Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Friends know how long you'll live, study finds


ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Posted: 24 Jan 2015 09:08 AM PST
Young lovers walking down the aisle may dream of long and healthy lives together, but close friends in the wedding party may have a better sense of whether those wishes will come true, suggests new research on personality and longevity.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

What Love Is Week 2 | Online Bible Study


Womens Bible Cafe™

Posted: 25 Jan 2015 07:32 PM PST
Covenant Bible Study WeekTwoWelcome to online Bible study at the Womens Bible Cafe! We're discussing Week Two from the book Covenant by Kay Arthur. It's not too late to join this online Bible study, our small groups are open attendance and everyone is invited to participate! This week we studied "The Customs of Covenant” and our lessons included:
  • The Son of a King
  • The Gift of a Robe
  • And the Word Became Flesh
  • In Full Armor
  • When the World Hates You
Kay Arthur states that “a covenant relationship is a binding agreement between two parties–one that usually carries with it not only certain blessings but also responsibilities.”  We saw this in our study this week when Jonathan took off his robe and put it on David.  When David accepted the robe from Jonathan, he took on Jonathan’s identify, and they entered into a covenant relationship. The two have become one by an eternal bond of love and friendship.
What an awesome picture this is of what it means to be one with Jesus Christ.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are entering into a covenant relationship with Him.  He is the robe we wear, and we have taken on His identify. When we wear the robe of Christ, we now have the awesome responsibility to keep it clean and blameless, not to soil the robe or get it dirty with unclean acts, thoughts and deeds.  You may ask, well how do we keep it clean?  We are cleansed by the blood of Christ when He shed His blood on the Cross for our sins.  When we put on the robe of Christ, we were made clean once and for all.  Our new robes will stay white, because our sins have been forgiven. We put aside our former way of life (taking off our old dirty smelly robe), and we put on Christ (the shiny and new white robe), and we take up His Cross daily and follow Him.  Jesus Christ exchanged robes with us!!  I find that incredibly fascinating and mind-blowing!
“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” Galatians 3:27.
 “…put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness  and holiness of the truth” Ephesians 4:24.
What does your robe look like? Are you wearing the robe of Christ today?

ASSIGNMENT FOR THE WEEK:

  • Join a small group and fellowship with your fellow Bible students!
  • Basic Study: Complete Week 3 in the Covenant workbook, about 20-30 minutes each day.
  • Optional due to cost: Watch Session 3 video or listen to the audio and follow along in your workbook on page 61. To download videos CLICK HERE
  • Write a prayer to God in the margin of your workbook thanking Him for giving you His robe, forgiving your sins and giving you newness of life in Him.
  • Digging Deeper: Do a word study on “baptized” in Galatians 3:27.  Use the resources at www.blueletterbible.org.  Instructions on how to use this tool is included in “Files” in the WBC Covenant chat room.  Write your findings on what it means to be “baptized in Christ” in the margin of your workbook or your journal.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR THIS WEEK (answer in small groups or post a comment here)

