Archive for November, 2009
Staying Alert on Minnesota’s Highways
As the end of 2009 approaches, highway safety attorney Douglas Horn would like to remind all Minnesota motorists that there is much each of us can do when we get behind the steering wheel to help ensure that we, our passengers, and other motorists on the roadways “arrive alive” at our destinations.
Horn talked with us today about distracted driving.
There is technology now being developed to prevent texting while behind the wheel.
Besides avoiding cell phone use, Douglas Horn has some more tips for drivers.
Magnets or Mothers?
Ken Davis told a fun story on Lighten Up today:
“A teacher gave her class of second-graders a lesson about the magnet and what it does. The next day, in a written test, she included this question: “My name has six letters. The first one is m. I am strong and attractive. I pick up things. What am I?” When the test papers were turned in, the teacher was astonished to find that almost 50 percent of the students answered the question with the word mother.”
I know Mother’s Day doesn’t show up on the calendar anytime soon, but moms should be honored daily. After all, mom does so much more than just pick up things. So, children, rise up and call her blessed! Husbands, you also praise her!
God bless you, moms!
Why Didn’t You Come Sooner?
Hudson Taylor served as a missionary to China for many years, his ministry winning countless Chinese people to the Lord. He later founded the China Inland Mission as well as translating the New Testament into the Ningpo Chinese dialect. The following is adapted from Hero Tales, Volume 1, by Dave and Neta Jackson:
I was discouraged. I had been preaching in the city of Ningpo for a year. The Chinese were polite and enjoyed gathering to hear me speak. Discussing new ideas was fun to them. But no one seemed to take the Gospel seriously. No one believed it.
And then, after one message, when I felt most like giving up, a respected man stood up and turned to his Chinese countrymen.
“I have been searching for truth a long time,” he said earnestly. “My father and my grandfathers before me searched for the truth, but they never found it. I have traveled far and wide looking for it. I have tried Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, but I have found no rest.”
I looked at the man with new interest. I knew that this man was a leading officer among the Ningpo Buddhists. What was he saying? Was he saying that his religion gave him no peace?
“But tonight,” said the man honestly, “tonight I have found rest. I have heard the truth, and from now on I am a believer in Jesus.”
I could hardly believe my ears. Could it be true?
A short time later, the man proved his sincerity by taking me with him to the Buddhist meeting and giving his testimony. Soon one of the man’s friends also became a Christian and was baptized.
However, a few nights after the man had accepted Jesus as his Savior, he asked me a very hard question. “How long have the people in your land known about Jesus?”
“Oh, hundreds of years,” I told him.
“What?” said the man in amazement. “You knew the truth for hundreds of years and didn’t come to tell us? My father searched for the truth all his life and died without finding it. Why didn’t you come sooner?”
It was a hard question. Jesus had told His followers to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone, but too often Christians don’t obey Him. This man knew the result. He knew people who wanted to know the truth and were just waiting for someone to come and tell them.
Wanting to obey his newfound Savior, the former Buddhist leader spent the rest of his life telling others about Jesus.
The Lost Get Found
Britt Nicole is showing how the lost get found in her new music video.
How To Ride the Northstar Line
Minnesota’s new Northstar commuter rail line opened up this week from Big Lake to downtown Minneapolis. The line extends about 40 miles and also stops in Elk River, Anoka, Coon Rapids and Fridley.
Schedules, ticket prices, and everything else you need to know about how to ride the Northstar line can be found at the Metro Transit website.
Children ages 5 and under ride for free when accompanied by a paid fare
2010 Twins Jerseys
The Minnesota Twins have picked out their outfits for their inaugural season at Target Field. They unveiled two new jerseys yesterday in Minneapolis, including a throwback uniform and a new road design.
You can’t help but remember legends like Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew when you see this year’s throwback jersey (shown above, modeled by outfielder Denard Span). The Twins will wear this one on Opening Day and every Saturday home game at their new home stadium.
The new road jerseys have lost their pinstripes, but look pretty good. You can see them by clicking here.
*picture via http://www.twincities.com
Thanksgiving Tradition – Five Kernels of Corn
The year following the first Thanksgiving brought greater hardship than the first. During the Starving Time, according to tradition, the Pilgrims had only a daily ration of five kernels of corn apiece. Still, they did not give in to bitterness, but trusted their Lord.
Many families now practice this tradition: beside each place at the Thanksgiving table are five kernels of dried corn. During the meal, a special cup is passed around the table. Each member of the family drops a kernel into the cup while sharing something for which he is grateful to God. The cup goes around until all the kernels are used and all the thanks are said.
You might even want to read outloud the Thanksgiving poem, Five Kernels of Corn by Hezekiah Butterworth:
‘Twas the year of the famine in Plymouth of old,
The ice and the snow from the thatched roofs had rolled;
Through the warm purple skies steered the geese o’er the seas,
And the woodpeckers tapped in the clocks of the trees;
And the boughs on the slopes to the south winds lay bare,
and dreaming of summer, the buds swelled in the air.
The pale Pilgrims welcomed each reddening morn;
There were left but for rations Five Kernels of Corn.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
But to Bradford a feast were Five Kernels of Corn!“Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye people, be glad for Five Kernels of Corn!”
So Bradford cried out on bleak Burial Hill,
And the thin women stood in their doors, white and still.
“Lo, the harbor of Plymouth rolls bright in the Spring,
The maples grow red, and the wood robins sing,
The west wind is blowing, and fading the snow,
And the pleasant pines sing, and arbutuses blow.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
To each one be given Five Kernels of Corn!”O Bradford of Austerfield hast on thy way,
The west winds are blowing o’er Provincetown Bay,
The white avens bloom, but the pine domes are chill,
And new graves have furrowed Precisioners’ Hill!
“Give thanks, all ye people, the warm skies have come,
The hilltops are sunny, and green grows the holm,
And the trumpets of winds, and the white March is gone,
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye have for Thanksgiving Five Kernels of Corn!“The raven’s gift eat and be humble and pray,
A new light is breaking and Truth leads your way;
One taper a thousand shall kindle; rejoice
That to you has been given the wilderness voice!”
O Bradford of Austerfield, daring the wave,
And safe through the sounding blasts leading the brave,
Of deeds such as thine was the free nation born,
And the festal world sings the “Five Kernels of Corn.”
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
The nation gives thanks for Five Kernels of Corn!
To the Thanksgiving Feast bring Five Kernels of Corn!
*idea from mommylife.net
Encouragement from Beth Moore & Benjamin Franklin
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
“In the beginning of the contest with Britain when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. …And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived for a long time (81 years), and the longer I live the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall proceed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.”
Caption Contest
This picture is begging for a caption. Got one? Comment below with your caption, and we’ll pick a winner.
The First Thanksgiving Proclamation by Governor Bradford
Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.
Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.
–William Bradford
Ye Governor of Ye Colony
Adam Before the Eve 