T.J.I.F.A.

THANK JESUS IT'S FRIDAY AGAIN!
PASS IT ON & ON...& ON...& ON
MAY 30, 2003

SALUTE! GRADUATE OF GREEN FOREST CHRISTIAN ACCADEMY PRE-SCHOOL BREANNA C. JOHNSON
GRADUATE PRE-SCHOOL TRAVEZ J. GRIER
GRADUATE PRE-SCHOOL ANDREW L. LOVITT KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK - SALUTE!

SUBJECT: JUST TURN IT OFF!

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW SOME PEOPLE CAN BE SO INDIFFERENT ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND THEM?  DOESN'T IT LOOK AS IF THEY NEVER NEED A PRAYER?  THEY HAVE A SECRET...THEY JUST TURN IT OFF.  THEY TURN OFF ALL PROBLEMS THAT INFRINGE UPON THEIR PERSONAL LIVES.  BUT, IS THAT WHAT GOD INTENDED US TO DO AS CHRISTIANS?  KEEP READING!

NOTEWORTHY: SEE YOU NEXT WEEK

FRIDAY'S WORD: CONSTERNATION

IN THE MIRROR: WHAT ‘S IN A MEMORY?

O TASTE AND SEE!   SALMON PATTIES THIS WEEK SENT IN BY TDM-J.  MAYBE YOU CAN TRY THEM WITH SOME OF LAST WEEKS POTATO SALAD - ENJOY!

LOOKING FORWARD

SEE YA NEXT TIME

TER

JUST TURN IT OFF!

Psalm 1:1
Blessed  is the man that walketh not in the counsel   of the ungodly; nor standeth in the way with sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Ezekiel 33:11  Say unto them, As I live, says the Lord God,   I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked;  but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?   

1Timothy 2:1-6  I exhort therefore, that first of all, supplications,  prayers, intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men;  For kings and for all that are  in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of  GOD our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one GOD and one mediator between GOD and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself for a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.          

Many have a problem with T.V.  Evangelists.  The Evangelist looks right into the TV screen; right into your living room or space and screams, "You're going to hell, without Jesus Christ!"  How dare he invade your space and time with his antics of guilt plastering reality.  How dare he attempt to make your life unlivable.  After all, you  had a hard day, and you deserve to kick back and enjoy anything on the tube that you desire.  So...Just turn it off!  

Many have difficulty with the "Nightly NEWS."  

The evening  NEWS is filled with the horrors that you would, otherwise, never be privy to.  Why should you fill up your head with these robberies, murders, rapes and shootings?   Why should you carry the fear associated with the hearing and knowing about these bad troubles.  It didn't happen to you or anyone that you have ever known.  Its too devastating to entertain those possibilities.  So...Just turn it off!  

911- American Tragedy.

How many times will they show those planes crashing into the New York skyline Towers?  You don't live there; could it affect you?   You don't even know anyone who lives in the New York area.  All of your programs have been suspended for the continual coverage of this tragedy.  Everyone is talking about the same thing.  You stop for a moment  to evaluate your own sense of ‘Well Being.'  You're O.K.   So...Just turn it off!

America is fearful of opening Anthrax in the mail.

What is this  Anthrax?  Just wear gloves when you open the mail.  Don't open mail without a return address, or an  address with which you are unfamiliar.  You are being barraged with information on T.V. and Radio.  You haven't been affected by this fear, and probably won't.  So...Just turn it off!  

Wars and Rumors of Wars.

The War in Afghanistan; The War in Iraq; the War between Israel and Palestine all fill the minds and the hearts of Americans everywhere.  NEWS men and women are embedded with the troops.  They are reporting first hand information from the front lines.  But, this interrupts our lives  of normality.  It disjoints our imitation of life.  Why should we have to see the carnage in Israel, or the destruction in Iraq, or the hunger in Afghanistan?  Why should the misfortune of people a world away infect your thinking?  It shouldn't!  So...Just turn it off!  

Today, if you can read this Newsletter, you can also say; You're in control of your life.  Or can you?   You  can say that you're able, to isolate yourself and those around you whom you love, from distasteful situations. You can walk around in a bubble or a box, insulating that which affects you and you only.   But!  The fantasy will soon end and where will you be?  

Right now you control the remote.  You determine what comes into your elite area.  Do you lean toward entertainment?  When you relax in front of the T.V., do you seek fulfillment and pleasure from looking into a world that only has one wall?   A world where adultery, lust, fornication, lying, killing and stealing is justified as long as the story line isn't broken.  A world where independence is worshiped along with athletic prowess and beauty.  A world where only beautiful people live (and that, not by birth but, by the strokes of a man's brush) with artificial attachments and detachments designed to ‘enhance GOD's workmanship.'     A ‘World of Fantasy.'  

Fantasy is built on clouds of imagination.  Figments of fabulous fiction.  Fragments of forgotten folklore. In fantasy, you must build it every day of your life, over and over again.  You can't get tired because you have made this figment a reality to those unsuspecting onlookers; and in order to stay alive, you must rebuild it everyday.   Example: The Huxtable Family; Mary Tyler Moore; Sessamee Street - Big Bird; Mickey Mouse; Donald Duck, and Bugs Bunny.  Some of these examples we know,  aren't real.  But, they are as real as the people in the sitcoms.  If you went to any of the addresses you'd find that they don't (neither did they ever) exist.  

