Welcome to Spirit, Mind & Body

A healthy well-balanced life is not the easy way, it is the difficult path. It takes self-discipline and maturity. This website is dedicated to spiritual, physical, mental health and disciplines relating to those healthy pursuits. I also have an interest in religious news, so you will see various opinions on that posted here- Mr. Bob

Twitter Will Kill You

Yet another hilarious and quirky video from the David Crowder Band.

Church says it has the Ark of the Covenant

#religion

(IsraelNN.com) An Ethiopian church leader says Friday, June 26, marks the right time to unveil the Biblical Ark of the Covenant, which he says has been hidden in his church for centuries.

Abuna Pauolos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, was in Rome this week to meet with Pope Benedict XVI. While there, he told reporters that the time had come to reveal before the world the Holy Ark. He said that the holy container has been in the custody of his church for hundreds of years. READ THE REST

I have searched but have not found much about an updated story on this, if you have please do tell. Ethiopian news HERE claims to be on top of the story.

Stuart Munro-Hay, author of “Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses,” concluded that the object in question is definitely not the original Holy Ark.

The Power of Forgiveness

Studies Show Women speak thousands more words than men each day

Here is proof

When a Soldier Comes Home

Church Sign Generator a lot of fun

Someone sent me an email with hilarious church signs attached. A Presbyterian and Catholic church were supposedly arguing about Animals in Heaven on their signs. Googled it and found it was a hoax but in the process of reading about it i learned about a website that allows you to make funny church signs.

Islam will be the dominant world religion by 2050

Unless Believer's have more children and get off their butts and talk about the good news to the world.

I have studied Islam, read much of the Koran and Hadith and I personally came to the opinion a long time ago that Islam is a belief in a false God and those in it have no hope of eternal life. Don't take my word for it, study the two and decide for yourself, or ask a Muslim, they will tell you they have no idea whether the scales will weigh in their favor when they die. Ask a believer in Christ and they will talk about the grace (unmeritied favor) of a loving God poured out for them and all people.

The gospel message is good news for all people especially Muslims. The main differences in the two religions are that the Judeo Christian God YHWH is personal and loving, He cares for all people and reaches out to them in tangable ways. The Muslim god allah is not personal at all, he is a twisted version of what is true, he is angry, judgemental and violent towards those who do not follow Islam.

Their religion came a long 600 6o 700 years after Christ and contradicts nearly everything Jesus taught. Read that last statement again. The founder of Islam, Mohammed was also a violent man bent on conquest, oppression and slavery of those who refused to take his new religion.

watch this and wake up.

Love Trains? watch this

For train lovers our there, here is an 8 minute ride , video taken this last weekend during the Orange County California Railway festival. Hat tip to Holycoast.com

FaceBook Makes Workers More Productive

#redco Using Facebook and personal websites makes you more productive - Story Here

Print it out and set it by your monitor for your IT guy.

Male Hallmark Cards, just for the guys

1. When you are sad --I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile -- I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.

4. When you're scared -- we will high tail it out of here.

5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining, ya big baby!!!!

6.. When you are confused -- I will use little words.

7. When you are sick --Stay away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever you have.

8. When you fall -- I'll pick you up and dust you off--

After I laugh my butt off!!

9. This is my oath...I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask -- because you are my FRIEND!

Friendship is like peeing your pants,

everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth.

Hiliarous Youth Ministry Video

Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.
Hat tip to Catholic Conservative American.

Burn the Fat, Build the Muscle

#tcot #gop #hhrs #redco - shameless plug alert! I'll make this breif; If you are into fitness, read on, if not move on. Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat Build the Muscle book is the largest selling Ebook on the internet several years running. Go here to read my honest review of it. After I started recommending the book for free to readers of my blog last year, I contacted Venuto to see how I could make money from recommending it...he was happy to oblige. Thank you

Barack as Jesus?

#tcot Yes, be the first on your block to have this professionally framed fine art depiction of Barack Obama as Jesus Christ*, shepherd’s staff in hand and lamb in arms.

Nine-year-old whiz kid writes iPhone app

Wow, while most kids are playing games outside or playing video games inside Nine-year-old Lim Ding Wen writes iPhone apps!

