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At first glance, a subject like the love of God may seem somewhat simple and easy to grasp, but upon greater reflection, as we have learned, it is profound and far-reaching and inexplicable and inscrutable at some points. We find ourselves at such a point in the discussion in this our last message and I want to draw your attention to the ninth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, Romans chapter 9, as we conclude our series on the love of God.
Many people think that because God is love and He is, the Bible says so, and they think that because God loves the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son to be the Savior of the world that therefore God must love every person in the world with the same kind of love and to the same degree and with the same purpose in mind. But that is not the case as Scripture makes very clear.
We have already learned two propositions. One is that God's love to the world is unlimited in extent. That is true, He does love the world. He loves them enough to be good to them. That's common grace. He loves them enough to feel pity and compassion over them. He loves them enough to warn them about sin and its consequences. And He loves them enough that the gospel should be preached to all of them. So in that sense God's love is unlimited in its extent, it does reach the whole world.
But secondly we learned another very important proposition and that is that God's love to the world is limited in degree. He loves them all but not to the degree that He loves His own. It is His own, according to John 13:1, that He loves eistelos in the Greek, unto perfection, or to the max, to the end, to the limit forever. And we learned about that. Yes God loves the world but not like He loves His own to whom because of that love He is merciful and gracious and forgiving, to whom He gives lavishly all good things. His love for His own is that inseparable, unbreakable, unconquerable, unchangeable, unwavering, unfading love that is impervious to all attacks and assaults. It is that kind, sanctifying, purging, purifying love that leads to godliness. It is that limitless love for only and known only by those who belong to Him by faith.
And then there is a third proposition that we began to discuss last time and we'll finish this morning. God's love to the world is unlimited in extent. God's love to the world is limited in degree. And thirdly, God's love to the world is
is qualified by the demands of His glory. It is qualified by the demands of His glory. That is a very important statement. I thought about it a long time before I stated it that way because there is so much at stake. God does not have an unconditional and unqualified love for the world. It is qualified and it is qualified not by the demands of people, not by the demands of human reason but by the demands of God's own personal glory. That is to say, God defines that love consistently with all of His other attributes. And it is precisely at this point that we have to realize that because God loves does not mean that He is obligated to an unqualified love of all people equally. He is not a prisoner of that love. Or worse, He is not a prisoner of man's assumptions about that love or man's wishes about that love or man's desires for that love. Nowhere in Scripture will we find that God is an unqualified lover of all people equally. He is not. God's love is qualified to the world, to all. And it is qualified by the demands placed upon Him for personal integrity. That is to be consistent with His nature. God does not love, God cannot love in a way that makes love unmixed, untouched, unmingled or unaffected by, for example, wrath, judgment, justice, holiness, righteousness.
In other words, God has to love in a way which is reflective of all of His other personal attributes. And that's what we're looking at as we come to Romans chapter 9. Here we have an incredible insight, a thorough and comprehensive insight into God, into the demands of God's glory that involve themselves in the saving enterprise. Obviously if you have read the book of Romans you know that by the time you have completed chapter 8 you have completed the greatest treatise on salvation ever penned. It's all about God loving sinners and saving them through Jesus Christ. It's all about the wonderful realities of justification and sanctification. It's all about repentance and faith. It's about being depraved sinner and dying and rising again in union with Jesus Christ to newness of life. It's all about salvation. And salvation, of course, is all built on the premise of God's love for sinners. So we could say safely that we've been reading for eight chapters about God's saving love.
But when you come to chapter 9 you are introduced to a most important issue with regard to God's saving love. And that is how God's saving love mingles itself with all other of God's attributes which must be considered in line with God's saving purpose. As you go back, for example, into Romans chapter 1 you will remember that Paul says in verse 16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile." In other words, God's love has sent a gospel message across the earth to every person, Jew and Gentile, that says if you believe, this gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It is then that God's love has extended to all men and provided for them a gospel invitation. We could conclude when we come to the end of chapter 8 that the love of God has sent the gospel to the ends of the earth because God desires all to hear and believe, and that would be true.
But then the immediate question would come up...if God has provided a Savior for the world and a call to believe to the world and God has provided a sufficient sacrifice on the cross for all the sins of all mankind, if it is God's desire that none perish and if God wants the Apostles to proclaim the truth from one end of the globe to the other, why is it that people aren't saved if it's God's will? That really is the question that leads to Romans 9, 10 and 11. Let's start in Romans 9 with the first five verses.
By the way, chapter 8 ends with the great statement on the love of God, the inseparable love of God which belongs to those who are in Christ. It's right after that...that completion, that great doxological completion of chapter 8 that sums up this massive saving love of God that has been delineated in these eight chapters that Paul says this, "I'm telling the truth in Christ, I'm not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart." Why? "For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites." You know what he's saying? He's saying, "You know, I have this great sorrow, I have this unceasing grief, I would almost wish my own damnation if it could achieve the salvation of the Jews." And that's the question. If God is so loving, if the love of God is so magnanimous, so glorious, so great, so inseparable, so unbreakable, if God has this desire to save, if God wants the gospel preached to Jew and Gentile, if He sent His Son to be the Savior of the world, why aren't the Jews saved? Can't God get what He wants? Is He impotent? Is it that? Is it that He wants it but He can't do it? Or is He indifferent? He said He wants it but He's busy, He's not really thinking about it now so some folks are slipping through. Or maybe there was a time when He felt fairly positive about humanity and He doesn't feel that way anymore. Or thirdly, is He dishonest? He says He loves the world and He says He desires men to be saved but He's really not telling you the truth. Is God impotent? Is God indifferent? Is God dishonest? Because of this grand scheme, this...this incredible design for redemption isn't happening, maybe God has failed and He's failed on the point of impotence, indifference or dishonesty.
And Paul's going to answer that here. And he starts to answer that by simply saying, "Look, I recognize that Israel's not saved. And I recognize it so profoundly and deeply that it causes me great sorrow and unceasing grief and I could even wish myself to be damned forever if they would be saved. That's how much I care." He is expressing really something of the grief of God, isn't he. You remember that God Himself cried tears through the eyes of Jeremiah over the unbelief of Israel. And Jesus Himself cried tears over the lostness of Jerusalem. The heart of God is grieved and sorrowful. And Paul is reflecting that as the messenger of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, as he calls himself. He says the thing that makes it so sad is the Israelites are the ones, verse 4, who have the adoption, who have the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the temple, the promises whose are the fathers, the patriarchs and from whom comes the Messiah according to the flesh who is over all, God blessed forever.
In other words, they're the privileged people of all people. So they make the greatest illustration of the point, if God has provided such a massive marvelous scheme for salvation and it's to touch the world and it's far-reaching as an expression of God's great love, then why aren't people saved? And most particularly, why are not Jews saved? After all, they are not just people, they are the chosen people. They were given the adoption as God's sons, they were given the Shekinah glory to lead them. They were given the covenants and the Law and the temple and all the promises and theirs were the great fathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and all the rest, and from whom came Messiah. Has God failed? Has He failed at the point of impotence, indifference, dishonesty?
Well the answer is in verse 6 and this is where we want to pick up the text. "But it is not as though the Word of God has failed." No. The fact that all Jews are not converted does not mean God doesn't tell the truth, or can't keep His Word or is too indifferent to bother about it. It does not mean God's Word has failed. Now it's one thing to say it doesn't mean that but...but...but why, or how? Could you explain it? And he starts in verse 6 right on down through the rest of the chapter to explain it. And here's how he explains it. "You have to understand God's saving power, you have to understand God's saving love, you have to understand God's saving purpose and plan in complete accord with every other attribute He possesses." In other words, His love cannot spell the end of His wrath. His love cannot spell the end of His judgment, justice, vengeance, punishment, anger. Those are part of God as well. Those make up His character and His being so that whatever it is that God does with regard to love is perfectly mingled and in absolute harmony with every other attribute.
And you remember this, beloved, the whole purpose of the redemptive scheme ultimately is for the glory of...whom?...of God before angels and before men. And for God to glorify Himself means to put Himself on display. And so what God is going to do in redemption is put Himself on display. And to put Himself on display means to manifest the fullness of who He is...the fullness of all of His attributes. And that is why I say again that the love of God for the world and for all of us, the world of unbelievers and believers, God's love in general will be qualified by the demands of His own glory because in the end it is the servant of His self-glorification.
Now with that understanding we can now see the rest of this chapter unfold. And I'm going to show you seven attributes of God that have to work in harmony with His love...seven attributes of God are outlined here as Paul answers this issue. And they work in perfect accord with God's love.
First, He is glorified in His sovereignty...He is glorified in His sovereignty. Verse 6, "It is not as though the Word of God has failed," here's the reasons, "for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel." What? What is he saying? He is saying there are two Israels, there is a descendant Israel, that's a natural Israel, that is the Jewish race that came out of the loins of Abraham who was the man God used to found the nation. There is that natural physical Israel. But not all of that Israel is the true Israel. In other words, within the natural Israel there is a spiritual Israel. And that is what Paul was talking about in Romans 2:28 and 29 when he said, "It is not the one who is outwardly circumcised who is a Jew, it is the one who is inwardly circumcised who is a true Jew." But here Paul says, "Look, God never intended to save all Israel." That's what he's saying.
God's Word has not failed. It is not that He is impotent, indifferent or dishonest. God never intended all Jews to be saved in the first place...listen to me...because if God had intended all Jews to be saved, all Jews would be saved. That is a hard thing to understand but that is exactly what Scripture says and that is consistent with the sovereignty of God. Israel's unbelief does not cancel God's Word, it does not somehow detract from the integrity of His character, it does not mean that He is impotent, indifferent or dishonest. God never intended to save all Israel. All natural Israel is not the true Israel. God always purposed within natural Israel to save only some Jews so that the real spiritual Israel was within the nation. The nation...listen carefully...was elected to privilege but individuals were chosen for salvation. The real Israel is the Israel of faith, the elect Israel, elect to salvation.
And that is how Paul answers it. He answers it by saying God is glorified in His sovereignty. That's the first attribute that you see out of the seven here. God is glorified in His sovereignty. It manifests who He is to demonstrate to the whole of creation that He is in control of everything. He makes choices. He is sovereign.
Verse 7 follows up, "Neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendant." He says the same thing. They're not all spiritual children of God just because they descended from Abraham. Not everybody who is a Jew, not everybody who comes from the loins of Abraham was ever intended to be a child of God. And again he is saying the same thing. And he offers proof. Here's the first illustration. And in verse 7 he quotes out of Genesis 21:12, goes way back to when God was first choosing Abraham and the nation and God said, "Through Isaac your descendants will be named."
