How to Handle Negative Feelings When Wronged by Someone Else
November 21, 2007
How does a Christian really handle negative feelings and emotions when they start to set in as a result of being wronged by others - especially if the wrong has been vicious and nasty?
The Bible tells us that God is asking all of His people to live on a higher level than the nonbeliever. The Bible tells us to forgive those who trespass against us, to turn the other cheek when warranted, to love our enemies and to do good to those who deliberately hurt us. God is so insistent on us being able to forgive those who hurt us - that He tells us that He will not even hear our prayers if we are holding any unforgiveness towards others who have wronged us
However, we all know, through real life experiences, that this is easier said than done. How do you really handle negative feelings such as anger, bitterness, the desire to seek revenge and sometimes outright hate toward someone else who has viciously wronged you?
SOLD! Again! Contrast Can Work FOR You
November 21, 2007
Have you ever had an experience where everything you wanted had come to you and THEN you discovered something that seemed to spoil the entire event?
That’s what happened to me last week when everything I asked for regarding the sale of my house was granted–only the sale did not go through.
I had been flying so high in the joy of selling my house to the perfect buyer, that I really ‘hit the wall’ at high speed, when the buyer failed to meet the closing deadline (even though we extended it a few days!).
“What went wrong?”
“Why didn’t I foresee that?”
“What happened with the Focus Wheel?”
“How could I have prevented this?”
I felt every type of emotion that we call “negative”–I felt, abandoned, betrayed, confused, hurt, angry–you name it and I felt it!
AND at the same time, I knew there was a lesson in this event.
Mindset - Being Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind
November 20, 2007
The Bible tells us that one of the main goals God has in store for each of us is our transformation. The Bible tells us that God wants to sanctify us - to make us more Holy like He is. He wants to make us better people - both on the inside and the outside. The Bible tells us that the way this transformation will take place is by the “renewing of our minds.” Romans 12:1 states: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
I believe that this transformation process has 3 major steps to it. They are as follows:
1. Knowledge From The Word
The first thing each Christian must know is exactly what it is that God wants to change about us. If you don’t know exactly what it is God wants to do with you, you will have a hard time in being able to cooperate with Him once He does try to start the renewal and transformation process on the inside of you.
Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Work Ethics and the Customer
November 19, 2007
This article relates to the Ethics in the Workplace competency, commonly evaluated in employee surveys. It gives examples of how employees and customers consider ethical behavior and sound values an integral part of your organization. This competency covers a variety of topics like customer treatment, employee professionalism, and expected/acceptable organizational behaviors. At a high level, this competency will investigate the standards by which your employees treat your customers, co-workers, and the organization itself.
This short story, Work Ethics and the Customer, is part of AlphaMeasure’s compilation, Tales from the Corporate Frontlines. It provides a view from the customer’s side of the counter that might inspire you to rethink the old phrase “the customer is king”.
Anonymous Submission
I work in a back office environment. The front lines of customer service are far away, so I don’t think much about the ethical matters involved in providing good service.
All of that changed recently, when I found myself on the customer side of that check out terminal (formerly known as a cash register), and in dire need of help.
From Dynasty to Destiny: Ten Celebrated Inventions of Ancient China
November 18, 2007
In the last two centuries, new cultural discoveries have nearly rewritten history. It’s been an exciting time, full of adventure and surprises. Around every corner there are new responses to questions we had already imagined answered. And of these breakthroughs, none shines as brightly as the impact of ancient Chinese inventions on modern life. As we explore ten of the greatest inventions and innovations of Ancient China, you may be surprised at their influence on recent technology.
1. Paper. Paper, as we know it, was invented in China around the year 105. After seeing earlier attempts made from silk, bamboo sticks and animal skins, Cai Lun came up with his own idea. After mixing mulberry bark, rags, wheat stalks and other stuff, a pulp formed. This pulp was pressed into sheets and dried, becoming a crude form of paper. Paper was such an important invention that the process of making it was a jealously guarded secret. The secret was safe until the seventh century when the art spread to India.
The Athiests Enigma
November 17, 2007
As an ancient African-American gospel song laments, life is filled with complications, sorrows and defeats for everyone. At times life can become an unmitigated horror as the world slowly but surely converts every plant that grows and ever creature that is born into fertilizer to feed future doomed generations.
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen — Nobody knows but Jesus.
We really are finite beings adrift in an dangerous world, beset consistently by the tragic human triad of suffering, guilt and death. George Santayana, the brilliant Harvard philosopher wrote;
Life is neither entertainment nor a feast but a predicament to be resolved in the face of enormous difficulties.
Most of us do indeed live out at least some portions of our lives in quiet desperation. As many as one person in five suffers from serious mental or spiritual health disorders at times. In addition, we are all caught up in the frustrations of life virtually all our days.
How To Dance With Life
November 16, 2007
Fortunate, indeed, is the man who takes exactly the right measure of himself,and holds a just balance between what he can acquire and what he can use.~Peter Latham (1789-1875)
In the Chinese philosophy of Taoism, right action and right living create a life of harmony and delight.
When a balance occurs between opposing forces, then your life flourishes.
When action is followed by rest, when initiative is followed by reflection, and when willful intent is followed by utter surrender, then you are following a path of optimum power.
I think the most fascinating example of what balance in the cosmos can do is in the story of how the ancient wisdom of the East has merged with modern scientific reckoning.
Six thousand years ago, sages plotted the web and woof of the universe, using esoteric meditative techniques, and today, modern scientists, using unbelievable technologcal probes, have come to the same conclusions about the nature of the cosmos.
A rishi from ancient India and a modern quantum physicist from Harvard university would have a fascinating discussion about how the universe is glued together.
A Brief Biography of Rene Boissevain the Agate Adventurer and Creator of The Crystal Caves Museum
November 16, 2007
In 1964 myself (René), Nelleke my wife, and our daughter Iefje emigrated from Holland to Australia. I was 29 years old and Nelleke a few years younger.
We choose to live in the tropics of Far Northern Australia, a place unknown to many people around the world.
Cold weather and a longing for adventure was the main reason to leave The Netherlands. We found a job in the tobacco fields. During that time we met a guy from Macedonia and he introduced us to a place called Agate Creek. I had never even heard the word agates before. This was my first introduction to the world of semi precious stones and in particular agates.
In later years, 1965 to 1968, we went to Agate Creek with an old Nissan Patrol. It had very primitive suspension, there were terrible road conditions and getting there took two full days.
Not many other people were there, digging for these potato looking treasures. The so called surface material was already gone by then. To dig a hole up to 3 meters with pick and shovel in dry hard soil was hard work. The heat, the millions of flies and always being short of drinking water, were the harsh circumstances we had to cope with. But the rewards were so exciting.
A Powerful Word For Those Who Have Lost Loved Ones
November 15, 2007
For what it is worth, I’d thought I’d pass this on to the rest of you. I wrote this article a few years ago. On TBN, they had a middle-aged couple on one of their talk shows that were really anointed. They had their own church and ministry - I can’t recall where it was at. But part of their testimony was on the death of their young daughter.
Here they were - serving God full time with their church and ministry and their daughter dies at a fairly young age. I came in on the story right as they were talking about it. I didn’t catch the age of the daughter or what the cause of her death was.
The wife was really wrestling with God. How could You take her, how could You allow this to happen, why didn’t You heal her, why didn’t You protect her, etc. Both the wife and husband were having a hard time “getting over” this death with God. They couldn’t understand or get a direct answer from God as to why He allowed their daughter to be brought home at such a young age and rob the both of them the joy of seeing their daughter grow up.
Choose Your Friends Carefully
November 14, 2007
For those of you who have entered into a true Spirit-filled, surrendered walk with the Lord where God and Jesus are now leading and directing your life in the direction They want it to go in - one of the first things that you will find happening to you is that God will start to prune out the people that He does not want in your life and start to bring in the people that He does want in.
As you will see in the Scripture verses listed below - the Bible tells us to choose our friends carefully, that he who walks with wise people will become wise himself but that he who keeps company with fools will he himself be destroyed. The Bible tells us that we not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers and that we are to stay away from people who cause divisions and offenses and to withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly.
This does not mean that we cannot “work” with the lost, the downtrodden and the people who need to find God and His message of salvation. When Jesus came to our earth in the flesh - He always went after the sinners and outcasts. But when Jesus went after these sinners - it was always for the purpose of getting them saved and cleaned up.
