Austin Klump

Archive for the ‘Puritan’ Category

 | вилла лимассол | виллы с яхтой | дома на кипре | недвижимость на кипре -элитный | вилла на кипре | Website Link Building Services | UK Online Shopping | Property Rentals in Cyprus | Auto Loans | Debt Consolidation Loan | Apartments For Sale | Apartments For Sale | недвижимости на Кипре | Недвижимость в Лимассоле |
квартиры на кипре | Недвижимость Кипра | недвижимость кипр | кипр недвижимость | недвижимость на Кипре | недвижимости Кипра | Website Link Building Services |

Property Developers Paralimni Cyprus

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Are you busy trying to settle exactly how your retirement savings plan will be structured? Or perhaps you are confused by the various savings plans and their restrictions. Sit back and relax and read this article to find out why you should start the best option to secure your future – the Roth IRA. Now you might be wondering, why is it a this particular IRA, when there are so many other options in the market? Well there are many reasons, by here is a list of the top five reasons to open a Roth IRA:

-A Roth is basically an Individual Retirement Account that allows you to experience of tax-free growth in your retirement account. You pay your taxes before putting the money in, but nothing after it is there. Besides that, it allows you to withdraw whatever money you put in there at any time without penalty charges. Just leave whatever it made and you are fine.

-The Roth IRA happens to be the one of the smartest money moves of the present generation. It is far more flexible than a 401(k) or any other work derived retirement plans. Unlike these retirement plans, a Roth IRA allows you to invest in almost whatever you feel like starting from the stock market, bonds and mutual funds to even real estate.

-Suppose a person at age 25 starts to contribute to a Roth savings plan, contributing the current maximum $5,000 each year until he retires. At age 65 he would have $1.4 million if we can assume an annual return of 8%. Not a single cent from this $1.4 million will be given to the IRS, so long as the person waits until after age 59.5. Now, on the other hand if the same 25-year old person were to invest the same $5,000 per year in any taxable account and achieving the same 8% return, it would only turn into $1 million due to the taxes of at least 15% federal. He would have only $1 million, which is more than one-fourth less money that he would have with a Roth.

-A Roth IRA can actually help you achieve the American dream of buying your first home. Roth IRAs allow you to withdraw up to an amount of $10,000 from your tax free Roth IRA in order to achieve this dream, so long as your account has been opened for at least five years. Moreover this $10,000 is just the limitation of a single person and in case of couples they can withdraw up to $20,000 – which is indeed a great idea.

-Now, with most of the investment plans, people are really confused about whether to save for the retirement or for the further education of their child. The Roth IRA takes care of all your worries and never let you fall in such a dilemma. Roth IRA allows you to cover both at the same time.

With so many top ranking reasons, your after retirement life will be fully secured. Given these great reasons, there’s nary a reason to not open that Roth IRA today. So go out there and find a great place to open a Roth IRA account.

Recommend : Laundry Cleaning Tips To http://climaxevents.com/paulgalvez/ http://bamsan.com/ryanwhitworth/ http://rodneyjune.kocham-polske.pl/

продаже недвижимости на Кипре | купить недвижимость на Кипре | Villas in Cyprus | Cyprus Legal Consultants | Law Firms Cyprus | дома на кипре | недвижимость на кипре -элитный | Cyprus Property | Cyprus Villas | виллы на кипре | Cyprus Property | Link Building Services | Property in Cyprus

 | кипр недвижимость | недвижимость на море | недвижимость на кипре в Лимассоле | недвижимость на побережье | недвижимости на Кипре | продажа недвижимости за рубежом |
цены недвижимости на Кипре | элитная недвижимость на Кипре | кипр недвижимость цены | цены недвижимости на Кипре | апартаменты на кипре | недвижимость кипра цены |

Property Developers Paralimni Cyprus | Paralimni Property Developers | Developers in Paralimni Cyprus | Paralimni Developers | Karayiannas Karayiannas | Karayiannas | Karayiannas  | Karayiannas | Karayiannas | Karayiannas | Properties For Sale in Cyprus | Karayiannas | Karayiannas | Karayiannas | Karayiannas | Website Link Building Services | Cyprus Hotels |

Image : http://www.flickr.com

A small business 401k has a design to provide your business with the resources it needs to offer your employees a retirement plan. The 401k retirement plan is one of the best options available to individual’s today. As a business owner, you have options. The IRS has put in place a number of different types of 401k plans that make it highly affordable for business owners to offer this option to their employees. Statistics show that employees are most likely to be loyal if their employer provides them with important benefits, including retirement plans.

Your Options

There are a number of 401k retirement plan options available to small business owners. In short, there are a variety of ways for you to customize this plan to have more options. Consider the following options you have.

• The employer can elect the types of contributions they wish to make. You decide if you want to contribute to the employee’s plan or not.

• If you do decide to contribute, under the traditional 401k plan, you determine what percentage of the employee’s compensation you wish to contribute.

