Disaster hit Thursday night when my lone computer, that I was given after Katrina, bit the dust for the final time... After several attempts to format the hard drive and load my software, it was apparent that this computer would no longer work...
Thanks to a dear friend that has provide me with another computer to continue my work... All my software has been loaded and adjustments have been made to bring me close to where I was with the other computer...
As I clicked on the Bookmarks button, a realization hit me that several years of saving web pages may be lost, I will try to retrieve the information from the hard drive and move it to the new computer... Praise The LORD!!! 13 years of StarLight News was safely stored on an exterior hard drive... SO, I am up and running again...
Here is the weekend Devotional...
Have A Blessed Weekend,
Richard
Sinful Knowledge
Scripture Text: "Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." James 4:17 (KJV)
Walking down the street, late one night was a child, holding his father's hand. The wind was blowing a very chilling breeze, and it was beginning to snow.
Walking down the street, late one night was a child, holding his father's hand. The wind was blowing a very chilling breeze, and it was beginning to snow.
In a church service one Sunday, a not-so-clean, not-so-well dressed woman with tangled hair, entered and sat at the back of the chapel. The congregation had been standing and singing praises, and the Pastor said, "Before we are seated, let's everyone greet one another in the Name of our Lord." The mother of the little boy, having eyed the woman when she walked in, began back to the back where the woman was sitting, but as she walked, she began thinking, "what if she has some kind of disease, or the other ladies sees me talking to her?" She quickly spun around on her heels, and returned to her seat.
Upon their walk home, the little boy's parents began talking about the service today. "The Pastor's sermon was right on. It's about time people start acting more like Jesus" , said the boy's father." "Yes, the worship music was especially wonderful this morning. I so felt the touch of God's hand in it", said the mother. All of a sudden the father broke in and said, "Quick, there's ol' lady Barnes." Every since we spoke to her that one time, she's been hounding us like all we have to do is to talk to her. We'll never get home, and I'm hungry." So they cut down through the alley, and through the yard so as to avoid her.
That afternoon, Mrs. Dunley from the Church society league called to share the latest gossip. Every week she had news of another in the church who might have a daughter who is pregnant. The mother, having answered the phone, and knowing that gossip is truly sinful, decides that not sharing in the conversation by "just listening" would be wrong too. And well, two wrongs don't make a right, so she listened. But before she knew it, Lady Dunley had her intensely "hooked" into the conversation, and she found herself deep in the middle of "she said", and "I heard" innuendoes.
Sunday night rolls around, and there at church the Pastor tells the congregation that Ol' Bob Jenkins was sick and in the hospital. The wife looks at the father and the little boy says, "Daddy, isn't that ...?" "Shhh... yes, Son, now just be quiet." All through the rest of the service, the father remembered how several winters before, he had been out of a job, and Mr. Jenkins rounded up some groceries and left them on the stoop, and saw to it that their gas, and light bill was paid. He even helped him to get a new job which paid him very well. He felt tugged in his heart to go and see him. But on the walk home, he began rationalizing and said, "It's late, and the boy hasn't had supper yet. Besides, the Pastor did say he was pretty sick. Maybe I'll visit him tomorrow or the next day."
While eating a late supper, dad tells the little boy to go into the dad's bedroom and get that box sitting there on the bed. The mother questions her husband on the purchase, and says, "Where did you get the money to buy that? You know we're on a tight budget." The husband just continues to open the box and reveals a neat little portable CD Player with headphones, and some external amplified speakers in case he ever wanted to listen without using the headphones. All of a sudden the mother, having calculated what money she had given him to pay on bills, and she realized that he had used the tithe money to purchase the new CD player. She said, "You used our tithe money didn't you?" "Well, yes", he replied. "But yesterday was the last day of the sale, and I needed it for my shop. Besides, the clerk gave me an extra $5 by accident, so I really made out on the deal." He was beaming at his new acquisition.
Setting the new CD player aside, the father takes up the remote and turns on the TV to watch that Movie He's been wanting to see on Cable. The show has terrible language, and far too much nudity and adult content for the boy to be seeing, so the father sends him to bed. Yet the boy lays in his room, still hearing the words, and still fighting off the pictures he has already seen, while his mother and father (trying to be more like Jesus) - sit out in the living room watching a movie that sent him to bed, isolating him from his family.
This story could be your family. I know "I" could associate with a couple of scenarios given there. Our text for today says,
"Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." James 4:17 KJVKind of puts things into a whole new perspective doesn't it?
Oh Dear God:
How your heart must ache as you watch while I continue in my pathways of sin, and degradation. I know what is wrong, and your Spirit bears witness that it is wrong, and yet I rationalize, and make excuses. Cause me to come to thy river O Lord. Cause me to drink at thy river O Lord. Cause me to live at thy river O Lord. Cause me to come, cause me to drink, cause me to Live. In Jesus" Name Amen.
God bless you.
Pastor Wayne
How Great Thou Art Hymn
Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed;
Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
When through the woods and forest glades I wander
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the brook, and feel he gentle breeze;
Refrain
And when I think that God his son not sparing,
Sent him to die - I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:
Refrain
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home- what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Daily Smile:
Danger-Seeking Dinos
Velma was taking the tour of a national park not long ago. The ranger mentioned to the tour group that dinosaur fossils had been found in the area.
Velma exclaimed, "Wow -- I can't believe the dinosaurs would come this close to the highway!"
Velma exclaimed, "Wow -- I can't believe the dinosaurs would come this close to the highway!"
In The News:
Most Americans still believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll. The national telephone survey found that 64 percent of American adults believe Jesus rose from the dead, while 19 percent reject the central Christian tenet of the resurrection. Seventeen percent said they were not sure. The survey of 1,000 adults was conducted on March 23-24, 2013; the margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.
77 Percent of Americans Think Morality is On the Decline; 1 in 3 Think the Bible is the Answer
A new report finds Americans overwhelmingly -- 77 percent -- believe morals are declining in the U.S., with the most-cited cause for the decline a lack of Bible reading, the Religion News Service reports. The American Bible Society's annual State of the Bible survey, which details Americans' beliefs about the Bible and its role in society, found that the Bible remains a highly valued, influential force in America, but also uncovered a significant disconnect in belief versus behavior. While 66 percent of those surveyed agreed that the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life, 58 percent said they do not personally want wisdom and advice from the Bible, and about the same amount -- 57 percent -- read it fewer than five times per year. More than half (57 percent) of Americans ages 18 to 28 report reading the Bible less than three times a year or never. "Americans overwhelmingly recognize the decline of morality in our nation," said Doug Birdsall, president of American Bible Society. "The good news is the Bible is the ultimate instruction guide on how to live a moral life. Unfortunately, more than half of Americans rarely, if ever, read it. If we had a cure for cancer, wouldn't everyone with cancer take it? Americans are telling us that the cure for declining morality is sitting on our bookshelves. But more than half of Americans are simply letting the cure gather dust."
Obama Attends Easter Service Where Pastor Criticizes the 'Religious Right'
President Barack Obama attended Easter services at an Episcopal church near the White House and heard a sermon that criticized "captains of the religious right" for holding some people back, CNSNews.com reports. The sermon by Rev. Dr. Luis Leon at St. John's Church was based on the Gospel of John and the resurrection of Jesus. Leon said Jesus told Mary not to hold onto the past -- "You cannot go back" -- and said the religious right should focus on "the way things can be in the now." He went on: "It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back ... for blacks to be back in the back of the bus ... for women to be back in the kitchen ... for immigrants to be on their side of the border." Leon added that the message of Easter was about the "proclamation of victory, the victory of powerful love over loveless power." St. John's Church history claims that every president since James Madison has visited; the Obamas also attended Easter services there in 2009 and 2012.
University Puts 'Stomp on Jesus' Professor on Administrative Leave
A Florida university has put a professor who told his students to write "Jesus" on a piece of paper and stomp on it on administrative leave, the Christian Post reports. Florida Atlantic University announced Friday that Dr. Deandre Poole, the professor at the center of the controversy, was placed on leave for safety reasons. "As a result of the reaction to a recent exercise in Dr. Poole's intercultural communications class, the instructor's personal safety has been compromised," the university said in a statement. "Because of this, Dr. Poole will not teach any classes, conduct office hours, or be present at any of FAU's campuses or sites. Alternate instructors have been assigned to teach Dr. Poole's classes. Students have been notified and classes will continue as scheduled." Last month, it was reported that FAU junior Ryan Rotela was suspended for refusing to participate in the assignment from a class textbook titled Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach, though the university maintained no student was ever suspended over the incident. In its statement last week, FAU also apologized and promised that such a class exercise would never be performed again.
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