Lim, who is in fourth grade, writes applications for Apple's popular iPhone. His latest, a painting program called Doodle Kids, has been downloaded over 4,000 times from Apple's iTunes store in two weeks, the New Paper reported on Thursday.

The program lets iPhone users draw with their fingers by touching the iPhone's touch screen and then clear the screen by shaking the phone.

"I wrote the program for my younger sisters, who like to draw," Lim said. His sisters are aged 3 and 5.

Lim, who is fluent in six programming languages, started using the computer at the age of 2. He has since completed about 20 programming projects. READ THE REST

Technorati Tags: iPhone App, 9 year old writes iPhone app

Football Star Maurice Clarret blogs from prison

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Former Ohio State football star Maurice Clarett writes that he's blogging from prison so others will learn from his wrong decisions.

The tailback who led the Buckeyes to the 2002 national championship is in the Toledo Correctional Institution on his 2006 conviction for aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon.

"There's no need to talk to a reporter these days. I am my own newspaper. I am my own editor. I am my own censor. I am able to put things into the proper context," he writes in an entry dated Feb. 28. "I am able to control the content and I am educated enough to accurately express myself. I am able to distinguish to people in a unique fashion that football is just something that I do. Football is not Maurice Clarett."

Clarett doesn't have computer access in prison. His mother tells The Columbus Dispatch he phones the blog entries to relatives, who post them.

In a passage replying to comments made on his blog, Clarett says his time in prison has taught him valuable lessons. READ THE REST

Dr. Dobson steps down as Chairman of Focus on the Family

#tcot February 27, 2009 Colorado Springs, Colo. - Focus on the Family's James C. Dobson, Ph.D., has stepped down as board chairman of the ministry he founded 32 years ago, it was announced today.

His wife, National Day of Prayer Chairman Shirley Dobson, has also left the Focus on the Family Board of Directors. They have been elected to the positions of Founder and Chairman Emeritus and Director Emerita, respectively, for the nonprofit ministry they started in 1977.  Read the rest

Inspiration come in strange packages sometimes

Must See Video

This is Why You Are Fat

It's no wonder we have a hard time not being fat in America (and Europe for that matter) LOOK at the stuff they serve! Just found this website this morning called This is Why You Are Fat where dreams become heart attacks.

On this page you will find what has been mentioned as the perfect metaphor for the stimulus package ramming its way through Washington DC this week,

Turbaconucken

A chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, all wrapped in bacon.

Everytime I feel like eating a pile of fat and calories, I think I'll go here to remind me that I just don't need this stuff, my body deserves better.

Hat tip Malkin

Watch out for retired people

Yesterday I was at my local Walmart buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for my loyal pet, Biscuit, the Wonder Dog, and was in the checkout line when woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms. I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.) Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's butt and a car hit us both. I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard. Walmart won't let me shop there anymore. Better watch what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the world to think of crazy things to say.

Powerful Vid from Catholic Vote

I am not Catholic but this vid is hard to argue with.

Hat tip Slapstick Politics.

Online Sermons

one great thing about the age we live in is the library at our fingertips. Our church is doing a series on the Apostles Creed. Those sermons are online, I've recommended them to several people who just go there and listen...perty cool.

http://www.foothillsonline.org/sermons.cfm

The History of Abortion and Pro-Life Movements in America

Excellent history lesson on the battle between the pro-lifers and those who want unfettered abortion on demand at World Magazine...a must read no matter which side you come down on.

A couple of excerpts;

Abortion was so extensive in the mid-1800s that The New York Times called it "The Evil of the Age . . . The enormous amount of medical malpractice [a euphemism for abortion] that exists and flourishes, almost unchecked, in the city of New York, is a theme for most serious consideration. Thousands of human beings are thus murdered before they have seen the light of this world." But the abortion rate began to fall after the Civil War as a nationwide pro-life movement gathered strength.

That movement included the largest women's organization of the era, the WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union), as well as the YMCA and YWCA (Young Men's or Women's Christian Association), various Societies for the Suppression of Vice, and, by the end of the century, the Salvation Army. Many doctors were involved; unlike today, the American Medical Association was a staunch opponent of abortion, which it dubbed "unwarrantable destruction of human life."

