Faith Sense

There is a Washington-Israel Summit of Christians United For Israel coming up quickly. The dates for this third annual meeting are July 21-24. On the 22nd there is a special banquet set, being called “A Night To Honor Zion.” On that evening there will be a nice dinner, but the real feast will be the speakers, which will include, John Hagee, Senator Joseph Lieberman and Ambassador Sallai Meridor.

One of the sponsors of the seminar is Zion Oil and Gas, a U. S. corporation that does exploration for oil and gas in Israel. Those interested in knowing more about the company can go to the Zion Oil and Gas Website for information.

Press Release:

Zion Oil & Gas to Sponsor Christians United for Israel's (CUFI) ''Night to Honor Israel''

DALLAS--Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (Amex: ZN) of Dallas, TX and Caesarea, Israel announced today that it will sponsor the Night to Honor Israel banquet at the Third Annual Washington-Israel Summit of Christians United for Israel (CUFI). The Summit will take place in Washington, D.C. during July 21-24 and the banquet on Tuesday evening, July 22. Pastor John Hagee, Senator Joseph Lieberman and Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor, are scheduled to speak at the banquet. It is expected that John Brown, Zion’s Founder and Chairman, will be interviewed by Pastor John Hagee during the Summit and that the interview will be broadcast on the Daystar Television Network during the Night to Honor Israel.

In addition, CUFI will broadcast a video about Zion at the banquet's pre-event, and the banquet's proceedings will be telecast by live-feed over the Daystar Television network. John Brown, Zion’s Founder and Chairman, commented today, "Zion is proud to be a part of the CUFI Washington-Israel Summit and to support CUFI’s educational and public policy work in support of Israel."

Zion Oil & Gas, a Delaware corporation, explores for oil and gas in Israel in areas located onshore between Tel-Aviv and Haifa. It currently holds two petroleum exploration licenses, the Joseph and Asher-Menashe Licenses, between Netanya on the south and Haifa on the north covering a total of approximately 162,000 acres.

NOTICE: Zion Oil & Gas has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) with the SEC for the offering of its securities. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents Zion has filed with the SEC for more complete information about Zion Oil & Gas and its offering. You may get these documents free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, Zion Oil & Gas or its underwriter will arrange to send you the prospectus if you request it by calling toll free 1-888-TX1-ZION (1-888-891-9466). A direct link to the prospectus in PDF format may be found on the Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. website at http://www.zionoil.com/investor-center/investor-relations.html.

This post is part of the GBE writing group that Alicia has created. All are welcome to participate! This week's assigned topic is DREAMS. ********************************************************************************************* When I hear the word dreams is the topic of the Great Blogging Experience I have a real dichotomy of thoughts. First, I seldom recall a dream. I have read that everyone dreams, and I know that at times I do because I wake up with a recollection of some vivid scene I have conjured up in a dream. For the most part I don't think about them at all and almost never am troubled in my conscious life by the things that go on in my subconscious thoughts.

But I also am a man who believes in dreaming about success or accomplishment. I do not want to settle for mediocrity. When I was a young man I heard a man say in a speech that if you don't have a dream you are dead. I took that to heart. I have always tried to keep some goals in the forefront of my mind. I want to always be moving forward toward those goals. Not all of them work out as I expect, but dreams are a spark to living a positive life.

At about 32 I went to Dominica for the first time. I fell in love with the place and the people. On my third trip my wife went with me for the first time. At the end of our time there, she said, "We should retire here." It became a stated dream of ours. We worked for years with that as the carrot dangling in front of us. Due to a turn of events in family and our need to raise two little boys, it appears that we will live out our days with the U. S. as our primary place of residence.

Our dreams today are, in part, focused on two little boys with a difficult beginning becoming men of substance and stability.

Temptations and trials are difficult to deal with rationally. When tragedy strikes we automatically think of self. If a hurricane comes and destroys the home in which I live, my first thought is, “Why me?” If someone near and dear to me is struck with a serious illness, my first question is, “How much must I bear?”

I fail o remember that Go has ordained that the sun will shine on the just and the unjust. He does not discriminate! The best answer to the question, “Why me?”, is, “Why not.”

Matthew 5:45 “For He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send rain on the righteous and the unrighteousness.”

A good friend of mine brought me a copy of Max Lucado's latest book, 3:16. It is a masterful assessment of one of the most popular passages in the entire Bible, John 3:16. Lucado is easy to read while at the same time opening new panoramas in familiar locations. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but was most intrigued with the words and thoughts Max used in dealing with the time of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, following his baptism and preparing him for his ministry. That section alone was worth the time to read the book!

I could tell about the time when I was 12 years old and lied to my dad about someone stealing my gym clothes, but that is probably not the worst mistake I have made. I could tell you about a time when my daughter was two and I was explaining to her when she should not do what she had just done ever again. I held her by both arms and spoke very sternly to her. The next day I saw where there were bruises on the inside to both of her arms where I had been holding her attention. But I don't want to you about that.

So I think I will tell you about them long ago. I had bought a doughnut shop, the same one which had worked as a high-school boy. The first year-and-a-half of the business, we did very well. Then the union workers of the chemical plant in our community went on strike. I was invited to cross the picket line and take doughnuts in to the salaried personnel that were running the plant during the strike. I was promised I would be guaranteed to sell hundred dozen doughnuts a day for the duration of the strike. I declined to take the offer, for couple of reasons.

First, I had grown up in a union home it and it would've gone against my conscience to cross a picket line, even though by that time my dad was salaried and in the plant. Second, I was fairly certain that the strike would not last for long and I did not want to alienate friends and customers if I crossed the picket line.

But the strike lasted for 13 weeks. Those union workers had a very hard time it recouping from the strike. We found out that donuts are a luxury, if you don't have money you don't buy doughnuts.

I could have made enough money during the strike to a pay off my business loans and would have been able to weather any storms after the strike. But because the decision I made not to cross the picket line, my business fell off by a more than 65%. We worked very hard for more than a year to try to make a comeback. But it was not to be and we the lost business. In some ways that was a mistake. But that decision led to other decisions that took me back to school, tio getting my degrees, and led to my life in ministry, rather than rolling in the dough.

I guess I was meant to be a holy man and not a hole-y man.

There is a story in Judges, chapter 9, that needs to be brought to our attention occasionally. A wicked man, Abimelech, killed seventy men to insure that he would be chosen king of Shechem. When the righteous Jotham heard that Abimelech had indeed been appointed, he told a very pointed parable about the trees.

The trees were seeking a king ad sought first to anoint the olive tree, who refused for a seemingly good reason. Next the fig tree was approached, but he also refused. Eventually the grape vine was asked to serve, but he likewise declined. Finally the trees requested the bramble (thorn bush) to become their king. Verse 15 says, “And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade.” J

otham used the parable to make a point about the situation in which he found himself. I’d like to make one about more current circumstances. It seems to me that the trees showed good judgment initially in recognizing the one who ought to be their leader, the one with the most talent. Undaunted by the olive’s refusal they turned to the fig, who was nearly as talented as the olive. Imagine the frustration felt by the entire group as they could get no one who qualified to lead take up the leadership responsibility. As the frustration mounted, they turned to the worthless, even troublesome thorn bush.

I am afraid that phenomenon is not isolated to imaginary forests, but that it is true in the jungle of humanity. We desperately need leaders, everyone recognizes it. And yet we have refusal after refusal on the part of important and blessed men. If we have the talent and do not supply it to those that need it, we surrender the right to complain about the way we are led by a thorn bush. If I am not mistaken, you have to crawl to get in the shade of a bramble!

In going through Mom’s things after her death, Dad found a little thought jotted on a piece of yellowing paper tucked away in her Bible. It said, “Do the most. Say the best. Leave the rest.” No doubt she had heard that in a sermon or a Bible class lesson ad thought it worth preserving. Not only that, but I think she must have thought it worth living.

My mother was like anyone else, human, with her weaknesses, but her faith was strong in difficulty. And she seemed to have a handle on her eternal destination. It occurs to me that she was on God’s side. Some people try to get God on their side through their actions. Their worship, their offerings and their prayers are aimed at securing Divine approval. But that will not work.

On the other hand, a man on God’s side can’t lose. He may have some failures or be overcome in the battle with disease or other struggles, but each o these contribute to the ultimate success and sweetness of the final victory.

Satan appeared to have won at Calvary. But then the resurrection came and God resoundingly turned Satan’s worst to a glorious triumph for both himself and man. Redemption was made possible for those who would align themselves the plumb line of the Testament of Christ. That’s what Mom did and she taught some very vivid lessons of faith and courage in her fight with cancer. I hope they are truly learned.

Thank goodness that, “in all thins we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”

(originally written in November, 1983)

A good friend of mine has decided to put together a Book Club gathering of bloggers each month. She will post a book for any one who is interested in participating to read by the 25th of the month. Then each participant will post his or her report on the book on their own blog, with a link to the book club site. My friend will include links back to the various posts so that the participants can peruse the other posted reports. The book to be read for the month of April is To Kill A Mockingbird. I have not read it since high school, so I will pick up a copy at the library and give it a reread. The whole idea sounds like fun to me, and of course, the more the merrier!

There are many good reasons for Moms, and any one else that likes to express their love, to buy birthday cards from Cards Direct. What mom would not benefit a great deal by saving the time it takes to go to the card shop or department store for just the right card for her loved one? And what mom would not enjoy the savings that are realized from making her purchases through Cards Direct? Or which mom would not like to send a high quality card that had been personalized just for her, so that the sentiments expressed are the perfect ones for her loved one?

The answer, of course, is that every mom would like to have a few extra minutes in a day to catch her breath and a few extra pennies in her purse, especially when it does not detract from her purpose. Another benefit of buying from Cards Direct is that stocking up on cards makes sense, as there are discounts for quantities purchased.

The selection of cards offered by Cards Direct is substantial. My favorite card is the elegant looking gold filigree birthday card. It presents the greetings with a touch of class!


                                                                  

My wife and I were young and not too smart when we married. She was nineteen and I was still eighteen. Neither of us had a job nor a car. We borrowed a car from a friend and eloped to Lawton, Oklahoma. We married and then drove to my home to introduce my wife to my mother. They had never met. It was an ill conceived way to begin our life together. But yesterday was our 41st anniversary and we are still going! Thank you, Lord!