Now God made a choice when He chose Abraham, right? By the very virtue of choosing Abraham, He passed over everybody else. But then once He chose Abraham, He gave Abraham a wife by the name of Sarah, He made a promise that He would through the loins of Abraham bless and there would come not only a national Israel through the loins of Abraham but there would come a calling or an election to spiritual salvation among those people. But God was selective because Abraham had two sons...did he not? The first born son of Abraham was named Ishmael, he was not born to Sarah, he was born to Hagar, a hand maiden but nonetheless was the first born of Abraham. But God passed by Ishmael and the second son born to Abraham and Sarah was whom? Isaac. And God chose Isaac. From the very beginning what the Apostle Paul is saying, "Look, not everybody who came out of the loins of Abraham was chosen by God. God passed by Ishmael." And that's illustrative of God's sovereign selective process. He always purposed to choose. Ishmael was excluded, was rejected.
You say, "Well what does that do?" It demonstrates God's sovereignty. It demonstrates that God is the ultimate chooser. He is sovereignly selective. And that shows His majestic control of everything. Verse 8, "That is...furthering this discussion...it is not the children of the flesh...that is the physical children of Abraham or Isaac...who are children of God but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants." In other words, he's just following up with the same idea. God has chosen people to be children of the flesh in the nation Israel, but not all the children of flesh are the children of the promise. The promise relates to spiritual reality, the flesh relates to physical. So again he's simply saying God made a choice. And His choice was, "I'll pick a man, Abraham. Out of the loins of Abraham he had two sons, I'll pick the second son, Isaac. Out of the loins of Isaac, if you will, there will be children of the flesh and out of the children of the flesh I will choose some to be the children of promise." Isaac really was a child of promise in the covenantal sense. And out of his loins came both children of the flesh and of the promise.
Then verse 9, "For this is a word of promise, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son." Now that verse 9 is quoting Genesis 18:10 where God is saying, "I'm going to pick Sarah's son, not Hagar's." Why? Why did God do that? Ishmael was equally Abraham's son and the right of primogenitor was recognized to be through the father and in some ways it didn't really matter who the mother was in patriarchal times, as you well know. Why? Purely because God is sovereign. Purely because God selects because He is in charge. And this demonstrates His absolute uninfluenced sovereignty. It is a strong illustration of unconditional election in its most unequivocal expression. God said I'm going to pass by Ishmael and Sarah's going to have a son and he's going to be the one. God made the choice. Abraham had two sons, several sons, only one was God's choice, Isaac.
It doesn't stop there. Isaac had two sons. Who were they? Jacob and Esau. Look at verse 10, "Not only this, there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac..." Verse 12, skip verse 11, down to verse 12, "It was said to her, The older will serve the younger." Hum...who said that? God, Genesis 25:23. God said I'm picking...I'm picking the younger. And that's not how it was. It should have been Ishmael, by the right of primogenitor, the right of inheritance, the first born. It should have been Esau, remember when the children were born, the twins, Esau came out first and Esau really had the birthright, Esau had the right to the inheritance. But you remember, Esau treated it with disdain and when he was hungry one time swapped it for a meal with his brother Jacob. It should have been Ishmael and it should have been Esau. But it was Isaac and it was Jacob.
Why? Because before they were ever born God said, "I choose them." That's how it is. And what it demonstrates is God's sovereignty. Here you have unconditional choice, unconditional election, if you like that word. And then the principle is articulated in verse 11, "For though the twins were not yet born and hadn't done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of their works but because of Him who calls it was said to her the older will serve the younger." In other words, God made the choice with no regard for either of those two young men, no regard for their conduct, their life whether they were good, whether they were bad. It had nothing to do with them, but purely and only on the basis of God's purpose according to His choice that He might make very clear early on in redemptive history that He was the one who made the choices. And that being a child of promise, being a child of God, being a true Jew, being really an Israelite in the heart was a divine issue and not a human one. So before the twins were born, as before Isaac was born, God said the older will serve the younger, that's because that's the way I want it in order to demonstrate that My purpose according to My choice will stand.
The point is, what was God putting on display? He was displaying His what? His sovereignty. He was saying you are to worship Me and you are to adore Me and you are to honor Me and respect Me and you are to praise Me and to glorify Me. And in order to do that you have to understand what is true about Me and it starts with recognizing that I'm in charge, I'm sovereign.
God chooses. God determines destinies before men and women are born apart from anything in them. That is uninfluenced sovereignty. God is glorified in such sovereign selection. It shows His control. It shows His rulership. And our God is a sovereign God.
And then you come to verse 13. "Just as it is written," and that's quoting Malachi 1:2 and 3, "Just as it is written, Jacob I
loved but Esau...what?...I hated." What? You mean the love of God is that selective? Yes, because the love of God...the love of God is subject, it is qualified by the demands of His glory. And God is glorified in His sovereign choices.
You say, "But it's awfully strong to say Esau have I hated." But listen, if God didn't hate then we wouldn't understand His love. We wouldn't understand the magnanimity, the amazing magnanimity of sovereign love if there weren't hate. Sacrificial saving love is revealed when God's holy hatred is manifest. And God is going to put Himself on display forever to men and angels and we're going to see, and we've already seen, that God's love means something because God's hate means something. It is amazing to see God's love for unworthy sinners freely originating in His own holy will when He has every reason to hate us. But that's the glory of His sovereign love.
So God is going to be glorified in His sovereignty. He's going to make choices. And those choices are going to involve whom He ultimately and eternally will love. He loves the world in one sense, but as I said, that turns to hate. He loves His own in an unbreakable love that cannot ever turn to anything but more love. So God is glorified then in His sovereignty. And whatever His love is it's going to exist within the framework of the manifestation of His sovereignty which includes loving some and hating others. That proves He's in charge, He makes choices.
Secondly, God is glorified not only in His sovereignty but He is glorified in His judgment, or His justice. Paul anticipates what somebody is going to say here. Verse 14, "What shall we say then? What are we going to say about this? Are we going to say, God's not fair, that's not fair?" That's what he's assuming here, this imaginary objective is a real objection to anybody who thinks this thing through and he imagines and it's sort of an imaginary objector there throwing these questions which he answers all throughout the book of Romans. It's part of his polemic style, part of his dialogue in progressing logically through his presentation. And here he assumes the question...well that's not fair...it's not fair for God to love Jacob and not Esau, it's not fair before they were born for God to choose the younger over the older...it's not fair for God to choose Isaac and not Ishmael...it's not fair. And it's even more not fair cause they didn't have anything to do with it.
Is God not fair? His answer in verse 14, "There is no injustice with God, is there?" And then he adds in the Greek, megennota(?), the strongest negative in the language...no, no, no, no, no, such a thought is madness. Does the fact that God chose mean that He's unfair? No. Fair sends everybody where? To hell. Justice damns everybody. And furthermore, God would never do anything unfair. He can be accused of being selectively gracious but not unfair. Fair, you don't want fair, my friend. I don't want fair, I don't want justice, I want mercy. God could never be accused of being unjust or unfair though He could be accused and willingly so of being selectively gracious.
Genesis 18:25 says, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" And you say, "Well wait a minute, is He fair if He saves some?" Yes because He has provided a sacrifice for them in the person of Jesus Christ which satisfies His justice. Their sins having been paid for by Christ, justice is freed from its obligation and grace can be granted.
Furthermore, whatever God does is the definition of justice, right? It's not like an earthly judge. We're all poking around in the newspapers and listening to all the dialogue about Judge Ito and everybody is concerned that he does right. That's because we know he's a human being. Like any other human being, he may do right most of the time, he may do right almost all the time but because he's a human being he won't do right every time. And furthermore, there is a standard that has been laid down in the law which defines what right is. That's not how God is. God always does right and whatever God does is what right is. Whatever God does is the definition of justice. And you can be sure of this that for those sinners for whom God is gracious, a sufficient satisfaction of God's justice has been made. And that's what happened on the cross. Psalm 119:137 says, "Righteousness is Yours, O Lord, You are upright in all Your ways." Jeremiah 9:23 and 24 says essentially the same thing.
But we look at God and we say, "It's not fair. It's not just." And we're shouting up there with our puny minds. We don't understand what's fair. We don't understand what's just, except from a fallen perspective. You see, whenever you question the justice of God, it's a display of a carnal mind. It's a display of a limited knowledge. It's a display of pride. And it's perhaps mostly a display of weak faith. God knows exactly what He's doing. You may see the condemnation of the ungodly as unjust and it isn't. God has a holy purpose that is beyond what you could understand.
I read this week an interesting little story about a boy who got up very early in the morning just at daybreak and up before his father expected him to be up and he was sitting on his bed and looking out the back window of his little house somewhere in the midwest. And he saw his father go out into the backyard and he went out to a little place where he had a little puppy. The boy had a little puppy that he loved and he watched as his father went toward the puppy. And his father then when he reached the puppy took out a gun and killed it. And the little boy was absolutely astounded and appalled at the behavior of his father. And in his pajamas he went running out the back door of the house, across the yard saying, "You killed my puppy, I hate you, I hate you, you killed my puppy."
The story went on to say the father did what he needed to do to comfort the little fellow and to discipline him for inappropriate conduct. But he really was so upset he couldn't understand what was going on. The article said that a little later when he was a young man, rummaging through some of his father's things, he found clippings about a severe epidemic of rabies at that very time in his life. Went to a dictionary and looked up something about rabies and then realized that his father's action was an expression of love for him.
You cannot understand the motives of God from an infantile perspective, but you can learn to trust Him. Is that not true? And if you trust His love then you know what He does is right. And if indeed He is going to provide an eternal place of bliss and glory and happiness for us, there can't be sinners there with deadly bites. That's why it says in Revelation 22 that none of them are going to get into heaven. The Lord knows His own motives. The Lord knows His own purposes. Don't question it. Madness, he says, no, no, no, God is not unfair, God has satisfied His justice and God does what's right.
Number three, God's love is in accord with His sovereignty and His justice and thirdly, God's love is in accord with His mercy. Verse 15, and here's the point, "He says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So it doesn't depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy."
You know what he's saying here, "Look, I'll be merciful to whoever I want and it won't depend on them, it's purely My decision." That's exactly what He's saying. You say, "What was behind that?" Well verse 15 is a quote from Exodus 33:19. Moses went to God, he said, "Show me Your glory, put Yourself on display." Well, you know, God could have put Himself on display in a lot of ways. God could have said, "Okay, puff..." and Moses is gone. God could have burned Him to a crisp, sent him to hell. That would have displayed His glory, wouldn't it? You say, "Why do you say that?" Because just prior to Moses asking that question God had killed 3,000 sinning Israelites...wiped them out. And you know what? He spared all the rest. And all the rest were a lot...a lot. God killed 3,000 and He spared the rest. And then He went to Moses and asked Moses to do this task of leading and Moses says, "I'm not going to do it until You show me Your glory." And then God said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
What do you mean? Well, God says I have the prerogative to destroy like I did the 3,000. I have the prerogative to spare the rest. You want to see My glory? It just so happens that I choose to show you the glory of My mercy. I was merciful to the rest and I'm going to be merciful to you, Moses. And it has nothing to do with what you want." Isn't that amazing? Verse 16, "It doesn't depend on the man who wills, it has nothing to do with what you do or achieve but on God who has mercy." Mercy doesn't come because somebody wants it. Esau ran for the blessing, didn't get it. Ishmael desired the blessing, didn't get it. God says I give My mercy to whomever I wish. I demonstrate My saving compassion to whomever I desire. And I desire to give it to you, Moses. You know?
