Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.—Desmond Tutu
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. —Albert Einstein We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. —Martin Luther King, Jr. Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality. —Jonas Salk Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for. —Joseph Addison A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. —Elbert Hubbard You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have, because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own. —Michelle Obama Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us. —Samuel Smiles Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future. —Robert H. Schuller Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. —Thich Nhat Hanh Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tunes without the words—and never stops at all. —Emily Dickinson
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Quote of the day:
“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em all over everything you do.”-- Elvis Presley Think about it: Whether we are consciously aware of them or not, we all have a core set of personal values. Values can range from the practical, such as the belief in hard work and punctuality, to the more intangible, such as concern for others, gratitude, integrity, generosity, commitment, and the list goes on. When we examine the lives of successful people, we often see how personal values guided them and propelled them to the top in their fields. Just as individual people subscribe to values, so do organizations and businesses. In fact, if we look at a successful company, we will most likely find that one or more business values were the key to their success. Being fully aware of and living by our own unique set of values can change and improve the quality of how we live our life. We can energize our life by making a conscious effort to implement the values we hold. Once we identify values that are meaningful to us, we can develop a plan to put them into practice. We may even find that good things suddenly start to happen to us from seemingly out of nowhere, exceeding our expectations and what we thought logical and possible. Living a healthy lifestyle will only deprive you of poor health, lethargy, and fat. —Jill Johnson
If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end. —Julius Erving Every living cell in your body is made from the food you eat. If you consistently eat junk food then you’ll have a junk body. —Jeanette Jenkins Fast food is popular because it’s convenient, it’s cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu. —Eric Schlosser Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food. —Hippocrates Most of us think we don’t have enough time to exercise. What a distorted paradigm! We don’t have time not to. We’re talking about three to six hours a week—or a minimum of thirty minutes a day, every other day. That hardly seems an inordinate amount of time considering the tremendous benefits in terms of the impact on the other 162-165 hours of the week. —Stephen Covey Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. —Edward Stanley When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no “I’ll start tomorrow.” Tomorrow is disease. —V.L. Allinear We do not stop exercising because we grow old—we grow old because we stop exercising. —Dr. Kenneth Cooper The difference between someone who is in shape, and someone who is not in shape, is the individual who is in shape works out even when they do not want to .—Unknown Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. —Jim Rohn By John, Syria
One evening I was working with two of our Syrian volunteers, Tariq and his friend from Damascus. Both are students now, starting their lives all over again. They had previously lived good lives in Syria, one being the manager of a successful company. Tariq and I were preparing to go to an EU meeting to present our project with refugees, and the other volunteer was compiling an Excel list of all the families we are helping in preparation for a visit from an Islamic charity to assist our projects on the border. It was late 2016, and as we worked, we were discussing the latest news from Aleppo, which was under horrific bombardment at that time. Tariq questioned why. Why does God let Syria suffer so much? The Syrians took in over 500,000 Palestinian refugees. During the Lebanese civil war, Syrians took Lebanese not just into refugee camps, but some into their own homes. At the end of 2010, over 1,300,000 refugees and asylum-seekers were housed in Syria—over 6% of the country’s population at the time. Tariq’s father also worked assisting Iraqi refugees, and after all the help they gave to others, Tariq’s family is now scattered throughout Europe, the Mideast, and some still in Damascus. Due to lack of medical aid available in Syria, Tariq’s youngest brothers are both deficient in health and not growing properly. I offered Tariq and his friend an answer straight from the Bible. I explained about the last days, which most Muslims are very familiar with, and then explained how Jesus will return to restore peace to this world. We went on to read Revelation chapters 17 through 19 about two great powers in the last days. In these chapters the Beast violently destroys the materialistic Whore, shortly before Jesus returns on a white horse with the armies of heaven to put an end to the Beast. The room went silent as they contemplated what they had read. Now some things made sense in this senseless world. Bible passages such as these offered a whole new