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Miroslav is in studio! Adam Mares and Nick Hertzog join Miroslav at DNVR HQ to talk about how the Denver Nuggets dropped a game at home and are heading to Los Angeles tied 1-1 with Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers. What can Jokic and the Nuggets do to bounce back and steal a win on the road? Miroslav Cuk, Adam Mares, and Muck Hertzog come to you LIVE for the special in person edition of Serbian Corner on the DNVR Nuggets Podcast!Start - 0:00Quick series recap - 3:00What's the cause of the loss? - 7:00Key details - 15:50How concerned are we with illness and injury? - 30:45Hypothetical rotations - 35:00What we've learned so far - 44:00Game 3 predictions - 55:20Our best Diehard deal! Just $3 A Month https://www.thednvr.com/intro-offer-youtubeAn ALLCITY Network ProductionPARTY WITH US: https://thednvr.com/eventsALL THINGS DNVR: https://linktr.ee/dnvrsportsBALL-KNOWER BONUS/Merch: https://promotion.allcitynetwork.com/promotions/store.allcitynetwork/7d48d294-4260-4bac-aca1-9a18eef8ca78SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/DNVR_SportsBUY GOLDEN ERA: https://www.triumphbooks.com/golden-era-products-9781637273692.php?page_id=21Toyota Drive to the Playoffs: https://kse.jotform.com/250624177000950?camefrom=CFC_KSE_xJZqkfEGc0GvJpltfPs0pA&utm_[…]um=xJZqkfEGc0GvJpltfPs0pA&utm_campaign=xJZqkfEGc0GvJpltfPs0pARaising Cane's Rooftop Fridays: https://thednvr.com/event/friday-rooftop-club-at-coors-field-presented-by-raising-canes/ Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/dnvrbet365: Go to https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485318 or use code DNVR365 when you sign up. Must be 21+ and physically located in CO. Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help call or TEXT 1-800-GAMBLERUCHealth: Learn more about Living Like There's A Tomorrow at https://www.uchealth.org/tomorrow/?utm_source=DNVR&utm_medium=Audio&utm_campaign=Brand_LLTIAT_Null_JFMFY25_AW_NullGo to https://millerlite.com/dnvr to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller Time. Celebrate Responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code DNVR for 10% off!Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code DNVR for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: DNVR for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freenuggets. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan.When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions.Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.#Nuglife
It was another complete dog fight in this one. Nikola Jokic notched another playoff triple-double, but it wasn't enough as the Nuggets has no answer for Kawhi Leonard. The Nuggets will travel to LA with the series tied 1-1. Adam Mares, Harrison Wind, Duvalier Johnson, and D-Line Co. come to you LIVE from the DNVR Studio to break down everything you need to know in this postgame edition of the DNVR Nuggets Podcast!Start - 0:00Fast breakdown - 2:20Dev's big takeaway - 7:00D-Line's big takeaway - 8:02Wind's big takeaway - 9:20Adam's big takeaway - 11:15MPJ - 18:00CB - 20:45Jokic - 24:30Jamal Murray - 32:30AG - 38:45Vogt-ing time - 41:25PWat - 49:15Russ - 52:00Superchats - 54:20Our best Diehard deal! Just $3 A Month https://www.thednvr.com/intro-offer-youtubeAn ALLCITY Network ProductionPARTY WITH US: https://thednvr.com/eventsALL THINGS DNVR: https://linktr.ee/dnvrsportsBALL-KNOWER BONUS/Merch: https://promotion.allcitynetwork.com/promotions/store.allcitynetwork/7d48d294-4260-4bac-aca1-9a18eef8ca78SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/DNVR_SportsBUY GOLDEN ERA: https://www.triumphbooks.com/golden-era-products-9781637273692.php?page_id=21Toyota Drive to the Playoffs: https://kse.jotform.com/250624177000950?camefrom=CFC_KSE_xJZqkfEGc0GvJpltfPs0pA&utm_[…]um=xJZqkfEGc0GvJpltfPs0pA&utm_campaign=xJZqkfEGc0GvJpltfPs0pARaising Cane's Rooftop Fridays: https://thednvr.com/event/friday-rooftop-club-at-coors-field-presented-by-raising-canes/ Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/dnvrbet365: Go to https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485318 or use code DNVR365 when you sign up. Must be 21+ and physically located in CO. Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help call or TEXT 1-800-GAMBLERUCHealth: Learn more about Living Like There's A Tomorrow at https://www.uchealth.org/tomorrow/?utm_source=DNVR&utm_medium=Audio&utm_campaign=Brand_LLTIAT_Null_JFMFY25_AW_NullGo to https://millerlite.com/dnvr to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller Time. Celebrate Responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code DNVR for 10% off!Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code DNVR for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: DNVR for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freenuggets. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan.When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions.Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.#Nuglife
This week we are reading through Mark 13-16, Psalms 16-19, and Exodus 16-20Our host Glenn Power chats with guests Erik Schlick and Lori Riley about their questions, and what stuck out to them from that chunk of scripture.Join a pack!Bible Reading PlanSupport the show
Series: Guard the TreasureTitle: Who leads the Church & how?Scripture: 1 Timothy 3:1-13 NIV 1 Peter 5:1-3Acts 20:17-31Titus 1:5-9Acts 6:1-7Eph 4:11-12Luke 22:27Bottom Line: When we grow in Christ-like character and competency, we move towards being qualified to lead in the church.SERMON OUTLINENOTESOUTLINESDISCUSSION QUESTIONSMAIN REFERENCES USEDSERMON OUTLINEIntroduction“1 Timothy 3 (The Bible Exposition Commentary): As we noted before, even though the church is an organism, it must be organized or it will die. Leadership is a part of spiritual organization” -WWSeveral others I read said that everything rises and falls on leadership. We know this intuitively. We see it in the workplace. We see it in sports. We see it in politics. Great leaders lift everyone else up. And the great leaders aren't just great in competencies. They are great in character. So it should not surprise us that most of God's qualifications for his leaders are based on character. ContextOUTLINE (Based on Wiersbe & Platt)Key theme: How to manage the ministry of the local churchKey verse: 1 Timothy 3:15I. The Church and Its Message (1)II. The Church and Its Members (2–3)A. Praying men (2:1–8)B. Modest women (2:9–15)C. Dedicated officers (3:1–13) THIS WEEK STARTS HEREThe Bible identifies 2 primary leadership roles in the church:Pastors/elders, who are servant-leaders. (Aka overseers, bishops, shepherds)Presbyter or elder, referring to the person (mature)Pastor or shepherd, referring to their role. (Lead, feed, protect, model)Bishop or overseer, referring to their role. (Watch over, see Pastor) We do not see bishops over elders/pastors in the early church.1-3 are all interchangeable because their all referring to the same person/role.Minister or deacon, referring to those who support the pastor/elder.Deacons, who are leading servants.The Bible identifies 4 responsibilities of pastors/elders: (3:1-7; Acts 20:17-31)Lead under the authority of Christ. #LEADOur pastors/elders are accountable to the church members i.e. Matt 18:15-20Our pastors/elders are accountable to GodCare for the body of Christ. #PROTECT (Acts 20:28-30; 1 Peter 5:2) “be on guard” for “savage wolves” in sheep's clothingTeach the Word of Christ. #FEEDModel the character of Christ. Bottom line: What will happen if the church imitates this leader? #MODEL 3 Responsibilities of Deacons (3:8-13)Meet needs according to the Word.Support the ministry of the Word.Unify the body around the Word.Model the character of Christ is appropriate here to. 1. Pastors (3:1–7)Generally/summarily: “Above reproach” or “blameless” literally “nothing to take hold upon”; irreproachable observable conduct.