• Consider the safe harbor 401k plan where you can match the employee’s contributions dollar for dollar up to three percent of their compensation.

• When you do contribute, your contributions are tax deductible.

• Consider vesting. If you want to put your money into an employee but you want to safeguard those funds to keep the employee working for you, consider vesting the money. Over time, the amount of vesting increases until the employee reaches 100 percent at which time all employer contributions are available to the employee.

The rules for establishing a 401k are not as difficult as you may think and the costs overall are minimal for doing so. As mentioned, there are tax benefits to the employer and employees may be encouraged to stay with your company if you offer them a retirement plan. Best of all, you can shop around for the right investment firm to obtain the 401k plan from, which means you have plenty of options to select from and lower costs due to the competition.

As a small business owner, you may have thought that you simply could not offer your employees any type of retirement plan. That is not the case. In fact, you are likely to find yourself with opportunities to tailor a plan that works for your small business 401k needs.

Related : Polk Audio RC85i 2 http://kathrynsauls.myblogger.co.za/ http://dwightfury.seekgle.com/

Image : http://www.flickr.com

A feeling of insecurity hovers over the age in which we live. Enemies threaten us from abroad, while crime remains a reality close to home. But insecurity is not unique to our own era. A Puritan minister named Richard Rogers lived in similarly unsettling times. When Rogers was a boy in sixteenth-century England, Queen Mary I arrested and executed hundreds of believers because of their Protestant faith. Although her successor Elizabeth ended the persecution, many still feared that another ruler like Mary would again take control. Also outside forces threatened to invade England and compel its citizens to return to their former religion. Homeland security was as high of a priority then as it is now.

Rogers wrote a guide to the Christian life that reminded believers in his day to guard against the most dangerous enemies of all. His book, Seven Treatises, became a best-seller in England and also New England, where people were beginning to settle. Rogers listed several activities mentioned in Scripture-”helps” he called them-that would enable Christians to grow spiritually, including listening to sermons, studying the Bible, and praying. The most important help of all, he wrote, was watchfulness. Without this, all other spiritual aids would be of little use. Rogers’s message is a fitting one for us today.

Watchfulness is what King Solomon had in mind when he warned, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”(Prov. 4:23). With the same urgency Peter wrote, “Be self-controlled and alert”(1 Pet. 5:8). Rogers described watchfulness as “a careful observing of our hearts, and diligent looking to our ways, that they may be pleasing and acceptable unto God.” The Lord desires that we remain spiritually healthy and obedient at all times. His great love for us, demonstrated at the Cross, demands nothing less than our complete surrender to Him. To love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30) implies that we love Him completely and continually. But we face constant attack from enemies that seek to sabotage our spiritual growth: the world, the devil, and our own sinfulness. To ensure that our walk with the Lord is steady and fruitful we must stand guard against such assailants and protect our hearts from their attacks.

During Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane He urged His disciples to “watch and pray” so that they would not fall into temptation (Matt. 26:41). The Greek word translated watch in this passage can also mean “stay awake” or “be alert.” We learn two things from Jesus’ instructions. First, we are called to stay mentally and spiritually alert, keeping an eye on the state of our hearts-our thoughts, our feelings, and our intentions. There is no such thing as “spiritual autopilot.” We cannot take a casual approach to the walk of faith or assume that all will go well without our vigilance.

Second, we learn that watchfulness and prayer go hand in hand. Like all other aspects of the Christian life, watchfulness requires the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot do it on our own. We need strength from the Lord to remain alert and to overcome trouble or temptation when it comes. Prayer connects us to God, our source of power.

To be watchful we also need to be familiar with two things: the Word of God and ourselves. The Bible is the standard by which we can measure our faith and obedience. It teaches us how to tell the difference between spiritual health and spiritual sickness. We must be sure that what’s in our hearts is worth guarding, after all. How are we doing? Are we remembering to be thankful (Col. 3:17)? Are we showing hospitality to others (1 Pet. 4:9)? Are we keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:2)? The more familiar we become with Scripture, the more accurate our self-diagnosis will be.

In addition to knowing the Word of God, we need to be aware of our own strengths and weaknesses, habits, likes, and dislikes. No two believers are exactly the same. What sins do you find hardest to resist? In what situations do you find yourself most tempted? On the other hand what people or things seem most helpful to your spiritual life? When have you been your “strongest” spiritually, and what was unique about that period in your life? Watchful Christians reflect on these kinds of questions, use what they have learned to avoid things that weaken them spiritually, and pursue those that help them grow. True, we cannot avoid some people and places, such as our places of work. But if we can at least recognize where we meet our greatest challenges, we can prepare ourselves before we walk into these “battle zones.” The most important thing is that we take an active role-not a careless one-in our spiritual lives.

