Some passages below denote sender, many incorporate related links, and all provoke thought and heart to unite.
'You are about to be presented with a most unique and unprecedented opportunity to take back your long-forgotten freedom and ascend to unimaginable hights of bliss, fulfillment and love.' This passage will NOT be found anywhere in the narratives below. So much information is being passed around on the wings of the new millennium and new age theology . I have noticed that nearly all religions are using the 'love and peace/unity' to sell membership. Words like those above sound wonderful but say little to your soul. If you read with discernment, you will be able to enjoy the blessings of such words without attachments to any one group to accomplish them. Please be aware that spirituality has nothing to do with joining any particular organization or belief system. Spirituality is personal.
Let your mind and heart hear your soul, then you shall know what is true for you.

I know in my heart of the validity of the expressions I have chosen to share and can attest to their impact on personal growth. Thank you to any originator and know, by honor, that your work is appreciated here. From the email files of Peggy Zetler........

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractorof his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and ask if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized that we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.

The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project. Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.

EMAIL SLANG

LOL Laughing out loud
AFK away from the keyboard
BRB be right back
BAK back at the keyboard
TTFN tata for now
WB welcome back
GMTA great minds think alike
BTW by the way
IM(H)O in my (humble) opinion
WTG way to go

We are winning

This is the last war on Earth. Believe it or not, the war in Kosovo is the last battle opposing military forces on this planet. Not because it will degenerate into a world conflict, but because it is the very last conflict to be fought with weapons of destruction, small or big. The tide is turning. The Power of Love is taking over at this very moment the shadow of death and hate that has been hanging over this beloved planet for so many centuries. The prophesied era of lasting peace and rejuvenation of this world back into its primal state of Edenic harmony is manifesting as thousands, hundreds of thousands and now hundreds of millions of people have heard the inner call to focus their common will towards achieving Peace on Earth and harmony with all Life forms. Assistance has been requested by a critical number of people and is now being provided by divine servers of the One Will of God. Streams of Light are pushing back the minions of chaos and darkness into oblivion as millions of angels are circling the world and countless battleships of Love have been put to sea by the prayers and peace-filled meditations of embodied souls.

This symbolic language which speaks the truth from the soul into the ear of man is expressing what can only be hinted at and understood from the highest spiritual perspective one may reach. The shifting point, the critical juncture when enough positive vibrations have been created not only to offset the illegitimate creations of ignorance and spiritual blindness but also to actually establish on Earth the true seeds of centuries of peaceful coexistence of man with man and of man with Nature and all other invisible living beings inhabiting this world and the Universe.

Acknowledging this dawning reality in one's heart and soul will both precipitate its irresistible unfoldment and make manifest still more hidden powers of goodness and Love that have been dormant, up to this point in history, in countless individuals. A metamorphosis not unlike the reawakening of beauty and loving kindness as expressed in the visionary Beatles cartoon movie "Yellow Submarine" is now underway. The baddies and the meanies are retreating, and the flowers are blooming once again as the music of Love and brotherly compassion is resonating once again from the deepest recess of human nature, from the core goodness of soul-infused divinity shining brighter and clearer by the minute now in this world.

If your mind has not been overwhelmed yet by the revealing and triggering effect of this written expression of what IS, then turn off your critical mind for a minute and allow yourself to feel, mounting from deep within, the resonating vibrations of joy, victory and liberation that are emanating from the collective mind-soul of humanity and from much higher above our plane of existence...

J-U-S-T D-O I-T

...and you'll partake in the blissful experience of actually knowing, without needing any more rational explanations, that we are winning.... that we - all of us - even the most ensconced souls lost in their own blinding self-created illusion, are coming out of darkness into a new realm of lighted magnificence, on the edge of a new era like no other before in the entire history of this planet. Let this felicitous tingling sensation wash over you and in-form you of what is going on...

After suffering for an untold number of incarnations through the sometimes harsh learning experiences of this material world, nowadays humanity is learning to let go of past self-inflicted erroneous misconceptions and open up to the emerging sense of oneness and brother/sisterhood that will soon pervade every aspect of human existence and reality. This will really spell the end of "business as usual". Just as we have learned to collectively respond with diligence and compassion to the plight of millions of people in desperate need of assistance and succor following every natural disaster that has struck at the heart of so many nations in the last few years, we, no matter our religious beliefs or racial allegiance, are beginning to respond en masse to the man-made humanitarian disaster experienced by tens of thousands of children, women and men in Kosovo. And this is not only a hopeful sign, it is the external expression of the turning tide of history as we now enter a new era in which the very notion of resorting to violent means to settle a conflict will elicit a deep shudder of utter revulsion and antipathy towards anyone foolish enough to express such a thought.