“Faithful to his wife” literally “one woman man”Can mean one wife for life thus excluding divorced and/or remarried men (in every case though? No)What about the innocent party when the other was unfaithful?Paul allowed a new believer to let their unbelieving spouse leave the marriage Would not exclude widowers who remarry; Paul may not have ever married—wished for followers to be single like he; Paul encouraged young widows to remarryDoes not require marriage but seems to lean in that direction; this tends to take care of itself in that the typical pool of candidates is usually mostly married menPolygamy obviously not okMost likely meaning: Faithful to your current (some would say one and only) wife in every area of life. From porn to adultery, you are faithful. To not be is to be disqualified.Self-masteryTemperate—sober; clear-headedSelf-controlled—sensible; disciplinedRespectable—the outward expression of an inward self-control Hospitality—showing love to strangers (whether a traveling preacher or a needy church attender)Able to teach—specifically, the word of God. This is our authority and we must know it, believe it, and obey it. This is gifting and a skill.Drinking habits—While drinking is not forbidden by scripture, it is treated as the depressant that it is. A depressant that impairs about ability to make good judgments. This is why in the Old TestamentPriests weren't to drink while on dutyKings were discouraged from becoming drunkMagistrates were warned that they would more likely pervert justice under the influenceProphets would struggle to teach under the influenceSo it makes sense that Paul would discourage it to those who lead and teach in the churchTemper and temperamentGentle—humbly gracious and yielded or even submissiveNot violent—not a bully physically or verballyNot quarrelsome—patient with difficult people; not argumentativeAttitude to money—not a lover of money; greedyDomestic disciplineAnalogy between the family and the church family (Oikos = household)If you don't discipline at home well, you won't discipline the church well, if at allSpiritual maturity—not a new believer or pride may take him down; first called “elders” because they were senior in age and mature in faithOutside reputation—the non-Christian public2. Deacons (3:8–13)—these qualifications have a lot of overlap with elders including able to teach, at some levelSelf-masteryWorthy of respectSincere—genuine, authentic, honestNot indulging in much wineNot pursuing dishonest gainOrthodox convictionsThey must keep hold of the deep truths (mysteries or sum total of the revealed truths of the faith) of THE faith (not just any faith) with a clear conscience (as opposed to letting go of these truths like false teachers).Trusting & ObeyingTested and approved—period of probation where the congregation can assess your character, beliefs and gifts of the candidates.Irreproachable home lifeIf a woman deacon or wife of a deaconWorthy of respectNot malicious talkers (gossipers)TemperateTrustworthy in everythingDomestic disciplineFaithful to his wifeManages his household wellIf served well so far they receiveAn excellent standingGreat assurance in their faith in Jesus ChristD. Behaving believers (3:14–16) NEXT WEEK STARTS HEREThe servants of the Church (14-15) -WillmingtonThe Savior of the Church (16) -WillmingtonIII. The Church and Its Minister (4)A. A good minister (4:1–6)B. A godly minister (4:7–12)C. A growing minister (4:13–16)IV. The Church and Its Ministry (5–6)A. To older saints (5:1–2)B. To widows (5:3–16)C. To church leaders (5:17–25)D. To servants (slaves) (6:1–2)E. To trouble-makers (6:3–5)F. To the rich (6:6–19)G. To the “educated” (6:20–21)ConclusionBottom Line: When we grow in Christ-like character and competency, we move towards being qualified to lead in the church.Questions to ask elder candidates:In his personal lifeIs he self-controlled?Is he wise?Is he peaceable?Is he gentle?Is he a sacrificial giver?Is he humble?Is he patient?Is he honest?Is he disciplined?In his family lifeIs he the elder/shepherd in his home?If he's single, is he self-controlled?If he's married, is he completely committed to his wife?If he has children, do they honor him?In his social/business lifeIs he kind?Is he hospitable?Is he a friend of strangers?Does he show favoritism?Does he have a blameless reputation (not perfect but above reproach)?In his spiritual lifeIs he making disciplines of all nations?Does he love the Word?Is he a man of prayer?Is he holy?Is he gracious?Questions to ask deacon candidates:Is this person honorable?Is this person genuine?Is this person self-controlled?Is this person a sacrificial giver?Is this person devoted to the Word?Is this person faithful? (Not perfect, but morally pure)Is this person honoring Christ in the home?If a woman, Is she worthy of respect?Is she a malicious talker?Is she temperate and trustworthy in everything?Is she faithful to her husband?In conclusion, let's ask some summary questions:Q. What do I want them to know?A. The qualifications for pastors/elders and deacons.Q. Why do I want them to know it?A. Because they are to select their leaders based on these qualifications.Q. What do I want them to do about it?A. 1. Choose qualified leaders to lead your church.Become a qualified leader whether you are ever selected or not.Q. Why do I want them to do it?A. Because this is what a true disciple of Jesus Christ looks like and what we're to become over time.Q. How can they begin to do this?A. 1. Take the test yourself. Go through the qualifications and grading yourself.Repent where appropriate and believe that God can transform you into a qualified leader.PrayNOTESElders in the New Testament are tasked with several key duties, including:1. **Spiritual Oversight:** Providing spiritual guidance and leadership to the church community.2. **Teaching and Doctrine:** Instructing and ensuring adherence to sound biblical doctrine.3. **Shepherding the Flock:** Caring for the well-being of the congregation, like a shepherd caring for a flock.4. **Modeling Character:** Demonstrating a godly and mature character for others to follow.5. **Prayer:** Engaging in prayer for the church and its members.6. **Protecting from False Teaching:** Guarding the congregation against false doctrines or teachings.These duties are outlined in passages like 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Peter 5:1-5 in the New Testament.OUTLINESBKC OutlineI. The Salutation (1:1–2)II. Instructions concerning False Teachers (1:3–20)A. Warnings against false teachers (1:3–11)B. Paul's experience of grace (1:12–17)C. Paul's charge to Timothy (1:18–20)III. Instructions concerning Conduct in the Church (2:1–3:13)A. Instructions concerning prayer (2:1–7)B. Instructions concerning men and women (2:8–15)C. Instructions concerning elders and deacons (3:1–13)IV. Instructions concerning Guarding the Truth in the Church (3:14–4:16)A. The church and its truth (3:14–16)B. Predictions of apostasy (4:1–5)C. Responsibilities of a good minister of Christ (4:6–16)V. Instructions concerning