Some Christians have found that keeping a journal helps them to stay watchful. A written record of spiritual progress, and occasionally regress, can provide helpful information in the pursuit of spiritual stability and fruitfulness. It can also become an encouraging memorial to God’s faithfulness, as his acts of grace and assistance are recorded from one day to the next and remembered long afterwards. We can ask fellow believers to come alongside us and help us keep watch as well. This was exactly what the writer of Hebrews had in mind when he exhorted his readers to “encourage one another daily …” (Heb 3:13).

Richard Rogers testified to the rewards of watchfulness in his Seven Treatises, having experienced these after thirty years of keeping watch. He was thankful to know many Christians who, like him, had found it to be “a special nourisher and strengthener of their faith.” While we keep a cautious eye on our nation, our homes, and our loved ones, may we also remember to guard our most precious possession, our faith, by standing watch.

Visit : Seven Ways to Modernize Research A Lasik Institute http://gingerpaniagua.wearetraders.com/ Stephanie Bruns

Image : http://www.flickr.com

If you are a music, film or sports fan you will be aware of the spate of major superstars whose lives have come crashing down from the sky at an almost alarming rate. Although some may relish at grovelling in such news in my view it is worth examining the real reason why this happens so regularly. Doing so, I think will help you become aware of a deep reason that does not leave you unscathed either.

Too get at this it is necessary to look at the underlying factors that drive individuals to become superstars in the first place. If you look around we live in a sea of societal and other programming that convinces, even intimidates, us into buying into a definition of success that involves having all of the relevant accouterments i.e. a lucrative career, plenty of money, a great car, a huge house, a wonderful partner and family and so on.

In other words the propaganda that is being fed to the masses suggests that happiness is achievable through such externally motivated pursuits. Now don’t get me wrong here, I am not a puritan who does not like his pleasures. What I would like to suggest is that this approach is not an entirely balanced one. That is it misses out on a major component that few ever have the courage to become fully conscious of.

What is that you ask? Well it relates to the fact that much of these “external fixes” are supposed to fill, i.e. fulfill, an ever present feeling of internal emptiness that almost all human beings feel here on the planet. Do you know what I’m referring to?

Many of you will not because you will be too engrossed in trying to compensate for ever feeling it. Compensate, by trying to distract yourselves with the pursuit of all those external things I mentioned above. When you get tired of doing that then you find yourselves numbing out with your favourite “drug” of choice.

You see, that feeling of emptiness is one of the most feared experiences on the planet. If you do know what I’m talking about then what follows may shed further light on this matter. That emptiness, first of all, although pervasive, is not, I repeat, “not” a normal or necessary human state. In other words human beings should never feel empty, ever!

So why do they? Well that empty feeling relates to an experience of a deficiency; a deficiency of what? A deficiency of what I call Life Force Energy in the human body.

Most human beings on the planet exist in a compromised state in which they do not fully occupy or inhabit their minds and bodies. In other words, their Life Force Energy, which represents them, is not fully in or integrated with the mind/body that it belongs to.

Life Force Energy is the source of all of one’s inner peace, confidence, self worth, self esteem, inner strength, resilience, joy, happiness, contentment, discernment, inner truth, health, creativity and so on. Life Force Energy is rapidly depleted from the mind body whenever an individual experiences some form of stressful or traumatic event, no matter how slight, that becomes spontaneously stored in the unconscious mind/body as a negative memory that acts as what I call a “Life Force Energy Parasite”.

No one is left unscathed. It turns out that superstars often try harder than others to fill the emptiness that is left in the wake of this inner depletion. When they do finally achieve their “external success” however many came face to face with the fact that the emptiness is still there.

For many this leads to desperate, often self destructive attempts to deal with this inner demon. Unfortunately few ever really stop and realize that the problem is really within and succumb to negative self sabotaging tendencies that are life destroying.

There is however a solution to this seemingly insurmountable problem. It comes with the realization that those life depleting negative memories can be permanently erased/extracted from within. By doing so this leads to a progressive, cumulative and powerful re-integration of Life Force Energy with the mind/body that restores one to a state on wholeness, completeness, contentment, inner peace and OK’ness with one’s self.

To learn more about a process that does this kindly visit the web site below where you can also request a free introductory telephone consultation.

My Links : Numerology Dissects Jack the Lodge Texas Treasury of http://perfilmundial.com/doloresblack/

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Karen Blixen was born on 17 March 1885 as the second daughter of a well-to-do and well-connected family in Denmark. That means that from the very first start of her life she belonged to high society, but not the most elevated part of it, i.e. one of the noble families which may count their ancestors far back in time. Her family tree could boast nobility on her father’s side, but not in a direct hereditary line, making her and her siblings Sirs and Ladies.

However, early on the life style of the families of the large Danish and Swedish noble houses had a great appeal to her. A snob she was, no one can deny it, but the snobbery was more for a special kind of nobility of character than for the sheer hereditary distinction. With her it’s not enough to be born a nobleman to become one of those noble characters whom she admired, some of them actually belonged to the poorest of the poor or were revolutionaries like the heroes from The French Revolution.