Soon, imminently, we will see in world affairs propositions and political decisions completely unthinkable only a few months ago. Instead of pursuing the madness of inhuman and unsustainable policies and now obsolete economic principles, humanity will band together as One big United family to help all those in need of physical assistance, whether they are in Asia, Africa,South or Central America or in the very middle of presumably prosperous nations in Europe and North America. In the same spirit of caring compassion expressed towards human existence, the rift between man and Nature will soon be healed as the Sons and Daughters of Gaia will rediscover their unique and precious role as caretakers of the natural balance of Life on planet Earth. The flow of species extinction will be stemmed while vast and still relatively pristine tracks of lands will become off-limit to all exploitation and human encroachment; and from there, we will help Nature gradually restore back the planet to its original pristine and exuberant beauty as this will become the basic mission humanity will assign itself to accomplish in this coming new century which, based on the Gregorian calendar, is just about to begin.

The Change, occurring at blinding speed, in an historical twinkling of an eye, will be felt by everyone on Earth as its growing energetic vibration will inevitably swell into a sudden cosmic realization that We Are All One. This New Reality is only a few more "moments" away and its emergence can already be felt like a tidal wave of Love extending its divine sparkling Presence and engulfing those sensitive and innerly-attuned enough to experience it as warm tears of happiness roll down their cheeks, wetting their appetite for ever more of this divine "manna", endlessly erupting from the inner volcano of Love that sits at the very center of our collective being.

The Power to make this world anew has been unleashed and the juggernaut of World Peace and Compassionate Love is finally rolling onward.

Your assistance in networking this message is heartily welcomed.
Worded on April 7, 1999

Webposted at http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000/Winning.htm

Translations in other languages will be posted as soon as done and received.

From: Shanna Mac Lean
Subject: Sending greetings and love

Dear Cyberfamily:

I am taking a moment to send greetings and love to each of you, and to tell you how much I value our connection with each other. We all recognize the Grace by which we are here, the brilliant Light which surrounds our lives, the opportunities we have to share it in various ways with our brothers and sisters...ALL of them, without judgement. Every one of us can find beauty and bounty in our lives for which we can sincerely express deepest gratitude every single day.

On this day, may we energize resolution of all disharmony on this planet.
Whatever events, feelings, thoughts are not in alignment with Divine Will, may we energize that they be transmuted by the Light of the Source of All That Is, and that this transmutation, this resolution unfold in whatever manner brings about the highest good for all.

In deepest love,

Shanna

Date: Sun, 04 Apr 1999
From: Palden Jenkins
Subject: Cracks

Ring out those bells you still can ring
Forget the perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

Leonard Cohen

From: EdElkin@aol.com
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999

(clip)

As we approach 2000, with problems compounded by the Y2K situation, humanity appears to be at a crucial turning point to determine how we enter the 21stCentury.

I'm glad that we have this amazing opportunity to dialogue, to share our views and hopefully to emerge from the morass with renewed dedication to a "world that works for everyone, even to fulfilling Buckminster Fuller's promise of converting "weaponry to livingry" and re-distributing the wealth so that all humanity lives in peace and prosperity and we enter what Robert Muller called a Millennium of Peace.

Perhaps we can begin with renewed activism on One Day in Peace:January 1, 2000; a small first step toward our goals for a brighter future.

Peace, Blessings & Aloha,
Ed Jor-El Elkin
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
"One Day In Peace, January 1, 2000!"
join the worldwide thought-wave campaign....
pass it on..... coming soon to a planet like ours....Earth!
http://www.oneday.net & http://www.oneday.org

AND IT IS PARTLY BECAUSE OF REPORTS LIKE THE FOLLOWING ONE ABOUT THE INHUMANE SUFFERING ENDURED BY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE STILL TRAPPED IN KOSOVO THAT THE WORLD CONSCIOUSNESS IS AWAKENING AND NOW SHIFTING INTO HIGH-COMPASSION GEAR MODE...

DRUDGE REPORT 04/05/99 23:09:48 UTC
www.drudgereport.com

FRY REFUGEES STUCK AT 'CAMP DIARRHEA'

"Not even during the Second World War did I witness a scene of human anguish comparable to what I saw Monday at Blace on the Kosovo-Macedonian border," writes LONDON TELEGRAPH reporter W F Deedes.

"Some 65,000 refugees from Yugoslavia are gathered in misery and their own excrement," reports the GUARDIAN's John Hooper.

London's papers on Tuesday carry shocking first-hand accounts from the scene that has been nicknamed "Camp Diarrhea."