Thank You, amen, hallelujah, oh glory. And that ought to be our attitude all the time, right? God loves but His love is connected to His sovereignty, His justice and His mercy. It is also connected to His power, number five...number four, I'm sorry. It is connected to His power.
Verse 17, His love cannot be manifest apart from His power so in verse 17 going on in this marvelous insight he goes back to the Old Testament and reaches back to Exodus chapter 9, "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh," this is the Lord speaking, "For this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth." Wow! So then, He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires.
Do you know what that says? That says God raised up Pharaoh. What do you mean by that? Pharaoh's...God allowed Pharaoh's mother to bear Pharaoh. God allowed Pharaoh to be born into the royal family. God allowed Pharaoh to live long enough to get to the throne. God allowed Pharaoh to get to the throne, develop his power at the throne. And then when God got Pharaoh at the throne, God made sure that Pharaoh's heart was hardened so that he would put up a fight, a fight which when confronted with the power of God would give God the opportunity to display Himself, right? What would have happened if Moses had gone in and said, "Hey, Pharaoh, let my people go?" And Pharaoh said, "Yeah, sure. I mean, we'll grease the wheels, what do we need to do to get you guys out of here, you've been here enough and you've been really great. On your way."
He wouldn't need to have part the Red Sea, would You? Wouldn't need to drown the whole Egyptian army. Certainly wouldn't need the plagues. Wouldn't need frogs and boils and locusts and dead cattle and all the first born dying and wouldn't have the angel of death passing over. No, God hardened Pharaoh's heart because God wanted to put everything on display. God raised him up for that purpose. That's part of God's glory. You see, that's part of who God is. That's part of the character of God. And again I say to you, His love does not exist unmixed. He will love but that's not all, God is love but He's not all love and nothing else. And He is glorified in His power and He wanted to put His power on display and putting this immense power on display, by the way, from a standpoint of the Scripture, it is the greatest single display of power prior to the cross itself. And that's why it became the touchstone of God's redemptive power and that's why Jews to this day still celebrate what great event? Passover. It was the greatest indication of God's power on behalf of His people. I mean, He literally broke the back of the greatest power in the world, Egypt, opening a sea and closing it, immense power. And as a result of that, what it says at the end of verse 17, "Came to pass. His might was proclaimed throughout the whole earth." Everywhere, everybody heard what the God of Israel did. You remember even in an encounter with the Philistines, the Philistines got worried because they remembered the God of the Israelites who had drown the Egyptian army. If God wants to put His power on display, He'll raise up a man to put His power on display and that man's heart will be hardened. Exodus 4:21, God said, "I will harden his heart."
And so, God is going to display His power. And in order to display His power against resistance, there's going to be resistance. And so God's going to design resistance. It's not apart from the will of Pharaoh for Pharaoh hardened his own heart, it says as well. God doesn't overpower the human will. The human will is responsible. And that's why judgment is just, as we'll see in a moment. Moses was a Jew, Pharaoh was a Gentile, both were sinners. Both were murderers. Did you know that? Both of them were murderers. Yet Moses was saved and Pharaoh was lost. God raised up Pharaoh for the purpose of revealing His glory through His judgment power and He raised up Moses to reveal His glory through His grace and mercy and deliverance. God raised up Moses so that He could show His delivering power. He raised up Pharaoh so He could show His destructive power. Pharaoh was a ruler. Moses was a slave. Yet Moses got mercy and compassion because God willed it that way.
God is sovereign and God is holy and must punish sin. God is loving and must save sinners. But if everybody was saved it would deny His holiness. If everybody was lost it would deny His love. And so He's glorified through all His character.
Number five, He's glorified in His judgment, verse 19. Somebody is going to say right now, "Wait a minute. You're telling me He hardened Pharaoh's heart, you're telling me Ishmael was rejected and Esau was rejected and Isaac and Jacob were chosen. You're telling me God has mercy on whom He wants and compassion on whom He wants and hardens whom He wants. Now let me ask you a question. How in the world can He find fault with me then because I don't have anything to do with this? If this is all predetermined, sovereign destiny, if this is all something that's going on up there in heaven, if God is the one responsible for the hardening of the sinner, how does He hold the sinner responsible? If it's all determined by God, how can the sinner be punished? How can we be blamed?"
Verse 19, "You will say to me then...Paul says...why does He still find fault?" In other words, how can He find fault with us then? I mean, if He's doing it how can He hold us responsible? For who resists His will? I mean, if He's determined it all, how could You hold us responsible? I love the answer. "On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?" Don't you dare accuse God of holding you responsible for something you're not responsible for. That's the implication. That twentieth verse really comes out of Isaiah 45:9, "Is man to question God? Him and reason must submit." Man is a sinner, he loves his sin, he chooses his sin, he rejects God, he rejects Christ, he rejects salvation and he dies in his sins because of his own rejection. And yet at the same time it is God's sovereign will. But because it is God's sovereign will, listen carefully, it is no less the responsibility of the sinner. That's why every gospel invitation is given to the sinner to repent. Jesus is not in heaven begging God to add a few more names. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit begging men to repent. The responsibility is here.
When people are sent to hell it is because they believe not, it is because they repent not, it is because they love their sin. The fact that it's been established by God demonstrates the glory of His nature but does not dispossess man from his responsibility. And I know that is a very
difficult thing to resolve. In fact it's so difficult to resolve I can't resolve it and neither can you, but God can. I'll tell you one thing, I'm not going to question Him. And that's the issue of verse 20. "Who in the world are you answering back to God?" I mean, you poor depraved person with a feeble mind, just because it doesn't seem to make sense to you, you're going to answer back to God?"
Verse 20, "The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it?" And he's borrowing from Jeremiah 18, the picture of a potter. Verse 21, "Doesn't the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?" God has His own purposes. God is the potter. He makes the pots whatever way He wants. You can't argue with God. You can't question God. Because there's a purpose behind everything He does. He makes one pot for honorable use and another for common use, that's His choice.
Listen, the purpose behind what God does is not to satisfy the curiosities of human reason. The purpose behind what God does is not to satisfy the desires of depraved intellects. The purpose behind what God does is to glorify Himself. And if He chooses to be glorified in judgment by making a vessel that is not honorable, that's His choice. He is glorified in His own judgment and we have no right to answer back and say, "Well how can You judge us and hold us responsible when You're the one making the decision?" His judgment manifests His glory. It is a just judgment. You are truly a sinner, truly a Christ-rejecter, a God-rejecter, a God-hater, a lover of iniquity and that's why you go into punishment. God can harmonize that perfectly with His sovereignty, even if we can't.
God is glorified then in His sovereignty, His justice, His mercy, His power, His judgment, number six, His wrath. Verse 22, "What if God though willing to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" Now there's a lot in that verse, let me just grab the last phrase. What if God wanted to demonstrate His wrath by producing vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? So what, it's not for you to question. It's not for you.
You see, if you have God's perspective on this it's simply that God is glorified through His wrath. David in the imprecatory Psalms, God kill the unrighteous, God kill those ungodly, kill those people that are persecuting me, kill those people that are blaspheming Your name. O God, destroy them. And we read that and we say, "Oh, he was a righteous man and he loved holiness." That's cause we don't know anybody he was praying about. Right? If I come into the pulpit on a Sunday morning in my prayer and I say, "O God, all the unrighteous that detract from Your name, just kill them all right now," you're going to go, "Ahh," you know, be aghast because you're somehow emotionally involved with that group.
You get in to the book of Revelation and we've been reading for weeks and weeks about the destruction of masses of humanity, masses of humanity. And we went with those saints under the altar in chapter 6 and they're saying, "O Lord, how long...how long before You kill all these ungodly?" And we're saying, "Amen, Lord, oh amen, get rid of them." We don't know any of those folks. And when we get dispossessed emotionally from this thing we look with a little more objectivity.
Let me give you another illustration. There are millions of angels, ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands and just an innumerable number of angels. Well a third of them fell with Satan, right? A third of them fell, they rebelled with Satan, they were thrown out of heaven and they will spend forever in the lake of fire in torment. And they are creatures, they're beings with the ability to feel and to experience reality, spiritual reality. I don't think I've ever had anybody come to me and say, "Oh, it's so unfair that God didn't have a plan of salvation for demons." I don't think anybody has ever asked me that. "How can God not save all the demons?" I don't think anybody has ever said that. They don't really give a hoot about the demons, you just as soon have them in the lake of fire, right? None of them are friends of yours.
What I'm pointing up is, we don't get so exercised over this issue of vessels of wrath unless we get emotionally involved in it. And the issue here is that God has sent angels, once those angels fell there was no redemptive plan, there was no recovery, there was no salvation, there was no forgiveness, no mercy, no grace, it is...God does not display grace to angels. Holy angels don't need grace cause they're holy, right? Holy angels don't need mercy cause there's nothing about them that's pitiable. And fallen angels don't get any. So if God is to manifest what is true of His nature and grace and mercy and pity are true of His nature, then He's going to have to have a creature that He does redeem that needs to be redeemed that needs mercy, grace and pity and that's why we came along so He could put Himself on display in that realm. But the only way that's going to make any sense is to put His wrath on display by contrast so you understand what His mercy and His pity and His grace mean. Just because God is gracious to some we can't assume in our own minds that therefore somehow He has to be gracious to everybody else. That's not how it is.
God acts in His wrath. He prepares vessels of wrath beforehand because His wrath is going to be a way to manifest His glory. He's glorified in His wrath.
Lastly, He's glorified in His salvation. Verse 23, "All this He did in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory even us." He's glorified in salvation. He displays His glory in His sovereignty. He displays His glory in His justice, His mercy, His power, His judgment. He displays His glory in His wrath and He displays His glory in making vessels of mercy which He saves. What a marvelous thing.
So, God will be glorified all across the spectrum of His attributes. Don't be concerned, beloved, now and I'll close, don't be concerned with the mysteries of God's determination. Don't be concerned with trying to solve all of the mysteries of the nature of God. Be concerned with your own condition. Don't be concerned with what God is doing in planning all of this, be concerned with what awaits you in eternal hell. Don't be concerned with trying to unscrew the unscrutable, be concerned with repentance and remember that Jesus said, "Him that comes unto Me I'll in no wise...what?...cast out." Remember that Jesus said, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
The responsibility for repentance and faith is on you. That's all that should concern you. The issue of election doesn't become an issue until conversion then we know you're elect. "Whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely." "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest." These are the invitations the Bible extends.
The issue of the sovereignty of God and the glory of God and the manifestation of His character is one issue, but what issue concerns me about you is the issue of whether or not you will come to Christ to take the pardon that He offers. And that should be the consideration of your own heart. Let's pray.
Father, I think of the preacher as one who enters the prison house of humanity with a great handful of royal pardons and the preacher is instructed by the king to give them to all who believe and apply for mercy. And the preacher can say, "Let every sinner come with the assurance that none will ever be refused." O Father, may the prisoners upon the first sight and hearing run to take the pardon, pardon for sin and salvation in Christ. Father, I pray that You will cause us to be grateful for Your love, overwhelming love, undeserved, unearned and eternal. Thank You for what You've done for those who believe in You. In Christ's name. Amen.


