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T.J.I.F.A.
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SEPTEMBER 05,  2003

SUBJECT: BLACKOUT!

AUGUST 14, 2003 WAS A VERY DARK DAY FOR MANY AMERICANS NEAR THE GREAT LAKES, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND ONTARIO CANADA.  THIS DAY OF DARKNESS LASTED APPROXIMATELY 24 HOURS.  IT LEFT US WITH AN UNDERSTANDING THAT WE CAN'T DENY...GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE AND HIS SON, JESUS, IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.  

NOTEWORTHY: "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS."

FRIDAY'S WORD: IMMUTABLE

IN THE MIRROR: SLC COMMENTS ON NOTEWORTHY

O TASTE AND SEE!: MEAL PLAN FOR FISH STICKS, 20 MINUTE PREPARATION TIME.  ENJOY!  

IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN - LOOKING FORWARD

SEE YA NEXT TIME

TER  




BLACKOUT!

Scripture Ref. Psalm 8:  

August 14, 2003 - North America experienced the loss of electricity in three major cities and their  suburbs.   This Blackout reached up to Ontario, Canada and included Toronto Canada.  According  to the media it was the worse ‘Blackout,' that the country has ever experienced.  

Cleveland, Ohio could get no water because their five thousand mile water pipe system is dependant on pumps that bring water from Lake Erie, and is powered by ‘Electricity.'  It  was said that in less than nine seconds all of these major  cities were ‘DARK.'  It's been called, "A Rolling Blackout."  Each city was dependant upon another or each other to catch its overload of usage, and evidently the result was ‘systems overloaded and ‘Blackout.'  

Where were you?  Did you experience anything?  Do you have friends who live in the affected areas?  

An aerial view of New York presented the City with people everywhere.  There seemed to be not even a square foot of vacant  space.  Vagrants, Vagabonds, and "Bag Ladies" found themselves sharing their homeless niche with thousands of uninvited guests.  Surely, they welcomed these intruders with open doors which the whole world observed.  Were they much better than they?  After all everyone needed a home on that day.  Everyone needed a place to rest his weary head...on that day.   

As independent thinking Americans, we never even consider being in a position of having to depend on another person, their home or car; or another Church, its Pastor or Choir; or another City, its water or lights.  We never think about borrowing things that we know we are going to have to use on a consistent basis.  We, as a Nation, stood in blank shock as we looked at the scenes on the News.  These were major cities with major populations.  What could have possibly affected these areas?  And whatever it was, why did it also include Toronto and Ontario Canada?  What did the United States of America have in common with Canada?  

Answer?  Human Beings - People.  

Every State and every Providence had to supply ‘People' with ENERGY.  Energy to live and function in a society that is ‘DEPENDENT' on Electricity.  Electricity is used for lights; cooking; alarms; pumping fuel; powering tools; heat; and running every computer in America and Canada.  These computers that are dependent on electricity control everything.  If we've never thought about it before, we had a good dose of thought during this murky, mishap.  

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; What is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of man that you visit him?" Psalm 8:3,4.

After this "Blackout," I spoke with three different families in Cleveland, Ohio.  I wanted to know how they faired during and after this unexpected event.  I was surprised when all three of the people interviewed gave similar experiences.  All of them  talked about how dark the streets were and how quiet the city became.  But, the amazing consistency was in their observations of GOD's provision of the beautiful full moon and the clear visibility of the stars.  

Everyone talked about the way that the moon and stars gave off light in that dark and seemingly forsaken city.  One person stayed on the front porch all night long enjoying the presence of GOD through His light, in the night.  Another talked to a neighbor over the fence until wee hours of the morning and they both enjoyed the presence of the light of the moon.   Another sat by the open window and gazed into the heavens until very late.  

All of these people were elevated out of the circumstance to a level of ‘Peace' in the midst of the disaster by ‘Looking Up.'  They had no television ,or radio, or computer to usurp the attention from GOD's provision in the night.  

By communicating with people who were in the midst of the "Blackout," my eyes were opened to a beautiful revelation.  

America may be an independent Nation, but our dependancy is in the wrong place.  The fail safe mechanisms that would have given people light in a disaster such as this, were TOTALLY DEPENDENT on the knowledge of MAN.  And, as we all saw, MAN'S knowledge failed.  But GOD, whom  much of the world denies, or just  pretends He doesn't exist, hung a huge Moon in the dark sky back in Genesis the first chapter.  Many people were forced to LOOK UP into the penetrating only  light of the Moon, on that day.  GOD didn't fail them and the Moon didn't run out of power.  It continued to shine until its night watch was over and the light of the Sun took its place. Some of the inhabitants of the "Blackout" were still without power  until 3:00 PM the next day.
 
As dark as it was physically, the light of GOD broke in and enlightened the understanding of many.  Times  Square, with its thousands of man made lights and signs was no match for Central Park filled with people of all walks of life, sleeping on the well manicured lawn , under the light of GOD.  

Isn't it good to know that no matter how many ‘Blackouts' we have; we'll always have the hope of GOD.  We'll always have JESUS, who is the "Light of the World."