Most of the refugees at Blace, a refugee camp at the Macedonian-Serbian border, are from the provincial capital, Pristina. They are shopkeepers and secretaries, bar owners, nurses, electricians. Many have neatly cut hair and wear what were smart suede jackets, even fur coats, says one report.

"One woman, wearing a fur, was covered in complete filth and was standing in a deep puddle of human diarrhea, for there are no toilettes."

Hooper writes: "During the three hours I was there at the sodden meadow, people were collapsing and being stretchered to a rudimentary medical center at the rate of one every three or four minutes. There were so many, and so few stretchers, that volunteers often carried them in blankets. One woman was taken away unconscious in a wheelbarrow...

"The refugees' plight is made more unbearable by abuse, threats and maltreatment by the riot police. Standing behind the main customs shed, I saw an elderly man trying to climb up to the water tankers being kicked back down the slope. I saw guards repeatedly use their truncheons on those at the front of the crowd who were clamoring to escape."
"The riot police call the refugees 'pigs' and 'bits of shit,'" one young
volunteer stretcher bearer tells the GUARDIAN.

The next scourge at Blace is likely to be an epidemic. Already, there are reports of meningitis and polio.

Headlines the INDEPENDENT: "DYING, AS THE WEST BICKERS: Refugees from Kosovo are dying of disease and exhaustion while Western governments wrangle over plans to fly victims from the war zone."

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the line of people escaping from Kosovo extends back 18 miles.

"I looked towards the hills that surround this awful scene," writes W F Deedes, "and there were all the signs of spring. Just above this squalor, the hillside was bursting out in new green and some of the trees were wearing white for Eastertide.

"Then I looked down again at an old woman stumbling past me, crying and in the last stages of exhaustion. I thought: what have we got to flatter ourselves about at this new millennium? Man's inhumanity to man has lost none of its venom."

Subj: Edupage, SPECIAL EDITION
Date: 99-04-03
From: edupage@franklin.oit.unc.edu (Edupage Editors)

This special edition of Edupage is devoted exclusively to today's "Honorary Subscriber" - the people of Kosovo.

*********************************************************

For today's "Honorary Subscriber," we salute the brave people of Kosovo, who represent all innocent victims of war, everywhere.

Such individuals are found on every side of every conflict in every corner of the world. Most are in civilian clothes. Some are wearing uniforms.

Here for your convenience are some of the agencies accepting contributions for refugee assistance to alleviate the current suffering in Kosovo.


American Friends Service Committee, http://www.afsc.org
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, http://www.jtc.org
American Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org
American Refugee Committee, 612-872-7060
Baptist World Aid, http://www.bwanet.org
CARE, http://www.care.org
Catholic Relief Services, http://www.catholic relief.org
Christian Children's Fund, http://christianschildrensfund.org
Church World Service, http://www.churchworldservice.org
Direct Relief International, http://directrelief.org
Doctors Of The World, http://www.doctorsoftheworld.org
Doctors Without Borders, http://www.dwb.org
Feed The Children, 800-328-2122
Food For The Hungry International, http://www.fh.org
International Aid, http://www.internationalaid.org
International Medical Corps, http://www.imc-la.org
International Orthodox Christian Charities, http://www.iocc.org
International Rescue Committee, http://www.intrescom.org
Lutheran World Relief, 800-597-5972
MAP International, http://www.mag.org
Mercy Corps International, http://www.mercycorps.org
Oxfam America, 800-77-OXFAM
Salvation Army World Service Office, 703-684-5528
Save The Children, http://www.savethechildren.org
U.J.A. Federations of America, 212-566-8610
U.S. Association for the UN High Commissioner For Refugees, 202-296-5191
U.S. Committee For Unicef, http://www.unicefusa.org
World Concern, http://www.worldconcern.org
World Food Program, http://www.wfp.org
World Relief, http://www.wr.org
World Vision, 888-511-6423


************************************************************
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educause.edu) and Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educause.edu). Telephone: 770-590-1017

Technical support for distributing Edupage is provided by Information
Technology Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

EDUCAUSE is an international nonprofit association dedicated to transforming higher education through information technologies.

Love 4.0
Customer Service Rep: Hello, you have reached the Heart Systems Software Company help desk. How may I help you?

Customer: I just received your latest program, LOVE 4.0...you know...the freeware. I don't understand it. Can tell me how to install it?

CS Rep: Sure thing ma'am. Do you have the installation disk and instructions with you?

Customer: Yes I do, but first can you tell me what the program does?

CS Rep: Sure thing ma'am. LOVE is a unique program, there is no other like it in the world. LOVE attaches to your operating system and runs silently in the background, you will never see LOVE on your monitor or your toolbar, but you will notice its affect on every application you may have. It makes the good programs run smoother and greatly restricts and/or deletes the bad ones.

