God’s Mercy And Grace Are New Every Morning
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
There were times when the Apostle Paul must have looked at himself in the mirror and wondered what in the world had happened to him. He knew that salvation from the inside is much more difficult to understand than it is from the outside. When Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth that “old things have passed away” and “all things have become new,” he had come full circle in the realization that he was no longer the man he once knew himself to be. That’s why he once urged us to move beyond our past, “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.” (Philippians 3:13)
Paul also understood that our spiritual walk is a journey, one that is fraught with disappointment and failure as much as it is with success and victory. The truth is it doesn’t matter how long we have been saved, we will always have those days when we come home and wish we could take back something we said or did.
There is a wonderful passage in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome that has always been a source of comfort to me, especially when I have had one of those days when I didn’t feel that I acted or very much resembled the Christian I claim to be. In fact, I believe Paul had one of those days when he sat down and wrote, “It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin.” (Romans 7:21-25, TLB)
The comfort I get from that passage is not just in what the Apostle Paul said; it’s also in the fact that he wrote it twenty-four years after he was saved. In other words, while we all mature as Christians, all of us will inevitably stumble along the way, saying and doing things that are not consistent with the new life we claim to have.
As Christians, we must remember that we will never measure up to God’s standards, at least not every day. That is exactly why Christ was given to us, as a propitiation for our sins. In other words, salvation is not just about forgiving sin in our lives. That’s only one side of the coin. It’s God’s mercy and grace that convinces us to get back up the next day and try to live it differently.
Replacing And Filing A Lost American Pasport
Losing a passport or any other identification document is very stressful and at times very scary because you do not know in whose hands it will land. This becomes worse if this unfortunate occurrence is just days before you travel or when you are on a trip. It is important to have a lost American pass port reported to the relevant authorities so that it can be invalidated. This makes the document invalid for travel purposes or anything else hence you cannot be held responsible if somebody else uses it in a criminal activity so as to incriminate you.
Recovered Documents
If the passport is recovered in a later date, it should be handed over to the relevant authorities to have it destroyed. Luckily, there are services established to help people with urgent travel need get their replacements done within a short time- as short as 24 hours. This service is called the emergency passport service and it involves processing emergency passports.
Replacement
There are different avenues for replacing a lost passport. If the document is not needed in a short period of time then it can a replacement can be applied for. This can take about 8 weeks. If it is needed in a short period of time then expediting services must be used, this guarantees the documents arrival in the necessary time period.
Expediting
It may cost more, but an expedited document might be the only option. If you are abroad in a foreign country lacking a passport, you will need to get one as quickly as possible. Be sure to go with a trustworthy expediting company. This way you are guaranteed your replacement passport in the required timeframe.
Paperwork
The paperwork that is involved is essentially the same but with an exception of 1-2 forms that might be required by the private company for indemnification purposes. An additional fee is charged over the government charges but the small charge required is nothing compared to the service you are getting.
Documentation
You get a list of all the requirements for the processing in the website of the provider. Make sure to have all the documents required and their photocopies. You will also get the new pages for pasport application form on the site and you should complete it as required.
Acceptable Forms
A birth certificate is the most important document as it proves your citizenship. Among other details required will be your birthplace, social security number and actual age. Original birth certificate is preferred over copies and if you use certified copies, entity’s official seal will be required to have them accepted.
Assistance In A Foreign Land
In cases where the document gets lost during a trip, you will be required to show the plane ticket or travel itinerary. Two color photographs are also required and they should meet the required specifications failure to which they are rejected. You can ensure that you have the required size by having them taken by a professional photographer.
He Called Me Sister
Do you feel like part of the family? Come talk to a mentor.
“I’m praying not only for them but also for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me”. (John 17:20-21, The Message)
It was a simple conversation in a crowded room with a man from another country. We had met only once before, almost a year earlier. I knew a few details of his Christian experience; he knew none of mine. As we stood surrounded by people, he prefaced his remarks with one word: Sister.
In his culture it is common and comfortable to address a Christian with the term “brother” or “sister.” It also happens in some other cultures when Christians gather. But to me that evening, the word took on the brilliance of neon. I am his sister. He is my brother. We are connected to each other and to the Father. The family tie is unbreakable.