perspective and it gave them hope for the future. In late 2017 I was in Antakya (Antioch), a border city, working on a project with an association there. My translator was a young Syrian who I had just met the previous month. An international charity paid him to help me for one month in handling two serious medical cases that came over after a series of hospital bombings in Idlib in September 2017. The Syrian translator and I became close friends while working on these medical cases. Working on life-and-death situations can bring you together as nothing else can. While in Antakya, he insisted that I meet his father, who works in an office there. Usually I am quite careful about going to new places, I make sure I have good friends, like Tariq or others, with me. We went to the office, a one-room place for Syrian taxi drivers to drink tea while waiting for customers. The father was not there, he was out on a call, and my translator introduced me to this group of bearded and unshaven drivers as “John from America.” The place went silent, as there were obvious unpleasant feelings at having an American in their office. I am not sure how this all unfolded, but in a matter of minutes, or less, after apologizing for the chaos that American wars for oil have created in the Mideast, I found myself showing them passages from the Bible about the last days. (Thank God for computers and easily accessible internet!) The results were the same as when I shared this with Tariq. There was a tangible feeling of relief in that they now understood a bit more about what is happening in the world and where it is all heading. It made sense. My translator was almost beyond himself with excitement that these words were written nearly 2,000 years ago, saying how unbelievable this is, yet so believable, as it is happening right before their eyes. And I heaved a sigh of relief myself, rescued again by the Man on the white horse and His powerful Word. If you would like to learn more about the last days write Coach Dana at [email protected] He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything. —Arabian proverb
It is health that is real wealth, and not pieces of gold and silver. —Mahatma Gandhi Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory. —Albert Schweitzer It is amazing how much crisper the general experience of life becomes when your body is given a chance to develop a little strength. —Frank Duff A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. —Irish proverb Joy, temperance, and repose, slam the door on the doctor’s nose. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Mirth is the medicine of life; it cures its ills and calms its strife. —Unknown True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united. —Humboldt Laughter is the most healthful exertion. —Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness, an open and noble temper. —Ralph Waldo Emerson A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ. —John Steinbeck If you have health, you probably will be happy, and if you have health and happiness, you have all the wealth you need, even if it is not all you want. —Elbert Hubbard Quote of the day:
“A bird with a broken wing only needs mending, but once it has healed, it can fly higher than the rest.” – Author Unknown Think about it: By high school, T. J. was the most celebrated troublemaker in his town. Teachers literally cringed when they saw his name posted on their classroom lists for the next semester. He wasn’t very talkative, didn’t answer questions, and got into lots of fights. He had flunked almost every class by the time he entered his senior year, yet was being passed on each year to a higher grade level. Teachers didn’t want to have him again the following year. T. J. was moving on, but definitely not moving up. I met T. J. for the first time at a weekend leadership retreat. All the students at school had been invited to sign up for ACE training, a program designed to have students become more involved in their communities. T. J. was one of 405 students who signed up. When I showed up to lead their first retreat, the community leaders gave me this overview of the attending students: “We have a total spectrum represented today, from the student body president to T. J. Ware, the boy with the longest arrest record in the history of town.” Somehow, I knew that I wasn’t the first to hear about T. J.’s darker side as the first words of introduction. At the start of the retreat, T. J. was literally standing outside the circle of students, against the back wall, with that “go ahead, impress me” look on his face. He didn’t readily join the discussion groups, didn’t seem to have much to say. But slowly, the interactive games drew him in. The ice really melted when the groups started building a list of positive and negative things that had occurred at school that year. T. J. had some definite thoughts on those situations. The other students in T. J.’s group welcomed his comments. All of a sudden T. J. felt like a part of the group, and before long he was being treated like a leader. He was saying things that made a lot of sense, and everyone was listening. T. J. was a smart guy, and he had some great ideas. The next day, T. J. was very active in all the sessions. By the end of the retreat, he had joined the Homeless Project team. He knew something about poverty, hunger, and hopelessness. The other students on the team were impressed with his passionate concern and ideas. They elected T. J. co-chairman of the team. The student council president would be taking his instruction from T. J. Ware. When T. J. showed