Customer: Wow! That sounds great. How does LOVE make my machine run smoother?

CS Rep: Well, good sound files, like COMPLIMENT.WAV, ENCOURAGEMENT.WAV, and KINDWORD.WAV will play frequently. Also, FORGIVENESS.EXE will be invoked every time there is an external violation, including the ever-popular syntax errors. Also, all those aggravating errors that say "unable to connect" will be avoided. LOVE allows for a smooth connection with external devices, regardless of what country it is manufactured in, the brand name, or the age of the model.

Customer: That's exactly what I need, my machine has been isolated for too long. But what about the bad programs?

CS Rep: Good question. LOVE searches your memory for programs like HATE.COM, BITTERNESS.EXE, SELFISH.COM, and SPITE.EXE. These programs can't be entirely deleted off your hard drive, but LOVE overpowers those programs. LOVE stops their commands from being executed and runs its own instructions. You will no longer hear INSULT.WAV and you won't be able to write with the fonts "BADWORDS12" or "HARSHNESS10."

Customer: That's a fantastic program you have. Are the upgrades free too?

CS Rep: They sure are ma'am.

Customer: How do I get the upgrades?

CS Rep: That's easy. Once you have LOVE installed and running, it automatically copies a module, or a piece of itself, to every external Hard drive Email And Remote Terminal (HEART) that it comes in contact with. In turn, those external devices run whatever version of LOVE they have and return a module to your HEART. You will be upgraded with each and every module that you receive. But you have to remember, to receive the upgrades you have to be running LOVE and you have to come into contact with other computers while it is running.

Customer: I can do that. I'm not very technical, but I think I am ready to install now. What do I do first?

CS Rep: The first step is to open your HEART. Have you located your HEART ma'am?

Customer: Yes I have, but there are several programs running right now. Is it okay to install while they are running?

CS Rep: What programs are running ma'am?

Customer: Let me see....I have PASTHURT.EXE, LOWESTEEM.EXE, GRUDGE.EXE, and RESENTMENT.COM running right now.

CS Rep: No problem. LOVE will automatically erase PASTHURT.EXE from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory, but it will no longer disrupt other programs. LOVE will
eventually overwrite LOWESTEEM.EXE with a module of its own called HIGHESTEEM.EXE. However, you have to completely turn off GRUDGE.EXE and RESENTMENT.COM. Those programs prevent LOVE from being properly installed. Can you turn
those off ma'am?

Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

CS Rep: My pleasure. Go to your Start menu and invoke FORGIVENESS.EXE. Do this as many times as necessary until GRUDGE.EXE and RESENTMENT.COM have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, I'm done. LOVE has started installing itself automatically. Is that normal?

CS Rep: Yes it is. You should receive a message that says it will reinstall for the life of your HEART. Do you see that message?

Customer: Yes I do. Is it completely installed?

CS Rep: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other HEART's in order to get the upgrades.

Customer: Oops...I have an error message already. What should I do?

CS Rep: What does the message say?

Customer: It says "ERROR 412 - PROGRAM NOT RUN ON
INTERNAL COMPONENTS." What does that mean?

CS Rep: Don't worry ma'am, that's a common problem. It means that the LOVE program is set up to run on external HEARTS but has not yet been run on your HEART.
It is one of those complicated programming things but
In nontechnical terms it means you have to "LOVE"
your own machine before it can "LOVE" others.

Customer: So what should I do?

CS Rep: Can you find the directory called "SELF-ACCEPTANCE"?

Customer: Yes, I have it.

CS Rep: Excellent, you are getting good at this.

Customer: Thank you.

Rep: You're welcome. Click on the following files and then copy them to the "MYHEART" directory:
FORGIVESELF.DOC, SELFESTEEM.TXT, REALIZEWORTH.TXT,
and GOODNESS.DOC. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching any faulty programming. Also, you need to delete
SELFCRITIC.EXE from all directories, and then empty your recycle bin afterwards to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My HEART is filling up with really neat files. SMILE.MPG is playing on my monitor right now and it shows that WARMTH.COM, PEACE.EXE, and CONTENTMENT.COM are copying themselves all over my HEART!

CS Rep: Then LOVE is installed and running. You should be able to handle it from here One more thing before I go...

Customer: Yes?

CS Rep: LOVE is freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everybody you meet. They will in turn share it with other people and
they will return some really neat modules back to you.

Customer: I will. Thank you for your help.

Subject: About Time!!

The following was written by State Representative Mitchell Kaye from
Cobb County, GA. We, the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid any more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt-ridden, delusional and other liberal bed wetters. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that a whole lot of people were confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim that they require a Bill of No Rights.


ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in
health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big-screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You don't have the right to demand that our children risk their lives in foreign wars to soothe your aching conscience. We hate oppressive governments and won't lift a finger to stop you from going to fight if you'd like. However, we do not enjoy parenting the entire world and do not want to spend so much of our time battling each and every little tyrant with a military uniform and a funny hat.

ARTICLE IX: You don't have the right to a job. All of us sure want all of you to have one, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

ARTICLE X: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to pursue happiness -- which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an overabundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

IF YOU AGREE, WE STRONGLY URGE YOU TO FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN. NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO AND NOTHING TRAGIC WILL BEFALL YOU SHOULD YOU NOT FORWARD IT. WE JUST THINK IT IS ABOUT TIME COMMON SENSE IS ALLOWED TO FLOURISH.

THANK YOU.

Biblical Time
For all you scientists out there and for all the students who have a hard time convincing people regarding the truth of the Bible...here's something that shows God's awesome creation and shows that He is still in control.
Did you know that the space program is busy proving that what has been called "myth" in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland and a consultant in the space program, relates the following development:
"I think one of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland. They were checking the position of the sun, moon, and planets out in space where they would be 100 years and 1000 years from now. We have to know this so we won't send a satellite, up and have it bump into something later on during its orbits. We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite, and where the planets will be so the whole thing will not bog down.
They ran the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries and it came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that there was something wrong either with the information fed into it or with the results as compared to the standards. They called in the service department to check it out and they said "what's wrong?"
Well, they found there is a day missing in space in elapsed time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair. There was no answer.
Finally, a Christian man on the team said, "You know, one time I was in Sunday School and they talked about the sun standing still." While they didn' believe him, they didn't have an answer either, so they said,"Show us". He got a Bible and went back to the book of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one with "common sense."
There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, "Fear them not, I have delivered them to thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee." Joshua was concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy and if darkness fell they would overpower them. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That's right - "The sun stood still and the moon stayed---and hasted not to go down about a whole day!" The astronauts and scientists said, "There is the missing day!"
They checked the computers going back into the time it was written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua's day was 23 hours and 20 minutes-not a whole day.
They read the Bible and there it was "about (approximately) a day".  These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes you'll still be in trouble 1,000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits.
As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the sun went BACKWARDS. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Book and read these words in 2 Kings: Hezekiah, on his death-bed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said "Do you want the sun to go ahead 10 degrees?" Hezekiah said, "It is nothing for the sun to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees."  Isaiah spoke to the Lord and the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees BACKWARD! Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty three hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings make the missing day in the universe!
Isn't it amazing? Our God is rubbing their noses in His Truth!
References: Joshua 10:8 and 12,13 2 Kings 20:9-11
Forward this to as many people who would think this is equally as cool.

Love is...

Giving and receiving. Touches of tenderness.
Patience. Loyalty and Trust. Forgiveness.
Healing. Compassion. Hearing what's not being said.
Freedom. Gentle boundaries. A hug when needed.
Comfortable silence. Sharing sorrows and joys.
Compromise. Not needing the last word.
Harmony. Smiles and laughter. A shelter in a storm.
Letting go and holding on. Heart to heart talks.
Forgiving and forgetting. Unconditional.

Paradox of the 20th Century

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings
but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints; we
spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses but small families; more conveniences but less time; we have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgement; more experts but more problems; more medicine but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get
up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much and pray too  seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values; we talk
too much, love too seldom and hate too often.

We have learned how to make a living but not a life; we have added
years to life not life to years.

We have been all the way to the moon and back but have trouble
crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.  We have conquered
outer space, but not inner space.  We have done larger things but
not better things.  We have cleaned up the air but polluted the soul.
We have split the atom but not our prejudices.  We write more but learn less.   We plan more but accomplish less.

We have learned to rush but not to wait.  We have higher incomes but lower morals.   We have more food but less appeasement.  We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies but have less communication.  We have become long on quantity but short on quality.

Theses are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men and
short character; steep profits and shallow relationships.  These are
times of world peace but domestic warfare; more leisure but less
fun; more kinds of food but less nutrition.  These are days of two
incomes but more divorce, of fancier houses but broken homes.

These are the days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway
morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies and pills that do
everything from cheer to quiet to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in
the stockroom.

It is a time when technology can bring this letter to you and a time
when you can choose either to make a difference or to just hit
delete......