Then as now, theological radicals such as Henry Wright argued that a child's "first claim is to a designed existence, if it is to exist at all." Some said "it was less criminal to kill children before they were born, than to curse them with an unwelcome existence." But pro-life leaders rejected the premise that an "unwelcome existence" was the only alternative to abortion. They looked at three groups of women at risk for abortions and offered programs of education, refuge, and adoption that would help women to avoid unwanted pregnancy or to recover from it, without killing a child.

Many groups at the time tried to educate men into a greater sense of responsibility. Organizations such as the White Cross Society, influential in the 1880s, pressed men to "treat the law of purity as equally binding on men and women." Thousands of men signed pledges promising chastity and affirming "the unity of the moral law for both sexes." The WCTU tried to teach men about self-control in sexual as well as alcoholic pursuits. Women's groups published millions of booklets and tracts.

Other organizations established shelters for the pregnant and unmarried: By 1895 Chicago had a dozen, including the Life and Hope Mission, the Rescue Mission, Beulah House, the Jewish Home for Girls, and Boynton Refuge Home. One refuge, the Home for the Friendless, cared for 1,291 women in 1893. Smaller cities showed a similar pattern: Minneapolis, for example, had several refuges, including Bethany Home and the Norwegian Home of Shelter, where "the girls are placed under wholesome moral influences and given practical industrial training. In each the religious motive is emphasized . . . but in each, girls of all faiths are received without discrimination."

READ THE HISTORY OF Abortion and the Pro-Life Movement in America...REALLY interesting.

Daily Choices ; Looking on the postitve side of life.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Matthew 6:34.


John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always
has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing,
he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there
telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, 'I don't get it!'

'You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do
it?' He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today.
You can choose to be in a good mood or...you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose
to be in a good mood.' Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...
I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining
or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested.

'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every
situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people
affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how
you live your life.'

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own
business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life
instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60
feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital
with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna
see my scars?' I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his
mind as the accident took place.
'The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born
daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices:
I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.'

'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?' I asked. He continued, '...the
paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they
wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses,
I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.'

'What did you do?' I asked.

'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said John. 'She asked if
I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as
they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity''

Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive,
not dead.'

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude...
I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything.

Laminin and the Cross

Pretty cool. Laminin is the protein molecule that holds our bodies together (very very simply put) and is in a unique but identifiable shape. Of course that shape can be upside down or sideways and anything can be explained away..but a must see nonetheless.

Holiday weight gain?

I was surprised to learn today that I did not gain any weight over the holidays in spite of the best attempts of my family to force feed me pie, candy and other high fat foods over Christmas and Thanksgiving.

How did I do it?

I still ate the goodies but in small measure and I still exercised (even though not at my usual pace). I slept well (at least 7 hours) and I was active wrestling and playing with the kids. i also did not drink much alcohol (though I did not abstain completely.)

Moderation + Exercise + Activity = Maintain or lose!

Still...they funniest site on the Internet

Engrish.com

Men's Ministry what now? - part 2

In light of my recent post of the self-inflicted demise of Promise Keepers I thought I'd highlight a few men's ministries beginning to flourish.

First; I want to point out that probably the greatest book since John Elderidge's Wild at Heart is David Murrow's Why Men Hate Going to Church. It is revolutionizing reaching men. It should be read by all men feeling a bit lost at church, by all leaders and by all women to understand how men are made.

Next; Men at the Cross http://www.menatthecross.org/ started by Joe White. Many believe Mr. White, now has the original vision that PK had and is running the race that McCartney and Washington abandoned. Men At the Cross, not surprisingly, has several former PKers on staff.

Another is; Ignite Men is a new ministry that also has many ex-PKers on staff. http://www.ignitemen.org/aboutUs.php Ignite has some money behind it through CCN.

Ignite's mission is to inspire, motivate, equip, connect, transform and mobilize men to reflect the character and love of Christ in a world of need — in their homes, churches, communities, and work. Ignite is designed to serve men from every spiritual, ethnic, economic, and social background by communicating the life-changing message of Jesus Christ through powerful and catalytic events, targeted on-going leadership training, and practical tools and resources.

