STRENGTH for SERVICE Sunday

.....With July 4 coming on Sunday this year, we feel it is a great opportunity to have a STRENGTH FOR SERVICE Sunday. Strength for what kind of service, and where? Our Armed Forces.

.....STRENGTH FOR SERVICE is a devotional book designed especially for those in the Service, and for those who love them. It began back in the World War II era, first published in 1942. But Evan Hunsberger, a Boy Scout, found the copy his grandfather had carried with him through World War II. He decided to republish the volume in honor of his grandfather as his Eagle Scout project. With slight updates to the text, and with additonal material from today's religious leaders, the book has been republished after three years of hard work. This book has brought comfort and encouragement to many soldiers and their loved ones, and now we can have a part in spreading it around.

.....CW2 Billy Myers says, "I use the STRENGTH FOR SERVICE devotional book every day. Sometimes I get behind, but I catch up. I had been looking for a copy of the book for almost six months, and I finally found two copies while I was passing through Ali A Saleem on the way back to Iraq from leave. I sent one to my mother-in-law, and kept one for myself. She had been looking for a devotional that she and I could both use from opposite sides of the globe. Since then, my wife has expressed interest in taking up daily devotions as well."

.....Captain Daniel Knaup of Whitehall, Ohio says, "I really appreciate these wonderful books. My soldiers cannot get enough of them -- every deployment briefing that I give, I get an overwhelming request from soldiers for these.

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....C.A.R.E. packages from home are great, but when the last cookie crumbs and chewing gum are gone, STRENGTH FOR SERVICE will still be there as an encouragement for our soldiers. $5.00 will print and ship one book.

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.....Wouldn't you like to be a part of lifting up our soldiers? Come prepared on July 4 to present an offering for this project! The General Commission on United Methodist Men is in strong support of this ministry (the volume is published by the United Methodist Publishing House.) Don't you think this is a great way to make a difference in some soldier's life? Where else can you get that kind of return on a $5 investment?

Threat is over for three months

Little Billy went up to his teacher and said, "I don't want to scare you, but my dad said if I didn't get better grades, someone is going to get a spanking!"

Tragedy

A mother told her two blond daughters that at her death she wanted to be buried at sea. They drowned trying to dig the grave.

[I'm sorry for passing that one on -- I just washed my fingers and can't do a thing with them!]

Could it just be?

Perhaps you heard Jay Leno's comment -- worth considering and passing along:

With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mudslides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of swine flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?

On Being Green

After the crinkly, noisy sermon of 5-23-2010 (the new Sun Chip bags are extremely noisy), I thought I might as well offer some other observations on conservation and planetary health.

An energy-conservation fanatic is on his deathbed surrounded by his family. He asks, "Is my wife here?" She replies, "Yes, I'm here, Dear." He asks, "Are my children here?" They reply, "Yes, we're here, Father." He asks, "Are my grandchildren and neighbors here?" They all say, "Yes, we're here!" Then he lifts himself out of bed and points out the door. "Well, if everyone's here, why are the lights and television on in the living room?"

An energy-savvy consumer replaced all the windows in her house. She had expensive, double-insulated, energy-efficient windows installed. Twelve months later, she received a call from the contractor, who complained that the work had been done for a year, but she had failed to pay for it. She quickly replied, "The salesman who sold me those told me that in one year they would pay for themselves!"

The Church Has Left The Building

Radio host John Young recently posted this on crosswalk.com:

I saw a group of people eagerly passing out snacks and hot cocoa on an Atlanta street. The group was dressed in a uniform of sorts that read "The Church Has Left The Building."

Surprisingly, the church name wasn't on the shirt. No plug. No quotas being met. No guilt being given in the form of "We fed you, now come visit us." That a church would simply want to serve -- without any apparent effort to self-promote -- is rare, indeed, in our culture today.

Let the church hear this as a prophetic word!!

Say What?

While I have no way of verifying these comments, they are supposed to be transcripts of things people actually said in a court of law. At any rate, they're good for a chuckle.

Q: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?

Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?

Q: Was it you or your younger brother who was killed in the war?

Q: How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?

Q: You were there until the time you left, is that true?

Q: How many times have you committed suicide?


Q: She had three children, right?
A: Yes.
Q: How many were boys?
A: None.
Q: Were there any girls?


Q: You say the stairs went down to the basement?
A: Yes.
Q: And these stairs, do they go up also?


Q: You went on a rather elaborate honeymoon, didn't you?
A: I went to Europe, sir.
Q: And you took your new wife?


Q: How was your first marriage terminated?
A: By death.
Q: And by whose death was it terminated?


Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A: The autopsy started around 8:30 pm.
Q: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?
A: No, he was sitting up on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.


It is always wise procedure to make sure the brain is functioning properly before engaging the mouth!