Thought 2009/6: Earth Hour - Kids

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Thought 2009/5: Great Love

Following on from my previous thought is Corinthians 13 in its entirety allowing verses 6 & 7 to be seen in context There are 3 Translations here as I gleaned something different from each, I hope that you do too.

I feel that the words are not only speaking of our love for God, Christianity & our fellow men (human race in general) ; But also of our love for those individuals we come into contact with in our daily lives...


Wife, Husband, Daughter, Son Boyfriend, Girlfriend, Grandmother, Grandfather, Uncle, Aunt & so on...

Boss, Colleague, Customer, Coffee-Shop Assistant, Lunch Lady, Teacher, Janitor, Minister & I'm sure there are more you could think of...

Anyone who influences & impacts your life; Anyone whose life you impact & influence...

What about... Drunk, urine soaked, sweat oozing, vomit covered, blood caked, pus infected... Wait...No cant you imagine coming across anyone like this & loving them?

Let me help...
Drunk, urine soaked, sweat oozing, vomit covered, blood caked, pus infected...
Wife
Husband
Daughter
Son
Boyfriend
Girlfriend
Teacher
Minister
... They are someone important in someones life! Think About It...

Actions are more powerful than any beautiful eloquent words, so they say, true but... If the words aren't uttered with love they are nothing, if the actions aren't carried out in love they are nothing!

Without Love We Are Empty & Soulless? Love for those we spend our life with, is no more important than our love for everything in our lives!

Love isn't just for celebrating & showing to those we want to spend our lives with on February 14th..

But is for Every Day of Every Year to Everyone?!

To paraphrase: "Just as a puppy isn't just for Christmas ... Love isn't just for Valentines!"


God asks, wants & demands of us to do everything with & in love following his example of actions & reading his words:


LOVE is...

(New International Version)

1 Corinthians 13

Love

¹If I speak in the tongues^a]">[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^b]">[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

(The Message)

1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

(New Living Translation)

1 Corinthians 13

Love Is the Greatest

¹ If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;^a]">[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

⁸ Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages^b]">[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ⁹ Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! ¹⁰ But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ¹² Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.^c]">[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

...GOD is LOVE

Thought 2009/3: Yes We Can...Have A Dream

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

-Martin Luther King jr (Washington DC 1963)

~

Expectations are High that 1 man can Change The World ~ President Obama is just that... A Man.
Man alone will NOT Change The World!!

Matthew 19:26....
"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (NIV Bible)

"No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it." (The Message Bible)

These are just my thoughts, the potential is limitless, the level of change needed (In USA & around this Earth) is achievable ... The Excitement is almost palatable! Something indeed might be 'Blowing in the wind'; The world of politics globally might be about to shift on its axis for the better... How Great That Would Be!!

BUT all this, can be & will be, short lived if we look only to Obama & those like him (now & in the future) & even worse put them on a pedestal. A Throne of Possibilities is nothing with a man sitting on it...

God Already Has A Throne - He's at the Centre - Waiting...
Yes We Can... Have A Dream
With God at the Centre


!YES!
Even The Impossible Task Obama is being expected to do!!!

Obama Election Win 2008



Text of I Have A Dream with Music



Entire I Have A Dream Speech (as shown on TV in 1963) 17+ mins long

Jesus Liberation Template

Following on from my Blog "Essential Word on The Street" & the buzz I got from listening to the audiobook read by the author Rob Lacey. I wanted to find a excerpt to just show how much of a passionate revolutionary he was, but in absence of that I found this video of him reading a section from his book. (I think it certainly portrays his passion! As well as his bravery! If only most Christians were like him?!)






This 2nd video is a short interview Rob Lacey gave after The Street Bible (now The Word on The Street) was published. It gives just a small insight to his motivation & life story (including his battle with cancer, which he eventually lost in 2006).

As someone has said (probably many times) 'your story & my story are important' on helping everyone on their christian journey.
Its certainly part of the 'Jesus Revolution Template' of living & sharing your faith.

Which, I believe, Rob Lacey did exactly as God had intended....