Various Groups in the Church (5:1–6:10)A. Concerning various age-groups (5:1–2)B. Concerning widows (5:3–16)C. Concerning elders (5:17–25)D. Concerning slaves and masters (6:1–2)E. Concerning the heretical and greedy (6:3–10)VI. Final Charge to Timothy (6:11–21)A. Exhortation to godliness (6:11–16)B. Instructions for the rich (6:17–19)C. Exhortations to remain faithful (6:20–21)W Wiersbe sermon outlineKey theme: How to manage the ministry of the local churchKey verse: 1 Timothy 3:15I. The Church and Its Message (1)A. Teaching sound doctrine (1:1–11)B. Preaching a glorious Gospel (1:12–17)C. Defending the faith (1:18–20)II. The Church and Its Members (2–3)A. Praying men (2:1–8)1. For rulers (2:1–3)2. For sinners (2:4–8)B. Modest women (2:9–15)1. In dress (2:9–10)2. In behavior (2:11–15)C. Dedicated officers (3:1–13)1. Pastors (3:1–7)2. Deacons (3:8–13)D. Behaving believers (3:14–16)III. The Church and Its Minister (4)A. A good minister (4:1–6)B. A godly minister (4:7–12)C. A growing minister (4:13–16)IV. The Church and Its Ministry (5–6)A. To older saints (5:1–2)B. To widows (5:3–16)C. To church leaders (5:17–25)D. To servants (slaves) (6:1–2)E. To trouble-makers (6:3–5)F. To the rich (6:6–19)G. To the “educated” (6:20–21)DISCUSSION QUESTIONSDiscovery Bible Study process:Retell the story in your own words.Discovery the storyWhat does this story tell me about God?What does this story tell me about people?If this is really God's word, what changes would I have to make in my life?Who am I going to tell about this?Final Questions (optional or in place of above)What is God saying to you right now? What are you going to do about it?Find our sermons, podcasts, discussion questions and notes at https://www.gracetoday.net/podcastAlternate Discussion Questions: Based on this passage:Who is God?What has he done/is he doing/is he going to do?Who am I? (In light of 1 & 2)What do I get to do? (In light of who I am)Final Questions (index cards optional)What is God saying to you right now? What are you going to do about it?MAIN REFERENCES USED“1 - 2 Timothy,” by David Helm, Preaching the Word Commentary, Edited by Kent Hughes“1 & 2 Timothy” by John StottExalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy & Titus, David Platt, Daniel Akin, Tony Merida“Look at the Book” by John Piper (LATB)“The Visual Word,” Patrick Schreiner (VW)“The Bible Knowledge Commentary” by Walvoord, Zuck (BKC)“The Bible Exposition Commentary” by Warren Wiersbe (BEC)Outline Bible, D Willmington (OB)Willmington's Bible Handbook, D Willmington (WBH)NIV Study Bible (NIVSB) https://www.biblica.com/resources/scholar-notes/niv-study-bible/Chronological Life Application Study Bible (NLT)ESV Study Bible (ESVSB) https://www.esv.org“The Bible in One Year 2023 with Nicky Gumbel” bible reading plan on YouVersion app (BIOY)ChatGPT https://openai.com/blog/chatgptAnswerThePublic.comWikipedia.com
Support Common Prayer Daily @ PatreonVisit our Website for more www.commonprayerdaily.com_______________EpiphanyAnd nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.Isaiah 60:3 ConfessionOfficiant: Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.People: Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws.We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Spare all those who confess their faults. Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.Officiant: Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen. The Lord's PrayerOur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Invitatory & PsalmsOfficiant: O God, make speed to save us. People: O Lord, make haste to help us. Officiant & People: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. O Gracious Light Phos hilaronO gracious Light, pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven, O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!Now as we come to the setting of the sun, and our eyes behold the vesper light, we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of life,and to be glorified through all the worlds. Psalm 33 Exultate, justi1Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous; *it is good for the just to sing praises.2Praise the Lord with the harp; *play to him upon the psaltery and lyre.3Sing for him a new song; *sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.4For the word of the Lord is right, *and all his works are sure.5He loves righteousness and justice; *the loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole earth.6By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, *by the breath of his mouth all the heavenly hosts.7He gathers up the waters of the ocean as in a water-skin *and stores up the depths of the sea.8Let all the earth fear the Lord; *let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him.9For he spoke, and it came to pass; *he commanded, and it stood fast.10The Lord brings the will of the nations to naught; *he thwarts the designs of the peoples.11But the Lord's will stands fast for ever, *and the designs of his heart from age to age.12Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord! *happy the people he has chosen to be his own!13The Lord looks down from heaven, *and beholds all the people in the world.14From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze *on all who dwell on the earth.15He fashions all the hearts of them *and understands all their works.16There is no king that can be saved by a mighty army; *a strong man is not delivered by his great strength.17The horse is a vain hope for deliverance; *for all its strength it cannot save.18Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, *on those who wait upon his love,19To pluck their lives from death, *and to feed them in time of famine.20Our soul waits for the Lord; *he is our help and our shield.21Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, *for in his holy Name we put our trust.22Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, *as we have put our trust in you. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The LessonsEzekiel 4:12-17 English Standard Version12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” 14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. 17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. The Song of Mary - MagnificatMy soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; * for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant From this day all generations will call me blessed: * the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him * in every generation.He has shown the strength of his arm, * he has scattered the proud in their conceit.He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, * and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel, * for he has remembered his promise of mercy, The promise he made to our fathers, * to Abraham and his children for ever.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *as It was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. John 4:15-26 English Standard Version15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. The Song of Simeon - Nunc dimittisLord, you now have set your servant free * to go in peace as you have promised; For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, * whom you have prepared for all the world to see: A Light to enlighten the nations, * and the glory of your people Israel.