that shepherds were regarded by many as no better than robbers. Yet, these ordinary shepherds, who made their living not in golden palaces but out in the fields, were the first to be told about the birth of the King of kings. The promise of Christmas is for you too, the angels seemed to say.
Sometimes we say to ourselves, "No, it can't be for me…. We assume that God's gift is for holy people, not messy people …people who have failed and faltered …people with doubts and dusty dark closets. Surely the good stuff is reserved for messless people, not messy people like me." Now listen carefully to the angel's words: "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people" (Luke 2: 10). The angel did not say that the gift of Christmas was good news for some people or for the right people or for a select people, but for all people…and that means that God's gift is for you…."
The gift of Christmas is given for you…and it is given, today… As Jack Hayford used to say, "Not yesterday which would mean you've already missed it. Not tomorrow, which means you still have to wait for it. The promise is for today." I'm thinking of Ebenezer Scrooge in Dicken's classic fable who awakens from his visitation by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future; now a reformed man and desperate to right the wrongs he has done to Bob Cratchit and so many others. Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head….
"What's to-day?" cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him.
"Eh?" returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.
"What's to-day, my fine fellow?" said Scrooge.
"To-day?" replied the boy. "Why, Christmas Day."
"It's Christmas Day!" said Scrooge to himself. "I haven't missed it!"
Friends, the promise of Christmas is for today…and you haven't missed it! When the angels' announce Jesus' birth, the shepherds say to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing (literally, "this word" / rhema) that has taken place" (Luke 2: 15). God's word is an event that comes alive today in Christ…as when Jesus said after reading the prophet Isaiah, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). The assurance of God's love and healing power is meant to be ours today: For "Jesus said to [Zaccheus], 'Today salvation has come to this house'…." (Luke 19:9) and the Bible says, "Now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). Do you recall Jesus' words to the thief who was crucified beside him? "Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Today…today…today!
But notice how the shepherds respond to the angels' announcement. They say to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see…." (15). That says to me that if the promise of Christmas is for today… I must respond asap, without delay. Human beings spend a lot of time dreaming about and worrying about the future or regretting and longing for the past. In the meantime, we forget to live in the grace of this present moment with God (like the shepherds) and experience all that he has for us today. God means for you to receive and to share with others today… the truths of his Word… the gift of His healing … the gift of salvation & eternal life. To paraphrase Ebenezer, "You haven't missed it!" It's not too late to receive his gracious gift of love… and it's not too late to share his love, his compassion, his forgiveness and grace with others. The gift of Christmas is for you, and it's for today, but there is one more thing we need to know about the gift of Christmas...
The price tag of Christmas was paid by the Savior. When we are younger most of our wishes are material in nature; but as we grow older hopefully we begin to understand the deeper meaning of Christmas. Years ago, Amy Grant recorded a song about her Grown-Up Christmas List:
So here's my lifelong wish,God wants us to live in such a way that this Christmas wish is possible; and that's why he did what was necessary to bring it about. That's why he sent his Son: "to seek out and to save what was lost" (Luke 19: 10); to save this world from sin, fear, cruelty, and death. As children we don't realize that most wishes have a price tag. Sometimes when gifts are exchanged between families there is a debate about the price they are willing to pay for one another's wishes. (Last year you bought Uncle Albert a nice new raincoat… this year you're thinking a pair of reindeer boxer shorts.) As families grow and finances get tighter, the limit may get smaller and smaller.
my grown-up Christmas list,
not for myself, but for a world in need:
No more lives torn apart,
that wars would never start,
and time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
and right would always win,
and love would never end.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.
But there was no limit to what God was willing to pay for his Christmas wish – his wish and desire that all might know him, turn from evil, and walk in his ways. There was no limit to what he was willing to do…Even if it meant descending from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into our humanity. Even if it meant sharing his life and light with the very ones who would later reject and desert him. Even if it meant accepting the anguish of the cross before the joy of Easter. Even if it meant the slow millennia long transformation of this world through his flawed but Spirit-filled people. All of this, God was willing to do to pay for his Christmas wish. The gift of Christmas is for you, it's for today…and it's Jesus our Savior who paid the price for it.
We've been having some stormy weather this week…and it reminds me of a story by veteran ABC Radio commentator Paul Harvey who once told a story he called, The Christmas Storm. Listen to Harvey's original radio broadcast by clicking on this link. The transcript of Paul Harvey's story is below:
This is about a modern man, one of us, he was not a scrooge, he was a kind, decent, mostly good man, generous to his family, upright in his dealings with others. But he did not believe in all that incarnation stuff that the Churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn't make sense to him and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just could not swallow the Jesus story about God coming to earth as man. I'm truly sorry to distress you, he told his wife, but I'm not going with you to church this Christmas Eve. He said he'd feel like a hypocrite. That he would much rather stay home, but that he would wait up for them. He stayed, they went. Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier, then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper.The gift of Christmas is for you. The gift of Christmas is for you today; and the gift of Christmas is the Savior born in Bethlehem's manger....
Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another…and another. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. Well, when he went to the front door, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter they had tried to fly through his large landscape window. Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze. He remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter -- if he could direct the birds to it. He quickly put on his coat and galoshes, trampled through the deepening snow to the barn, opened the door wide, and turned on a light. But the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in -- and he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow…making a trail to the yellow lighted wide open doorway of the stable, but to his dismay the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them, he tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms -- instead they scattered in every direction except into the warm lighted barn.
Then he realized they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature, if only I could think of some way to let them know they can trust me. That I'm not trying to hurt them, but to help them. How? Any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.
If only I could be a bird myself he thought. If only I could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language, and tell them not to be afraid, and show them the way to the safe, warm barn. But I'd have to be one of them, so they could see and hear & understand. At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sound of the wind. He stood there listening to the bells. Adeste Fideles. Listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.
King Jesus, you are the Christ of Christmas! Help me to know today that just like these shepherds, I too have been personally invited to enter Bethlehem's stall, and to celebrate your coming. I know now that the greatest Christmas Gift of all was not wrapped in colorful paper with fancy ribbons or bows, but in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. I thank you that you are that Gift, the Infinite One who became an Infant, the Teacher who shows me how to live, the Redeemer who bore my sin on the cross, the King who is risen from the dead. As I turn from the things I know are wrong and place my faith in you, I confess you to be my Lord and my Savior, and thank you for making me a member of your Forever Family. Please cleanse me and heal me, fill me with your Holy Spirit, and set me on the path of Eternal Life that I may celebrate the Gift of Christmas today…and every day of my life. Amen!
Posted by Steve Craig at 10:13 PM No comments:
Sunday, December 12, 2010
God's Toy Story
In that movie, all the toys know they are just toys…except for one: Buzz Lightyear. He's the one who thinks he's really a Space Ranger on a mission from Star Command: "To infinity and beyond!" he likes to say. That is until he sees a TV commercial selling Buzz Lightyear action figures for Christmas… and he discovers the truth. Of course, he learns that while he may be just a toy, he can still bring joy to a child's heart (Please join me in a collective, "ahhhhhhh").
Why is it that we are so fascinated with stories about toys and playthings coming to life? There are probably several reasons: but I think it's because we have a God-given desire to nurture and bring forth life; and because we dream of being forever alive ourselves, to go to infinity and beyond. And now we are getting closer to the message of Christmas and the message of John 1: 1-12, for…
What children (and adults) make believe, God has the power to do. John writes: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him" (John 1: 1, 10). In the beginning, says John, was the Eternal Word, the Logos; a word that enbodies the Hebrew concept of wisdom (hokmah) and the Greek concept of reason and mind (logos). John says that this Logos is the eternal, creating, illuminating, sustaining mind of God that has always existed (Barclay).
