Thursday, April 30, 2009
News You can Use?
I write today's message while we're days into the swine flu scare. Is this truly something to be scared about? I don't know. I have read stats that every year an average of 5-20% of the US population contracts the flu. Of those, about 200,000 are hospitalized due to complications and about 36,000 die from further complications and pneumonia. Maybe I missed something, but the swine flu is nowhere close to average annual stats of the regular flu we see every year.
I won't bore you with more stats, but my point is that I believe the media has a tendency to get ahold of a piece a news that sounds juicy and they don't know how to let go.....thus being prone to blowing things way out of proportion. Media were reporting that the US was in a recession (2 consecutive qtrs decline in GDP) back in January of last year and that had not yet happened. Guess what, if we hear enough of that type of news...People get scared, we start panicking, stop spending, and then what do you know....we end up in a recession.
What's the best source of news these days...any suggestions?
I won't bore you with more stats, but my point is that I believe the media has a tendency to get ahold of a piece a news that sounds juicy and they don't know how to let go.....thus being prone to blowing things way out of proportion. Media were reporting that the US was in a recession (2 consecutive qtrs decline in GDP) back in January of last year and that had not yet happened. Guess what, if we hear enough of that type of news...People get scared, we start panicking, stop spending, and then what do you know....we end up in a recession.
What's the best source of news these days...any suggestions?
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Graduated today....
Today, I graduated from school, but not the kind you're probably thinking about...I graduated from Financial Peace University (FPU). FPU is a 13-week course taught by a guy by the name of Dave Ramsey. I gotta tell you, I've had financial planners, accountants, you name it, in terms of people to talk to about money and this guy's class has the most profound and insightful teachings I've ever discovered for me and my family on the topic of money.
The whole goal of Dave's class is to teach you how to become debt free. If you're already there...Congratulations! Keep it that way...... If not, visit http://www.daveramsey.com/ He has a radio show that comes on everyday, his site will have the details on local stations, times, etc.. You can also listen online. In the DFW Metroplex his show is on from 1-4 PM CST on 570 AM.
He has a lot of different sayings but the one I connect with the most is "live like no one else, so you can live like no one else."
The whole goal of Dave's class is to teach you how to become debt free. If you're already there...Congratulations! Keep it that way...... If not, visit http://www.daveramsey.com/ He has a radio show that comes on everyday, his site will have the details on local stations, times, etc.. You can also listen online. In the DFW Metroplex his show is on from 1-4 PM CST on 570 AM.
He has a lot of different sayings but the one I connect with the most is "live like no one else, so you can live like no one else."
March 2009 Testimony
Moving forward...all I Can testimonies will be posted via my blog....see below for last month's post.
March 2009
I knew about Jesus growing up. We went to church on Christmas and Easter, and once in a while I would go to VBS with a friend or sing Jesus Loves Me because that was the tune on my mind. I liked Jesus, actually. I thought He was nice and I loved the stories I heard about from the Bible—especially the ones about how He performed miracles. My favorite was story about how he healed a blind man because I am visually impaired, too. I wondered if someday God would allow me to be healed like that so I could see like all the other kids I knew. Jesus did that for the blind man, why not for me, right? I figured He could heal me if He felt like it, so every once in a while when I thought about it I would ask God to heal my eyes. Once I even wrote Him a letter and asked for Him to restore my eyesight. I left it on my desk in my room so God would see it. The next day it was gone so I figured God saw it and took it with Him to Heaven. (Mom saved it all those years and gave it back to me in a memory box the day I graduated from college.)
I found myself searching for “something” as I grew into adolescence. My family was enduring some significant difficulties during those years. It was a time of tumultuous divorce, poverty, family tragedy, and other life circumstances that would test the soul of even the most strengthened among us. It didn’t seem right that the trauma of events in such a young life were doing so much damage with no hope of repair. What else was there? How in the world would someone survive what our family endured? There HAD to be something out there to give us hope and peace and love amidst that crushing despair… wasn’t there?
I was introduced to the concept of having Christ in my life as my savior at Campus Life and Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings in high school. I was invited to attend because the social side of it was fun, but there was something different about those meetings. It was clear right away. When the gospel was presented I heard it clearly for the first time and that’s when I knew who I belonged to all along. I didn’t belong to divorce or poverty. I didn’t need to be defined by deceit or anger or distrust. God took all of those labels off when I chose to give my heart and life to Him completely. I trusted Him as my one and only provider and my one and only guide. It doesn’t mean that the things of past and present and future will not be painful sometimes. But it does mean I now have a personal relationship with God, who loves me and forgives my transgressions so that I can rest in his arms in times of sadness or fear and know that His plans for me are perfect and that His grace is sufficient always.