up at school on Monday morning, he arrived to a firestorm. A group of teachers were protesting to the school principal about his being elected co-chairman. The very first communitywide service project was to be a giant food drive, organized by the Homeless Project team. These teachers couldn’t believe that the principal would allow this crucial beginning to a prestigious, three-year action plan to stay in the incapable hands of T. J. Ware. They reminded the principal, “He has an arrest record as long as your arm. He’ll probably steal half the food.” The principal reminded them that the purpose of the ACE program was to uncover any positive passion that a student had and reinforce its practice until true change can take place. The teachers left the meeting shaking their heads in disgust, firmly convinced that failure was imminent. Two weeks later, T. J. and his friends led a group of 70 students in a drive to collect food. They collected a school record: 2,854 cans of food in just two hours. It was enough to fill the empty shelves in two neighborhood centers, and the food took care of needy families in the area for 75 days. The local newspaper covered the event with a full-page article the next day. That newspaper story was posted on the main bulletin board at school, where everyone could see it. T. J.’s picture was up there for doing something great, for leading a record-setting food drive. Every day he was reminded about what he did. He was being acknowledged as leadership material. T. J. started showing up at school every day and answered questions from teachers for the first time. He led a second project, collecting 300 blankets and 1,000 pairs of shoes for the homeless shelter. The event he started now yields 9,000 cans of food in one day, taking care of 70 percent of the need for food for one year. T. J. reminds us that a bird with a broken wing only needs mending. But once it has healed, it can fly higher than the rest. T. J. got a job. He became productive. He is flying quite nicely these days. (By Chalsey Dooley, adapted from Motivated Magazine.) A person without self-control is like a breached city, one with no walls.—Proverb
Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It requires you to connect today’s actions to tomorrow’s results. There’s a season for sowing and a season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which. —Gary Ryan Blair By constant self-discipline and self-control, you can develop greatness of character. —Grenville Kleiser The first and best victory is to conquer self. —Plato Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways. — H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind—you could call it character in action. —Vince Lombardi Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power. — Lao Tzu Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day. —Jim Rohn He that is patient is better than a mighty man, and he that subdues himself, than he that seizes a city. —Proverb Happiness is dependent on self-discipline. We are the biggest obstacles to our own happiness. It is much easier to do battle with society and with others than to fight our own nature. —Dennis Prager What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are: and what we will be—the result of previous years of self-discipline. —H. P. Liddon By John, Syria
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit California and present our work with refugees at a small “Justice Seminar” sponsored by a local church. I met many wonderful Christians there. One woman from California questioned whether I was “preaching the gospel” to the refugees. The place where I live is more hostile to Christian work than any of the Muslim-majority countries where refugees formerly resided. I gave this woman a few testimonies of fruit being borne in the past year or so, and we stopped the conversation there. Later, I was recounting the incident to a Christian pastor who also works with refugees and was curious about our work. I brought out to him that I often start presenting the Bible to refugees with the Psalms, as they provide great comfort, which is so needed. If I lead straight to a witness about Jesus, they often start to worry that I am there to convert them. I told this pastor the story of how Psalm 37 and Psalm 73 had greatly helped our hotheaded Syrian volunteer Tariq, who several times was ready to return to Syria and take up arms after seeing some horrible injustice committed. These two Psalms put the situation in proper perspective for him. Psalm 37 has such incredible verses about “trusting in the Lord and doing good”—volunteering—and “not fretting about the man who prospers in his way, bringing wicked devices to pass.” Verse eight is such great counsel to “cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not thyself in any wise to do evil,” because as verse nine states, “evildoers shall be cut off.” Tariq heaved such a sigh of relief and smiled when he read this, as the Psalms give such assurance that things will eventually be made right, and “the meek will [one day] inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” The Word of God is just so comforting. Psalm 73 even more explicitly portrays the evil of the wicked and the deep frustration of the psalmist over the “ungodly who prosper in the world and increase in riches.” That Psalm also ends with the wicked being brought into desolation and the psalmist realizing that he was foolish and ignorant to envy the wicked. After sharing this with the pastor, he broke out in a big smile and told me that he got saved through the Psalms. He was born into a