Watch this message from Bill Dallas, President of Church Communication Network (CCN).

Promise Keepers and Christian Men's Ministry - part 1 of 2

In the wake of the final gasps (admittedly Bill McCartney would probably call it renewed original vision) of Promise Keepers, I thought it high time to say a word or two about it. Most press releases and stories are fluff put out by the ministry and never tell the whole story, that would tarnish the brand, the image of PK. It is not my intent to hurt the ministry while it is struggling, but I do believe it is time for some truth, and I don't think I can tarnish the PK brand any more than it already is.

Although I am a former employee, I am not a disgruntled employee, I left on my own terms, before its downsizing, as a matter of prayer and new direction in my life. Until recently I had a few friends who still worked there.

The founding of PK is the stuff of legend, of how to hear from God, and of what can happen when men dream together and a thousand other inspiring sermons.

The mismanagement of PK is the stuff of depressing books, books whose title might be "How to Cut Short the Life of Your Ministry" or "Ideas to Promote Downward Spiraling" and "How to Keep the Moral of Your Staff as Low as Possible".

Obviously many great things happened as a result of the work done there by some awesome people in spite of the ups and downs. It still remains the best place I ever worked, and was the most joy I've ever experienced while getting paid to do a job. It was also one of the most frustrating places to work as well, a mixture of ministry and business, like oil and water...and should not have been....but that is another story to write about some day.

PK did several things well for a quite a number few years but then began to slide and detour...then shrink. Along with many bad management decisions, the excitement level among men for PK naturally faded as well, leaving the ministry financially hurting. This prompted more changes not always good ones and eventually led to its current impotent state. (that is the short version)

PK also never effectively reached into churches on a the local level, which was a vision of many of its original founders and members, good brothers who have been gone from PK now for years.

It is not my intent to "dis" PK here, but it is time to write the postmortem, and pull the proverbial plug, letting other men's ministries rise from its ashes.

Some may disagree and are obviously free to do so. This is just my opinion based on interviews with former PK staff and my own experience there. I don't have all the answers, nor do I know what God's perfect plan for PK was, but I do know He is never surprised unlike us earth travelers who cannot see far down the road.

I must also admit that Promise Keepers (in name) is still alive, it still exists as you can see from the link above, but it is a mere shell of its former self, the website is a facade, an image.

Rather than focusing on men's ministry in the body of Christ, PK is now focusing mainly on one of the promises which they have recently redefined as the main vision of the ministry.

PROMISE 6 A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.

Coach Mac and Pastor Raleigh Washington now run the ministry with Promise #6 as the banner, and they are reportedly taking it to mean uniting Christians and Messianic Jews (Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah.)

Uniting Jews and Gentiles is obviously is a worthy goal, but is not what the PK vision was in the beginning. It is not what we sweat and bled for, not what we preached and I am not sure how Mac and Raleigh can say this with a straight face.

McCartney reportedly now says that this was the purpose of the ministry to begin with....and not surprisingly most of the remaining staff left in bewilderment.

Scripture says in John 12:24 24"Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(A)unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

It is all over but the memorial service. It was great ride for a while, but it is time for Bill McCartney and Raleigh Washington to announce the end of PK, and the rise of other (named) ministry's in its place.

That will be the subject of my next post.

Semper Fi to the Ex Fat Guy

Semper Fi to the Ex Fat Guy
Man Loses 140 Pounds to Join Marines

LEWISTON, Maine — Army and Navy recruiters took one look at 330-pound Ulysses Milana and told him to forget about joining. "You've got to lose weight," Milana remembers them saying.But Marine recruiters were willing to work with him as he began his weight-loss journey in December 2007.Now, 11 months later, Milana is 140 pounds lighter as he leaves Monday for Parris Island, S.C., to begin boot camp.It wasn't easy, Milana said, but he managed to slim down through exercise, healthier eating habits and forgoing an occasional beer after work. The 23-year-old said he even refused a beer at his going-away party Saturday night.Milana said he always wanted to follow in his family's footsteps by serving his country. His wife, Latoya, also comes from a military family.

HT HolyCoastI'd say he's already proven he has what it takes.