Her mother’s family was well-to-do merchants. However, when her father committed suicide in her childhood (1895) and they raised her as well as her brothers and sisters she felt exposed to the bourgeois and religious ideals which they represented. She came to resent most of what they stood for – or rather, she came to resent them for the ideas she attributed to them: Prudish, puritan, pragmatic, unimaginative, non-idealistic, materialistic and not in accord with their own inner-most instincts. With her instincts mean something like “connected to God or fate by one’s very soul” and in reality it takes a wild animal to have the perfect form of this instinctual connectedness. Or as it’s put by the young man, Peter, who has an inherited drive (i.e. his God-given instinct) to become a sailor, but is being urged to be something he has no inner drift for (“Peter and Rosa” from “Winter’s Tales”):

“I saw a fox the other day,” he took up his theme, after a long silence, “by the brook in the birch-wood. He looked at me, and moved his tail a little. I reflected, as I looked back at him, that he does excellenctly well at being a fox, such as God meant him to be. All that he makes or thinks is just foxlike; there is nothing in him, from his ears to his brush, which God did not wish to be there, and he will not interfere with the plan of God. If a fox were not so, a beautiful and perfect thing, God would not be beautiful and perfect either.”

In the writings of Karen Blixen the nobleman – or the one in the other end of the social scales, the destitute and according to her thus totally free man – is considered an equal to the wild, untamed and instinctual animal who lives in accordance with God’s plans for him. To be compared to e.g. a wild animal is a real compliment with her. On the other hand, domestic animals equal the bourgeois of her mother’s family. If one is compared to these animals one is not living by one’s inherent instincts, or put in another way, the direct connection to God has been broken or at least twisted: Man doesn’t live like he was meant to, but like he finds fit to in order to obtain the non-instinctual, social security of e.g. farm animals.

You may ask, now what has all that to do with racism? Well, in her beautiful book on her time in Kenya, “Out of Africa”, Karen Blixen compared everyone to animals, but most certainly not in a derogatory way, but simply to mark them for their inner qualities as she saw them. She herself was very proud that she was being called “Lioness” because that spoke of bravery and fortitude which were ideals with her. Her best friends, young noblemen and great huntsmen from England and Scandinavia, belonged naturally in this group and so did some of the natives: Both the devout and very strict Muslim Somalis and the warlike Masai whom she sees as free in body and spirit because they have never been slaves are compared to birds of prey. The Masai are being her absolute favourites because they simply can’t survive slavery (“Out of Africa”): “This stark inability to keep alive under the yoke has given the Masai, alone amongst all the Native tribes, rank with the immigrant aristocracy.”

The Kikuyus who have been enslaved, and who have reputedly hunted down and sold each other, are being compared to farm animals, but more to describe their relationship with each other than anything else. One must admit that the Somalis and Masai are her favourites, yes, even human ideals with her, but she has a soft spot for the Kikuyus and she is not derogatory of them when she compares them to rodents which just are another kind of free animals. In their relationship with each other she sees the Somalis as faithful sheepdogs guarding the valuable sheep, i.e. the Kikuyu.

The use of animal categories to describe people go very far back in time. We meet gods as animals and animals as gods all over the world and this tradition of comparing humans with animals live on in fairy tales and fables, but also in Heraldry. In the noble families of Scandinavia many had animals in their Coat of Arms. The heraldic animals were accepted as valid names for members of these families in their addressing each other so it hasn’t been unnatural to Karen Blixen to think along these lines with the natives of Kenya and with herself and her friends. First and foremost it hasn’t been derogatory to talk of someone being like a “sheepdog”, guarding “sheep” and others being “birds of prey”.

Recommend : Potty Training Boys and Matrox TripleHead2Go Three Monitor Price for Newport United Kingdom http://bloghostingcentral.com/tondagebers/ http://louiseblankenship.siamdude.com/ http://alethamcisaac.lazap.com/

Image : http://www.flickr.com

The Heretic’s Daughter is author Kathleen Kent’s first novel, and it is a stunning debut. It takes place in and around Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690′s, before and during the infamous Salem witch trials. The narrator’s mother, Martha Carrier, is based on the real woman of the same name, who was one of the first woman to be tried and hung in the trials. Ms. Kent is herself a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier.

Ms. Kent has done her research, and she does a beautiful job of depicting the harsh realities of life during this time. While the initial Puritan settlers had come to this land to escape persecution, and hoped to found a new religious community, they were besieged by plagues, crop failures, and attacks by indigenous tribes. The child mortality rate was so high, we are told in the first pages, “that some families did not name their child until the child was past twelve months and more likely to live. And in many households if a baby died, that same baby’s name would be passed on to the next born. And to the very next if that babe died as well.”