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TO ALL CRACK POTS:

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each
hung on each end of a pole, which he carried
across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in
it, and while the other pot was perfect and
always delivered a full portion of water at the
end of the long walk from the stream to the
master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half
full. For two years this went on daily, with the
bearer delivering only one and a half pots of
water to his master's house. Of course, the
perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments,
perfect to the end for which it was made.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own
imperfection, and miserable that it was able to
accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a
bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one
day by the stream. "I am ashamed of
myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to
deliver only half my load because this crack in
my side causes water to leak out all the way back
to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you
have to do all of this work, and you don't get
full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked
pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return
to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful
flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked
pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful
wild flowers on the side of the path, and this
cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it
still felt bad because it had leaked out half its
load, and so again it apologized to the bearer
for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that
there were flowers only on your side of your path,
but not on the other pot's side? That's because
I have always known about your flaw, and I took
advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your
side of the path, and every day while we walk
back from the stream, you've watered them. For
two years I have been able to pick these
beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table.
Without you being just the way you are, he would
not have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all
cracked pots. But if we will allow it, the Lord
will use our flaws to grace His table. In God's
great economy, nothing goes to waste.

Life in the 1500's-----

Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. She married at the age of 26. This is really unusual for the time. Most people married young, like at the age of 11 or 12. Life was not as romantic as we may picture it. Here are some examples:

Anne Hathaway's home was a 3 bedroom house with a small parlor, which was seldom used (only for company), kitchen, and no bathroom.

Mother and Father shared a bedroom.  Anne had a queen sized bed, but did not sleep alone. She also had 2 other sisters and they shared the bed also with 6 servant girls. (this is before she married) They didn't sleep like we do lengthwise but all laid on the bed crosswise. At least they had a bed. The other bedroom was shared by her 6 brothers and 30 field workers. They didn't have a bed. Everyone just wrapped up in their blanket and slept on the floor. They had no indoor heating so all the extra bodies kept them warm.

They were also small people, the men only grew to be about 5'6" and the women were 4'8". SO in their house they had 27 people living. Most people got married in June. Why? They took their yearly bath in May, so they were till smelling pretty good by June, although they were starting to smell, so the brides would carry a bouquet of flowers to hide their b.o. Like I said, they took their yearly bath in May, but it was just a big tub that they would fill with hot water. The man of the house would get the privilege of the nice clean water. Then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was pretty thick. Thus, the saying, "don't throw the baby out with the bath water," it was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.

I'll describe their houses a little. You've heard of thatch roofs,
well that's all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood
underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs." Since there was nothing to stop things from falling into the house they would just try to clean up a lot. But this posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings from animals could really mess up your nice clean bed, so they found if they would make beds with big posts and hang a sheet over the top it would prevent that problem. That's where those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies came from.

When you came into the house you would notice most times that the floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, that's where the  saying "dirt poor" came from. The wealthy would have slate floors. That was fine but in the winter they would get slippery when they got wet. So they started to spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they would just keep adding it and adding it until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. SO they put a piece of wood at the entry way, a "thresh hold".

In the kitchen they would cook over the fire, they had a fireplace in
the kitchen/parlor, that was seldom used and sometimes in the master bedroom. They had a big kettle that always hung over the fire and every day they would light the fire and start adding things to the pot.  Mostly they ate vegetables, they didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner then leave the leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start  over the next day. Sometimes the stew would have food in it that had been in there for a month! Thus the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge   cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could get a hold of some pork.  They really felt special when that happened and when company came over they even had a rack in the parlor where they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. That was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon."They would cut off a little to share with guests and they would all sit around and "chew the fat."

If you had money your plates were made out of pewter. Sometimes some of their food had a high acid content and some of the lead would leach out into the food. They really noticed it happened with tomatoes. So they stopped eating tomatoes, for 400 years.

Most people didn't have pewter plates though, they all had trenchers, that was a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. They never washed their boards and a lot of times worms would get into the wood. After eating off the trencher with worms they would get "trench mouth."

If you were going traveling and wanted to stay at an Inn they usually provided the bed but not the board. The bread was divided according to status. The workers would get the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family would get the middle and guests would get the top, or the "upper crust".

They also had lead cups and when they would drink their ale or whiskey.  The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. They would be walking along the road and here would be someone knocked out and they thought they were dead. So they would pick them up and take them home and get them ready to bury.  They realized if they were too slow about it, the person would wake up. Also, maybe not all of the people they were burying were dead. So they would lay them out on the kitchen table for a couple of days, the family would gather around and eat and and wait to see if they would wake up. That's where the custom of holding a "wake" came from.

Since England is so old and small they started running out of places to bury people. So they started digging up some coffins and would take their bones to a house and re-use the grave. They started opening these coffins and found some had scratch marks on the inside. One out of 25 coffins were that way and they realized they had still been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.  Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. That is how the saying "graveyard shift" was made. If the bell would ring they would know that someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer".

Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening
appeared...he sat & watched the butterfly for several hours as
it struggled to force it's body through that little hole. Then it
seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten
as far as it could & it could go no farther. Then, the man decided to
help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors & snipped off the
remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, it had a
swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the
butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would
enlarge & expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in
time.

**Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of
its life crawling around with a swollen body & shriveled wings. It
never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness & haste did not
understand was that the restricting cocoon & the struggle required for the
butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid
from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready
for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

**Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles,
it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have
been.

**...And we could never fly....

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Hill Speech by Charlton Heston at Harvard
"Winning The Cultural War"
Harvard Law School Forum
Tuesday, 16 February 1999
I remember my son when he was five, explaining to his kindergarten class what his father did for a living. "My Daddy," he said, "pretends to be people." There have been quite a few of them. Prophets from the Old and New Testaments, a couple of Christian saints, generals of various nationalities and different centuries, several kings, three American presidents, a French cardinal and two geniuses, including Michelangelo. If you want the ceiling re-painted I'll do my best. There always seem to be a lot of different fellows up here. I'm never sure which one of them gets to talk. Right now, I guess I'm the guy. As I pondered our visit tonight it struck me: If my Creator gave me the gift to connect you with the hearts and minds of those great men, then I want to use that same gift now to re-connect you with your own sense of liberty, your own freedom of thought ... your own compass for what is right. Dedicating the memorial at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln said of America, "We are now engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure."
Those words are true again. I believe that we are again engaged in a great civil war, a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to think and say what resides in your heart. I fear you no longer trust the pulsing lifeblood of liberty inside you ... the stuff that made this country rise from wilderness into the miracle that it is.
Let me back up. About a year ago I became president of the National Rifle Association, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. I ran for office, I was elected, and now I serve ... I serve as a moving target for the media who've called me everything from "ridiculous" and "duped" to a "brain-injured, senile, crazy old man." I know ... I'm pretty old...but I sure Lord ain't senile. As I have stood in the crosshairs of those who target Second Amendment freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only issues. No, it's much, much bigger than that. I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our Land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated. For example, I marched for civil rights with Dr. King in 1963 -- Long before Hollywood found it fashionable. But when I told an audience last year that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride, they called me a racist. I've worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe. I served in World War II against the Axis powers. But during a speech, when I drew an analogy between singling out innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was called an anti-Semite. Everyone I know knows I would never raise a closed fist against my country. But when I asked an audience to oppose this cultural persecution, I was compared to Timothy McVeigh. From Time magazine to friends and colleagues, they're essentially saying, "Chuck, how dare you speak your mind. You are using language not authorized for public consumption!" But I am not afraid. If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys-subjects bound to the British crown. In his book, "The End of Sanity," Martin Gross writes that "Blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new rules, and new anti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every direction. Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something without a name is undermining the nation, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And they don't like it."
Let me read a few examples.
At Antioch college in Ohio, young men seeking intimacy with a coed must get verbal permission at each step of the process from kissing to petting to final copulation ... all clearly spelled out in a printed college directive.
In New Jersey, despite the death of several patients nationwide Who had been infected by dentists who had concealed their AIDs --- the state commissioner announced that health providers who are HIV-positive need not... need not ... tell their patients that they are infected.
At William and Mary, students tried to change the name of the school team "The Tribe" because it was supposedly insulting to local Indians, only to learn that authentic Virginia chiefs truly like the name.
In San Francisco, city fathers passed an ordinance protecting the rights of transvestites to cross-dress on the job, and for transsexuals to have separate toilet facilities while undergoing sex change surgery. In New York City, kids who don't speak a word of Spanish have been placed in bilingual classes to learn their three R's in Spanish solely because their last names sound Hispanic.
At the University of Pennsylvania, in a state where thousands died at
Gettysburg opposing slavery, the president of that college officially set up segregated dormitory space for black students.
Yeah, I know ... that's out of bounds now. Dr. King said "Negroes." Jimmy Baldwin and most of us on the March said, "black." But it's a no-no now.
For me, hyphenated identities are awkward ... particularly "Native-American."
I'm a Native American, for God's sake. I also happen to be a blood-initiated brother of the Miniconjou Sioux. On my wife's side, my grandson is a thirteenth generation native American ... with a capital letter on "American."