Now it's the testimony of the gospels that in the person and work of Jesus the invisible God is made visible. In his words, in his actions, in his love and compassion, and most of all, in his death on the cross and resurrection…we see God, hear God, experience the victory of God over the darkness of this world. What we dream of doing as children (bringing things to life) Christ did among us: "in him was life," says John, "and that life was the light of all people."
In the middle of the 3rd century, a fanciful story about Jesus… The Infancy Gospel of Thomas was written to satisfy those who were curious about Jesus' boyhood. Though these are tall tales to be sure…and Jesus is sometimes portrayed as an impulsive trickster and magic worker (the authentic gospels are very lean in their accounts of Jesus as a boy, and as a worker of miracles. Miracles always have a purpose and are never done for ostentatious display), there is one story I'd like to share with you…
When the boy Jesus was five years old, he was playing at the ford of a rushing stream. And he gathered the disturbed water into pools and made them pure and excellent, commanding them by the character of his word alone and not by means of a deed. Then, taking soft clay from the mud, he formed twelve sparrows. It was the Sabbath when he did these things, and many children were with him. And a certain Jew, seeing the boy Jesus with the other children doing these things, went to his father Joseph and falsely accused the boy Jesus, saying that, on the Sabbath he made clay, which is not lawful, and fashioned twelve sparrows. And Joseph came and rebuked him, saying, "Why are you doing these things on the Sabbath?" But Jesus, clapping his hands, commanded the birds with a shout in front of everyone and said, "Go, take flight, and remember me, living ones." And the sparrows, taking flight, went away squawking. When the Pharisee saw this he was amazed and reported it to all his friends (trans. by Tony Burke, 2009).Now I find this story interesting because (1) it portrays Jesus playing – which I am sure he did; and (2) it portrays Jesus doing as a child, what every child dreams of doing; and what countless stories help us to imagine doing, bringing a toy to life. And though I am fairly certain that this is not an authentic gospel story…there is an important truth here that is grounded in the canonical Gospels: that when God's Son was born, it was his mission not just to live as one of us…but to bring us to life. And again, "In him was life, and that life was the light of all people" (John 1:4).
Now this is an incredible offer…to be brought to life and all, but we have to remember that there can be no resurrection without a death; that redemption and transformation often involves letting go of things we're convinced we can't live without; and so not everyone appreciated Jesus' message. Indeed…
What God could hardly conceive, human beings did. For "He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him…" (John 1: 11). When I was a boy I had a favorite teddy bear…I named him Snowy. He was my first not quite real friend. I imagined that he got cold when I went to school so I put him under the covers. I imagined that when my grandma had to sow back his torn arm, and give him a new mouth, that it might have hurt and I felt sad. I imagined that when I had hugged all the fur off him, that his fur was actually growing back…but I could never have imagined that Snowy, my bear, would ever turn against me. And yet what a child can hardly conceive or imagine, we did when God offered us his Son. Lewis asks us to imagine a tin soldier that you had the power to heal and bring to life… but that toy, stubborn and willful refused to be changed, fearing that the transformation would kill him. Like obstinate toy soldiers, we have feared having our natural life transformed by God into a supernatural life – we have feared that in submitting ourselves to God's gracious plan…it would mean the death of us.
It's true, of course, that even the most modest change in our set pattern and way of doing things can be threatening and scary….that overcoming a destructive habit, finding the courage to face one's fears, to say the words, "I'm sorry," to ignore peer pressure and live by a different standard than our friends…may feel like death…because it is the death of what's familiar, safe, and comfortable, the death of our old selves and our old ways. And Jesus did say, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me!" We may fear that accepting God's gift to us in Christ will be the death of us…but his promise is this; that…
Those who receive and believe in God's Son are brought to life as God's children. "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God" (John 1: 12-13). About that stubborn toy that didn't want to become human…fearful that the change would kill him…What would you do as its owner?
Well, this is what God did. He came to us in his Son, Jesus ("and the word became flesh") -- he became just like us; and then, miracle of miracles, did exactly what we most fear to do…he surrendered himself to the will of the Father even unto death…and was raised up on the third day. Jesus, our fully human Savior, was raised up to new life (a toy soldier had for the first time, become fully alive). Why did he do this? He did it so that we might become like him…He came to transform toy soldiers into real human beings…. into children of the living God.
How does God change us into his children? There are two sides to this lifelong process (the human side; and God's side): On the human side it happens, as John says, by our receiving and believing – that is, it happens by our faith and active participation (v. 12a). To "believe" in the biblical sense always involves both trusting and doing. When, for example, Jesus commanded us to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven," it meant that we were to imagine ourselves to be God's son or daughter; to dress up like Jesus. Now the moment we do that, we realize how different we really are from Jesus. For unlike the Son of God whose will and desire is one with the Father…our interests are often of a very different kind… self-centered, prideful, full of jealousies and fears.
On many Sundays, as we sit in church praying or singing or nodding approvingly of the message, we may inwardly feel like hypocrites….And yet the odd thing is…Jesus wants us to do it. He wants us to call God "Our Father." He wants us to practice being his children. Question: Why do children love to "pretend"? Why do they dress up in their parent's clothes? Why does a child pretend to be a knight and slay the dragon…or dress up like a beautiful Queen, presiding over her royal court? Why do children like to play house, dress up their dolls, or go on treasure hunts? They are pretending to be grown-ups. They're developing their imaginations, sharpening their wits, strengthening their muscles… preparing for grown-up challenges and grown-up responsibilities. When we pretend to be like Christ…we're doing the same thing. We're imitating his prayers, we're imitating his way of speaking and acting and loving. We're trying to do the things that we imagine he would do if he were us! We may not feel like Christians half the time…but that's not the important thing. What's important is that we practice…keeping in mind that as we do so…we have a helper.
Remember that there are two sides to becoming children of God. On the human side it happens by our receiving and believing, but then there is God's side…"for to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1: 12). The power is not ours…it is his. Power to become children of God…power to serve…power to heal…power to tell others… power to love…and power simply to be and to know that we really are his children.
Do you know you are a child of God yet, brought to eternal life in Christ? Dr. Fred Craddock tells a story about vacationing with his wife when he noticed a gray haired gentleman greeting people at every table in the restaurant. "I hope he doesn't come over here." He didn't want anyone intruding on their privacy. But sure enough, the man did come over. "Where you folks from?" he asked kindly. "Oklahoma," Craddock said. "Splendid state, I hear…and what do you do for a living?" "I teach homiletics at the graduate seminary of Phillips University," Craddock replied. "Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach? Well, I've got a story to tell you." And with that, the man pulled up a chair and sat down. Craddock groaned inwardly, "Oh, no! Here comes another preacher story!"
The man stuck out his hand. "I'm Ben Hooper. I was born not far from here across the mountains. My mother wasn't married when I was born. When I started to school, my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn't a very nice name. I used to go off by myself at recess and lunch time because the things they said to me cut me so deep. When I was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in the church on me.
Just about the time I got to the door I felt a big hand on my shoulder. I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me. 'Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?' he asked. I felt this big weight coming down on me. It was like a big black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down. But as he looked down at me, studying my face, he began to smile a big smile of recognition. 'Wait a minute!' he said. 'I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.' With that he slapped me across the rump and said, 'Young man, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.'
The old man looked across the table at Fred Craddock and said, "Those were the most important words anybody ever said to me, and I've never forgotten them." And as he smiled and walked away, Craddock remembered that on two occasions the people of Tennessee had elected to the office of governor men who had been raised without a father. One of them was a man named Ben Hooper.
Whose boy or girl are you? God's Son was born so that all who receive and believe in him might be brought from death to life and know they are children of God. Jesus is not playing with us here. He means it; and if that describes the desire of your heart I invite you to pray with me...
