Do it right the first time,
If you don’t have the time to do it right…
You must have the time to do it over.
~ Unknown

You do not lead by hitting people over the head—
That’s assault, not leadership.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Whenever you do a thing,
act as if all the world were watching.
~ Thomas Jefferson

To dream anything that you want to dream—that is the beauty of the human mind.
To do anything you want to do—that is the strength of the human will.
To trust yourself to test your limits—that is the courage to succeed.
~ Unknown

The Excellence of Love
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own,
is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
~ 1 Corinthians 13

As an avid movie-watcher, sometimes I find movies coming back with new significance. Earlier this week, I heard someone quote a line from that Matrix that got me thinking. After further analysis, I found quite a few interesting parallels in the movie, but none so striking as this short scene where Morpheus discusses the deception of ‘the system’. Sounds to me as if he’s speaking the language of Christians. Read it for yourself, and see what you think. Then, if you get a chance to watch this old movie again, look for the use of Biblically-significant terminology like ‘Zion’.

“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9p8LXD5UDs[/youtube]

It’s common for me to hear people compare the national debt policies of George W. Bush and Barak Obama…but this is just an unfair comparison. I have not found a better illustration, called the national debt road trip, by blogger ‘Political Math’. Especially since he keeps his data sources simple: direct from the government.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yxFtTwDcc[/youtube]

See more videos and commentary on national policies at http://politicalmath.wordpress.com/

Or follow him at http://twitter.com/PoliticalMath

A recent article in the DTS magazine, Kindred Spirit (Summer 2009), talks about God’s heart for the Arab people. Due to our long experience in warfare with this part of Europe, it’s natural for us as Americans to look through the lens of our hurt at these people. We’ve even made the mistake of misinterpreting the comments that God makes in the Scriptures about these people…and believe them to be God’s enemies. However, this is truly not the case!

We must choose to open our eyes and see that sending missionaries to the Arab world may very well be the greatest influence we can have on the future. Muslim populations throughout Europe are rapidly becoming the dominant demographic of the land, within a few generations, they will hold majority influence over the policies and resources of nations like Great Britain, France, and Italy. If change will happen, it has to happen now. We have a choice, convince Christian Europeans to have 18 kids each, or start reaching the Muslim/Arab world.

Read my notes below on Reshaping the American view of Ishmael:

The God who chose Abraham and closed Sarah’s womb, blessed Hagar with pregnancy.

Four of Israel’s twelve tribes were born through maidservants.

Hagar is told to return to Abraham’s household to be underneath his instruction (18:19)

Ishmael is named by God – “God listens” reminding Hagar that God hears the cries of the afflicted.

Ishmael is said to become “a wild donkey of a man”

Meaning that he will freely roam in the desert, describing the nomadism that characterized Ishmael and his line. This lifestyle would result in a perpetual struggle with each other and with others, due to their lack of a legal system/social order.

“will dwell in the presence of his brethren”

Having been pushed away from ‘the presence’ of Sarah, Hagar finds her condition is reversed in the promise of a son who will always be inside the Abrahamic circle and will dwell ‘in the presence’ of all his brethren.

A challenge to Isaac’s descendants, reminding them that faith and not mere blood relationship.

The proximity would present a potential within the line of Ishmael to participate in Israel’s blessings.

Job, Agur, Lemuel, and probably the magi are just a few examples of His grace working through Ishmael’s children in biblical history.

~ Isa 60:6-7

Dr. Tony Maalouf – Arabs in the Shadow of Israel: The Unfolding of God’s Prophetic Plan for Ishmael’s Line

Leadership is the wise use of power.
Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.
~ Warren G. Bennis

There are no office hours for leaders.
~ Cardinal James Gibbons

By three methods we may learn wisdom:
first by reflection, which is noblest;
second by imitation, which is easiest;
and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
~ Confucius

Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility…
in the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have…
is the ability to take responsibility.
~ Michael Korda