This powerful connective moment has happened before in my life and always with a person from another culture. It is as though God wants to strike me with the importance of plural pronouns in His Kingdom. “Don’t you (all) know that you (all) are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in the midst of you (all)?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
While we are individually accountable to respond to God’s invitations, once we are in the family, we are one unit. Jesus’ prayer for us just before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane almost aches with His desire that we relate as brothers as sisters, that we work out in daily experience what Christ accomplished in reality. The Apostle Paul put it plainly: “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
When Jesus’ disciples asked for a lesson on prayer, it is significant that Jesus began with “OUR Father…” “Our” is a personal pronoun that packs a Kingdom punch.
Question: Do you feel like you are part of God’s family? If you don’t, ask the Lord to guide you to good church, small group or new friends.
Logos 4.5
Despite what was apparently some earlier confusion about the timing of the release, Logos 4.5 is now shipping. This significant update mainly introduces improvements in highlighting and note taking, but it contains several other improvements also. For the full release notes, see here.
Filed under: Logos Bible Software 
New Testament Interpretation
Dr. Kevin Godfrey to speak on reconciliation and Newman
Alvernia University Associate Professor of Theology Kevin Godfrey, Ph.D. will present the Cardinal Newman Lecture at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 in the Performance Hall of the De Mattias Fine Arts Center. Godfrey will speak on reconciliation in the life and thought of Blessed John Henry Newman.
The event is sponsored by The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at Newman University in celebration of Cardinal Newman Week, and is free and open to the public.
Dr. Godfrey has published articles and delivered scholarly papers at national and international conferences on a variety of topics in Historical Theology and Christian Spirituality. His most sustained areas of interest for research are the Franciscan Tradition and the theology of John Henry Cardinal Newman. He has served as convener and moderator of the Thought of John Henry Newman Group of the Catholic Theological Society of America for the last seven years. He is a member of the Editorial Board and also Book Review Editor for the Journal of the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities.
Crack Addiction Rehab – Abolish Dependency
Crack cocaine treatment remains a desperate need for as many as a million afflicted people. One use of the drug can make an addict out of a person who thought to try it on a recreational basis. Most dangerous, crack is inexpensive, and therefore in a position to poison the lives of those who are most vulnerable. The crack wars of the ’80s have passed but the need for crack addiction rehab endures.
Source
Cocaine is derived from the cocoa leaf, indigenous to South America and imparting its stimulating effect when chewed. In this form, it’s about as strong as a good cup of coffee. However, the active ingredient in the leaf was identified and powder cocaine was first processed in the mid-19th Century. Its potency was ramped up again in the 1980s, when the drug industry’s chemists learned to process a smoking form of the drug without risking explosion.
Effects
The user smokes the drug and then feels its powerful effect in just eight to ten seconds. It creates a huge dopamine rush, bringing the characteristic intense feeling of elation. The user feels he or she has escaped all mundane problems. This feeling, however, is exceptionally short-lived, lasting only about ten minutes. The elation is followed by a significant crash, making the user almost desperate to return to the elation.
Responsibility
Tantalizingly, that feeling only takes a few dollars, so it’s never far away. The user quickly gets caught in a treadmill of going from hit to hit, with the greatest terror being the possibility of ever touching the ground. The drug becomes all the user cares about. Any earlier commitment, up to and including the family bond, loses all importance. Addicts have been known to sell off everything of value, to steal and borrow from others, or become prostitutes, rather than give up their high.
Physical Symptoms
Addicts damage their brain, lungs and heart by smoking crack. The heart is subject to arrhythmia and heart attack. The brain is subject to producing hallucinations and to stroke. Lung damage can make breathing difficult, and the lungs might even collapse altogether. Everything from sexual dysfunction to the user’s characteristic dilated pupils attests to a distressed circulatory system.
Treatment
The first step in the addict’s treatment program is detoxification. The addict becomes a patient, treated as an inpatient in a facility, whether a hospital or some smaller, more dedicated center. It can take days for the patient to endure the entire withdrawal process. Propranolol can help the patient get through it but the patient will suffer loss of sleep, irritability, loss of appetite and of course, craving more of the drug. If seizures become a problem, the doctor will administer vigabatrin.