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Elementary map and aerial photograph reading
Description: This manual covers elementary map reading, conventional signs and military symbols, distances and scales, directions adn azimuths, coordinates, relief, slopes, profiles and visibility, map reading in the field, and aerial photograph reading to an extent sufficient to permit soldiers adn platoon leaders to read aerial photographs and aerial mosaics.
Date: August 15, 1944
Creator: United States. War Department.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Book
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

subset: commoncrawl


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Kathleen Wanner of the Vermont Wood Manufacturers Association just called to let me know that as FEMA and the state of Vermont start to assess the needs of Vermonters, they are looking for input from those affected by Hurricane Irene and the floods, power outages, road closures and such that she brought.
If you have a VT business and have suffered loss due to the hurricane, you may be eliglble for assistance.
Contact Alex Ibey (802-828-5241) at ThinkVT.com or visit the Vermont Economic Development website to learn more.
Vermont Public TV has a great website with information for farmers, businesses and individuals.
One last note, our own Shannon Albritton who is stranded in Marlboro, VT where the roads have all been washed out, has developed a Facebook page for that community. Now residents can post their needs and offers to help each other. In just the last few hours over 120 people have signed on. I was noticing as I read through the postings that here, as in all the communities which were hardest hit, it's the generosity, kindness and perseverance of each other that's getting people through the disaster.


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As Atrios says, you've got to love the framing of this article:
WASHINGTON — Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the Senate's third-ranking Democrat, threw cold water Tuesday on what had been an emerging consensus for a bipartisan deficit- reduction plan — an overhaul of the tax code that lowers top income tax rates but raises more revenue. Mr. Schumer's position greatly complicates efforts to win bipartisan support for a deal before January, when the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and automatic spending cuts goes into effect.
That bastard, coming along and ruining everything.
But the meat of the article is interesting, because it shows that Shumer is doing no such thing:
In a speech to the National Press Club, Mr. Schumer was set to say he rejected the idea of a tax code overhaul as "little more than happy talk." Taxes could not be changed to bring in more revenue, lower the top tax rates and still protect the middle class from tax increases, according to excerpts from his speech.
Instead, he will say, the top two income tax rates should be frozen, and any additional revenues generated by closing loopholes and curtailing or eliminating tax deductions and credits should be devoted to deficit reduction.
"It is an alluring prospect to cut taxes on the wealthiest people and somehow still reduce the deficit, but you can't have your cake and eat it, too," Mr. Schumer's prepared remarks said. "The reality is, any path forward on tax reform that promised to cut rates will end up either failing to reduce the deficit or failing to protect the middle class from a net tax increase."
I think the concern with the deficit at the moment is counter-productive to say the lease, but if they're going to do it, I'm all for keeping tax rates as they are and putting all that money they project from "closing loopholes" toward deficit reduction. Since I think the probability that much money will ever be produced (or produced for very long) that may be the best we can hope for.
As I've written many times, "tax reform" as currently conceived is a scam which will end up starving the government of needed funds and giving the rich even more of a tax break than they already have. The simple fact that so many little Paul Ryans are in favor of it should be a tip off that they are really trying to turn the US into a tax haven for the rich.
Ryan said so explicitly:
James Henry, a former chief economist at McKinsey & Co., describes offshore tax havens like the "bar scene in Star Wars." He explains, "Dictators and kleptocrats used them to conceal stolen loot. Arms dealers and drug dealers use them to launder their deals. Google and Apple and Pfizer use them to park their intellectual property and pay themselves tax-free royalties. Banks use them to park lousy loans and stash the offshore accounts and assets under management of their wealthy individual clients, many of which are paying zero taxes back home…And so on."
When I say he wants to turn America into a dystopian hellscape I'm not exaggerating. So, when you have someone like Ryan endorsing "tax reform" I'd say watch your wallet. And start looking for a gated community — with armed guards.
Unfortunately, Shumer is batting at a straw man as far as the so-called fiscal cliff is concerned. There's not been a whole lot of serious talk about tax reform in this round, so I don't know why he's bringing it up unless it's to set up a deal whereby the Republicans agree to some loophole closing in exchange for some benefits and program cutting. That's the vaunted "balanced approach" everyone (except the people) are looking for.
Everyone who's speaking publicly is sending up trial balloons and publicly negotiating right now, so it's almost impossible to know what their real position is going to be. However, if we take them at their word, it's not hard to see what they are doing. They want to "tweak" Social Security, find "savings" in Medicare, "streamline" Medicaid, and "cut out the fat" in various other vital programs to the tune of four trillion dollars or so, all of which will come out of the hides of average citizens in the form of less money, less security, fewer services. Oh, and they're going to ask the rich to "pay a little bit more" too, which Chuck Shumer is saying will come from closing some loopholes in the tax code. This is what they mean by shared sacrifice. Just so you know.