Finally, just last month ... David Howard, head of the Washington D.C. Office of Public Advocate, used the word "niggardly" while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters. Of course, "niggardly" means stingy or scanty. But within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign.
As columnist Tony Snow wrote: "David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who (a) didn't know the meaning of niggardly,' (b) didn't know how to use a dictionary to discover the meaning, and (c) actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance."
What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can't be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me:
Why did political correctness originate on America's campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who're supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression? Let's be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason.
You are the best and the brightest. You, here in the fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River, you are the cream. But I submit that you, and your counterparts across the land, are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that ... and abide it ... you are - by your grandfathers' standards - cowards.
Here's another example. Right now at more than one major university, Second Amendment scholars and researchers are being told to shut up about their findings or they'll lose their jobs. Why? Because their research findings would undermine big-city mayor's pending lawsuits that seek to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from firearm manufacturers. I don't care what you think about guns. But if you are not shocked at that, I am shocked at you. Who will guard the raw material of unfettered ideas, if not you?
Who will defend the core value of academia, if you supposed soldiers of free thought and expression lay down your arms and plead, "Don't shoot me."? If you talk about race, it does not make you a racist. If you see distinctions between the genders, it does not make you a sexist. If you think critically about a denomination, it does not make you anti-religion.
If you accept but don't celebrate homosexuality, it does not make you a
homophobe. Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism.
But what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation? The answer's been here all along. I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people. You simply ... disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom. I learned the awesome power of disobedience from Dr.King ... who learned it from Gandhi, and Thoreau, and Jesus, and every other great man who led those in the right against those with the might.
Disobedience is in our DNA. We feel innate kinship with that Disobedient spirit that tossed tea into Boston Harbor, that sent Thoreau to jail, that refused to sit in the back of the bus, that protested a war in VietNam. In that same spirit, I am asking you to disavow cultural correctness with massive disobedience of rogue authority, social directives and onerous law that weaken personal freedom.
But be careful ... it hurts. Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies. You must be willing to be humiliated ... to endure the modern-day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma. You must be willing to experience discomfort. I'm not complaining, but my own decades of social activism have taken their toll on me.
Let me tell you a story. A few years back I heard about a rapper named Ice-T who was selling a CD called "Cop Killer" celebrating ambushing and murdering police officers. It was being marketed by none other than Time/Warner, the biggest entertainment conglomerate in the world. Police across the country were outraged. Rightfully so - at least one had been murdered. But Time/Warner was stonewalling because the CD was A cash cow for them, and the media were tiptoeing around it because the rapper was black. I heard Time/Warner had a stockholders meeting scheduled in Beverly Hills. I owned some shares at the time, so I decided to attend. What I did there was against the advice of my family and colleagues I asked for the floor. To a hushed room of a thousand average American stockholders, I simply read the full lyrics of "Cop Killer" - every vicious, vulgar, instructional word.
"I GOT MY 12 GAUGE SAWED OFF
I GOT MY HEADLIGHTS TURNED OFF
I'M ABOUT TO BUST SOME SHOTS OFF
I'M ABOUT TO DUST SOME COPS OFF..."
It got worse, a lot worse. I won't read the rest of it to you. But trust me, the room was a sea of shocked, frozen, blanched faces. The Time/Warner executives squirmed in their chairs and stared at their shoes. They hated me for that.
Then I delivered another volley of sick lyric brimming with racist filth, where Ice-T fantasizes about sodomizing two 12-year old nieces of Al and Tipper Gore.
"SHE PUSHED HER BUTT AGAINST MY ... ."
Well, I won't do to you here what I did to them. Let's just say I left the room in echoing silence. When I read the lyrics to the waiting press corps, one of them said "We can't print that." "I know," I replied,"but Time/Warner's selling it." Two months later, Time/Warner terminated Ice-T's contract. I'll never be offered another film by Warners, or get a good review from Time magazine. But disobedience means you must be willing to act, not just talk.
When a mugger sues his elderly victim for defending herself ... jam the switchboard of the district attorney's office.
When your university is pressured to lower standards until 80% of the students graduate with honors ... choke the halls of the board of regents. When an 8-year-old boy pecks a girl's cheek on the playground and gets hauled into court for sexual harassment ... march on that school and block its doorways. When someone you elected is seduced by political power and betrays you...petition them, oust them, banish them. When Time magazine's cover portrays millennium nuts as deranged, Crazy Christians holding a cross as it did last month ... boycott their magazine and the products it advertises. So that this nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed footsteps of the great disobediences of history that freed exiles, founded religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands of an aroused rabble in arms and a few great men,
by God's grace, built this country.
If Dr. King were here, I think he would agree. Thank you.


From Peggy: If you have reached this end you are swirling. Right now, rereading again such prolific and deepening expressions ,the tingle pressing into the tight muscles of my deltoids reminds me how moving inspiration can be. It is moving us to a better world. The sensation is just my wings trying to emerge.