This is from the novel’s narrator, Sarah Carrier, Martha Carrier’s daughter. If Sarah sometimes seems distant and unfeeling as she describes horrific events, it is no wonder, based on the climate in which she was raised. In fact, Sarah’s voice and attitude was at first a put-off to me, making her difficult to relate to or feel for. But as the novel progresses, her voice becomes one of the book’s greatest strengths, because it provides such a vast contrast to our emotion-laden, Oprah-fueled times. Sarah helps us to see what a stark and difficult existence does to people, and as she does mature – through watching her mother’s trial and surviving her own incarceration – her growth and new-found wisdom is that much more evident.

As the novel begins, Sarah and her family are on their way to live with her grandmother, and, unbeknown to them, are bringing smallpox with them to their new community. This fact, along with Martha Carrier’s headstrong and outspoken nature, will ultimately lead to the family becoming a target when the terrible accusations begin. Those accusations, as presented in The Heretic’s Daughter, gain traction in the community because of the lethal combination of fear and damnation-based religion. The community, facing so many challenges to its existence, cannot fathom why they are being targeted by God for such wrath. Surely there must be some offense, some sin, that they are being punished for? In their desperation, they seek out the ‘sinners’ amongst them, literally demonizing their own neighbors for the smallest of offenses. They seek to scapegoat and purge – as so many have done in the name of religion throughout history.

From there, the paralysis of fear takes over, with each new charge silencing more people within the community, all seeking to protect their own lives and families. Children as young as four are taken into custody – since the ‘devil’ is behind it all, and can take over anyone’s mind, no one is considered innocent. Quite the contrary, during the trials the defendants are most definitely considered guilty until proven innocent. And their innocence is in the hands of several hysterical, adolescent girls no less (I’ll let you read the book to learn more about this.)

One of the most touching aspects of the book is how Martha gets Sarah to save herself, helping Sarah to realize that behind her mother’s stern exterior lies the greatest of maternal loves. While Sarah at first despises her mother’s difficult personality, wishing she would just capitulate to others, she comes to realize her mother’s seeming obstinance is actually born of tremendous faith and wisdom. This is exactly the opposite of what her community elders teach – that strict obedience is the foundation for faith. As Sarah observes, that obedience, along with fear, is what allows the madness to continue for so long.

And so The Heretic’s Daughter works on at least three levels. First, as a gripping historical novel that masterfully depicts a certain setting and time period. Second, as a personal story of a mother and adolescent daughter struggling to understand each other. And third, as a cautionary tale about how religion can be twisted when a society is ruled by fear.

Tags : Michael Jackson Speaks about Sales of gold jewelry http://lenatello1.weebloggity.com/ http://jilele.com/gillianrierson1/

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Planning a trip is sometimes half the fun – and a great way to plan is to read books about the place you’re visiting. If you’re planning to travel to Boston, you’ll find plenty of fascinating books about Boston with information about the early Puritan settlers, history leading up to the American Revolution and beyond, Boston’s neighborhoods, attractions, and finally practical advice. Here are recommendations for 3 books about different aspects of Boston’s history that will enhance your visit:

1. “Walking Tours of Boston’s Made Land,” by Nancy S. Seasholes, describes how Boston was made – literally. When the first group English Puritan colonists arrived in 1630, the land mass that finally became Boston was much, much smaller than it is today. Look at the book’s many maps and you’ll be amazed by how much land has been created by filling up nearby bodies of water. As you read this fascinating book, you’ll learn a lot about Boston history – as well as how the city grew. Best of all, the author takes you on a walking tour of many different city neighborhoods and historic sites as she describes how land was added. Bring the book with you when you visit, and you can follow the walking tours to see all these sites first-hand.

2. “Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston,” by Samuel Adams Drake was published in 1873, so you’ll need to get this book through your local library’s interlibrary loan service. It’s worth the effort, because the author researched this history of the city’s earliest days by reading a lot of original journals, letters, legal documents, newspapers, and similar materials written by people who were eye witnesses to the events that he describes. His motivation for writing this book? He realized that a lot of the city’s older buildings and landmarks – things that dated back to the days of the early Puritans and Colonists were rapidly being lost or destroyed. And of course, now they have been. Because he uses original source materials, the accounts that you’ll read here are a lot more accurate than the short snappy summaries of Boston history that you’ll read in guidebooks. This is one of the best books about Boston in the early days. If you walk along Boston’s Freedom Trail when you visit, this book will make it come alive for you.

3. “Historic Taverns of Boston,” by Gavin R. Nathan, is an e-book that is available on-line. The first Puritans to arrive in Boston brought 10,000 gallons of beer with them on their ship, the Arbella, because they didn’t think that water was safe to drink. When you see the number of pubs and beers in Boston today, you may think that not much has changed. This fascinating book traces almost 400 years of history through Boston’s taverns, some of which you can still visit today. Want to know more about the Colonial experience? The author even provides recipes.

Friends Link : Price for Recession Proof Your Business http://wiglingtoncheats.com/networkbeta/grantlytch/

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Twenty-five percent of students gain quite a bit of weight by their first college semester according to a new study from research authors, Heidi J. Wengreen and Cara Moncur, in Nutrition Journal. What is driving this rapid weight gain? The study provides clear evidence that the transition to college life is a risk factor. It also explains that college freshmen need to learn obesity prevention strategies. Interesting to note: the stats are the same for both men and women.

