My Life

Do Yu Understand ?

Togetherness

Some of the most fascinating trees I have ever seen are the magnificent California and West Coast redwoods. They reach their leafy arms heavenward, commonly growing 200 to 275 feet tall. The tallest one in Humboldt County, California, towers 368.6 feet in height. These trees stand like sentinels of time and have done so for hundreds of years.

They've been through winds, earthquakes, fires and storms—still they stand. Nothing seems to deter them.

What is so amazing is that these trees, among the tallest in the world, have a comparably shallow root system and yet they rarely ever fall. How do they keep standing even in the wildest of storms ? It's because the redwood's root systems reach out for great distances and are intertwined with one another. They literally hold each up other up.

If you and I are going to reach our full potential, we too need the support of each other, not to be overdependent but inter-dependent.

None of us can stand alone.

Dear God

please help me

to be like a mighty redwood tree

giving and receiving support

to and from my friends

so that I, too, can reach the heights

of my God-given potential.

Thank You for hearing and answering my prayerz

Redeeming the Time

Chuck Colson tells about one prisoner he met who had been on death row for fifteen years. His name was John Irving.

John was allowed out of his cell for only one hour a day. The rest of the time he was studying to become a minister—preparing to serve God.

Noticing that John had nothing in his cell but a few books, Colson offered to give him a TV.

"Thanks," John said, "but no thanks. You can waste an awful lot of time with those things."

Can you imagine wasting time on death row?

Colson goes on to say, "The real evils of the entertainment industry are not the violence and profanity—offensive though they are. No, it's the banality: the sheer waste of time. When we turn the TV on, we turn our minds off; studies have shown that the analytical areas of the brain nearly shut down during extended TV viewing."

Project 2020 - "Mapping the Global Future"

Found this incidently. This was published in 2004 by the US Government Printing Office. Interesting study and interesting today's implementations. Please keep it in mind that this study was done/ completed in 2004 and the project named "Mapping the Global Future" was launched in 2004.

Best Regards.

Azhar Abbas

Project 2020 - "Mapping the Global Future" from Azhar Abbas

The Answer Is In Your Hands

Zig Ziglar wrote that according to legend, it was reputed that a very wise old man who lived on a hilltop overlooking the beautiful city of Venice, Italy, could answer any question anyone might ask him. Two local boys figured they could trick him, so they caught a bird and took it to the wise sage.

"Tell us," they asked, "is the bird in our hand dead or alive?"

The wise man replied, "Son, if I say the bird is alive, you will close your hands and crush it to death. Or, if I say the bird is dead, you will open your hands and it will fly away. The answer is in your hands."

And so it is with life. Whether we succeed or fail, live a meaningful or empty life, lay up treasures in heaven or go empty handed to meet God, it's all in our hands! For whatever we sow we reap. It's the law of the harvest.

Dear God ..

help me ..

to invest my life ..

in eternity ..

and lay up treasures ..

in heaven ..

so I will reap abundantly ..

in this life and the next ..

 

Thank You for hearing and answering my prayerz ..

I am Sorry

I am sorry from Azhar Abbas

Do You Want to Be Made Whole?

If I were to ask you if you want to be made whole, I'm sure you would say yes. But what does it mean to be whole? Simply put, it means to become a whole person especially in mind and spirit; that is, to become emotionally well, and spiritually well. Quite a challenge to be sure.

As long as we live in our human body we will be subject to sickness and disease. However, the more whole we become emotionally and spiritually, the healthier we are more likely to be physically. Unresolved spiritual and/ or emotional issues make us much more susceptible to illnesses of all kinds.

For instance, a person whose life is riddled with guilt because of sin, or is nursing a grudge and refusing to forgive someone who has hurt him or her is more than likely to get sick physically and/ or mentally. Many an ulcer, for example, is caused not so much by what we are eating but by what is eating us on the inside. And when I repress super-charged negative emotions, as John Powell puts it, "My stomach keeps score."

While the principle for being made well/ whole is simple, the process is anything but simple. That is, if we want to be made well/ whole, we need to resolve all past hurts, forgive anyone and everybody who has ever hurt us, face and resolve every buried negative emotion, and make our life right with God.

Remember, too, there is a world of difference between a want and a wish. To be made well/ whole takes total commitment, personal honesty, and determination. The half-hearted never make it. They may wish to get well but they don't want it badly enough to be willing to pay the price of doing what it takes to be made well/ whole.

Do you truly want to be made whole/well ? For only to the degree that we are made whole will our lifestyle, our behavior and actions, our manner of living, and our relationships be wholesome.