And that keeps us...
Looking Forward

It's good to be back
See Ya Next Time

TER

NOTEWORTHY:  

Just A Thought:  
Moses received the "Law", which we commonly call, "The Ten Commandments."  When he came down from the mountain top, where GOD had written them in stone with His finger, Moses found the Children of Israel worshiping a Golden Calf.  The appearance of this evil caused Moses so much anguish that he threw the precious tablets of stone at the Golden Calf. He not only destroyed the Calf, but, he also destroyed the first set of Commandments.  GOD wasn't pleased with Moses' actions.  The next appearance of these ‘Laws' were etched in stone by Moses.  These were eventually placed in The Ark of The Covenant."  

These Commandments have molded the laws in many Civilized  Nations.   

Public Schools placed a copy of these Commandments in  every classroom.  They hung in clear view and when there was need for correction, the teacher would refer to these immutable laws.  Then in the sixties someone decided that they should be removed because they disrupted the balance between Church and State. (They have been replaced with the dogma of,  "Whatever feels right."  This change can be directly linked to  weapons, disrespect for authority, rape, theft, an unmanageable War Zone and poor scholarship.)

A Judge in Alabama  placed a 5,000 pound replica of this "Ten Commandment" edifice in the rotunda of the court house.  It has been the object of contention and was finally removed from the rotunda and placed in a locked room.  

Jesus Christ suffered, bled and died,   after His enemies scourged, mocked and ridiculed Him for saying He was the "WORD of GOD."  They stationed armed guards to watch the tomb day and night.   BUT!   On the third day NO  GRAVE COULD HOLD HIM DOWN!  And since that third day, the message of Jesus Christ, The Son of The Living GOD, has turned the world upside down.  

TER


FRIDAY'S WORD: immutable; im*mu*ta*ble-(adj.) unchanging; incapable of changing, or being changed

IN THE MIRROR:

I'm glad for Noteworthy this week, because the Ten Commandments have been such a forceful controversy in recent news, but I believe the Christian is still armed in battle and ready to take a powerful stand against a dying world that thinks that an apostasy  can have any lasting affect.

To help some of you with the history of our precious Ten Commandments, this is from The World Book Encyclopedia: "By the A.D.200's, Christian teachers believed that God had stamped the commandments on the conscious of every human being, even before the laws were engraved on stone.  Beginning in the A.D. 400's, everyone who became a Christian memorized the Ten Commandments. By the A.D.800's, the laws had become a central part of church education. By the 1200's, the leading Christian scholars regarded them as principles of a universal natural law that governed human conduct. Protestant reformers of the 1500's included the decalogue in their catechisms."

As we look closer and closer at the beginning of an end, there is greater evidence of God's intervention, than whatever this world is doing to eradicate the existence of God's Word, or God's Messiah for that part.

I want to share something with you that seems so related to much of what you see going on in today's society. I spent nearly fifteen years going in and out of a Drug and Rehabilitation Center as a volunteer counselor, and without fail, all the years as far as I can remember, I either began, or closed with the ‘Serenity Prayer,' "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

That was it. That was all until one day I was asked to come in and sit in on somebody else's meeting. I had more than a few complaints that I talked a little bit too much about God, ( the old ‘separate Church and State battle is alive and well),  but that's all I really knew that has any real lasting effect on a  person suffering from the disease of addiction.

This was a part of the literature handed out on that particular day, but never discussed  It's the rest of the ‘Serenity Prayer,' the part I was totally unfamiliar with. Listen.....
"Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as he did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to his will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with him forever in the next. Amen.

Do you really wonder who "he" is, or who the writer speaks of "surrendering to;" or who is it that is able to make us, "reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy" thereafter?  

God used this writer to say something to everyone who will listen. The addict knows how slim his chances of recovery are, and even if he recovers from that particular disease, he'll still struggle with the awful disease of sin, just as you and I. It's all part of the human experience.

Listen to the voice that has transcended history in John 10:10. There is absolutely nothing that says you have to live in this world without JESUS CHRIST, and certainly DON'T DIE WITHOUT HIM!  Thanks for all your encouragements!      S.L.C.

O TASTE AND SEE!


WE HAVE HAD A    WONDERFUL SUMMER AND ALONG WITH IT A LOT OF SUMMER RECIPES.  WELL, NOW IT'S TIME TO TURN THE OVEN BACK ON AND PREPARE FOR A LONG WINTER OF HOT MEALS, AND TASTY DEALS.  LET'S START WITH SOMETHING THAT ALL OF THE CHILDREN ENJOY.   A MEAL PLAN FOR:

FISH STICKS MEAL

FISH STICKS
CUT CORN
BAKED BEANS
SLICED TOMATOES

THIS IS AN EASY DINNER.  TAKES APPROXIMATELY 20 MINUTES TO PREPARE AND THE CHILDREN AND ADULTS LOVE IT.  

PREPARATION:
PLACE FISH STICKS ON FLAT BAKING SHEET AND BAKE FOR 10 TO 15 MINUTES.
WHILE FISH IS BAKING DRAIN ONE CAN OF CUT CORN AND HEAT IN ˝ CUP WATER.
OPEN A CAN OF BAKED BEANS AND HEAT IN SAUCE PAN.
SLICE TOMATOES AND DAB WITH ITALIAN SALAD DRESSING OR DRESSING OF YOUR CHOICE.
THIS MEAL IS READY IN MINUTES.  SERVE AND...
ENJOY!  

TER