Gracious God we thank you for sending us your Son so that we could become true sons and daughters – not by the will of the flesh, but by the will of God, filled with your Spirit and eternal life. We confess that we have behaved like stubborn toy soldiers who, when offered real human life, have chosen to remain dead, painted wood! We have feared what you might do to us, instead of giving thanks for what you want to do for us. Forgive us for our sin and foolish pride. Thank you for showing us in Christ what real human life looks like, and for proving that not even death can destroy the life of those who believe in your name. Therefore, we humbly ask you to change and transform us as we believe in your Son, imitate his life, speak his words, pray his prayers, and do his works. Father, let this Christmas be not only the commemoration of Jesus' birth, but the celebration of his birth in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If that prayer expressed your heart's desire, if you claim your inheritance through God's Son, know that God has claimed you as his child...from this very moment, from this day forward…from here to infinity....and beyond.
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Inside Look
Chanon Adsanatham explains what a graduate student can learn from serving on a search committee for a faculty opening.
Last fall, as I was finishing my doctorate and applying to tenure-track jobs outside my institution, I served on a search committee for assistant professor openings at my doctoral institution in my areas of study with my dissertation mentors. All of whom are senior scholars. Although I could have declined the service, I recognized that being on the committee would help me gain insights that could improve my own job search. I also wanted to contribute to the department. Overall, being involved in the search was a positive, helpful experience. Yet I felt much anxiety and fear about my own job prospects throughout the process.
The search began in September, as I was revising my dossier. For the first meeting, we met with the university's human resources specialists about the legality and equity guidelines of hiring. We learned about candidates' legal rights (e.g., how they can request search records), illegal interview questions and examples of fair/unfair practices -- important information every job seeker should know but may not.
In the subsequent meetings, we shared what each of us wanted to see in candidates, many of which focused on their likelihood to achieve tenure and their commitment to student mentoring. I carefully listened to the committee's remarks while wondering how I could strengthen my own application.
As a committee, we collaboratively developed interview questions. Most of them were typical (e.g., tell me about your research; what classes might you teach?) But I was also encouraged to design my own, ones that addressed what I specifically wanted to know about the candidates: What are their methods and philosophy for mentoring students? If they could choose to be an animal, what would they become? These questions allowed me to go beyond research and teaching to gauge each candidate's personality and attitude toward students.
As we refined the questions and discussed the interview procedure, the search chair emphasized that he wanted the interviews to be like a friendly conversation, rather than a rigid, intimidating questioning session. This, he stressed, was important for creating a positive first impression about the department. He reminded us: we were trying to impress the candidates as much as they wanted to impress us; we wanted them to choose us first over other schools.
As a first-time job candidate, seeing what kinds of interview questions might be asked was incredibly helpful. But although I now had an insider's perspective about the search process, I remained apprehensive about my performance as a job candidate. Ironically, the more I learned from watching the search unfold, the more stressed I got. I wondered how I would best answer similar questions other institutions might ask. How tenurable was I? How did I compare to others? Nonetheless, I continued sending out my applications with fingers crossed while reviewing hundreds of applications my department received.
As I evaluated the incoming dossiers, I couldn't help but judge myself. I saw that some candidates had published more; some had taught interesting advanced courses; many already had their doctorates. The comparison blunted my confidence. At one point, I doubted whether I would land a job and whether I should pursue a nonacademic career. My mentors had assured me that I, too, was a strong candidate and that my prospects looked bright. Still I worried.
Then as we started the interviews, I began realizing an insight that slightly uplifted my confidence: whether one got an interview or not wasn't necessarily a reflection of one's intelligence, so don't take rejection personally. Search committee members bring their own subjective lens into the review process, impacting what kind of scholarship they'll find more appealing. Although my mentors had told me this before, it didn't register until I began evaluating candidates' dossiers. I saw firsthand how my own scholarly leanings influenced how I read applications and what areas of research I found more interesting. Certain projects resonated with me more, but those that didn't weren't necessarily of lesser quality.
In the end, to my surprise, many candidates who I thought were more accomplished than I -- those with published books and grants -- were some of the early people to be eliminated. What's more, several A.B.D. candidates outperformed the lateral movers in interviews. Their scholarships and teaching interests were more dynamic, too. Departmental fit was the key to success.
From seeing how the search committee evaluated fit, I gained insights about how to cultivate effective interview answers:
- First, demonstrate depth in one's research agenda and variations in one's teaching ability. Strong candidates articulate a well-defined, cutting-edge scholarship trajectory and show that they can teach disparate classes beyond their research interests.
- Second, discuss innovative courses that complement and expand the department's curriculum. Strong candidates know the program of studies and recent course offerings of the prospective department well and use that knowledge to propose new classes to fulfill academic gaps at the institution.
- Third, ask insightful questions at the end of the interview. Strong candidates pose questions that are not canned but, rather, are oriented toward demonstrating what they can do for the institution rather than what the institution might do for them.
Yet, despite gaining these insights, I couldn't shake off the anxiety about my own performance. Would I ever be as smart and eloquent as some of the applicants, I wondered.
My stress amplified when we began deliberating about whom to invite to campus and, later on, hire. In the back of my mind, I realized that in some offices far away, a similar discussion was happening about me. Perhaps sensing my worries, the professors on the search committee reassured me about the strength of my work. I appreciated their comfort. But my uneasiness didn't diminish. It wasn't until I received on-campus interview invites that I began feeling some relief. My anxiety finally ended when I got job offers in January.
In retrospect, the apprehension I felt as an A.B.D. job candidate/search committee member wasn't merely negative. Indeed, I'm grateful to have been a part of a collegial search team. The faculty actively sought my input, carefully listening to my feedback. I was treated like a colleague. Admittedly, though, my anxiety and stress were overwhelming. But they were also productive. They motivated me to develop more effective self-presentation strategies, and I learned what to do (and not do) from listening closely to the committee's evaluations of candidates. The insights I gained, I'm convinced, were crucial for strengthening my own performance on the market.
Today, as a faculty member, I continue to benefit from my time on the search committee. I'm mentoring doctoral students who are applying for tenure track positions this fall, and I frequently draw upon my insights as a search committee member and former job candidate to coach them.
Furthermore, I have seen how to run a humane search firsthand, one that treats candidates with empathy and care, one that aims to impress the candidates about the department from the very beginning of the process. The way the search chair conducted the hiring left a positive impression, offering a model for how I might run future searches.
Given that the benefits outweigh the negatives, I encourage search committees to invite graduate students to become a crucial part of the hiring process, heeding the following points:
- Treat the student on the committee as a colleague. Encourage her to speak up by frequently soliciting her perspectives. This is especially important if there's a strong personality that might dominate the conversation or silence others. Further, recognize that the student may be reluctant to offer thoughts because she may worry she isn't as qualified or knowledgeable about how to evaluate dossiers.
- Allow the student to develop her own interview questions. Encourage her to think about what she wants to know from the candidate. Doing so will help the committee understand what issues are important from the student perspective and evaluate how well a candidate can speak to that concern.
- Offer coaching and cultivate empathy. Understand that as the student evaluates job candidates, she's thinking about her potential, how she will fare. Carve out some coaching time to help the student enhance her performance by helping her reflect on examples of strengths and weaknesses she observed. In short, use the search process as a unique mentoring opportunity to help the student build excellence.
- Share insights about effective dossier and interview practices from the recent search with graduate students on the market. Invite the student who served on the committee to be a part of this conversation.
- Ask a human resources specialist to speak to student job candidates in your department about applicants' rights, hiring equity and illegal/legal interview questions. Sometimes we are too focused on helping students with their dossiers, at the expense of educating them about equity and legal issues in hiring.
- Coach students who are going on the market to develop effective answers for potential follow-up interview questions. Candidates are often well prepared to answer standard questions, but it's the follow-up ones based on what the candidate said that are the curveballs. Help them brainstorm strategies and good answers.
As faculty, it is our duty to help students professionalize as teachers, scholars and colleagues. Involving them in the search process by heeding the suggestions above provides a means toward that aim.
Chanon Adsanatham is an assistant professor of English at the University of Maryland at College Park, where he researches and teaches comparative rhetoric, multimodality and digital writing.
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Welcome to RecipeSource!
RecipeSource is the new home of
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|RecipeSource : Bread & Baked Goods Recipes : Baked Desserts & Sweets : Cookies : No Bake Fudge Cookies
* Exported from MasterCook * No Bake Fudge Cookies Serving Size : 48 2 cups Sugar 1/2 cup Milk 1/2 cup Butter or Margarine *** 3/4 cup Peanut Butter 3 cups Quick-cooking oats 6 tablespoons Cocoa Powder 1 teaspoon Vanilla Boil first three ingredient for one minute, over medium heat in a large pan (dutch oven size). Next, add peanut butter and cocoa and mix well with a wire whisk. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Add quick oats, until mixture will just hold it's shape when dropped from a spoon. You may need to increase the amount of oats by as much as 1/2 cup, depending one your altitude and humidity. Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls or use cookie scoop to drop mixture onto cookie sheets which have been lined with waxed paper. Cool before serving.
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This is the perfect place to look
I have been teaching for about a year and half... I just upped to 2 classes a week and looking for ideas to keep the classes fresh/challenging.
This is the perfect place to look
This is the perfect place to look. Full of great stuff.
You're still new and I'm guessing still finding your style. Teaching two classes a week, you can easily use the same profile. Remember your audience may not have experienced your ride. We, as instructors tend to think that participants remember when we coach a profile but really they don't. The new and freshness is usually in our own minds.
Cycle Happy!
Cycle Instructor Emeritus
Star 3 Spinning Instructor
Schwinn Certified Cycle Instructor
AFAA Primary Certification
I'm looking to freshen up my classes as well. It is good to hear this is a great place to do that!
I instruct around 20 classes a week and use the same playlist for about half of them. Like was mentioned above, chances are your clients from 1 class didn't experience the class you are using so you should be ok. Good luck


text:
Ok here are the pics.
Sophie bag pre-date-with-washer:
And Post:
I think it may have to go through again.
Dad's Fuzzy Feet (birthday February 8th) Pre:
I have another pair to make for My Stepfather, (birthday February 23rd) but I need a felting break. Would you believe that the fuzzy feet felted shut as well? I think this is all telling me to give it a rest already.
so I have these socks:
(Brother's birthday. March 4th)
and this mystery project made from my last ball of Manos del Uruguay.
That is all I will say until this mystery projects makes it into the hands of it's recipient. (Don't want to blow the surprise.)
Still waiting on the Natalya mitt yarn. It should be here soon.
I have to go to the post office today and send my sister-in-law's and nieces birthday gifts off. (January 9th and 30th, respectively.) Kinda missed the boat on theirs. Oh well now mine will be a happy little surprise.


text:
Last spring, five lovely ladies joined me over the course of six weeks to explore tools for healing and growth. We so enjoyed our discussions that we decided to keep meeting. Using Don Miguel Ruiz's book, The Four Agreements, as the basis for our meetings, we gathered once a month to share our discoveries as we strived to live the principles laid out in the book.
We finished the book last month and, to celebrate, decided to do something fun and creative together.
Enter Creatively Cali Art and Performance Studio.
We are so fortunate to have someone like Cali in our little town, offering art and drama classes to the community. She also teaches drama in our high school. I've had the opportunity to help out with a few of my sons' performances over the years, but it had been years since I attempted to BE the artist rather than be on the sidelines supporting the artists.
It was a little daunting!
Words I can do. I love playing around with color in my journal, attempting cartoony, stick-people sketches. But paint? On a canvas? Without the little numbers to follow or someone giving very explicit, now-use-this-brush-to-put-this-color-here instructions? Not so sure.
Cali and her mom, Sandy, had everything ready for us. Four spots in the front and two in the back. My walking partner and I arrived early so we snapped up those two back row seats, but everyone else who entered after us would immediately head to the empty table in the back and then have to be coaxed the the places prepared for them at the front.
Funny, eh?
When we're taking a creative risk like this, we'll try to hide any way we can. Somehow, even in a tiny room, the back row is 'safer.'
Cali started by showing us some examples to give us ideas and then told us to choose the color for our backgrounds.
That was Deer-in-the-Headlights Moment #1.
How does one choose a color from all those luscious choices? What if it doesn't look the way I think it will look? What if it's too dark? Or light? Or I change my mind?
I finally chose my color and then headed to the back of the room to pick out my buttons. There were a lot to choose from! In fact, we all spent a lot of time huddled around the table, poring over the choices, because the longer we took to choose our buttons the further back we pushed that moment of applying color to canvas.
Cali had to keep inviting us back to our seats for the painting part of the evening.
We joked that painting would be a good activity for commitment-phobic people. There are a lot of decisions to make, many of them irreversible. Or at least they seem irreversible to neophyte painters. Once the paint is on the canvas, you are committed, and every brush stroke ties you to something you may or may not like in the end. There's no turning back.
And then a mantra started playing in my head:
Don't be tentative! Paint with gusto!
Like any new thing we try our hand at in life, it's that first, tiny step that is the hardest. Once that step is taken, the next one is revealed and everything else grows from it. It's not to say that there won't be other hard steps along the way but, by the time they show up, we've proven to ourselves that, scary as things look, our actions have been successful in the past so there's no reason to believe we can't manage — and even master — this next hurdle.
All evening, we peppered Cali with questions about how to do things or whether to do things and Cali would unflappably respond, with variations on a consistent theme, 'It's all a matter of personal taste. What do you want? What do you prefer? What would you like?'
I want it to be beautiful and lovely and pretty and . . . perfect.
And yet, by insisting that we follow our own creative urges, Cali ensured that when the last button was glued into place, the work was all ours. Yes, she provided examples for ideas and inspiration, and showed us various techniques, but ultimately the work — the creation — was ours.
The most intense moment for me came as my brush hovered over the canvas, preparing to paint the tree — trunk and roots and branches. This was the moment of truth. Could I actually paint a tree that looked like a tree?
Good thing that mantra was playing in a continuous loop.
Don't be tentative! Paint with gusto!
So I did. And I learned a few things:
There are no mistakes. A brush stroke gone awry can lead to a new effect you wouldn't have discovered otherwise.
Never judge a work in progress. You may not like how it looks mid-creation but the final details, added at the end, change everything.
When you enter into the spirit of play and discovery, you invite serendipity and surprise. Like the delicious moment when I discovered that gluing small buttons into the center of large buttons created a whole new look. I'm sure others have discovered that while playing with buttons and glue (no doubt many of them in the pre-school set), but I discovered it for myself and it was an exciting final touch to add to my painting.
I did have one regret.
I wish I had taken the time to look more closely and more often at what my fellow painters were doing in the course of the evening. There were a lot of good ideas that I would have liked to incorporate into my painting. Something to keep in mind for us Lone Wolves who get so caught up in the solo-vision of what we're creating that we forget the power of collaboration.
Except that, had I kept wrenching myself away from my painting to look at what was going on around me, I might have missed out on that delicious feeling of flow that happens when the outside world disappears and nothing exists but this moment and the colors expanding under my brush.
So, scratch that regret.
Everyone's going to bring their paintings to our next meeting so we can adequately ooh and ahh over each other's creations and make note of those ideas and techniques we like — for next time.
It's amazing when you think about it.
In the space of two hours, six blank canvases showcased six very different paintings — all of them beautiful . . . and lovely . . . and pretty . . . and perfect.
My seat mate beamed at her painting. "It contains everything I love."
And every time she sees it, she'll remember that she is the one who created it. It contains her artistic choices and is a beautiful reflection of her. Hopefully she'll also remember how much fun it was to create. How nourishing and uplifting.
I know I slept like a well-fed baby that night and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I wish I could show you all the paintings so you could see for yourself how varied and beautiful they are, but I only have access, and permission, to share one.
Bet it makes you want to pick up a paintbrush, doesn't it?


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2012 Ford Focus Review - Stepping up and stepping out
Expanding the envelope
On sale this spring, the 2012 Ford Focus has undergone a clean-sheet recasting that brings a new look, enhanced quality, more features, and class-leading options to a slightly larger package that's far more compelling, both visually and dynamically. Previously available only in four-door sedan or coupe form, this compact front-driver based on Ford's global "C-platform" architecture adds a new five-door hatch model for 2012 and endows both variants with an international design pedigree that introduces numerous first-in-class technologies, including a host of enhanced comfort/convenience/safety touches.
Intent on both broadening the car's appeal to its current buyer base and reaching a new breed of potential customer looking for something more, the new Focus retains its existing S, SE, SEL trims while adding a premium-grade Titanium variant that Ford hopes also will find favor with customers considering a step down from larger traditional luxury vehicles. Beyond squaring off against the new Chevrolet Cruze, the 2012 Ford Focus faces stiff competition in this ultra-competitive segment from perennial rivals like the Honda Civic -- also due for its own mid-year remake -- Mazda MAZDA3, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla as well as the newly redesigned and very well turned out Hyundai Elantra and its Kia Forte cousin.
May be your favorite if:
Those seeking a compact vehicle with class-leading character and technology -- from MyFord Touch infotainment/telematics and Active Park Assist to handling-enhancing torque-vectoring control and a PowerShift dual-clutch six-speed automatic transmission -- will find lots to admire in the 2012 Ford Focus line.
May not be your favorite if:
While some may take issue with the Focus' new styling language, typical budget-constrained compact-car buyers willing to forego leading-edge tech touches for a lower pricepoint are likely to be drawn towards more attractive/affordable alternatives like the Chevy Cruze, Hyundai Elantra and Kia Forte.
A vision of tomorrow
Both the Focus sedan and hatchback boast the latest evolution of Ford's "kinetic design" language. Despite that clearly edgier and more aggressive character, their evocatively contoured bodywork is considerably more aerodynamic. While overall footprint size remains roughly equal to the 2011 sedan, a slightly lower roofline, longer wheelbase and substantially wider front/rear track dimensions give the 2012 Focus lineup a more poised and planted appearance. Effectively accenting this new look are stylized headlamp/taillamp treatments and a broad selection of wheel/tire fitments that range from 195/65 all-season tires and 15-inch steel wheels on the Focus S sedan to standard 215/55 rubber on 17-inch aluminum rims for Titanium variants -- along with the availability of an ultimate 18-inch upgrade that also brings 235/40 performance tires and a sport-tuned suspension.
Slightly roomier but with a far more upscale look and feel than its predecessor, the 2012 Focus cabin is highlighted by a healthy dose of soft-touch surfaces and an abundance of sound-attenuation materials that effectively quell engine/road/wind noise. Highly legible instruments and well positioned controls are part of the basic Focus formula while an 8.0-inch full-color touch screen replaces the normal multifunction display on SEL/Titanium models fitted with the MyFord Touch infotainment/navigation system. The rear seat on the Focus is scaled for two mid-sized adults but decently padded for three kids. Folding the standard/optional 60/40 seatbacks to their semi-flat position adds utility to the sedan's 13.2 cu ft conventional trunk and raises capacity of the hatch's rear bay from 23.8 to 44.8 cu ft.
What you get for about $17,000-$18,000
Even the base Focus S sedan boasts an impressive complement of power assists plus air conditioning, a tilt/telescoping steering column, keyless remote entry, 110-watt AM/FM/CD/MP3 radio, AdvanceTrac stability control, anti-lock disc/drum brakes and front/front-side/side-curtain airbags. Up the base price ante by $1,000 and the SE's feature set expands to add a trip computer, multifunction steering wheel, programmable MyKey, power rear windows, automatic headlamps, foglamps and 16-inch wheel/tires. The slightly pricier five-door SE hatch also comes with a 60/40 folding rear seat and a rear spoiler/wiper.
The 2012 Focus links its wide selection of available upgrades directly to the model hierarchy. At S level, the six-speed dual-clutch autoshifter and remote start dominate an intentionally modest list, but SE sedan buyers can opt for those items plus things like a power moonroof, voice-activated navigation, Interior/Winter/Sport/Super Fuel Economy Packages -- all but the SFE also available on SE hatches -- MyFord Driver Connect technology and SYNC package, leather upholstery and more, extras that can bump the bottom line to the $23,000-$24,000 range.
What you get for about $21,000-$23,500
Stepping up to SEL adds items like the six-speed PowerShift automatic, dual-zone climate control, MyFord Driver Connect, SYNC with USB, upgraded audio, cruise control, LED ambient lighting, 60/40 folding rear seatbacks, four-wheel disc brakes and 16-inch alloy wheels. The range-topping Titanium also nets push-button starting, MyFord Touch with 10-speaker Sony HD sound system, SIRIUS Satellite Radio (with six months free), sport seats, sportier suspension tuning, a 17-inch wheel/tire package and more.
Both SEL and Titanium versions also can be fitted with leather as well as voice-activated navigation and the Technology Package (class-exclusive Active Park Assist, front/rear sensors, rearview camera), plus the premium MyFord Touch telematics/infotainment system -- a Titanium standard. Going Titanium also permits a dedicated sport suspension with 18-inch wheels that mount performance tires. Fully loading either trim can take you into the $27K range.
Features of note
MyFord Touch
Optional on Focus SEL and standard on Titanium trim levels, Ford's top-line infotainment/telematics package is based on an even more advanced and expansive application of the automaker's acclaimed SYNC voice-command system and includes a premium 10-speaker Sony sound system, with HD radio, media hub, in-car WiFi access and more.
Super Fuel Economy (SFE) Package
Available on autoshifted SE models, the SFE Package includes auto-articulated, aero-optimizing grille shutters -- an unseen mileage-enhancing element also found on most other Focus models fitted with the PowerShift transmission -- as well as low-rolling resistance tires, wind-cheating wheel covers and a tasteful rear spoiler that collectively bring the car's projected EPA highway figure up to 40 mpg.
Next-gen airbags
The 2012 Focus introduces several innovations in the passive restraint arena. Its driver airbag uses a special tethering system to create a "pocket" that helps decrease pressure levels on the chest and ribs while the front-side airbags are the first in any automobile to feature a new adaptive venting system that can optimize inflation pressures to compensate for both the seat position and the size of its occupant.
A more dynamic personality
Built around a stiffer, stronger unit body structure underpinned by a comprehensively retuned, Euro-flavored suspension that brings better damping and roll control plus quick, well-weighted electrically assisted power steering, the 2012 Ford Focus feels comfortable, confident and impressively responsive to driver inputs under virtually all conditions. Although stepping up in trim level and the accompanying wheel/tire enhancements does impact ride compliance -- particularly with the 18-inch rims and 40-series tires available on Titanium models -- Ford has done an excellent job of bringing out the best in this component set regardless of configuration. When the going gets twisty, the new Focus bolsters its standard AdvanceTrak stability control with a first-in-class torque vectoring control system that acts like a limited-slip differential and helps the car accelerate out of corners more adroitly. Despite a softish pedal, the well-modulated anti-lock brakes (disc/drum in S/SE, disc/disc in SLE/Titanium) deliver solid, drama-free stops.