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: * as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The PrayersOfficiant: The Lord be with you.People: And also with you.Officiant: Let us pray The SuffragesThat this evening may be holy, good, and peaceful, We entreat you, O Lord.That your holy angels may lead us in paths of peace and goodwill, We entreat you, O Lord.That we may be pardoned and forgiven for our sins and offenses, We entreat you, O Lord.That there may be peace to your Church and to the whole world, We entreat you, O Lord.That we may depart this life in your faith and fear, and not be condemned before the great judgment seat of Christ, We entreat you, O Lord.That we may be bound together by your Holy Spirit in the communion of all your saints, entrusting one another and all our life to Christ, We entreat you, O Lord.Take a moment at this time to reflect and pray for the needs of others. Epiphany 2ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, you who rule over all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the prayers of your people, and grant us your peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our LORD. Amen.A Collect for PeaceMost holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen.A Collect for Aid against PerilsBe our light in the darkness, O Lord, and in your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.For MissionKeep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen. ThanksgivingsThe General ThanksgivingAlmighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.A Prayer of St. ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. ConclusionMay the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. - Romans 15:13
Support Common Prayer Daily @ PatreonVisit our Website for more www.commonprayerdaily.com_______________ChristmastideAnd the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.Luke 2:10-11 ConfessionOfficiant: Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.People: Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws.We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Spare all those who confess their faults. Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.Officiant: Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen. The Lord's PrayerOur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Invitatory & PsalmsOfficiant: O God, make speed to save us. People: O Lord, make haste to help us. Officiant & People: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. ChristmasAlleluia! Unto us a Child is born: O come, let us adore him. Alleluia. Venite Psalm 95:1-7Come, let us sing to the Lord; *let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving * and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.For the Lord is a great God, *and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are his also.The sea is his, for he made it, *and his hands have molded the dry land.Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. * Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice! Psalm 33 Exultate, justi1Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous; *it is good for the just to sing praises.2Praise the Lord with the harp; *play to him upon the psaltery and lyre.3Sing for him a new song; *sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.4For the word of the Lord is right, *and all his works are sure.5He loves righteousness and justice; *the loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole earth.6By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, *by the breath of his mouth all the heavenly hosts.7He gathers up the waters of the ocean as in a water-skin *and stores up the depths of the sea.8Let all the earth fear the Lord; *let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him.9For he spoke, and it came to pass; *he commanded, and it stood fast.10The Lord brings the will of the nations to naught; *he thwarts the designs of the peoples.11But the Lord's will stands fast for ever, *and the designs of his heart from age to age.12Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord! *happy the people he has chosen to be his own!13The Lord looks down from heaven, *and beholds all the people in the world.14From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze *on all who dwell on the earth.15He fashions all the hearts of them *and understands all their works.16There is no king that can be saved by a mighty army; *a strong man is not delivered by his great strength.17The horse is a vain hope for deliverance; *for all its strength it cannot save.18Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, *on those who wait upon his love,19To pluck their lives from death, *and to feed them in time of famine.20Our soul waits for the Lord; *he is our help and our shield.21Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, *for in his holy Name we put our trust.22Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, *as we have put our trust in you. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The LessonsIsaiah 59:1-3 English Standard Version59 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity;your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.Isaiah 59:15b-21 English Standard Version15b The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede;then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head;he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.18 According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment.19 So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun;for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives.20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. You are God(Te Deum laudamus)You are God: we praise you;You are the Lord: we acclaim you;You are the eternal Father:All creation worships you.To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,heaven and earth are full of your glory.The glorious company of apostles praise you.The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.The white-robed army of martyrs praise you. Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;Father, of majesty unbounded,your true and only Son, worthy of all worship, and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.You, Christ, are the king of glory, the eternal Son of the Father.When you became man to set us free you did not shun the Virgin's womb. You overcame the sting of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You are seated at God's right hand in glory.We believe that you will come and be our judge.Come then, Lord, and help your people, bought with the price of your own blood, and bring us with your saints to glory everlasting. 1 John 2:1-17 English Standard Version2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.I write to you, children, because you know the Father.14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. A Song of Praise(Benedictus es, Domine Song of the Three Young Men, 29-34)Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; * you are worthy of praise; glory to you.Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; * on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you, beholding the depths; * in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever. The CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The PrayersOfficiant: The Lord be with you.People: And also with you.Officiant: Let us pray The SuffragesShow us your mercy, O Lord;And grant us your salvation.Clothe your ministers with righteousness;Let your people sing with joy.Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;For only in you can we live in safety. Lord, keep this nation under your care;And guide us in the way of justice and truth. Let your way be known upon earth; Your saving health among all nations. Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; Nor the hope of the poor be taken away. Create in us clean hearts, O God; And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.Take a moment at this time to reflect and pray for the needs of others. ChristmastideO God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.A Collect for PeaceO God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.A Collect for GraceLord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.For MissionAlmighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. ThanksgivingsThe General ThanksgivingAlmighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.A Prayer of St. ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. ConclusionThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14