Knowing that within my heart brings it all full circle, really. Although my childhood request for God’s healing of my visual impairment was always real, and I genuinely believed that God could perform a miracle if His will called for it, at that time in my life I didn’t know God as my Savior. As a young child, I wanted what “I wanted” from God. I wanted MY way. But I didn’t even know what a great and perfect gift He had in store for me—one far greater than eyesight. God gave His only son, Jesus, as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, so that he could die on a cross and rise up again and we can know Him in our hearts and have eternal life with HIM! That gift… the one better than eyesight… is the true vision of Christ. That His children would know Him and love Him and build the Kingdom of God’s children who will spend eternity with Him in heaven when their time on earth is done. Because I have that gift now, the true vision of God, being blind is really just no big deal anymore. Inconvenient? Yes. Frustrating? Of course, it can be. But is it REALLY what defines me? Not anymore. I share God’s vision now, which brings immeasurable, overflowing joy.
Funny how God’s plans put it all into perspective, isn’t it?
Andrea Kulberg is co-owner of Future Cheer, a UK based company that is the leading international Cheer & Dance event producer. She is also a motivational speaker and author, currently launching a new inspiring speaking series called “Rock Star U” with her identical twin sister, Aly. For more information about Future Cheer, visit www.futurecheer.net For more information about Andrea’s speaking series and Rock Star U, visit www.rockstarsrock.com.
March 2009
I knew about Jesus growing up. We went to church on Christmas and Easter, and once in a while I would go to VBS with a friend or sing Jesus Loves Me because that was the tune on my mind. I liked Jesus, actually. I thought He was nice and I loved the stories I heard about from the Bible—especially the ones about how He performed miracles. My favorite was story about how he healed a blind man because I am visually impaired, too. I wondered if someday God would allow me to be healed like that so I could see like all the other kids I knew. Jesus did that for the blind man, why not for me, right? I figured He could heal me if He felt like it, so every once in a while when I thought about it I would ask God to heal my eyes. Once I even wrote Him a letter and asked for Him to restore my eyesight. I left it on my desk in my room so God would see it. The next day it was gone so I figured God saw it and took it with Him to Heaven. (Mom saved it all those years and gave it back to me in a memory box the day I graduated from college.)
I found myself searching for “something” as I grew into adolescence. My family was enduring some significant difficulties during those years. It was a time of tumultuous divorce, poverty, family tragedy, and other life circumstances that would test the soul of even the most strengthened among us. It didn’t seem right that the trauma of events in such a young life were doing so much damage with no hope of repair. What else was there? How in the world would someone survive what our family endured? There HAD to be something out there to give us hope and peace and love amidst that crushing despair… wasn’t there?
I was introduced to the concept of having Christ in my life as my savior at Campus Life and Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings in high school. I was invited to attend because the social side of it was fun, but there was something different about those meetings. It was clear right away. When the gospel was presented I heard it clearly for the first time and that’s when I knew who I belonged to all along. I didn’t belong to divorce or poverty. I didn’t need to be defined by deceit or anger or distrust. God took all of those labels off when I chose to give my heart and life to Him completely. I trusted Him as my one and only provider and my one and only guide. It doesn’t mean that the things of past and present and future will not be painful sometimes. But it does mean I now have a personal relationship with God, who loves me and forgives my transgressions so that I can rest in his arms in times of sadness or fear and know that His plans for me are perfect and that His grace is sufficient always.
Knowing that within my heart brings it all full circle, really. Although my childhood request for God’s healing of my visual impairment was always real, and I genuinely believed that God could perform a miracle if His will called for it, at that time in my life I didn’t know God as my Savior. As a young child, I wanted what “I wanted” from God. I wanted MY way. But I didn’t even know what a great and perfect gift He had in store for me—one far greater than eyesight. God gave His only son, Jesus, as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, so that he could die on a cross and rise up again and we can know Him in our hearts and have eternal life with HIM! That gift… the one better than eyesight… is the true vision of Christ. That His children would know Him and love Him and build the Kingdom of God’s children who will spend eternity with Him in heaven when their time on earth is done. Because I have that gift now, the true vision of God, being blind is really just no big deal anymore. Inconvenient? Yes. Frustrating? Of course, it can be. But is it REALLY what defines me? Not anymore. I share God’s vision now, which brings immeasurable, overflowing joy.
Funny how God’s plans put it all into perspective, isn’t it?
Andrea Kulberg is co-owner of Future Cheer, a UK based company that is the leading international Cheer & Dance event producer. She is also a motivational speaker and author, currently launching a new inspiring speaking series called “Rock Star U” with her identical twin sister, Aly. For more information about Future Cheer, visit www.futurecheer.net For more information about Andrea’s speaking series and Rock Star U, visit www.rockstarsrock.com.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Not Easily Broken
I just saw T.D. Jakes movie "Not Easily Broken" and I thought it was good. I always rate my movies 1 out of 10 scale and I give it a 8.... Thought provoking content about marriage and what it takes to make one work. Dialogue was very real between husband and wife, trust me I know after almost 10 years. Its no longer in theaters but can be rented on DVD.
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/noteasilybroken/
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/noteasilybroken/
Thursday, April 9, 2009
1st Blog
Man....This is looooong overdue...."I can" be slow at times.. The goal here will be to keep everyone up-to-date on what's gong on with ICC and everything else under the sun.
Stay up and stay tuned!
Stay up and stay tuned!
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