Getting properly motivated
All 2012 Focus models are fitted with a new, naturally aspirated 2.0-liter inline-four that features gasoline direct fuel-injection and Ford's twin-independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT). This smooth free-revver makes 160 horsepower and 146 lb-ft of torque -- 20 more ponies and 10 additional twist units than its 2011 predecessor. The engine can be backed with a five-speed manual or a new six-speed dual-clutch automatic. On SE with Sport Package, SEL and Titanium models, the automated-manual cog changer also gains a Sport mode with SelectShift capability accessed via a "+/-" rocker switch somewhat awkwardly positioned on the shift lever. Although this new engine is more engagingly enthusiastic above 3,000 rpm, we found it to be a solid match for either transmission. Our impromptu 0-60 mph sprints yielded times 9.0-10.0-second range. Formal EPA figures have yet to be released, but Ford anticipates average fuel economy numbers on the new Focus will be up by about 10 percent. Autoshifted SE sedans models also can be fitted with the mileage-maxing SFE Package that will net it a projected 40 mpg on the highway.
Looking ahead, Ford has already announced that the U.S. Focus lineup will add both a cool green and a red hot member within the next 12 months or so. First up is the battery-powered Focus Electric model that goes on sale late this year. Sometime in 2012, hard-core performance fans will see their patience rewarded with the arrival of the Focus ST -- a purpose-built performance variant motivated by a 247-horsepower/2.0-liter EcoBoost four. At least one other powertrain alternative also might be in the cards. The new soon-to-launch 2012 Ford C-MAX crossover that shares C-platform architecture with the Focus will offer both a 2.5-liter naturally-aspirated four and a 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine; either of which could be tweaked for duty here, should the need/desire arise.
KBB Value Analysis
Even more than it did with the introduction of its subcompact Fiesta, Ford intends to aggressively position the remade 2012 Focus as a premium offering within the compact-car ranks based on its impressive list of advanced design elements and megaload of desirable options. Although the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) on the new Focus S, high-volume SE sedan and the SEL four-door models remains at virtual 2011 levels, the hatch variants and Titanium models have the potential to tax the financial wherewithal of the more severely budget-constrained. It remains to be seen how Ford's step-up philosophy ultimately impacts model mix choices in this extremely price-sensitive segment. While KBB.com has yet to officially rate projected resale value on the 2012 Focus, this new and comprehensively improved package is almost certain to move closer to the level of the Honda Civic and Mazda MAZDA3, current leaders in the long-term residuals arena.


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We Grow A Variety of Olive Trees From the Mediterranean in Texas
At Texas Olive Ranch in Carrizo Springs, TX, we cultivate a variety of olive trees originating from our founder's travels across the Mediterranean. Jim Henry, our founder, spent years almost 20 years studying olive tree farms in the Mediterranean, in countries such as Italy, Spain, and Greece. He learned the skillset to cultivate many different varieties of olive trees. As Jim's knowledge of olive trees and expertise in olive oil production grew, he was able to develop an understanding of which trees would best fit the climate of Texas.
Each Variety Has Its Own Characteristics
Currently, at our South Texas Ranch, we're growing Arbequina, Koroneiki, Picual and Arbosana varieties. Each variety we grow has its own character and special complexity. Olives are incredibly diverse and equally versatile; the sour, salty, bitter yet sweet and pungent flavors are what makes them sophisticated and capable of producing different varieties of extra virgin oil.
Here are the types of olive trees we grow for olive oil production:
The Arbequina Variety
The Arbequina is considered one of the most popular types of olives. This variety is often seen growing in Spain. Arbequina olive trees have a high ability to adapt to different environmental conditions, making the the Arbequina a great fit for the warm climate of Texas.
The Arbequina comes along with several unique characteristics. Out of its features, the fascinating aroma holds a prominent place. The aroma offers a hint of ripe balance, along with a fruity taste. The olive oil produced is slightly peppery and creamy. It comes along with a sweet taste and a fresh and pungent finish. It is perfect for making vinaigrettes because of its pleasant fruity aroma, but also very versatile as it works with so many pairings.
See Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil
The Koroneiki Variety
People who live in Greece think of Koroneiki as the queen of olive. The plant is associated with a rich history, and it has been cultivated for more than 3,000 years. This plant has been responsible for the constant supply of olive oil from the Mediterranean region. The Koroneiki is associated with a green color and it is highly praised for the aromatic properties.
The Koroneiki olive is smaller in size and requires additional labor, but it produces amazing high quality olive oil with unique taste and composition. With its bold flavors, people tend to enjoy its natural state as a finishing touch, in addition to cooking with it. This variety has a fruity aroma and a deep peppery taste. Koroneiki olive oil offer numerous health benefit as it has high concentrations of polyphenols and oleic acid.
See Koroneiki Limited Reserve Extra Virgin Olive Oil
The Picual Variety
The Picual has definite characteristics and nuances that set it apart from other varieties. It has incredible strength and body due to the pungent and acerbic elements that soften and sweeten over time. This variety is jam packed with natural antioxidants. The Picual variety has a lovely natural aroma, it is buttery in taste and has a smooth texture. It works great when replacing butter for olive oil in your recipes.
See Picual Limited Reserve Extra Virgin Olive Oil
The Arbosana Variety
The Arbosana is also a native variety from Spain and it looks a lot like the Arbequina variety except is matures much later and is more robust. This smaller tree type thrives in the hot climatic conditions that exist in Texas.
Arbosana olive oil is considered complex and nutty and is associated with a bright green color as well as a robust flavor. It has a delightful strong peppery taste due to the large amounts of polyphenols it contains. Arbosana delivers flavors of almonds and fresh green tomatoes that make it the excellent ingredient for bruschetta or biscotti. It also compliments red meats and chocolates very well.
At our ranch, we press the Arbosana olives with other varieties to create special blends. The characteristics in the Arbosana give life to other fruity tasting varieties like the Picual and the Arbequina.
See Our Special Blend Limited Reserve Extra Virgin Olive Oils
Getting To Know Your Olive Oil Sale
We want to help build your olive oil knowledge – it's fun and delicious!
For a limited time, we're offering a special promotion to help build your olive oil collection. Get to know the taste and flavor profile of each variety. Save $5 Off each Limited Reserve Olive Oil Bottle You Buy. For offer use Coupon Code: VARIETY at checkout. There's no coupon code needed for this offer. The discount will automatically apply in your shopping cart.


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George F. Murphy, 75, of New Beaver Boro, died on Monday, July 23, 2012 at the his residence following a lengthy illness.
Born February 12, 1937 in Chewton, he was the son of the late John Murphy and Edith Clark Murphy of New Castle. He was married for 51 years to Shirley Haines Murphy as they were married on July 26, 1960. She survives.
George retired from Babcock and Wilcox. Following his retirement, he worked at Stonecrest Golf Course. A veteran of the U.S. Army, George served during the Berlin Crisis and the Vietnam Conflict. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, gardening, and spending time with his grandchildren.
In addition to his wife, Shirley and mother, Edith, survivors include two daughters, Donna (David) Lambert of NC and Diane (Bruce) Marich of Enon Valley; two sons, Jim Murphy of Wampum and Michael Murphy of New Castle; six sisters; three brothers; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Visiting hours will be held on Thursday, July 26, from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 pm in the MARSHALL FUNERAL HOME, 341 Main Street, Wampum.
Funeral Services will be held at the funeral home on Friday at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Dr. William R. McGary of the Wampum Presbyterian Church officiating.
Interment will follow in Grand View Cemetery. Military rites will be offered by the Veterans Honor Guard.
Online condolences may be sent to www.marshallsfh.com.


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There is good news for Windows 10 Mobile users; Microsoft has introduced a latest version of well-used Skype Messaging app for the Windows 10 mobile. Even if the app is undertaking numerous experiments and trials, this being in the recognized beta checking stage, the app still requires some aspects to be integrated.
