Inspirational Sunday

Bill Witcher will be sharing words of encouragement, inspiration and hope with you on Sunday.

“Learn to Deal with Stress”

Pick up the newspaper, turn on your TV, look at the Internet and the news you see is terrible. Foreclosures are up. Stock prices are down. Layoffs are up. Investments are down. It is certainly understandable why more people are stressed-out now than ever before. Stress can kill you.

So how do you handle it? A friend sent me an article that contained some good suggestions.

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued,

"And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on.

As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.''

So, my friend, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again,it was probably worth it.

* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.

* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

* We could learn a lot from crayons... some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Inspirational Sunday

Bill Witcher, co-founder of Computer School for Seniors will be sharing words of encouragement, inspiration and hope with you each Sunday.

Maxims With Meaning

Max Lucado is one of my favorite Christian authors. He is a minister, author and the daily speaker of the radio program UpWords.

He has a special writing style that captures your heart and your head. He's got a great imagination, a keen wit and a gift for communicating the Word of God.

In his book When God Whispers Your Name, he talks about his writing style and shares some "Maxims"...

We learn brievity from Jesus. His greatest sermon can be read in eight minutes (Matthew 5-7). His best known story can be read in ninety seconds (Luke 15:11-32). He summarized prayer in five phrases (Matthew 6:9-13). He silenced accusers with one challenge (John 8:7). He rescued a soul with one sentence (Luke 23:43). He summarized the Law in three verses (Mark 12:29-31), and he reduced all his teachings to one command (John 15.12).



I love the short sentence. Big-time game it is. Hiding in the junlgle of circular construction and six-syllable canyonms. As I write, I hunt. And when I find, I shoot. Then I drag the treasure out of the trees and marvel.

Not all of my prey make their way into chapters. So what becomes of them? I save them. But I can't keep them to myself. So, may I invite you to see my trophy case? What follows are cuts from this book and a couple of others. Keep the ones you like. Forgive the ones you don't. Share them when you can. But if you do, keep it brief.

Pray all the time. If necessary, use words.

Sacrilege is to feel guilt for sins forgiven.

God forgets the past. Imitate him.

Greed I've often regretted. Generosity-never.

Never miss a chance to read a child a story.

Pursue forgiveness, not innocence.

Be doubly kind to the people who bring your food or park your car.

Don't ask God to do what you want. Ask God to do what is right.

Nails didn't hold God to a cross. Love did.

You'll give up on your self before God will.

Know answered prayer when you see it, and don't give up when you don't.

Faith in the future begets power in the present.

No one is useless to God. No one.

Succeed in what matters.

You'll regret opening your mouth. You'll rarely regret keeping it shut.

As much as you can, give thanks. He's already given us more than we deserve.

Bill Witcher is co-founder of Computer School for Seniors (http://www.cs4seniors.com/)