Reality is being able to show the triumphs, as well as the tragedies of life.  Reality  starts to build and brick by laborious  brick it  is completed, and everyone can see its progress and   the eventual  finished product.    Reality is harder to attain than fantasy.  Reality sets goals and accomplishes them. Each goal is designed to carry the participant toward the finished product.  

Fantasy, has no goals. Only a huge end product which is unattainable, and without foundation.   It can be fabricated, just as Sessamee Street or the household of the Huxtables, to be everything that its creator desires.  But, the end result is ‘zero'.

There is reality that must be mentioned in this seemingly hopeless entanglement, and that is the reality of Jesus Christ; His Cross; and His Reward.  Unlike the world would have you believe,  He is real and not fantasy.  In fact, He is more real than our brick laying reality.  He has made many promises to His children and they will be kept.   His promise has the firm foundation of His own Blood, shed for a ransom for all.  It is our sincere consternation to intercede with prayers and thanksgivings for the lives of those without and less fortunate.

Now, for you who hold the remote and feel that your world  is complete,  and that you are in charge because you can ...Just turn it off.  For you who have made grandiose judgements in television rejection and reception; for you who think that IF you "Just turn it off," the troublesome situations cease to exist; for you who think that all power is in the click of your finger or the twist of your wrist ...You are living in fluffy,  furry, fantasy!!!   

It is a GOD given privilege to PRAY.   When we see the devastation  in other's as well as  our own country,  we can pray to GOD who cares deeply for all of His people.  It is an honor to have your heart strings tugged by the face of a hungry child and know that you are helping him, or her to  survive.  Prayers travel faster than money grams.  Prayers reach into the depths of any situation and bring the GOD factor into the equation.     

There's a day coming when the turbulent, troublesome, trials will ignite your lethargy as you attempt to click your way out of discomfort.  As you sit in your uneasy chair, hands sweating, pushing the up arrow, the channel selector, play and stop.    You may now realize what a dis-service you did to the millions that you rejected and neglected.

You look out your window and help has arrived.  Hundreds of people, all staring into your elite  living room.  You scream with a loud voice, "HELP ME!"  Then, as if in concert they all in unison point a remote at your  uneasy chair and your  troublesome condition,  and...Just turn it off!   CLICK!  

Looking Forward

See Ya Next Time.

TER

NOTEWORTHY:

FRIDAY'S WORD: consternation; con*ster*na*tion;(noun) amazed dismay;
agitation, or dismay in the anticipation of ,or in the presence of danger

IN THE MIRROR:
Question: What's in a memory?
Memorial Day  was originally known as" Decoration Day." It was set aside to honor the Civil War dead. By the late 1800's, many communities observed a day in honor of those who gave their lives. After World War 1, observance began to include those who lost their lives in that war. Included in the honors today are those who died in the Spanish-American War, World War 11, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Memorial Day became a Federal holiday by a law effective in 1971.

Memory: is the ability to keep a mental record of earlier experiences. Basically memory is learning;  Psychologist have noted many a great extraordinary experiences associated with the education of the memory. They note areas of skills; verbal responses; emotional responses; the ability to reminiscence; serial position effect; recitation; and imagery, just to name a few.

In child education it is taught that, "A child should not be encouraged to learn facts in the language of a textbook and repeat them word for word. It is much more important for him to understand the meaning of what he is learning, and to use the facts to connect the new knowledge with things he has learned previously. If he does this, he is more likely to remember what he learns."

A memory is one of  the more fascinating components that God has given unto man, one of the reasons being, you don't have to earn it, beg or pled for it. No, it comes along with every life.

On Memorial Day we honor the dead, and remember all they stood for. We have the reminder  of their  commitment, loyalty, and what it means to have an allegiance to  a given cause. Man lives by examples, and God has always provided men, and women of profound character to assist in shaping and  molding us.   Everybody who has ever lived has been some type of influence to us whether positive, negative, or somewhere in between. All life is connected, and it's God that makes the connections.                

In the wisdom of God, we find an interesting passage in the book of Ecclesiastes 9th chp. 5th verse, "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."  

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:1,2, "Moreover brethern, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain."

I believe ‘Memory' is only used once in the New Testament because Jesus said,"He would give us another Comforter," and that Comforter would hold all the answers to our Christian walk. When I become so forgetful along my own Christian journey, it's always my prayer that I never forget the Cross, where Jesus died for me.

Now,after giving it  careful consideration; What will you remember?

S.L.C.

O TASTE AND SEE!


FRIED SALMON PATTIES


2   CANS SALMON BONED AND SKINLESS
2   EGGS  
2  TBLSP FLOUR
1   CUP CORN FLAKES
½   CUP LOUISIANA FISH FRY
LOWRY'S SEASON SALT TO TASTE
PEPPER TO TASTE

DIRECTIONS:

DRAIN SALMON AND REMOVE BONES AND SKIN IF NECESSARY

PLACE IN LARGE BOWL.  

ADD ALL OTHER INGREDIENTS
STIRRING WELL

FORM INTO PATTIES

FRY IN HOT SKILLET USING CANNOLA OIL.

SERVE WITH "MAMA'S POTATO SALAD" (LAST WEEK'S RECIPE)



CONTRIBUTED BY: TDM-J