New Features in Skype Beta
This version of Skype for Windows 10 Mobile is loaded with all the collections that users utilize in the desktop edition. Thus, you have the audio and video talking feature with Messaging and the opportunity of utilizing different emoticons and obviously there is the preference of logging using your Microsoft account. It is extremely simple to view a hold of call archives, text messages and SMS. What is as well exciting about this new version is that it will have all of SMS, MMS and IM collected in individual place.
The latest Skype beta contains different features also; it seems that the new Skype Video app is a snappy response to popular iPhone app FaceTime. Microsoft is trying to collect estimations and advices from its fans. This is an excellent preparation for the reason that it will absolutely challenge the company to develop and optimize the app. The arrangement at the back this is to build Skype turn into slowly however unquestionably an app that will work on all Windows 10 device out there. If you have Windows 10 mobile running device, move and brows the Windows Store page and check the latest Messaging Skype Beta.


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It is almost November and another quarterly release (17.11) for SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer is just around the corner. Again, the release is packed with tons of bug fixes, new features and enhancements in Sales and Service processes as well as the Platform itself. 17.11 is a 'Light' release with respect to business user UI improvements – this release focuses more on platform, infrastructure and administrator improvements. Consultants out there, you've read it right... Christmas is coming early this year! These enhancements could make your life easier.
Today's blog is to summarize the key information SAP published; To provide you with a bitesize update of the upcoming release. We can expect the upgrade of production tenants as of the 5th of November. As a matter of fact, coming weekend all test tenants will already be upgraded so you have two weeks for testing your existing processes for possible regression.
A good thing to mention is that the "SAP Idea place" has been replaced by 'SAP Customer Influence' http://influence.sap.com – this is still the platform to search, vote and submit new ideas; but these will now only be reviewed 4 times a year (quarterly basis). We encourage you to keep submitting those great ideas to keep improving the product. This is what Acorel is also doing on a frequent basis.
Did you know that the SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer platform is already equipped with many capabilities to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation? This will be further expanded in the coming releases.
Something else to notice is that we do not have to say our final goodbye yet to the Silverlight UI. Originally the end of life was planned for 1711 but the support has been extended until February 2018. Although Silverlight is not recommended anymore for business users and is becoming less and less relevant for administrators as well.
With regard to the mobility Apps (iOS, Android, Windows) it is really time to switch to the Extended Edition Apps if you have not already done so, as the previous ones are not supported anymore as of 1711.
Key User Tools - We will now have the possibility to review the UI adaption changes before actually reverting them – also it is now possible to select specific changes and revert only these changes – besides this it is possible to search changes based on text and all related UI changes will be displayed and selectively remove those.
Login as another user will now make it possible for admins to create an 'alias' test user with the same authorizations as the actual business user without having to interact with the user or screen sharing. Great for providing better support to the business users.
Another great addition is Transport Management (TM) currently in Beta. You will find this new feature in the Service Control Center. With the TM functionality you will be able to centrally transport key user changes like extension fields, change transactions, page lay-outs and code list restrictions through your system landscape. In a future releases PDI developments and workflow rules will be added to TM. This new feature will save a lot of time and effort during projects and will greatly improve the solution's maintainability.
Mobility & Offline – In-App Update process – mobile users will be prompted when an update is available throughout the release – they can decide themselves if and when they want to install this update. This update process occurs outside the App Store / Play Store, which enables more frequent updates to deliver fixes to the business user.
Fiori UI – Maps have been improved by search nearby and search area for visits and accounts that have GPS location maintained. Also colored pins have been added based on account role to distinguish prospects from customers. Some other minor enhancements: on calendar entries you can now double-click to navigate to the business object to make it more intuitive. A small but visible enhancement, is the redesign of the details page. The UI design has been updated to show different page sections as cards. The Fiori UI is getting more beautiful every quarter!
Integration improvements – S/4HANA – accounts and contact changes will now replicate bi-directional instead of one way. For yCommerce – Request for Quotes from webshop will be replicated to C4C and updates made by C4C employee will be replicated to yCommerce and eventually also to ERP to support the Quote-to-Cash process.
Business Partner authorizations have been enhanced for Partner Contacts. In case you have (external) partner organizations (e.g. dealers) access C4C, the restriction rule enables the partner contact to access the business objects related to the partner organization and share this with other contacts within the organization. This is without the need of territory management.
As of 17.11 Machine Learning (ML) features also have been added to the Sales Process – You can expect Deal Intelligence features to assist you on improving the win rates by focusing on the deals with the highest tendency of being closed. Later on, as a phased delivery, the lead scoring ML algorithm will also get a lot smarter. More machine learning features will be gradually introduced over time. It is just a matter of time and yC4C will do all the hard work for you.
Sales Contracts – which was limitedly introduced in 1708 has now become general available and also got enhanced too. Quantity Contracts are now also integrated with ERP and contract determination will occur on Sales Quote/Order item level in C4C. Further, the business object now supports approvals and workflows, as well as external pricing, offline visibility, follow-up opportunities and party determination.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) capabilities have been enhanced as the entered CTI parameters can be passed on from the Live Activity section to the Service Ticket Search. This means improved productivity and a reduction of repeated questions.
Solution Finder has been improved by enabling the agent to reply with multiple articles at once. These articles can also be tracked within the ticket.
We also see the 'Search Map Area nearby Search' now for Installed Base and Registered Products.
As of 1711, SAP Leonardo (Machine Learning) is also brought to Service Management for enabling Service Intelligence. Tickets will be automatically categorized based on various attributes and a ML algorithm – for improved response times and customer satisfaction.
Yeah. That's what's up! Good stuff is coming this fall and it is good to see the product keeps evolving in this fast pace. It is also exiting to see SAP Leonardo being applied to real life Customer Engagement scenarios. Can't wait for what's next!
The Official Pre-Release Briefing can be found here: http://bit.ly/2zhBh01


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"Since I can remember, I've always loved tastings and good food. Wine has been part of my family's history for three generations. The estate wasn't destined for me, but my passion for winemaking drew me back to my roots, and in 1987 I took over my uncle's estate," slowly explained by Winemaker Yves Cuilleron himself
Family roots
"For three generations, wine has been part of my family history, on my mother's and father's sides. My paternal grandfather established the estate in 1920. By 1947, he was selling his wine in bottles. In 1960, my uncle Antoine Cuilleron became the estate manager. In 1987, when I took over running it, I decided to settle in Verlieu, my mother's home village."
2010 Yves Cuilleron Marsanne Des Coliines Rhodaniennes
2010 Yves Cuilleron Marsanne Des Coliines Rhodaniennes has a great smell of flowery honeysuckle and gooseberry/ripe pear. It also came with a orange-tinged yellow color of medium depth. Tasted very minerally and has a light French oak coconut while the background has a lingering of persimmon. I came to know it was aged for 6 months on its lees in vats and barriques. It was a good choice and I loved sipping into it.
2010 Yves Cuilleron Roussanne Des Coliines Rhodaniennes
2010 Yves Cuilleron Roussanne Des Coliines Rhodaniennes was delicate fruity and infused with floral aromas (honey, apricot, hawthorn and pear). It was superbly stylish and balanced well palate, with attractive fatness and a lingering finish.
2010 Yves Cuilleron Syrah Des Coliines Rhodaniennes
2010 Yves Cuilleron Syrah Des Coliines Rhodaniennes had a combination of an expressive bouquet of tart red berry fruits. A soft fruity palate with fine tannins and freshness on the finish. An excellent finishing for me.
Cuilleron was born in France in 1961 and initially inherited his family's estate of 3.5ha in Condrieu and Saint Joseph, France.
He eventually increased his holding to 59ha and since 2009, Cuilleron has been consulting at Domaine des Masques and helping to make the wines of this magnificent estate, located on the Plateau du Cengle, which overlooks Montagne Sainte-Victoire near Aix-en-Provence, France.