The way I see it is that we are all freshmen during different times in our lives: Any new beginning whether a job, relationship, parenthood, buying an apt or car, experiencing a loss, getting divorced – any first time can be stressful. We become “freshmen” all over again. This experience of transforming into a newbie presents us with a challenge to our egos: We might be bad at what we do. However, it’s good to be bad at what we do because we are trying out new things, learning, growing and becoming better after messing up. For example, few people are naturals when it comes to learning how to drive or dance. It takes plenty of practice. So instead of beating our heads against a wall of frustration, let’s go with the flow of being fresh. We just might learn a thing or two along the way.

Significant weight gain during a period of transition means that we are out of balance – physically and mentally. We are overloaded and weighed down by internal pressure. To manage this stress let us learn how to “metabolize the past” which is over and done with in order to embrace the stimulation of change.

How to cope with the stress of a critical transition:

Self-monitor – You are on your own. You don’t need external validation to feel good about yourself. External validation provides a good reality-check along with constructive criticism to polish your mirror. You have come a long way since the Puritan Scarlet Letter A to label your identity. Separate who you are from what you do.
Food and mood go together. Stress fuels junk food eating – don’t! Balanced eating means balanced living. Be mindful of what you eat.
Make sure to get your sleep. A worry loop will interfere with your metabolic balance and affect physical and intellectual performance the next day. Allow worry time (about 20 minutes) a couple of hours before bed to come up with positive solutions to your problems, so you fall asleep and stay asleep.
Exercise is the most effective way to rid the body of stress and activate the empowerment you need for your transition and you will sleep better and organize your day around healthy eating. Since stress makes you feel fatigued, push through it and work it out. You will have high energy.
Find your cheerleaders – those friends you can call for positive support.

http://domizon.com/tylernourse/ http://wilburezzo.blackberryindonesia.com/ Nancy Regan

Image : http://www.flickr.com

We are at the beginning of the second decade of the new millennium. In the first few years of the new century, we have witnessed some of the greatest accumulations of wealth of all time. The stock market was raging, real estate markets were rising and even after the Internet Stock bubble burst, it seemed that all America continued to sing that old song from the 30′s, “We’re In The Money”.

But as time went on, the real estate market as well as the stock market showed themselves to be the Emperor with no clothes. As companies went from having defined benefit pension plans where retirees would know how much they would get when they retired, to defined contribution plans where the employees took on the market risk, what seemed to be a great idea suddenly has become an albatross, a sign of evil and foreboding of bad times ahead.

No matter what index you look at, the markets have all dropped beyond anyone’s worse expectation. But what is worse is the effect that a loss of 28, 35 or 40% means to people who have no other liquid asset base.

The top 1% of the wealthy in America control 33% of all the privately held wealth in the country. The next 19% which consists of professional, managerial and small business owners control 51% of the wealth. That leaves the remaining 80 percent of American workers to share a paltry 16% of the wealth of the nation’s economy. That means that salaried and wage employees, while making up the largest portion of the American workforce, have very little control of their own destiny.

This is the reason that I have chosen to use the Book of Ecclesiastes for our text today. The timelessness of the Bible speaks to all generations about the realities of life and what is truly important in the larger scheme of things.

We twenty-first century Americans can learn something from the ancient Israelites. By using the principles of the Bible as a baseline we can understand how the current situation can be overcome on an individual basis. Because just as in Israel, salvation is made of the individual not of the nation. And like Israel we must learn how to live, what things we can control and what things we can’t.

In spite of what prosperity preachers teach, the Bible does not say that everyone will be rich. The Smith-Barney brokerage commercials tells the message of what many churchgoers believe about money AND salvation. “We make money the old fashioned way; we EARN it.”

God’s message is quite different than what is said on Wall Street-He provides to those who don’t deserve it, giving to them something they have no capacity to earn and gives it to them without expectation of repayment. He has adopted us into his family as joint heirs with all the privileges of being a natural-born child.

The Lure of Money

Verses 1-. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Independent, what I am about to say applies equally to all the members of your affiliated party. Most of them are going to bust hell wide open.

I don’t say that because of what policies one or the other party has tried or is trying to enforce, or what platform they have or what legislative agenda they have tried to enact. The fact is, while I don’t know any of them personally, the Bible says that “There is none righteous, no not one. There is none who seek after God.” Rom. 3:10

Most of the legislators in both houses of congress are there to get paid. If not while in office, then after.

It is little wonder that ordinary American’s have little say in what happens in the world. There is no lobby for Ordinary Folk. There are no Senator’s who are going to go to work to push for legislation that benefits Average Jane and Joe.

But there comes a price for having wealth. The more you have, the more you want. Back in the 60′s, reporter asked him how much money is enough. John D. replied, “Just a little bit more.”