Psychological Help
After medical drug addiction detox, the psychological aspects of the abuse must be treated as well. Those without permanent damage or whose addiction had been less pernicious, can be treated through counseling on an outpatient basis. However, others will have to come to “rehab” or a treatment center as an inpatient client. Afterward, the patient might be placed in a group home for recovering addicts, monitored by a social worker or therapist.
Hitler Revisioned: A Strange Way of Demonizing One’s Opponents
Adolf Hitler seems to be making a political comeback of sorts: in the past several years, conservative politicians, media personalities and Baptists have increasingly invoked the Führer’s name in denouncing their opponents.
In 2009, Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, caused an uproar when he denounced Health Care reform by accusing President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders of attempting to do “precisely what the Nazis did.”
In 2010, Delaware Republican Glen Urquhart blamed Hitler for church state separation: “Do you know, where does this phrase ‘separation of church and state’ come from? It was not in
Not to be outdone, Newt Gingrich (current Republican presidential candidate) in 2010 declared Obama, Democrats and liberalism (lumped together as the “secular socialist machine”) “as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.” In addition, media superstars Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have repeatedly equated Obama to Hitler.
This month, Timothy George, dean of
Also this month, popular conservative evangelical author Andy Andrews released a new volume entitled, How do You Kill 11 Million People? Andrews equates the current political climate in
Historically, the growing conservative rage against perceived Hitler-like opponents is a bit strange. During the 1930s and early 1940s, many political conservatives in
Strange also is the argument that the 1934 Barmen Declaration, authored by a theologian whom modern Christian conservative consider to be a liberal, is a reflection of the 21st century agenda of the Religious Right. The Barmen declaration was a statement against church state entanglement, a position that
In a 1933 radio speech, Adolf Hitler publicly stated his intention to elevate “Christianity as the basis of our [
Hitler’s view of the family was that women must be subject to their husbands. In a 1934 speech to the National Socialist Women’s League he declared, “If the man’s world is said to be the State . . . her world is her husband, her family, her children and her home . . . What the man gives in courage on the battlefield, the woman gives in eternal self-sacrifice, in eternal pain and suffering. Every child that a woman brings into the world is a battle, a battle waged for the existence of her people…. It is not true … that respect depends on the overlapping of the spheres of activity of the sexes; this respect demands that neither sex should try to do that which belongs to the sphere of the other.”
Of abortion, Adolf Hitler declared: “Nazi ideals demand that the practice of abortion … shall be exterminated with a strong hand. Women inflamed by Marxist propaganda claim the right to bear children only when they desire.” He also insisted that “the use of contraceptives [by Aryan women] means a violation of nature, a degradation of womanhood, motherhood, and love.” In the 1930s, the Nazis outlawed the display of contraceptives and closed all birth control clinics. In 1943, as the Nazis were seeking to conquer
As to homosexuality, in the early 1930s the Nazi Party began a systematic campaign of imprisoning and/or killing all homosexuals in
The Nazi Party’s status as
In short, not only did America’s early Religious Right applaud Hitler and Nazism, but today’s Religious Right seems (albeit not intentionally) to be following the same playbook that the Nazi Party utilized in order to establish (in Hitler’s words) “Christianity as the basis of our morality”?: force women to be subjugated to men, criminalize abortion providers and eradicate the practice of abortion, and persecute homosexuals.
Fortunately, today’s rhetoric is not as strident as the Religious Right agenda of
Master of the Sea, Son of God
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Matthew 14:22–33 narrates Jesus’ walking on water. Yet, unlike the parallel accounts in Mark 6:45–52; John 6:15–21, Matt 14:33 reports that the disciples’ conclusion, at the end of this episode, was ἀληθῶς θεοῦ υἱὸς εἶ (truly, you are the son of God). Apparently thinking along the lines similar to Heb 3:5–6, Archelaus, Disputation with Manes, 44 (ANF 6:220), relates this text to Jesus’ superiority to Moses. Perhaps more to the point here, however, is a chaos-versus-creation motif (Boring, “Matthew,” NIB 8, 327) in which Jesus subjects the surrounding disorder (Graves, “Followed by the Sun,” RevExp 99, no. 1 [2002]: 92; Ladd, Theology of the New Testament, rev.ed., 163; Verseput, “The Faith of the Reader,” JSNT 46 [1992]: 14–16; cf. Augustine, Serm., 25.6 [NPNF1 6:338]; Jerome, Epist., 30 [NPNF2 6:45]). He does so, first, by walking on the sea himself and then all the more by causing Peter to do the same (Chrysostom, Hom. Matt., 50.2 [NPNF1 10:311–12]). In this framework, then, if Israel’s God is master of the seas (e.g., Job 9:8; Ps 89:9, 19–37; Hab 3:8, 15; cf. Gen 1:2 [LXX; LSJ, s.v. ἐπιφέρω, §§2–3])—a kind of mastery not otherwise within the realm of human experience—Jesus’ walking on the sea is an eminently good reason for identifying Jesus as θεοῦ υἱός (son of God) and worshiping him as such (see Matt 14:33; Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 6.51 [NPNF2 9:117]; cf. Mark 6:51–52; John 6:21; Aristotle, Poetics, 5.6, 6.2).