Jewish family, and he eventually came to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah through reading the Psalms. That was such an encouragement to me to keep feeding the refugees from the Psalms, as the Psalms are one of the four holy books according to Islam. The happy result of the Justice Seminar meeting is that one of the attendees decided to regularly volunteer and help this pastor with his work with the Syrian refugees. Working with refugees has provided some wonderful moments that will be treasured forever. There have been times of tears, heartbreak, and sorrow hearing their stories, and having your colleagues break down in deep weeping over the sorrow they have seen and experienced. Several times after visiting the Syrian border, I have not been able to talk about what I had experienced without tears as I shared what I’d seen. I hadn’t realized just how deeply the horrors I experienced affected me—so many fatherless children who want to show you a photo of their deceased father (after some time, I began to think this was the new norm, to be an orphan); a young man burnt beyond recognition wanting to drink tea with me, to be able to sit with someone who is not scared of his looks. Through it all, I felt as if I was being taught by these refugees about life, hope, joy in the midst of such suffering, and giving thanks in all things. I never realized just how close God is to the brokenhearted, and we could often tangibly feel His Spirit upon some of these broken people we minister to, the lowliest of the lowliest. Being on the border of death, you find that life is so valued and precious, and the refugees cherish every moment with you, as they know they have no guarantee of tomorrow. The now is what they have to enjoy, even if it is only a cup of tea they can share with you. Isn’t this the truth for all of us, but somehow we don’t catch it. My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. -- Jim Valvano
A real man loves his wife, and places his family as the most important thing in life. Nothing has brought me more peace and content in life than simply being a good husband and father. -- Frank Abagnale Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad, and that's why I call you dad, because you are so special to me. You taught me the game and you taught me how to play it right. -- Wade Boggs My dad is my best friend, my father, and my boss. When I do something that is exciting and he likes it, it feels three times as good as you can imagine. -- David Lauren Being a father has been, without a doubt, my greatest source of achievement, pride and inspiration. Fatherhood has taught me about unconditional love, reinforced the importance of giving back and taught me how to be a better person. -- Naveen Jain One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters. -- George Herbert It is a wise father that knows his own child. -- William Shakespeare My dad was my best friend and greatest role model. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. -- Tiger Woods My father used to say that it's never too late to do anything you wanted to do. And he said, 'You never know what you can accomplish until you try.' -- Michael Jordan Without my dad, I wouldn't be here. -- Maria Sharapova I want to congratulate all the men out there who are working diligently to be good fathers whether they are stepfathers, or biological fathers or just spiritual fathers. -- T. D. Jakes It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was. -- Anne Sexton I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life. -- Sidney Poitier I mean, I look at my dad. He was twenty when he started having a family, and he was always the coolest dad. He did everything for his kids, and he never made us feel like he was pressured. I know that it must be a great feeling to be a guy like that. -- Adam Sandler Quote of the Day:
“You are moving in the right direction when you clearly understand that others can give you pleasure but genuine happiness comes when you do things for others.” – Author Unknown Think about it: Some time ago in Toronto, I gave a speech to an executive club. After the meeting, an elderly man came up to talk. He was tall, slender, and elegantly dressed. At 74, he was retiring from a lifetime of manufacturing lead pencils. I thought to myself, “What a boring way to make a living,” and said, “I’ll bet you’re glad to be getting out of that business, aren’t you?” “Oh no,” he replied. “In fact, I’m going to miss it like crazy. And you know what I’m going to miss most? The friends I’ve made in this business. Some of my suppliers and customers have been my best friends for 40 years. And several of our upper-level managers are guys I hired right out of college. I’ve had a lot of satisfaction helping them succeed.” As we talked, I learned that this man had built up a multi-million dollar company, and had recently sold it for a very large sum. His success should not be very surprising, however, considering his deep-rooted belief in people. He had mastered the art of finding the good side of everyone and building on that, and in the process of helping other people succeed, he had made a lot of money as well. – Author Unknown |
AuthorThe goal of the blog is to provide interesting, motivational, soul feeding material. All to help remind us that God loves us all and wants a personal relationship with each of us and will take care of us in times of trouble. I aspire to be a force for good by providing you with positive input. I encourage you to share the blog with others. Archives
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