Support Common Prayer Daily @ PatreonVisit our Website for more www.commonprayerdaily.com_______________The Second Week of AdventThe glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.Isaiah 40:5 ConfessionOfficiant: Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.People: Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws.We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Spare all those who confess their faults. Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.Officiant: Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen. The Lord's PrayerOur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Invitatory & PsalmsOfficiant: O God, make speed to save us. People: O Lord, make haste to help us. Officiant & People: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. In AdventOur King and Savior now draws near: Come let us adore him. Venite Psalm 95:1-7Come, let us sing to the Lord; *let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving * and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.For the Lord is a great God, *and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are his also.The sea is his, for he made it, *and his hands have molded the dry land.Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. * Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice! Psalm 33 Exultate, justi1Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous; *it is good for the just to sing praises.2Praise the Lord with the harp; *play to him upon the psaltery and lyre.3Sing for him a new song; *sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.4For the word of the Lord is right, *and all his works are sure.5He loves righteousness and justice; *the loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole earth.6By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, *by the breath of his mouth all the heavenly hosts.7He gathers up the waters of the ocean as in a water-skin *and stores up the depths of the sea.8Let all the earth fear the Lord; *let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him.9For he spoke, and it came to pass; *he commanded, and it stood fast.10The Lord brings the will of the nations to naught; *he thwarts the designs of the peoples.11But the Lord's will stands fast for ever, *and the designs of his heart from age to age.12Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord! *happy the people he has chosen to be his own!13The Lord looks down from heaven, *and beholds all the people in the world.14From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze *on all who dwell on the earth.15He fashions all the hearts of them *and understands all their works.16There is no king that can be saved by a mighty army; *a strong man is not delivered by his great strength.17The horse is a vain hope for deliverance; *for all its strength it cannot save.18Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, *on those who wait upon his love,19To pluck their lives from death, *and to feed them in time of famine.20Our soul waits for the Lord; *he is our help and our shield.21Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, *for in his holy Name we put our trust.22Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, *as we have put our trust in you. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The LessonsIsaiah 8:5-8 English Standard VersionThe Lord spoke to me again: “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”Isaiah 8:11-20For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. You are God(Te Deum laudamus)You are God: we praise you;You are the Lord: we acclaim you;You are the eternal Father:All creation worships you.To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,heaven and earth are full of your glory.The glorious company of apostles praise you.The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.The white-robed army of martyrs praise you. Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;Father, of majesty unbounded,your true and only Son, worthy of all worship, and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.You, Christ, are the king of glory, the eternal Son of the Father.When you became man to set us free you did not shun the Virgin's womb. You overcame the sting of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You are seated at God's right hand in glory.We believe that you will come and be our judge.Come then, Lord, and help your people, bought with the price of your own blood, and bring us with your saints to glory everlasting. Mark 2:23-3:6 English Standard VersionOne Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.Officiant: The Word of the LordPeople: Thanks be to God. A Song of Praise(Benedictus es, Domine Song of the Three Young Men, 29-34)Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; * you are worthy of praise; glory to you.Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; * on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.Glory to you, beholding the depths; * in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever. The CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The PrayersOfficiant: The Lord be with you.People: And also with you.Officiant: Let us pray The SuffragesShow us your mercy, O Lord;And grant us your salvation.Clothe your ministers with righteousness;Let your people sing with joy.Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;For only in you can we live in safety. Lord, keep this nation under your care;And guide us in the way of justice and truth. Let your way be known upon earth; Your saving health among all nations. Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; Nor the hope of the poor be taken away. Create in us clean hearts, O God; And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.Take a moment at this time to reflect and pray for the needs of others. The Second Week of AdventBlessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.A Collect for PeaceO God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.A Collect for GraceLord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.For MissionAlmighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. ThanksgivingsThe General ThanksgivingAlmighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.A Prayer of St. ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. ConclusionThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14