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Filed Under (Harley Davidson) by admin on 01-02-2011
LCD DIPSTICK INSTALLATION 1. Remove the original equipment (OE) dipstick from the filler neck. 2. Non-threaded Dipsticks: Lightly oil the O-ring on the new LCD dipstick. Orient the dipstick so that the display window is horizontal and readable from left to right, with the Bar and Shield logo to the left (towards the rear of the motorcycle). Push the dipstick straight into the filler neck until it seats. 3. For threaded dipsticks: Lightly oil O-ring and screw into the transmission like OE dipstick. If the orientation of the display is unsatisfactory when fully seated, refer to Adjusting the Display Angle later in these instructions. NOTE To be sure of correct readings, the dipstick MUST seat firmly against the flange. LCD DIPSTICK USE AND CARE Removing the Dipstick The dipstick assembly must be removed from the filler neck to add oil or to service the internal battery. Displaying the Oil Temperature and Level See Figure 1. Press and release the rubber button on the front face to display the temperature of the oil in the oil tank in degrees Fahrenheit (°F), and the oil level. The display will automatically shut off after approximately ten seconds. Do not overfill oil tank. Doing so can result in oil carryover to the air cleaner leading to equipment damage and/or equipment malfunction. (00190a) NOTES Oil level cannot be accurately measured: • on a cold engine • with the motorcycle upright • with the engine running NOTE Oil level on 2000 through 2004 Softail models with the original dipstick is checked with the motorcycle standing upright (not leaning on the jiffy stand). THIS IS NOT THE CASE with the LCD oil temperature/level dipstick. For all 2000 and later Softail models, oil level inspection must be done with the motorcycle LEANING ON the jiffy stand, on level ground. For pre-ride oil level inspection: With the motorcycle on level ground, RESTING ON the jiffy stand : •The oil level should be as indicated in Figure 1, display 4 through 8 (bars showing oil level, and "COLD OIL" message followed by flashing oil temperature) when the engine is cold. DO NOT ADD OIL to bring the level to the FULL mark on the dipstick of a COLD engine. •If the oil level indicates as in display 9 (animated level bars, followed by an "888 NO SENSOR" code), the wires inside the dipstick may be disconnected or damaged. Refer to Replacing the Battery later in these instructions to separate the dipstick upper and lower assemblies. If the small plug next to the battery has become dislodged from the receptacle, plug it in. If a visible wire is damaged, a repair can be attempted. If no damage is visible, the dipstick is damaged internally and should be replaced. For oil level inspection at operating temperature: Ride the motorcycle until the engine is at normal operating temperature. Idle for 1-2 minutes with the motorcycle on level ground, RESTING ON the jiffy stand (except Softails) , turn the engine OFF.
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- [stainless steel round tube distributor Singapore]


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You might have to watch this trailer twice. It's a lot to process.
"Jupiter Ascending" revolves around Jupiter Jones (played by Mila Kunis), a janitor who unknowingly is a threat to the Queen of the Universe because of her perfect genetic makeup. Caine (Channing Tatum) is a pointy-eared, albino soldier with wolf blood sent to Earth to kill Jupiter. Still with me? Caine ends up falling for Jupiter and becomes her protector, making him the T-800 to her John Connor, the Kevin Costner to her Whitney Houston and the Denzel Washington to her Dakota Fanning.
The Snow White-like story is from Beverly-raised Andy and Lana Wachowski, creators of "The Matrix" trilogy. It takes place in Chicago, among other places in the universe, and filmed in the city and suburbs over the summer. The trailer includes plenty of skyline views and a shot of Kunis looking out onto the city from what appears to be the Residences at Riverbend condo building on Canal Street.
"Jupiter Ascending" is scheduled to hit theaters July 18 and reportedly was expected to contribute $24 million to the local economy.
email@example.com | Twitter @TribLuis
For more celebrity news and sightings in Chicago, go to chicagotribune.com/luis


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TORONTO – Among a survey of 73 U.S. cities that offer the most favorable tax structures for businesses, Providence ranked 15th overall.
The report, part of a comprehensive study of 55 cities from around the world, was issued by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG International and was broken down by country and by U.S. cities.
KPMG compiled the ranking using total tax index, a measure used to compare tax burden by comparing the total actual tax cost in U.S. dollars for each jurisdiction.
Providence had an overall total tax index of 85.8, with 100 being the baseline. Cities with lower scores had more favorable tax structures for businesses than cities with higher scores.
Boston ranked No. 35 on the comprehensive list of U.S. cities with a TTI score of 91.9.
Comparatively, Baton Rouge, La., which ranked first on the U.S. cities list, had a TTI of 66.5 and San Francisco, which ranked last, had a TTI of 106.6.
Overall, Providence posted a 25.1 percent corporate income tax rate, a 6.6 percent rate for "other corporate taxes," a 20.8 percent rate for statutory labor costs and a 52.5 percent total effective tax rate.
Among the U.S. cities, Providence ranked ninth for corporate income tax rate, 13th for its other corporate taxes rate, 59th for its statutory labor costs and 15th for its total effective tax rate.
In the digital sector – which was graded based on an analysis of two model business operations: a software development firm and a videogame production studio – Providence ranked ninth out of the list of U.S. cities with a TTI of 77.2.
In the research and development sector, Providence ranked 58th out of the 73 U.S. cities, with a TTI of 100.8. Hartford closed out that list with a TTI of 106.7.
In the corporate services sector, Providence ranked 56th, with a TTI of 99.2. The results for the corporate services sector were based on an analysis of two model business operations: a professional services operation, such as an international financial services firm, and a support services operation, such as a shared services center.
Rhode Island's capital city ranked 17th out of the 73 U.S. cities for manufacturing, with a TTI of 84.3.
The analysis was based on cost information collected between July 2011 and January 2012 and taxes in the report reflected tax rates in effect on Jan. 1, 2012.
Among the 14 countries in the study, KPMG ranked the U.S. eighth in terms of favorability of its overall tax structure for business.
For a full copy of the KPMG report, visit: www.competitivealternatives.com.