Filed under: Theological Interpretation Tagged: Biblical-theological Reflections 
New Testament Interpretation
Master of the Sea, Son of God
Image via Wikipedia
Matthew 14:22–33 narrates Jesus’ walking on water. Yet, unlike the parallel accounts in Mark 6:45–52; John 6:15–21, Matt 14:33 reports that the disciples’ conclusion, at the end of this episode, was ἀληθῶς θεοῦ υἱὸς εἶ (truly, you are the son of God). Apparently thinking along the lines similar to Heb 3:5–6, Archelaus, Disputation with Manes, 44 (ANF 6:220), relates this text to Jesus’ superiority to Moses. Perhaps more to the point here, however, is a chaos-versus-creation motif (Boring, “Matthew,” NIB 8, 327) in which Jesus subjects the surrounding disorder (Graves, “Followed by the Sun,” RevExp 99, no. 1 [2002]: 92; Ladd, Theology of the New Testament, rev.ed., 163; Verseput, “The Faith of the Reader,” JSNT 46 [1992]: 14–16; cf. Augustine, Serm., 25.6 [NPNF1 6:338]; Jerome, Epist., 30 [NPNF2 6:45]). He does so, first, by walking on the sea himself and then all the more by causing Peter to do the same (Chrysostom, Hom. Matt., 50.2 [NPNF1 10:311–12]). In this framework, then, if Israel’s God is master of the seas (e.g., Job 9:8; Ps 89:9, 19–37; Hab 3:8, 15; cf. Gen 1:2 [LXX; LSJ, s.v. ἐπιφέρω, §§2–3])—a kind of mastery not otherwise within the realm of human experience—Jesus’ walking on the sea is an eminently good reason for identifying Jesus as θεοῦ υἱός (son of God) and worshiping him as such (see Matt 14:33; Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 6.51 [NPNF2 9:117]; cf. Mark 6:51–52; John 6:21; Aristotle, Poetics, 5.6, 6.2).
Filed under: Theological Interpretation Tagged: Biblical-theological Reflections
New Testament Interpretation
Good Dough, Bad Dough!
I made and baked my own bread for many years. The whole family would enjoy watching me do this – I think they anticipated the end result more than being onlookers to the mixing process.
It can be a very satisfying undertaking; the mixing and adding of good and active yeast, the kneading and then the ‘resting’ to allow the dough to rise. This resting time enables the yeast to infiltrate the whole lump, making it lighter and more palatable after baking.
Leavening, in this instance produces good and acceptable results. A pleasure to anticipate and even better when tasted and then feasted upon.
Conversely, there is unsavory sin! Liken it to bad yeast added to good ingredients. It will contaminate the whole batch. Just a tiny wrong, something we might think of as inconsequential, will have the same effect. It will stay in our heart and spirit, spreading its imperfection and spoiling our character and image.
Just a tiny transgression can easily increase beyond our control, becoming a habit and changing us from pleasant and acceptable beings into someone who is tainted by unpalatable behaviors and beliefs. Beings that no good person wants to have any part of!
1 Corinthians 5:6 – 7a Stop being proud! Don’t you know how a little yeast can spread through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast! (CEV)
Prayer: Father God, let us stay very aware of good and evil. Let us be wise and not be fooled into spoiling our characters by allowing immoral, greedy, proud or profane people into our social activities or any other part of our lives. Let us be all that You desire of us; wholesome and acceptable in all our ways. In Jesus Precious Name, Amen!
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