Dear God

please help me

to understand fully

what it means

and what it takes

to be made whole,

and give me

the courage and will

to do what I need to do

in order to be made whole.

 

Thank You for hearing and answering my prayerz.

The Blame-Game Virus

Much of our society today is being infected by a virus.

No, I don't mean a computer or biological virus, but a moral virus that could, if not arrested, spread like a plague and eventually infect, or at least seriously affect, our entire society. It's the irresponsible "blame-game" virus that can end up over time (even though ever so slowly) seriously weaken what was once a healthy, virile people.

When a nation becomes morally weakened from within, it becomes vulnerable to opposing forces from without.

Too many business leaders irresponsibly "cook" their company books out of selfish interest and reap havoc in thousands of other people's lives. Too many employees refuse to accept responsibility for doing the best job they can possibly do. Failing people often blame racial prejudice for their lack of advancement. Irresponsible parents blame teachers when they fail their children for cheating on exams. And as Michael Josephson of Character Counts reports, in a survey of some 36,000 high school students a high percentage of students admit to cheating and lying and at the same time claim to be highly ethical. These kids who already know how to play the blame-game will be the business and political leaders of tomorrow. Politicians blame the opposition party, divorced people blame their former spouse—and so on ad infinitum—all without accepting personal responsibility for their own failures.

Whether it is at a national or an individual level, when we fail to accept personal responsibility for our actions, we inevitably fall into the blame-game trap. As long as we do this, we will never resolve our personal or national problems.

Individually, we need to accept personal responsibility for every aspect of our life. At the local and national level, we need to vote for leaders whom we know will act responsibly and put the genuine needs of their constituents first instead of bowing to personal interest groups in order to further their own political careers.

We live in perhaps the most developed, highly educated, and technically advanced society ever. But what kind of defense are super powered high speed jet fighters against suicide bombers and dirty bombs? Our brilliant technology will not save us. Remember that in his day Hitler was the leader of one of the most educated, intelligent, and enlightened societies up to that point in history. The reality is that if we abandon our moral moorings and lose our moral compass, we will be (and perhaps are already) on a course heading towards national disaster.

Read More .. www.azabbas.blogspot.com

Honor Your Mother

Wishing all Mothers a very Happy Mother's Day!


"An aged, white-haired mother sat with a smile on her face, waiting for her famous son, Dwight Eisenhower, to arrive. Someone said to her, 'You must be very proud of your great and illustrious son.' Upon which she asked, 'Which son?'

 

Each one was equally great to that noble mother.

"Said Dwight Eisenhower, 'My sainted mother taught me a devotion to God and a love of country which have ever sustained me in my many lonely and bitter moments of decision in distant and hostile lands. To her, I yield a son's reverent thanks

Why Worry ?

"Worry, like a rocking chair," said Vance Havner, "will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere." Or as somebody else has said, "Worry is the advance interest you pay on troubles that seldom come."

According to Ken Anderson, nine times out of ten, the worrying about something does more damage to the one who worries than the thing he or she is worrying about.

Anderson continues, "Modern medical research has proved that worry breaks down resistance to disease. More than that, it diseases the nervous system—particularly that of the digestive organs and of the heart." Concern is needed to keep us on track with our responsibilities, but worry, like stress, is a killer.

An examination of 500 patients in a British clinic showed that more than one-third of their visual problems were caused by emotional tension. And a survey of some 5,000 university students showed that worriers get the lowest grades.

The word "worry" comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to strangle or to choke. While we need to be attentive to life's concerns, worrying about them "chokes" the joy out of life. "Worrying is like driving a car with one foot on the accelerator and the other foot on the brake."

One antidote for worry is trust and trust is a choice. When things aren't going well and I am prone to worry, I keep praying until the storm passes: "Dear God, I choose to trust you in this situation no matter how I feel." In time my feelings catch up with my choice and the worry gives way to calm. Meaningful worship, supportive relationships, sharing my feelings with a trusted friend, physical exercise, proper diet, deep breathing relaxation exercises and sufficient rest all help—plus learning to pray about the causes of my worry and not just the symptoms is a major key in learning to win over worry.

   All the water in the world
   However hard it tried,
   Could never, never sink a ship
   Unless it got inside.
   All the hardships of this world,
   Might wear you pretty thin,
   But they won't hurt you, one least bit
   Unless you let them in.

---

Dear God,
I choose to trust you
no matter what.

Please help me
to always act responsibly,
face and resolve any causes
in my life that are at the root of my worrying,
and leave the outcome to you
of the many things in my life
over which I have little or no control.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz