Genuine Love

I've been reading on Sojourners site a bit and came across this quote ... and I love it!

Genuine Christian love is forged against the anvil of our selfishness and possessiveness. It is important to remember that love is more than a feeling. It is active and transitive. The real test of my loving is not that I feel loving, but that the other person feels loved by me. Love is what I do to create this sense of feeling cared for.

Morton T. Kelsey
From his book, "Companions on the Inner Way"

Media Hype

About this Video

During 13 days, up to May 6, WHO has confirmed that 25 countries are affected by the Swine flu and 31 persons have died from Swine flu. WHO data indicates that about 60 000 persons died from TB during the same period. By a rough comparison with the number of news reports found by Google news search, Hans Rosling calculates a News/Death ratio and issue an alert for a media hype on Swine flu and a neglect of tuberculosis.

Choose your customers, choose your future

Choose your customers, choose your future: "

Marketers rarely think about choosing customers... like a sailor on shore leave, we're not so picky. Huge mistake.

Your customers define what you make, how you make it, where you sell it, what you charge, who you hire and even how you fund your business. If your customer base changes over time but you fail to make changes in the rest of your organization, stress and failure will follow.

Sell to angry cheapskates and your business will reflect that. On the other hand, when you find great customers, they will eagerly co-create with you. They will engage and invent and spread the word.

It takes vision and guts to turn someone down and focus on a different segment, on people who might be more difficult to sell at first, but will lead you where you want to go over time.

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I'm here - Jared Redekop

I'm here: "well i made it here safe and sound. funny story though, John, the guy i flew over here with and am living and working with, made friends with an air traffic man for Air Canada. So on our 13 hour flight on Air Canada from Toronto to Japan John and I got to fly first class because John's friend was able to bump us up. it was incredible, such a blessing from God.

I'm living in an apartment that has an amazing view of the city's skyline. I am living with John, Brett and a filipino named Toph. we've split the room into two, the bed room and a multi-purpose room. i would show you some pictures but im having some problems with my camera so when i figure that out i'll put some pictures up. the part of the city i am in doesn't really have any lingering affects from the floods that happened but i heard we might be helping some of those affected soon.

some of my roles have already changed like I have been put in charge of the youth in the church that i thought i would be doing children's ministry. so i guess for a lack of a better word i would be called the youth pastor. the chruch is of about 40 people but still i'm a little nervous. their youth ministries have fallen off recently so i really want to grow their youth again. there is also a day care the church is setting up this coming week from tuesday to friday so i want to help out with that. i will hopefully get involved with more ministries as well.

thanks again for all the prayers, love, and support. May God Bless you"

Jared

Frank's Five Dollars

Our local “Ride for Refugees” is a great event that empowers many churches to get off the sidelines and become involved, raising funds and increasing awareness for the plight of refugees. http://www.rideforrefugees.com/ At our sixth annual event recently, 1,000 people gathered at Creekside Community Church in Waterloo, Ontario.

Over the course of the day I had several conversations with one of these participants, an honorary team member I’ll call "Frank" who lives on a disability pension that leaves him with next to nothing to spare. At times I was busy talking, making introductions and solving little issues as they arose and, well, Frank was constantly there ... a little in the way, really.

After the riders returned from their time on-the-road, had great food and were on their way, Frank found me one more time and looked at me directly and I saw emotion in his face. He placed a rolled up five dollar bill in my hand and said, "Here, this is for the refugees."

I was thrilled with his “widow’s mite.” Within 10 minutes his donation was matched and doubled! I was no longer annoyed. Rather, I was convicted. Seeing “one of the least of these” helping refugees prompted me to repent and change my attitude. “God looks on the heart.”