A New York survey of those making over $200,000 per year showed that while they were much better off than most American’s, they felt more aware of their relative lack of wealth as compared to those earning more than they. In other words, they had more anxiety due to not earning millions per year than those who earned under $100,000 per year.

We think that if we have more money, everything will be alright. If only I could make an extra $5,000, $10,000 per year, we’d be ok. We believe, just like John D. Rockefeller that if we just had a little more, everything would be alright.

This is why Solomon says, “There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: A man to whom God Has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him the power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.”

The pursuit of wealth has been the hallmark of the American experiment. Time and time again, those who were willing to risk much have been able to reward themselves and their families with a higher standard of living and the betterment of society.

But the Protestant Work Ethic that was instilled by our Puritan forebears that allowed America to become the envy of the world in wealth and prosperity has been corrupted and misplaced.

Rather than placing emphasis on an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work, and the reality that each person’s vocation, no matter how trivial or mundane, had worth in and of itself, we find that those who lead a corporation by elimination of the workforce are the most highly compensated, rather than those whose effort allows the product to be brought to market.

The Puritans felt that all work, no matter what it involved, had worth as long as the individual realized that he was doing it as “unto the Lord”. Beginning in the Garden of Eden, humans have the need to DO, to cultivate, to work.

Now, those who do the least will decide to lower expenses by laying off those who assemble, distribute and sell the items that cause them to be able to be compensated.

What has happened? How did the system become corrupt?

Simply stated, it was because while most people were not Christian during the time of the Puritans, but they at least held to what was a nominally Christian worldview that viewed God as in control and that all things were under his providence.

The Puritans understood that God created everything in the world, everything in the universe and that we are all going the way of all flesh. In other words, no matter how much wealth is accumulated in this life, if you don’t have Jesus Christ as savior, there is no amount of money that will get you into heaven, there is not enough money in the world to keep you from going to hell, and that everything in this world is eventually going to pass away.

The Rich man in Luke 16:19-31 would have foregone all of his wealth if he could only have a drop of water to be put upon his tongue to quench the torment he felt. But instead of the ease he had in this life, he could only wish that he could send warning to his family of the reality of hell.

Now, we are in Post-Christian America, where even churchgoing Christians are likely not to understand the basic principles of Orthodox Christianity, that the saying, “God helps those who help themselves” is not in the Bible, but was a quote from Benjamin Franklin. That wealth is not a symbol of God’s blessing, but more often a sign of personal spiritual apathy and a declaration of independence FROM God.

In study after study it has been shown that there is an inverse relationship between income and interest in God. In other words, generally speaking the more money you make, the less likely you are to go to church regularly, to pray regularly and to be concerned about God in general.

The Love of Money

What is it that we are to love? How are we to respond to love when we receive it? Why do people sometimes neglect to look out for the needs of others? God is at the center of each of those questions.

In the first place, we are to love God with our whole heart and soul and might. There is to be no one or nor any thing that comes between our relationship with ourselves and our creator, sustainer and redeemer. For unless our relationship with God is in order, our relationship with our families, our neighbors and co-workers cannot be right.

But how many people do we know who boast of what earthly possessions they have or their ability to do this or that, or to go here or there.

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he compares the life of godliness to that of seeking money for its own sake. (1Tim 6:6-12)-What Paul is getting across to Timothy is that while there is nothing wrong with wealth in and of itself, far too often wealth, the desire to be wealthy and/or the pursuit of it becomes a snare and trap for those who become enamored by its allure. Wealth is a desire that is difficult to satisfy and it becomes a stumbling block to those who seek to serve Christ.

In the Book of Acts, Ananias and Sapphira tried to hold back a portion of what the proceeds of a sale of real estate that they owned from the Apostles to their own destruction. (Acts 5:1-10). It was not that they were wealthy, but that they were attempting to deceive God by declaring that they had given their all, when they only gave a portion.

Look, God owns it all anyway. He doesn’t need what you have. But if you want the best HE has, you must be willing to turn over control of what you perceive as yours to Him. As Americans, we tend to look at things and feel that we can accomplish anything on our own.

But as Jesus said in Luke 12:48, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required…” or as is in some translations “much is expected”.

But far too many of us have been guilty of answering the question that writer Denis Brogan asked in the mid-forties; if God was to be replaced…”What would replace Him? Could anything replace Him but ‘Democracy’ made into an object of worship, or business or success?”

And the business of business is to advance SELF interest. That is, the determination to make money is the overriding principle in the advance of the capitalistic ideal. Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko in “Wall Street” purring, “Greed is good”, is now being transplanted into the real world by Bernie Madoff.

Compare the current hand wringing over our current status of the economy with what Jesus said to his disciples in Matt. 6:25-33. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

“Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

“For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But SEEK FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and ALL THESE THINGS shall be added to you.”

And in that last line is encapsulated the entirety of the desire of the Christian; to seek the righteousness that God graciously gives to his subjects in His Kingdom, the gift that none can work for, earn, buy or deserve.