You know about Yo Mama jokes, but this one is a little different... Yo Mama's so 90s Christian ___________. Special thanks to our social media followers for sending in some truly hilarious responses.See all of the responses:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1016782892994657&set=a.757798995559716Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyBLeO1O2eX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==X/Twitter: https://x.com/MixtapeTheology/status/1709920530285895694?s=20Our new book, Mixtape Theology: 90s Christian Edition, is available now at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Come hang out with us and fellow mixtape theologians on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @MixtapeTheology or by visiting linktr.ee/mixtapetheology.Come check out 90s Christian swag at our merch store at mixtapetheology.comWe are part of the NRT (New Release Today) podcast network. Find more Christian music related podcasts at newreleasetoday.com
Montserrat is a culturally important place with a lot of stories. This episode focuses on three to show its importance as a religious center, as a strategic military location, and finally, as a place that has been home to political protest. Research: Buttery, Helen. “The Dark Queen.” National Post. March 31, 2001. https://www.newspapers.com/image/513661243/?terms=madonna%20montserrat&match=1 “Basque Country and Catalonia: Different Paths to Recognition.” Centre on Constitutional Change. June 3, 2019. https://www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/news-and-opinion/basque-country-and-catalonia-different-paths-recognition Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "ETA". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Sep. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/ETA Dawson, Paul. “Napoleon's Peninsular War: The French Experience of the War in Spain from Vimeiro to Corunna, 1808–1809.” Frontline Books. 2020. “Defendents Backed By Protestors.” Arizona Daily Star. Dec. 14, 1970. https://www.newspapers.com/image/164623929/?terms=montserrat%20protest&match=1 Duricy, Michael P. “Montserrat Black Madonna: Black Madonnas: Our Lady of Montserrat.” University of Dayton. https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/m/montserrat-black-madonna.php#:~:text=the%20dark%20color%20of%20Our,most%20celebrated%20images%20in%20Spain. Duricy, Michael P. “Black Madonnas: Origin, History, Controversy.” University of Dayton. https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/b/black-madonnas-origin-history-controversy.php Eder, Richard. “Burgos Court: Stage for Basque Case.” New York Times. Dec. 7, 1970. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/07/archives/burgos-court-stage-for-basque-cause.html Eder, Richard. “Trial of Basques Starts in Burgos.” New York Times. December 4, 1970. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/04/archives/trial-of-basques-starts-in-burgos-15-are-charged-in-slaying-of.html Gipson, Ferren. “The Story of the Black Madonnas.” Art UK. Oct. 11, 2018. https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-story-of-the-black-madonnas Jeffrey, Simon. “Timeline: ETA.” The Guardian. March 11, 2004. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/11/spain.simonjeffery “Limit to Free Speech.” Des Moines Tribune. Dec. 16, 1970. https://www.newspapers.com/image/325193542/?terms=montserrat%20protest&match=1 Nurse, Charlie. “The Burgos Show Trial of 1970. Ihr.world. Dec. 3, 2020. https://ihr.world/en/2020/12/03/the-burgos-showtrial-of-1970/ Oman, Charles William Chadwick. “A History of the Peninsular War.” Oxford. 1902. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/historyofpeninsu04oman/page/n9/mode/2up “Police Surround Montserrat Monastery.” Redlands Daily Facts. Dec. 14, 1970. https://www.newspapers.com/image/5016668/?terms=montserrat%20monastery&match=1 Roccasalvo, Joan L., C.S.J. “Elegance Personified: The Black Madonna of Montserrat.” The Institute for Sacred Architecture. Volume 21. https://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/elegance_personified Scheer, Monique. “From Majesty to Mystery: Change in the Meanings of Black Madonnas from the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries.” The American Historical Review, vol. 107, no. 5, 2002, pp. 1412–40. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1086/532852 “Sit-in Staged at Monastery.” Tulsa World. Dec. 14, 1970. https://www.newspapers.com/image/888773559/?terms=montserrat%20monastery&match=1 “Spanish Police Given Special Arrest Powers.” York Daily Record. Dec. 15, 1970. https://www.newspapers.com/image/553332476/?terms=montserrat%20protest&match=1 “Time Won for the Basques.” The Guardian. Dec. 18, 1970. https://www.newspapers.com/image/260548322/?terms=montserrat%20protest&match=1 Wilkinson, Isambard. “Montserrat Black Virgin ‘was white originally.'” The Telegraph. April 13, 2001. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/1316133/Montserrat-Black-Virgin-was-white-originally.html “History of the Museum.” Museu de Montserrat. https://www.museudemontserrat.com/es/el-museo/historiadelmdm/1 Pattullo, Polly. "Montserrat". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/place/Montserrat-island-West-Indies Pujol i Camps, Celestino. “The Bruch Drum.” Biblioteca Virtual Miguel De Cervantes. https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/el-tambor-del-bruch-0/html/004bc4e8-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html “History.” Abadia de Montserrat. https://abadiamontserrat.cat/en/history/# See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2 Corinthians 5:172 Corinthians 5:10-212 Corinthians 5:101 Corinthians 3:10-15Luke 19:11-26 (don’t put the verses up for this one, just list the passage)2 Corinthians 5:112 Corinthians 5:122 Corinthians 5:132 Corinthians 5:142 Corinthians 5:152 Corinthians 5:162 Corinthians 5:17Christ cannot be our Savior without also being our LordMatthew 7:21-232 Corinthians 5:18-192 Corinthians 5:20Our identity is as messengers2 Corinthians … Continue reading I AM GOD’S PLAN: I AM GOD’S pt 2 (identity) →
Gina Livy's Facebook Lives from The Livy Method Fall 2023 Support Group hosted on Facebook. This is a recording of the Day 3, 9 AM live. You can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodfall2023Topics covered:The Program - App, Posts, Detox, the Scale, weight loss @ IntroRegistration is still open - last call announcement tomorrow @ 6:58Follow Program as designed - complete all 91 days @ 8:14Gina's story and how The Livy Method was developed @ 10:36Non-scale victories (NSV) @ 14:26Apple cider vinegar - reflux, missing gallbladder @ 15:30Supplements @ 17:56Hungry at dinner, signs of detox - extra hungry in evening @ 20:13Extra hungry after dinner - why? - eating after dinner @ 24:57Body cues - cravings, hunger, migrating motor complex @ 28:28Intermittent fasting, Keto, Low Carb @ 33:08Returning Members - Fresh Eyes @ 39:33What can you have when hungry at night @ 40:57 Keeping a journal - tracking sleep, exercise @ 42:15Vegetables that also count as Leafy Greens covers both components @ 43:20Our community is safe and welcoming @ 43:52Stress, situational change - weight fluctuations @ 46:37 To learn more about the Livy Method, visit www.ginalivy.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sermons from McLean Presbyterian & Capital Presbyterian Fairfax
Matt 28:18-20Our church's mission is to "glorify and enjoy God by making disciples who make a difference, through grace-filled worship, community, and mission." In this series, we will explore the purpose of the church — and each of our lives. Each week, we will consider an aspect of our life together as a church family, understanding how it helps us fulfill this purpose.