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San Felipe Plaza
5847 San Felipe, 17th Floor
Houston, TX 77057 USA
Phone: 713-383-0338
[email protected]
For more than a decade, the Reaction Search Houston Telecommunications Executive Job Search Specialty Team has provided its Telecommunications clients with superior Telecommunications talent acquisitions by matching Top Telecommunications Professionals with Employers in the Houston, Texas Metro Area.
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Our highly trained international recruiters have real-world Telecommunications experience and insight, making them the best suited for conducting financial executive recruiting to enhance the staffing infrastructure in both private and public organizations.
The Houston Telecommunications Executive Staffing Specialty Teams provides executive placement services for clients in the Advertising, Biotechnology, Banking, Business Services, Information Technology, Construction, Consumer Products, Computer Software & Hardware, Finance, Human Resources, Healthcare, Insurance, Industrial, Legal, Marketing, Technology, Manufacturing, Medical, Outsourcing, Pharmaceutical, and Telecommunications industries.
Our Telecommunications Recruiting Agencies specializes in:
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A Nationwide Telecommunications Executive Search Firm Network in Houston, TX:
As a nationwide Telecommunications executive search firm with an expansive network of professional Telecommunications executive recruiters located in most major cities across the nation, Reaction Search and its Telecommunications recruiters Houston are dedicated to identifying, evaluating, recruiting, and delivering the highest-caliber Telecommunications professionals by utilizing an established process in matching and delivering high-caliber Telecommunications candidates, who are prepared to begin contributing to your company immediately, with positions that fit their unique skill set.
What sets RSI's Houston Telecommunications Job Recruiters apart from others?
One of the many dimensions that make our Telecommunications recruiters truly unique is the fact that they are Telecommunications executive recruitment. Our Houston Telecommunications executive placement firm has people who have actually worked in the positions for which they now recruit talent. With this unique insight and perspective, they are better equipped to deliver search results that continue to uphold and ensure our firm's consistently high retention rates within the Houston Telecommunications Executive Recruiting Agency.
Because our Houston headhunters are familiar with the key Houston Telecommunications players and the "ins and outs" of the Houston Telecommunications field, they know the questions to ask, and are able to quickly and effectively assess candidate competency. These insights amongst other dimensions enable our Houston Telecommunications recruiters to consistently recruit premium Telecommunications candidates These are just a few of many ways in which our Houston Telecommunications search recruitment team distinguish themselves from executive recruiters who are just trying to hastily fulfill an executive job search.
From start-up to Fortune 500 companies, our extensive Houston Telecommunications industry knowledge base and proven track record of accomplishments enables our firm, RSI, to expeditiously and thoroughly tailor and fulfill each Houston Telecommunications Executive Recruiting. Simply, we provide outstanding service and bottom line results by servicing a comprehensive range of disciplines.
Houston, Texas Executive Search Recruiters Houston's economy is heavily based around its energy industry- particularly the oil and gas industry. While there are several other large companies headquartered in Houston, oil and natural gas giants continue to be the city's major employers and main sources of revenue. Houston is a center for the manufacturing and transportation of oilfield equipment as well. In 2010 the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan statistical area's gross domestic product was $385 billion. By GDP, the Houston MSA would be the world's 22nd largest economy if it were its own country.
Fortune 500 Companies This is a list of the Fortune 500 Companies within 50 miles of Houston. Of these 25 companies, 23 are located in Houston. In fact, Houston is second only to New York City for cities with the highest number of Fortune 500 Companies. The other two companies are located in The Woodlands and Sugar Land.Fortune 500 Co., Houston Metro Area
- ConocoPhillips (4)
- Enterprise Products Partners (62)
- Sysco (69)
- Plains All American Pipeline (87)
- Halliburton (118)
- Baker Hughes (141)
- Apache (154)
- Marathon Oil (173)
- National Oilwell Varco (184)
- Anadarko Petroleum (192)
- Waste Management (203)
- EOG Resources (263)
- Enbridge Energy Partners (282)
- CenterPoint Energy (305)
- Kinder Morgan (311)
- Targa Resources (361)
- Cameron International (362)
- Calpine (364)
- Group 1 Automotive (405)
- Spectra Energy (438)
- FMC Technologies (475)
- CVR Energy (477)
- El Paso (488)
- MRC Global (493)
- Men's Warehouse
- Waste Management
- Shell Oil Company
- Pennzoil
- Plains Exploration and Production
Houston, Texas Executive Search City Snapshot: Welcome to Houston, Texas; "Space City," "H-Town," the "Energy Capital of the World," and Men's Health Magazine's "Fattest City in America." Houston is HUGE (and not just the people). The city is home to over 2 million people and one of the tallest skylines in the world. Houston's JP Morgan Chase Tower, Wells Fargo Bank Plaza, and Williams Tower all crack the list of top 50 tallest buildings in the U.S. As of 2012, 10 of the nation's 100 tallest buildings are in Houston. Some famous people raised in this large, Texas city are: director Wes Anderson; broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite; South Park's Matt Stone; actors Dennis and Randy Quaid, Patrick Swayze, and Isaiah Washington; comedian Bill Hicks; athletes Clyde Drexler, Vince Young, Roger Clemens, and George Foreman; singers Beyoncé Knowles, Lyle Lovett, Kelly Rowland, and Kenny Rogers; aerospace engineer, film director, and entrepreneur Howard Hughes; and famed heart surgeon Denton Cooley.
In 1836 Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen purchased the land that is present day Houston, Texas. The Allen brothers were real estate entrepreneurs from New York who wanted to build a city along the Buffalo Bayou and take advantage of shipping routes to the Gulf of Mexico. They decided to name the city Houston after Sam Houston, hero of the Battle of San Jacinto and first president of the Republic of Texas. The city grew rapidly and by 1837 was the temporary capital of Texas.
By the 1860s, Houston had become a commercial shipping center for the South. During the American Civil War access to the city expanded to accommodate for Confederate Army operations. Then, in 1901, oil was discovered near Beaumont, Texas. This sparked the development of the Texas petroleum industry, which is still Houston's most valuable industry today. By 1930 Houston was Texas' most populated city.
After WWII, Houston experienced another population boom. In 1961 NASA built its "Manned Spacecraft Center" in Houston, which it used to defeat the Soviets in the race for lunar domination. Also, the invention of air conditioning led many companies to move their headquarters to the Houston area. Since its foundation, the city of Houston has not stopped growing. However, in the 1980s Houston's economy suffered a slight setback as a result of the drop in nation-wide oil prices. Although it is still heavily reliant on its oil industry,
Houston has tried to diversify its economy over the last couple decades by growing its healthcare, biotechnology, and aerospace industries.
Population: 2,099,451
Metropolitan Area: N/A
Major Industries: Energy - particularly oil, gas and natural gas - manufacturing and transportation
Attractions: Lynden B. Johnson Space Center, San Jacinto Monument, The Williams Waterfall, Astrodome, USS Texas
According to 2010 Census data, 2,099,451 people live in Houston. An estimated 400,000 more undocumented, illegal immigrant reside in the city as well. Houston is a young, multicultural city with a wide variation of ethnic and racial backgrounds. As a result the city is also very segregated. For the most part, Whites and Asians live in the western part of the city. Blacks tend to live in the north, east, and south ends of the city while Hispanic neighborhoods make up the city's northeast and southeast residential zones.
Also, many of Houston's residents are young. 17.16% of the city's population is made up of 25 to 34 year olds. This demographic makes up only 13.4% of the national population. Many of the city's young people are immigrants. Over 500,000 Houston residents are foreign born with 19.4% of the city's population hailing from Latin America. Houston's rate of foreign-born residents (26.4%) is nearly twice as high as that of Texas (13.9%).
RSI's Executive Search and Recruiting services can best suit executives looking for a premier Houston Executive Search Firm.
Being the leading Houston Executive Search Firm, our firm understands the Houston, Texas, market for executives and managers looking to be part of the accounting team at some of the nation's top companies.
REDUCE HIRING RISK IN HOUSTON, TX Hiring the wrong person can be a costly mistake. Being one of the nation's leading executive search firms, Reaction Search can minimize the risks associated with recruiting a new employee. Our recruiting experts conduct in-depth candidate reviews to evaluate the competency and quality of each candidate we recommend to our clients. We conduct extensive background and reference checks. When we send you a candidate, we do so with the utmost confidence that the candidate meets your criteria, and would be an asset to your organization.


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All your This Is It ticket talk, whether your in search or want to sell, maybe you just need to just discuss, all ticket talk goes here.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules


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An administrator can control a number of domain-level Transaction Service settings. For details, see Configuring the Transaction Service.
The Transaction Timeout setting can be overridden by a bean. See Bean-Level Container-Managed Transaction Timeouts.
In addition, the administrator can monitor transactions using statistics from the transaction manager that provide information on such activities as the number of transactions completed, rolled back, or recovered since server startup, and transactions presently being processed.
For information on administering and monitoring transactions, select the Transaction Service component under the relevant configuration in the Administration Console and click the Help button. Also see Chapter 21, Administering Transactions, in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Administration Guide.


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Prototype smart card chips in DIL-40 case have arrived
Finally, the first samples of the smart card chip (for the Osmocom CardOS project) have arrived. As opposed to the final smart cards, this one has been packaged in a DIL case instead of the usual thin credit-card sized plastic. The reason for this is quite simple: This way lots of I/O pins for debugging as well as JTAG can be accessible during COS development.
Here you can see the first incarnation of a veroboard connected to an adapter pcb inside an Omnikey smart card reader:
After confirming it worked, I soldered the wires directly to the adapter PCB, as can be seen here:
There is already a real PCB design that is currently manufactured, i.e. in a week or so there will be a picture of a clean, professionally-produced/etched PCB with all of the prototype pins exported.
In terms of the COS, I haven't done much more work than compared to the last posting, mainly due to a large number of other projects. But we will get there...


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*You can now snag a super deal for Cyber Monday by saving 50% on World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria online.
This sale is over.
In celebration of Black Friday, goblin merchants are infiltrating select retail locations to unleash epic savings on World of Warcraft and its expansions. For a limited time, starting Friday November 23, you can find the World of Warcraft: Battle Chest for $5, Cataclysm for $10, and Mists of Pandaria for $20—but only at the following retail chains:
United States
Best Buy
Fred Meyer
Hasting's Entertainment
EB Games
Future Shop
Best Buy
For now, these World of Warcraft Black Friday deals are available exclusively at retail, but if you're looking for even more epic savings online, be sure to hit up the Blizzard Store where you can save $20 each on Diablo III and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty from now until November 26 at 11:59 p.m. PST.


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This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot. The streets of Mexico City are tough on cars…
That means that an old Detroit battleship - or maybe an air-cooled Beetle - tends to be a wise choice for drivers in Mexico's ancient capitol city. The-Simpsons-Rule spotted this extremely rough first-year Galaxie parked on the street last summer, and we can't be sure whether or not it runs. The glass, lights, and trim are mostly gone, but the tarp over the dash suggests that the owner plans to fix it up. We certainly hope that's the case!
Hi guys The-Simpsons-Rule here,
in a recent trip to Mexico city I was strolling around the neighborhood when I came across this very old Ford Galaxie and immediately thought of you guys. All i know(or can remember for that matter) is that it's an automatic and.... well it's very old. Well i've included some pics so you can see for yourself how this car has seen better days.