  1. What are the most important qualities you value in a close friendship?
  2. What does it mean to be clothed in righteousness? (page 51)
  3. When we enter into covenant with Christ, what is the exchange? What difference is this exchange making in your life today?
  4. Upon marking the word “world” what did you discover? How does the world feel about us and why? (page 59)
Bonus Question:  Since we are in covenant with God, what is to be our response to the world? Explain your answer. (page 60)
Blessings!
Sheree Poole
Posted: 25 Jan 2015 07:31 PM PST
whatloveis week 2
Welcome back to the online Bible study of Kelly Minter’s What Love Is We’re discussing Week 2 in the book, which covered these themes:
  • Jesus as our Advocate
  • Assurance of our faith
  • Loving others
  • Forgiveness
  • Light and darkness
When my daughter was about 3-1/2 years old, she made this enemy.
After a week of summer dance camp, she declared that she absolutely did not want to take ballet in the fall.
Did she enjoy dance?
Yes.
Did she have fun at the camp?
Absolutely.
Did she want to try the dance classes?
No.
End of story.  No explanation.  No answering any of my questions about it.
A few months later, we sat together on one of the benches in the dance studio waiting room watching the tiny dancers file out after class.  We picked up my oldest daughter and headed out the door.
That's when my girl said it: "I didn't see Madelyn in the class."
Madelyn?  Who?
Then she exploded with the report that “Madelyn” always wanted to sit on the triangle at dance camp even when other kids wanted to sit on the triangle and she wouldn't let anyone else sit there no matter what.
She sucked in one big breath, harumphed, and tossed her arms criss-cross around her chest while stomping her feet for effect.
Well, babe, Madelyn was in dance camp, but she isn't in the regular dance class.
"Oh."  Long pause while 3-1/2 year old process new information.
"Well, I want to take ballet then."
For all those months, territorial conflict with another preschool child had dominated her life choices.
Territorialism, jealousy, just plain old being annoyed with another person….it doesn't get any easier handling all that mess as a grown-up.
We've all been there, forced into relationships with folks that drive us insane maybe with their negativity or pettiness or meanness, maybe insecurity, pride, constant bragging, insistence on arguing with everything you say, trying to compete with everything you do.
I tell my daughters this:
You don't have to be best friends with mean kids, but you have to be kind and loving to everyone.
1 John 4:20 says it this way:
"If anyone says, 'I love God' yet hates his brother, is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom He has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."
John writes that “love one another” is both a new command and an old command.  Kelly Minter explains, “The new command to love is loving like Jesus loved (1 John 2:7-8)” (p. 52, emphasis mine).
Sometimes I want to edit this, soften it a little, make it fit a little more comfortably instead of stepping on my toes.
Maybe:  "For anyone who does not love his brother….when his brother is a pretty nice person….cannot love God, but when his brother is annoying, a jerk, mean, or immature, then it's fine not to love that guy."
Of course, that's not Jesus.
God is love, and Jesus showed that by loving the unlovely, by loving the enemy, and by dying on the cross for you and for me when we were still covered in the mess of our own sin.
So, I could pit myself against the 'unlovable' or I could choose Jesus and the discipline of kindness and sacrificial love.
This is at work and it's at church.  It's with the annoying mom in the PTA and the gal who drives us crazy on the sidelines at soccer.
It's in our own homes, too.
Sometimes love is hard and sometimes love is a choice.
In fact, some days, loving others feels impossibly out of reach.  How can God ask me to love “her” or to love “him?”
On page 52, Kelly Minter reminds us that:
Now that Jesus has entered the world….we can love our neighbors as ourselves more fully than we ever imagined!  Why? Because the old commandment to love has now been revitalized and energized because of Christ (the new law).  The new ability to love dwells in Him and also in us….”
In other words, we can’t fulfill this commandment on our own.  We can’t love others like Jesus loves them in our own strength or because we’re particularly nice or extraordinarily loving or patient people.
It’s because of Christ in us.
We can ask Him to give us that love for others, to show us how to love them, and then we must make the choice to obey His command.

BIBLE STUDY TIP:

Sometimes we all fall behind in our Bible study lessons.  Shocking, I know!  Life can get unexpected and more than a little crazy.  Satan, though, would like nothing more for you to just give up rather than sticking with it, persevering, and finishing this study.  Please don’t give up!  God will certainly bless your determination to finish what you’ve completed.  
Here are some ways to catch up:
  • Every weekend, make sure you are all caught up from the week before.  That way you can start each Monday on track and not get too overwhelmed or fall too far behind.
  • Try doing one lesson in the morning and one in the evening until you are caught up.  Make it a priority, choosing Bible study time over television shows or social media.
  • Use your weekends!  Since there are no workbook assignments for Saturday and Sunday, you can use those days to catch up on anything you’ve missed.
  • Take your workbook with you and do it whenever you are stuck waiting, maybe to pick your kids up from school or ballet or waiting for a meeting to begin.
  • Choose a point to just “start fresh.”  If you really have missed so many lessons that you’re tempted to give up rather than push forward, you may need to wipe the slate clean and just start fresh.  Pick up where you are supposed to be rather than trying to do the lessons you missed.  You can always go back and do them later.  This is never the ‘ideal,’ but it is better than abandoning the study completely and missing out on God’s Word!

ASSIGNMENT FOR THE WEEK:

  • MEET THE AUTHOR- Join us for a live event with Kelly Minter!  We’ll be chatting with Kelly Minter on the Main Womens Bible Cafe Facebook page on Thursday, January 29th at 9 p.m. Eastern (8 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Pacific).  
  • Join a small group and fellowship with your fellow Bible students! We meet in this Facebook group. Send a request to "join group" and we will approve it: http://www.facebook.com/groups/wbcchatroom3/
  • Basic Study: Complete week 3 in the study guide, about 20-30 minutes each day.
  • Optional: To watch session 3 video CLICK HERE (optional due to cost).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR THIS WEEK (answer in small groups or post a comment here):