14th Chapter: Verses 18, 19, 20Our temperaments are determined by a combination of the three gunas – sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna. Sattva guna is the highest and most sublime. It manifests itself as wisdom and serenity. Rajo guna manifests itself as dynamism and ambition. Tamo guna manifests itself as laziness and delusion.Gunas are not visible and cannot be physically verified. We can infer which guna is predominant in a person by observing his external temperament.Of these three gunas, Sattva guna is the most refined. If a person has dynamism combined with a sense of serenity and wisdom, he is endowed with sattva guna. He can concentrate, and direct his time and skills in one direction. Sattva guna manifests as strength combined with humility, richness combined with generosity and so on.A person endowed with sattva guna does his work as swadharma, as a way to properly stay active. Swadharma is our natural way of work that we feel perfect harmony with. When we do our work as Swadharma, we derive inner contentment and do not feel tired from the work.A person endowed with sattva guna is active, but for the good of others and with no attachment. He is not opposed to rajo guna, but he is not bound by rajo guna. Spiritual giants such as Shankaracharya, St. Teresa of Avila, Buddha and Christ were endowed with sattva guna and were always active. They worked only for the good of others.One drawback of sattva guna is that it can lead to spiritual pride. There is also the risk of descending down to a level where rajo guna becomes predominant. This can be remedied by staying detached and doing the work as swadharma.Greed, craving, hyper activism, and restlessness prevail in a person predominated by rajo guna. A person endowed with rajo guna always has a new desire and he directs his actions towards realization of that desire. Such desires have no end. Such a person can also have delusions of grandeur – a consequence of the person having a high opinion of himself.The predominance of rajo guna in humans and civilizations can lead to great creativity and commerce. However, it can also lead to bad outcomes such as colonization.Rajo guna is necessary, but it should be guided and restrained by sattva guna, as was done by Rajarshis (philosopher kings). Human civilization will not survive if there was only rajo guna without sattva guna.In a rajarshi (philosopher king) – the philosopher/sage aspect comes sattva guna and the kingly aspect comes from rajo guna. As a king, he has power, wealth and status. As a sage, he can see far into things - he understands both the merits and limitations of power, wealth and status.Ignorance, laziness, negligence and delusion prevail in a person predominated by tamo guna. Such a person is deluded and interprets the right as wrong and wrong as right. Political anarchism prevailed in some countries due to such inversion of ideas.Gita asks us to strive to transcend all the three gunas. Being established in sattva guna is not enough as there is a risk of descending down to rajo guna by the force of circumstances. To transcend the three gunas, we have to get established in sattva guna which promotes physical and emotional well-being and helps us make proper use of rajo guna.18th verse: “Those with sattva guna evolve upwards – they go to the realm of angels and devas. Those with rajo guna remain in the same state. Those with tamo guna descend to lower levels. “19th and 20th verse: “Those who are endowed with sattva guna, they will be able to realize that human being is not a just a body mind complex. There is something beyond that. The three gunas are linked to all our actions and thoughts. Our real identity is as Atman. When we realize this true identity, we can transcend the three gunas. Then the gunas will be tools in our hands, not vice versa.”We will then be able to attain immortality, not in the physical sense, but by realizing our true nature. One cannot transcend death at the physical level. When we realize our true nature and its immortal dimension, we transcend death. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad has a profound dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi on the topic of immortality.In the 20th verse, Lord Krishna says that when we transcend the three gunas, we reach a state where there is no birth, no old age or sickness, and no death. We realize that we are the Atman, which is never born, which never dies, which is not subjected to changes and which is all-pervading. This is what is meant by attaining immortality.The concept of the three gunas can also be applied to food. Food that agitates the mind is rajasic. Food that gives us serenity is sattvic. And food that makes us sleep and creates confusion is tamasic.