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News . Feature Stories . Feb. 25 is 360 Degrees of Sight + Sound: The Planetarium Project
February 06, 2014
CIA animations and CIM compositions will surround visitors in immersive experience at Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Animations created by Cleveland Institute of Art students will complement original scores composed by Cleveland Institute of Music students when the two colleges present a public program, 360 Degrees of Sight + Sound: The Planetarium Project, on Feb. 25 at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Nathan and Fannye Shafran Planetarium.
Swirling images and colors timed to accompany new music will surround audience members in sight and sound from all angles in the museum's planetarium, one of the best equipped and most compelling facilities of its size in the nation.
CIA's Animation Department Chair Anthony Scalmato said the curved nature of the dome's surface presented interesting technical challenges for his students, who were accustomed to creating animations for flat screens. "It was the first time any of us had done anything like that so it was a lot of trial and error and test screenings at the planetarium," he said. But students rose to the challenge and made all of the deadlines built into their ambitious production schedule.
"The students have been fantastic and I'm really proud of them," Scalmato said. "They had to work together and communicate with each other and keep to a professional production schedule, and that in itself is a major task to handle."
Scalmato said all of the animations were created in a course offered by the Animation Department, but that students represented a nice cross section of campus, coming from Animation, Game Design, Illustration, Video, Industrial Design, Ceramics, and Painting.
The Planetarium Project started in late summer when CIM students began composing scores. They met with CIA students early in the school year to present their original music and discuss animation ideas with the art students. Next, students from both University Circle-based colleges met with Jason Davis, the museum's astronomy programs coordinator and a dome enthusiast, to discuss the technical considerations of composing an animation for a dome.
Public showings of 360 Degrees of Sight + Sound: The Planetarium Project are at 9:00 and 9:45pm on Feb. 25 at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland. Tickets cost $8 for museum members; $10 for nonmembers; and $5 for CIA and CIM students. To reserve tickets, call the museum's box office at 216.231.1177.
The following students, listed with their majors, were involved in 360 Degrees of Sight + Sound: The Planetarium Project.
Team 1
CIA students Jonathan Amore, Game Design; Javae Brown, Game Design; Austin Frank, Industrial Design; Bianca Marie Gonzalez, Ceramics; Elizabeth Kirsten Hauff, Game Design; Akeem Pennicooke, Video; Natilya Ratcliff, Game Design; Emilie Ring, Game Design; Nicholas Ritzic, Illustration; Helen Su, Game Design; Paul Zagorsky, Illustration; and CIM students Arturo Fernandez, Composition; and Byeongmun Jeon, Audio Engineering.
Team 2
CIA students Brienne Broyles, Animation; Macy Franko, Animation; Jessica Madden, Animation; Morgan Sylvester, Animation; and CIM students Corbin Moon, Composition; and Emile Hsu, Audio Engineering.
Team 3
CIA students Akeem Pennicooke, Video; Maria Ursetti, Animation; Samantha Witzorreck, Animation; Emily Yates, Animation; Anthony Zayas, Animation; and CIM students Nathanael Moffat, Composition; and Graham Rosen, Audio Engineering.
Team 4
CIA students Benjamin Zingo, Animation; Patricia Bowes, Animation; Asiha Reasor, Animation; Jonathan Amore, Game Design; Javae Brown, Game Design; Bianca Marie Gonzalez, Ceramics; Elizabeth Kirsten Hauff, Game Design; Natilya Ratcliff, Game Design; Emilie Ring, Game Design; Helen Su, Game Design; and CIM students Jack Hughes, Composition; Katherine Cook, Audio Engineering.
Team 5
CIA students Akeem Pennicooke, Video; Rachel Yurkovich, Painting; Helen Harry, Photography; Leigh Silverblatt, a Cleveland State University student; and CIM students Kyle Martin, Audio Engineering; and Alex Cooke, Composition.
360 Degrees of Sight and Sound is an example of Cores + Connections, CIA's academic commitment to student engagement in community practices and real-world projects.
For more information about this or other CIA news, contact us here.


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Baan Dada Children's Home and Community Services is a project of the Neo-humanist Foundation and is located near the Thailand / Burma border. Baan means "house" in Thai and Dada is Sanskrit for "brother". Baan Dada supports 47 disadvantaged children: 37 currently live at Baan Dada. Eight are in University Level and stay in dormitories near their school.
The Home We Have Created
Baan Dada started in 1994 as a boys' home in an effort to protect the growing number of orphaned and disadvantaged children in the area. Many refugees and migrant families moved to this area due to poverty, disease, and political repression by the Burmese military Government.
Dada, a local Thai staff named Supuchai, and a Mon tribe medic called Mon Nyi, are responsible for the development of the children, the home and many community-based projects in this area.
The main objective is to empower the children through education, both formal and non-formal. They are encouraged and taught many subjects including; music, handicraft, art, language and technical skills. The children are taught to practise vegetarianism and respect all people, creatures and religions, based on the Neohumanist philosophy, "love for all created beings in this world".
Baan Dada supports the local area by providing jobs for single mothers and families, who help care for the children, and assist with farming, construction and weaving projects.
The home is proactive in helping itself. The children draw cards and bookmarks to sell, and take part in musical, cultural dance and yoga performances. Baan Dada grows many fruits and vegetables, and have planted rubber trees for future harvest. Of course, we also welcome support from volunteers and donors!
Location and Background Information
Baan Dada is situated in Huay Ma Lai, a remote village near Sangkhlaburi in the Kanchanaburi province. Close to the Burmese border in western Thailand, it is approximately a seven-hour drive from Bangkok.
Huay Ma Lai is situated in a beautiful natural setting near one of the few remaining rainforests in Thailand, however the political situation in Burma has greatly affected this area. The area is home not only to Thai people, but also largely made up of Karen and Mon coming across the border. These Karen and Mon people are persecuted by the Burmese military dictatorship and many have been driven from their homes to seek refuge in Thailand.
These so called 'hill tribes' are not fully recognised as Thai inhabitants and therefore don't have the same rights as Thai people. They face major obstacles in acquiring adequate health care, education, and employment opportunities. To protect the social, political and economical well-being of Thailand, they are not allowed to leave the area without permission from the government.
The construction of a dam in 1982 to generate power for the local area and major cities, caused ecological destruction which changed the face this area. Local villages faced mandatory relocation and lost their traditional land and jobs.
Most of the non-Thai's have a low level of education and are living in impoverished conditions. They are presently dependent on bamboo and thatch for shelter. This means they are often involved in illegal logging, therefore increasing the serious stress on the local eco-system. Lack of employment, proper medical care, education and sanitation has reduced family life to a struggle for survival in this remote, undeveloped area.
Neohumanist Foundation
The Neohumanist Foundation is a non-profit social service organisation registered with the Thai Ministry of Social Welfare. Its aims are to contribute to sustainable development of the individual, the community and the environment. The Neohumanist Foundation is inspired by the philosophy of Neohumanism as propounded by the philosopher and visionary Shrii P. R. Sarkar in India.
The staff of the Neohumanist Foundation are dedicated full-time volunteers who work for specific projects. Other temporary local and international volunteers also contribute to the project's development.
"All that humans see externally in multiplicity is intrinsically One. Here all blades of grass, wood and stone, all things are One. This is the deepest truth."
-Meister Eckhart
Come and learn about the home we have created!
Meet our family!
Click any of the images to enlarge them and to start a slideshow.


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Beginner's DSLR Photography Workshop - Get Off AUTO
Judy Laing Photography
Friday, 13 September 2019 from 10:00 to 15:00 (BST)
Event Details
Aberdeen Beginner's DSLR Photography Workshop
Do you have a DSLR or mirrorless camera and would love to learn how to use it to its full potential?
• Trying to take great pictures of your children and family but they are often blurry or too dark?
• Did you buy a great camera and yet your holiday snaps still leave you a little disappointed?
• Would you like to learn how to get those creamy out of focus backgrounds you see in professional photos?
• Have you heard the terms aperture, shutter speed and ISO but still feel a little confused?
If the answer is 'YES' to any, or all of those questions then this may just be the workshop for you!!
"The course was fabulous from start to finish. Judy was able to explain the basics of photography using a DSLR in an easy to understand and fun way. It was great to be able to put it into practice in the afternoon, with Judy on hand to correct when things didn't go to plan. She even posed for some pics where needed! Oh and the lunch was fab too!! Can thoroughly recommend this course to anyone wanting to get a bit more from their DSLR and get off the Auto function." - Linda
This one day workshop is run in a very relaxed and informal way from the comfort of my own home. It designed to equip you with the basic knowledge and tips for you to go out and begin to take control of your camera and its functions. No more shooting on AUTO!
The day is split into a carefully designed mix of theory and practical elements alongside generous amounts of tea /coffee and home bakes.
The first part of the day is spent tackling terms like exposure, aperture, shutter speed and ISO all explained in a clear and simple manner with lots of time to explore the settings of your own camera. We also look at how composition can enhance your images, as well as finding and using great light... and lots more.
After a delicious homemade lunch and dessert, we head out on-location to a local park and put into practice all we have learnt in the morning.
With a maximum of 6-8 attendees, I will be on hand for you to ask questions and help you in any way throughout the day.
"I had only had a DSLR for a few months and was using all the automatic settings. I learnt how to use the manual settings of my camera, how to think creatively about what makes a good picture and above all I got the photography bug!!! My camera now goes everywhere and I want to try and capture everything! My confidence in trying new things with the camera has grown so much since doing the course 6 months ago. Definitely 5*!!!
What do I need to bring with me to the workshop?
Please bring with you your DSLR camera, any lenses you may own, a fully charged battery, an SD card and a pen and paper.
Is my registration/ticket refundable?
Your ticket to this event is non-refundable. However, if you are unable to make the event you are free to transfer the ticket to someone else.
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Event Saved
When & Where
Judy Laing Photography
8 Broaddykes View
AB15 8UG Kingswells
United Kingdom
Friday, 13 September 2019 from 10:00 to 15:00 (BST)
Add to my calendar
Judy Laing Photography
Hello, I am Judy, a portrait photographer specialising in children and family portraiture, based in and around Aberdeen, Scotland.
I am also a trained teacher so enjoy combining my love of teaching with my love of photography.
Do come on over and check out my work:


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Hopewell Culture National Historical Park contains nationally significant archeological resources including large earthwork and mound complexes that provide an insight into the social, ceremonial, political and economic life of the Hopewell people. From about 200 BC to AD 500, the Ohio River Valley was a focal point of the prehistoric Hopewell culture. The term Hopewell describes a broad network of beliefs and practices among different American Indian groups over a large portion of eastern North America. The culture is characterized by the construction of enclosures made of earthen walls, often built in geometric patterns, and mounds of various shapes.
Visible remnants of Hopewell culture are concentrated in the Scioto River Valley near present-day Chillicothe, Ohio. The most striking Hopewell sites contain earthworks in the form of squares, circles and other geometric shapes. Many of these sites were built to a monumental scale, with earthen walls up to 12 feet high outlining geometric figures more than 1,000 feet across. Conical and loaf-shaped earthen mounds up to 30 feet high are often found in association with the geometric earthworks.
For further information, visit the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park website.
Navajo Nation Council Chamber | Saint Joseph of the Lake Church and Cemetery


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tribune Media Services has filed a lawsuit against Academy-award winning director and actor Warren Beatty to recover motion-picture and television rights to iconic comic-strip character Dick Tracy, according to court documents.
In a Delaware court filing on Thursday, Tribune Media Services, a unit of bankrupt newspaper publisher Tribune Co, said Beatty "wrongly claims" to have exclusive motion picture and television rights to the well-known police detective character.
According to court papers, Beatty bought the motion picture and television rights for Dick Tracy in 1985 and went on to act and direct the 1990 film by the same name. The movie won three academy awards and its cast included Dustin Hoffman, Madonna and Al Pacino.
Tribune Co, however, said Beatty had "made no productive use" of the rights for over a decade, causing them to revert back to Tribune. The company said the economic benefits of the property was worth potentially millions to the company and its creditors.
Both parties have been engaged in a legal battle over the rights since late 2006, according to court documents.
In November, Beatty filed a suit against Tribune Media Services in California, claiming he had begun work on a Dick Tracy television special, which should preserve his rights to the character.
Tribune, in its suit, said that the TV special being produced solely for the purpose of preserving Beatty's rights would not benefit either party, and that it does not believe Beatty has begun shooting the special in the manner that would be required under their agreement.
A lawyer for Beatty was not immediately available.
Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December last year hurt by heavy debts and a decline in advertising.
The bankruptcy case is In re: Tribune Co, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 08-13141. The California case is Warren Beatty v. Tribune Media Services Inc et al, No. 08-07662.
Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore and Emily Chasan in New York


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Our graduate program provides a challenging curriculum that is relevant to today's career prospects and the opportunity to study with internationally renowned faculty members. Students will benefit from strong research programs, a high-tech infrastructure, and a full program of convenient evening academic courses.
Our graduate program prepares students for employment in the energy and environmental sectors, geospatial technologies, and mining professions in industry, government or academia.
Master of Science
A Master's degree in Geosciences from UT Dallas prepares you for professional employment in the government or in the private sector, including energy, mining, and environmental industries. A MS degree is also recommended preparation for earning a doctorate, although it is not required. UT Dallas Geosciences has two tracks – Thesis option and Coursework option - for earning a MS. Both of these require 36 hours of graduate study and typically take two years (4 long semesters) of full-time study to complete.
Thesis Option
This option is designed for students desiring an in-depth geosciences research experience. It requires identifying a faculty research supervisor who agrees to serve in this capacity. Selection of a research problem and supervisory committee are essential to successful completion.
Coursework Option
This option is designed for students who seek to improve their geoscientific background via formal coursework. A 3-hour research project but not a formal thesis is required for successful completion.
Doctor of Philosophy
The Doctor of Philosophy in Geosciences degree emphasizes research in one of the specialties in the geosciences and is designed to prepare students for advanced positions in the energy, environmental, or mining professions in industry or government, or for positions in academia.
Geospatial Information Sciences
The Doctor of Philosophy in Geospatial Information Sciences aims to cultivate innovative researchers capable of advancing the frontiers of knowledge in the geospatial information sciences through improved theory, advanced methodology, sophisticated quantitative analysis, innovative technology and integrative application.
Our degree is devoted solely to GI Science, focusing on advancement of the technology, its associated theory ,and the enhancement of its application in a variety of substantive areas.
- Updated: February 27, 2015


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Csomor and Bracht Leg It Out in Los Cabos
Timo Bracht easily dominated the men's race, while Erika Csomor had to fight right to the end as she caught Michelle Vesterby in the closing stages of the marathon.
Vesterby comes oh-so-close again
Two years ago Denmark's Michelle Vesterby surprised the IRONMAN world by leading for much of the day at IRONMAN Arizona, only to be caught and passed during the marathon by Leanda Cave. At the inaugural IRONMAN Los Cabos, Vesterby, who took her first IRONMAN win in Lanzarote last May, stayed at the front for much of the race once again, but was eventually passed with a few miles to go in the marathon by veteran Erika Csomor (HUN). American Lisa Ribes ran her way to third.
The men's race started out looking competitive, but once the marathon began it quickly became a one-man show as Germany's Timo Bracht added yet another IRONMAN win to his impressive resume. For much of the ride Australian Luke McKenzie had ridden at the front with Bracht and another German uber-cyclist, Maik Twelsiek, but the Australian wasn't able to stay in touch and dropped off the pace during the latter stages of the ride. Once the run began, Bracht quickly ran away from Twelsiek and never looked back.
The battle for second was considerably more exciting than the race for the win as France's Trevor Delsaut managed to hold off Hungary's Jozsef Major for the runner-up spot by just 34 seconds. Canadian Jeff Symonds had an impressive IRONMAN debut in fourth, while Twelsiek faded to fifth.Professional Women's results
1 Csomor, Erika HUN 9:35:34
2 Vesterby, Michelle DEN 9:36:31
3 Ribes, Lisa USA 9:38:35
4 Hufe, Mareen DEU 9:40:50
5 Calkins, Kathleen USA 9:46:55
6 Goos, Sofie BEL 9:48:20
7 Blakemore, Katy USA 9:50:29
8 Gellatly, April USA 9:52:36
9 Clifford, Ashley USA 9:55:50
10 Anderson, Christine USA 9:57:29
Professional men's results
1 Bracht, Timo DEU 8:26:48
2 Delsaut, Trevor FRA 8:33:23
3 Major, Jozsef HUN 8:33:57
4 Symonds, Jeff CAN 8:37:09
5 Twelsiek, Maik DEU 8:37:43
6 Fontana, Daniel ITA 8:39:24
7 Gerlach, Thomas USA 8:47:46
8 Russell, Matthew USA 8:49:57
9 Carter, Brett AUS 8:52:35
10 Castillo, Andres COL 8:57:10


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JERUSALEM, May 21 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lodged a protest over Israel's decision to legalize four West Bank outposts, officials said.
In a telephone call to Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, Kerry demanded an explanation and issued a protest, Haaretz reported Tuesday.
An unnamed senior Israeli official told the newspaper that Kerry said the move would undermine efforts to jump-start peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He asked the Israeli government to delay the move or rethink its decision.
Kerry will make his fourth visit to Israel at the end of the week and is to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Thursday and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah Friday.
United Press International reported the government's plans to legalize the outposts last Thursday. A High Court of Justice document revealed plans to legalize four West Bank outposts in response to a petition filed by Peace Now.
The group, which monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, demanded the government demolish six illegal outposts. The document said the four outposts the government hopes to authorize were on state land or land purchased from Palestinians.
The Israeli Defense Ministry must approve the settlements.
The four outposts are Givat Asaf near Beit El, Mitzpe Lachish in the southern Hebron Hills, Ma'aleh Rehavam in Gush Etzion and Givat Haroeh near the settlement of Eli.