And if we submit to the authority of the only wise God, to whom be honor, glory power and majesty, now and forevermore, we have all our needs cared for.

The Labor of Money

If we are perfectly honest, not only are we all working for the Lord, ME! We want to be on the throne of our lives, we want to have control of our households and we want control of our pocketbooks and billfolds.

In other words, we want a small ‘g’ god that we can control, one we can dictate our wants, needs and desires to and have the expectation that, like a genie of the magic lamp he will grant us our wishes and the desires of our hearts.

Which leads to the following quote; “Show me a person’s checkbook, and I show you what is important to them.” Your spending habits tell more about you and your personality and desire than anything else.

Today, when you get home, I want you to do something for me. Take your check book, online bank statements or just the receipts for the past three months. Go back and look at how much you spent on YOU, how much you spent on your Family and then how much you spent on GOD. Then break that down into percentages to see what is important to you.

Now, when I say what you spent on God, I don’t only mean what you put into the offering plate, although that’s important. I also mean what you spent on developing your relationship with God. You know, music, cd’s, books, movies, dvd’s, magazines. Anything that would enhance and strengthen your connection, knowledge and love of God.

Then, how much time did you spend in the last month at work. 40, 50, 60 hours? And what were your earnings for that time. Then how much of your time was spent with your family? And how much of that time was spent in meaningful communication?

Then how much of the rest of the time was spent with God? Counting church services. And of that time, how much was spent in “meaningful communication”?

Someday, when I’m ready I’m going to write an essay that may turn into a book. It’s about my cousin who died this January. I already have the title for it; it’s called “Buddha and the Cross”.

You see Artie was what I and the family called him, but for 26 years that he was on the Michigan State Police, he was known as Buddha.

Now, long story short, Buddha was a profane, drunken, womanizing poor excuse for a human being. But at the same time, he was a caring, devoted father, loving son and kind police officer who would help others and think of them before thinking of himself.

After he died, his wife asked me to speak at his funeral. And, as my mentor, best friend and Father-in-law once told me, “You can’t preach anyone into heaven or hell. That is all in God’s hands.”

As I stood and began to speak to his brothers, his wife, daughters, friends and former co-workers, I spoke what I know to be the truth from the Bible. Artie could make you as mad as anything, but he could also make you break out in the biggest smile and heartiest laugh. He could try your patience and he would take the best care of you. He would get on your last nerve, but he would go out of his way to do something good for you.

He knew that he was a sinner; he knew that he deserved punishment. But he also knew that Jesus died for him. And I leave all the answers to all the questions anyone ever has about his fate in the Hands of God, who came to seek and save the lost, to provide a way of salvation not for the righteous, but for sinners.

What does that have to do with the labor of money? Let me tell you. In Isaiah 55, the Lord says, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you-the sure mercies of David.

“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways’ says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

God is not a man that He should lie. Consider yourself. Consider your life. Consider what money cannot buy and seek the Lord while he may be found.

Judith Bachman http://ninastebbins.tvals.info/ http://mauricereulet.iloveblog.com/

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Joints are where bones, connective tissue and cartilage all come together in your body to promote movement. Your joint support system is responsible for sustaining the area around muscles and bones, where they provide shock absorption and support your internal structure.

There are many ways to encourage healthy joint function, like maintaining a healthy weight and enhancing your diet with well-established joint care supplements like Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM.*

As one of the most scientifically studied joint health ingredients available today, Glucosamine is naturally found within the joints, making it the ideal supplement for supporting healthy joints and connective tissue.* Glucosamine comes in two forms, Hydrochloride, and Sulfate, and lubricates the joints to improve mobility and flexibility.* Chondroitin is a naturally occurring nutrient found in connective tissue; in supplement form, it helps revitalize cartilage and support the structural framework of joints.* MSM is a natural form of sulfur, one of the raw materials for collagen-which plays a key role in promoting healthy connective tissue.* MSM also synergistically enhances the benefits of Glucosamine and Chondroitin to support healthy cartilage.*

Maintaining a healthy weight for your height can help promote healthy joints and comfortable movement, since every extra pound you carry on your frame puts four times the stress on your knees.

The health of your joints goes hand in hand with enjoying comfortable, easy movement as you age. As of 2006, about 46 million Americans – which is nearly 1 in 5 adults – have cause for concern when it comes to healthy joint function. Additionally, women are more likely than men to have concerns about their joint health; and the likely culprit is wearing high heel shoes. Research shows that wearing shoes with a three-inch heel can put seven times the amount of stress on your joints than shoes with a one-inch heel.

To learn more about Maintaining Healthy Joints click here [http://www.vitaminworld.com/joint-and-bone-support-031]

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

1 http://www.arthritis.org/conditions/51_ways/lose_weight.asp

2 http://www.arthritis.org/resources/gettingstarted/default.asp

http://madonnaemmick.tvals.info/ http://leonardo-web.org/terineighbors/ http://davidervin.blogz.co.in/