This year, they are working on plans for a new vat room, which will enter service for the 2014 harvest, giving us better working conditions and enabling a stronger focus on quality.
The northern sub-region produces red wines from the Syrah grape, sometimes blended with white wine grapes, and white wines from Marsanne, Roussane and Viognier grapes. The southern sub-region produces an array of red, white and rosé wines.
Casa del Rio organised the event blending with variety of gourmet experiences where hotel's executive chef Allan Ho created a mouth-watering four-course dinner to match Yves's fine wines.
Cuilleron made the maiden trip to Malacca and to deliberately pair his nectars with Chef Allan Ho's dishes.
Home Smoked Butter Fish with Baked Beetroot, Celeriac with Caramelized Belgium Endive
As we seated a glass of 2010 Yves Cuilleron Marsanne Des Coliines Rhodaniennes was poured to greet us openly and came runnong to the table was the plate of home smoked butter fish. The fish was done brilliantly and firm moist texture and paired so smoothly well with the wine. An exciting introduction.
2010 Yves Cuilleron Roussanne Des Collines Rhodaniennes
The next action was to interragate the next liquid, the 2010 Yves Cuilleron Roussanne Des Collines Rhodaniennes which was paired with the deliciously prepared Baby Lobster Tails on Steamed Asparagus, Shaved Parmegiano-Reggiano Cheese, Bearnaise Sauce. I just love the taste of the wine that blended so well and gave my palate a tease.
Baby Lobster Tails on Steamed Asparagus, Shaved Parmegiano-Reggiano Cheese, Bearnaise Sauce
2010 Yves Cuilleron Syrah Des Coliines Rhodaniennes
We move on with the Pan Roasted Veal Strip Loin with Sauted Savoy Cabbage and Veal Lardon, Sweet Potato and Pearl Onion and paired it with the 2010 Yves Cuilleron Syrah Des Coliines Rhodaniennes. The veal was lovely crafted as it was moist abd tenderly done. The liquid was exciting too, bold and intense.
Pan Roasted Veal Strip Loin with Sauted Savoy Cabbage and Veal Lardon, Sweet Potato and Pearl Onion
Having to grace the lovely sweet, Iranian Saffron Tiramisu was the end of the showcase of the night. It had a great texture, smooth and not overly sweet but I find it slightly overpowered with spice. It was nice.
Chef Allan Ho with Winemaker Yves Cuilleron
It was an awesome wine dining night at Casa del Rio Melaka and it was a superb night to meet up with Yves Cuilleron the winemaker himself. It was definitely was well spend night and thank you Casa del Rio for making this an excellent trip.


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Kelsey and Mark
How We Met
Mark and I met through a mutual friend. He was living in Houston,TX and I was living in Lafayette, LA at the time. Our friend, Brandon, told me he had a friend I might be interested in and that he was coming in town for the weekend. We decided to head out to a country western bar that Thursday night. The Friday morning Mark and Brandon decided we were going to take a spur of the moment trip to New Orleans. Being from New Orleans I knew I couldn't pass up this opportunity, especially since it was during Mardi Gras season. On the Saturday, Mark took me on a date just the two of us to one of my favorite small cafes in the French Quarter. It was there that we truly got to learn more about each other. Once the weekend was over we exchanged numbers and here we are today, both living Houston, TX and so excited to be planning our special day.
how they asked
For those who know me and even those who don't, Disney has always been a major part of my life. I've been more times than you can count on both hands. I've had some of my most cherished memories here. Mark and I decided we wanted to spend the holiday season at the happiest place on earth. I mean how can you resist Disney during the Christmas season. So our bags were packed and we were headed off to Disney. As a Disney fanatic I had all our days strategically planned out, the trip wouldn't feel right without spending the first day at Magic Kingdom. Once we got to the park we made our way up to the castle to take your typically castle picture and before I get could into position to pose, Mark was on one knee asking for my hand in marriage. I was in total shock and excitement. The love of my life was making all of my Disney dreams come true. It's safe to say on December 4, 2017 I was the happiest girl at the happiest place on earth.


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Volunteer FAQs
Are you interested in joining CYF? You can apply to volunteer with us in a variety of ways, both in Nepal and beyond. Read through these frequently asked questions, then get in touch to apply or learn more.
how can i volunteer with cyf?
1. You can be a residential volunteer at Life Vision Academy (LVA) for 4-12 weeks.
2. If you have a particular skill, such as teaching guitar or coaching basketball, you can visit LVA regularly to hold classes for our students.
3. You can come to LVA with your group, family or organisation to implement a group service project with us.
4. You can join us an intern in the Haushala Creatives office in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur.
5. You can intern remotely on our USA team from anywhere in the world.
6. You can become a youth ambassador or family ambassador and fundraise in your home community.
What are the Application requirements?
Volunteers' requirements and qualifications will vary with each position and project. Generally, a statement of intent and resume will be required to apply. All residential volunteers will also be asked for a background check or police report from their community.
What is residential volunteering like?
As a residential volunteer, you will join our team on the ground to work with the LVA students. You will stay in the staff house on our campus in Godavari (about a one-hour drive from the center of Kathmandu). You'll help teach classroom lessons, outdoor games, and recreational activities. You'll also help with technical support, fundraising events and report writing. We prioritize volunteer applicants who can have skills they can use at our school, such as teaching music lessons, leading computer classes, or coaching a sport. During your stay of 4-12 weeks, you will play a crucial role in our on-site operations, while also forming great connections with our students and community.
Volunteers must pay for their own travel fees. We will also ask you to pay a monthly room and board fee, which is usually around $100. In return, CYF will provide a safe and fun place to stay, three meals a day with the children, travel assistance, a network of new friends, and a beautiful, unforgettable experience!
Do you offer paid internships?
We are unfortunately not able to offer paid internships at this time. In fact, even our directors are unpaid volunteers. For your internship, we encourage you to seek school credit or funding from your university.
What is the school like for visitors?
Check out our blog's "Home Away From Home" series to hear from several guests who've visited LVA during their travels in Nepal. Click here to read posts by Jen, Zander, Justin and Matt.
How can i apply to volunteer?
Please fill out the form below indicating your interest. We will follow up with you as soon as possible to provide more information for you.


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Also, at the time I thought my 50mm lens was broken so I had to use my kit one which is not as good with low light situations so that kind of explains the pictures. However, I managed to fix it this morning so that's good news!
|photo of me by Elizabeth
Tomorrow we're driving up to Kansas City so I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Eat lots of cookies, listen to lots of Sufjan Stevens Christmas songs, and be merry. See ya!


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Meredith Bass
Phone: 706-867-4454
Office: Chestatee Building 162, Dahlonega
Areas of Expertise: Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering and Physics up to 45 hours earned
Meredith is an academic advisor at the Dahlonega Campus of the University of North Georgia. She holds a Master of Social Work from Valdosta State University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Kennesaw State University. She is also a Licensed Master Social Worker. In graduate school, Meredith worked as a graduate assistant in the Centralized Advising Department where she advised students who were undecided in their major. Meredith is passionate about promoting student success and assisting students in reaching their goals. When Meredith is not advising, she enjoys running and spending time with her family and friends.
- M.S.W., Social Work, Valdosta State University
- B.S., Psychology, Kennesaw State University


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iOS Update
I'm also going to go back through all my hundreds of iOS purchased games to make sure I have played all those hidden gems that I downloaded & ignored. So I have started with Helsing's Fire which has you battling vamparic creatures with light & tonics.
I'm always also playing my favourite turn based games like Carcassonne, Lost Cities, Capitals, Fluxx & Disc Drivin.
Posted by Krazy Khan on June 09, 2016
Labels: Completed, Football Chairman, Helsing's Fire, Hero Emblems, iOS, Mekorama
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