  1. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is your Advocate and the propitiation for your sins (1 John 2:1-2 HCSB)?  How does knowing that about Him take your love and appreciation for Jesus to a deeper place? (from p. 43)
  2. What’s the difference between loving others the way the world loves them and loving them “like Jesus loved?” (from p. 52).
  3. Kelly writes, “I am still so prone to trying to earn forgiveness….” (p. 55).  Do you ever find yourself trying to earn forgiveness?  How can we rest more fully in Jesus’ saving work?
  4. What are some modern ways we as Christians might struggle with “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's lifestyle” (1 John 2:16 HCSB)?  Were you especially convicted this week about loving any of these things that are “from the world?” (from pp. 60-62).
  5. What was the most impacting moment for you this week?  It may have been a Bible verse, principle, prayer experience, revelation, new understanding or conviction.
In Christ,
heather signature
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Adorable Dogs Are Celebrating Their Birthdays (21 Photos)


Amazing & Funny News Updates

Posted: 25 Jan 2015 05:07 PM PST
Posted: 25 Jan 2015 05:06 PM PST
YouTube creators Bethany Mota, GloZell Green and Hank Green interview President Obama about the top issues facing them and their audiences. Live on Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 at 5pm ET.
The post YouTube Interview With President Obama appeared first on Funsterz.com - Amazing Videos, Amazing Funny Pictures, Crazy Videos, Funny Photos.
Posted: 25 Jan 2015 05:05 PM PST
Birthdays are an undeniable reminder that we are in fact getting older. Like human being, animals also celerate thier birthday with their owner. Have look on this series of dog owner celebrating their pet’s birthday.
The post Adorable Dogs Are Celebrating Their Birthdays (21 Photos) appeared first on Funsterz.com - Amazing Videos, Amazing Funny Pictures, Crazy Videos, Funny Photos.
Posted: 25 Jan 2015 05:04 PM PST
Do you remember the funniest thing to happen in basketball during 2014? No? Check out this NBA Bloopers for the year 2014 and enjoy….
The post Top NBA Funny Bloopers 2014 appeared first on Funsterz.com - Amazing Videos, Amazing Funny Pictures, Crazy Videos, Funny Photos.
Posted: 25 Jan 2015 05:03 PM PST
These are the craziest action shots you may have ever seen. So have look and enjoy…
The post Cool Action Shots of Some of the Sports (22 Photos) appeared first on Funsterz.com - Amazing Videos, Amazing Funny Pictures, Crazy Videos, Funny Photos.
Posted: 25 Jan 2015 05:02 PM PST
Ever wonder who's on the other side of the KillCam? Meet Randall Higgins, the KillCameraman in the Official Call of Duty – Kill Cameraman.
The post Official “Call of Duty” – Kill Cameraman appeared first on Funsterz.com - Amazing Videos, Amazing Funny Pictures, Crazy Videos, Funny Photos.
Posted: 25 Jan 2015 05:01 PM PST
Have fun with these crazy suggestions by Google search.
The post Crazy Suggestions By Google Search (19 Photos) appeared first on Funsterz.com - Amazing Videos, Amazing Funny Pictures, Crazy Videos, Funny Photos.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Website Speed Improvement Tips


RocketTheme Blog

Posted: 23 Jan 2015 09:41 AM PST
{markdown} ![Speed Boost](/images/blog/team/sitespeed/sitespeed.png) Speed is vital to conversions. When it comes to page load times, every millisecond counts. Each moment a visitor is waiting for a page to load is a chance for them to hit the Back button and move on to the next result in their search.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

South Sudan appeal update Snowstorm hits vulnerable Syrians in Lebanon


 

Posted: 23 Jan 2015 06:17 AM PST
Ireland/Worldwide
Country: 
South Sudan
Project: 
nutrition
Primary image: 
Abstract: 

Civil war has been raging in South Sudan for just over a year. As a result, it's expected that 6.4 million people will have been affected by the food crisis within the first three months of this year. Some 235,000 children are currently suffering from severe malnutrition.
Donor support
Thanks to the support of our donors, Concern Worldwide has been on the ground day-after-day distributing life-saving emergency food and other essential supplies. We're also constructing communal shelters, building latrines and distributing tarpaulin to protect families from torrential rains.
Introduction: 
Tags: 
South Sudan
nutrition
success story
Posted: 23 Jan 2015 04:20 AM PST
Ireland/Worldwide
World region: 
syria
Lebanon
Country: 
Syria
Project: 
emergencies
Primary image: 
Abstract: 

For many Syrians, this is the fourth winter seeking refuge in Lebanon's Akkar region. The arrival of a brutal snowstorm means it may also be the most difficult yet. Concern Worldwide is working with families to reinforce and stabilise shelters against extreme weather.
Introduction: 
Tags: 
syria
emergencies
Lebanon
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)