Third Sunday in Lent The Collect: Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Old Testament: Exodus 17:1-7 1From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Psalm: Psalm 95 1 Come, let us sing to the Lord; * let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving * and raise a loud shout to him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God, * and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, * and his hands have molded the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. * Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice! 8 Harden not your hearts, as your forebears did in the wilderness, * at Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted me. 9 They put me to the test, * though they had seen my works. 10 Forty years long I detested that generation and said, * “This people are wayward in their hearts; they do not know my ways.” 11 So I swore in my wrath, * “They shall not enter into my rest.” Epistle: Romans 5:1-11 1Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Gospel: John 4:5-42 5So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”19The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” 27Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him. 31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.' 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
HOLY GOSPEL: John 4:5-42 Jesus defies convention to engage a Samaritan woman in conversation. Her testimony, in turn, leads many others to faith. 5 [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” 27Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him. 31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.' 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ
My guest is Sean Meenan. Sean graduated from Springfield High School and now attends Widener University where he studies Mechanical Engineering and Physics. He is a Summer Stager of the Year Award recipient and is still a member eagerly anticipating next summer. I hope you enjoy our conversation, so, come along and have some fun. . .We all have stories to tell and they can be heard here.Welcome to Brave and Strong and True, a podcast created to engage Summer Stage alumni of all ages. I'm Bob Falkenstein.Brave and Strong and True relies on financial support from its listeners. Please click the “Support the Show” link at the bottom of the show notes to support the show.You can follow Sean on Instagram @smeenan_20Our music is composed and performed by Neil McGettigan https://neilmcgettiganandtheeleventhhour.bandcamp.com/releasesPlease subscribe to Brave and Strong and True on Apple Podcasts. While you're there, please rate the show and leave a comment. If you want to be a guest on Brave and Strong and True, please contact me at braveandstrongandtrue@gmail.com. You must have a desktop or laptop computer running the latest version of the Google Chrome browser. It helps if you have an external microphone and headphones, but Apple earbuds work too.Support the show
Music Around The World is a music segment featuring various artist and music. Some of these artists are from the United States, while others are from other countries across the globe. In this episode we will be featuring: Ogi, Pfirter, Ron Ractive, Carbin and Music News. https://75dc83.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MFAW74.mp3 Intro: 0:00 to 0:12Mason Paine here and this is episode 74 of Music From Around The World. In this episode I will be featuring music from: Ogi, Pfirter, Ron Ractive, Carbin and Music News. Ogi: Start – 0:13 and End – 6:20Our first up is Ogi. Ogi is a renowned DJ and producer from Croatia who is also credited with founding Rijeka's techno scene. His musical style has always been rooted in techno, but today it has evolved into a pumping, dark and beastly sound that he expertly mixes together. Here is a listen to his latest track “Komin.” “Komin” is out now via Klinik Room Records and it's available on all streaming platforms. Ogi is considered one of the most innovative and creative minds in Croatian electronic music today. For the latest information on Ogi's projects visit: dj-ogi.com; that's D-J HYPHEN O-G-I DOT COM Pfirter: Start – 6:21 and End – 12:50Pfirter is a DJ and producer who has been making waves in the techno scene with his unique sound. Hailing from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pfirter's music is characterized by its dark and uplifting melodies, which stay true to the original roots of techno while also bringing something new and fresh to the genre. Take a listen to his latest track “Delta”. “Delta” is out now via Mindtrip and its available on all streaming platforms. Pfirter has been making waves in the electronic music scene since he started DJing, producing and owning his own label; Mindtrip. He has released singles on renowned labels such as CLR, Figure and Stroboscopic Artefacts, and headlined at iconic clubs and events like Berghain, Tresor, Concrete, Awakenings and Time Warp. No matter what medium he uses to express himself, Pfirter always brings his signature style and focus to his work, captivating audiences. For the latest on Pfirter projects visit Pfirtermusic.com; that's P-F-I-R-T-E-R-M-U-S-I-C DOT COM News Break 1: 12:51 to 13:25In our first story Snoop Dogg's life story is being made into a movie! This will be the first project from his newly formed Death Row Pictures. The film will be directed by Allen Hughes, known for directing The Book of Eli.In other news After much anticipation, Dutch DJ and Producer Tiesto has finally announced the release date for his seventh studio album, Drive. The LP is scheduled to come out on February 24th, 2023 and will include some of his recent hit singles. That's it for this music news break, now lets get back to the music. Ron Ractive: Start – 13:26 and End – 20:51Our next artist, Ron Ractive is a DJ and Producer of chill groove and techno music; hailing from Berlin, Germany. He runs his own label, "STYLEDRIVER," and is a highly sought-after remixer. Check out his latest track “Time Eject” “Time Eject” is out now via StyleDiver records and it's available on all streaming platforms. Ron is known for his inspirational and electric music. In the early nineties, he was one of the first to bring the "Berlin Spirit" to the city, and has been credited with helping to revive it. For the latest on Ron's latest project visit Facebook.com/RonRactive.Official; Facebook.com/R-O-N-R-A-C-T-I-V-E DOT O-F-F-I-C-I-A-L. News Break 2: 20:52 to 21:29We are going to take one final break for some music news. Akon is gearing up to release his next album, Akonic, which will feature a mix of electronic dance music and pop. The album is expected to drop in early 2023, and Akon says it will have something for everyone. "I always start off with street records and then I end up with a big ass pop record," he says. Britney Spears has shut down the idea of anyone making a biopic about...
20Our fathers worshiped onthis mountain, but you say thatin Jerusalem isthe place where people ought to worship.21Jesus said to her,Woman, believe me,the hour is coming whenneither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.22You worship what you do not know;we worship what we know, forsalvation isfrom the Jews.23Butthe hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Fatherin spirit andtruth, for the Fatheris seeking such people to worship him.24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.25The woman said to him, I know thatMessiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes,he will tell us all things.26Jesus said to her,I who speak to you am he.
“The Simmering Volcano”Scripture: Matthew 15:1-20Our tendency is to monitor our behavior while pretty much ignoring our hearts. After all, how do you monitor your heart? I can't get too far off base in my behavior without somebody drawing it to my attention. But my heart? That seems a bit more complicated.Jesus said something that still has huge implications today: “The things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart,” and then, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts.”The heart is such a mystery. In fact, one prophet asked of the heart, “Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Good question. The implication is that nobody can. With which I readily concur. And even if we do begin to understand it, we certainly can't control it—which is all the more reason we need to learn to monitor it. Like the seismic activity of a dormant volcano, what you don't know can hurt you.Suddenly someone files for divorce.Suddenly a kid's grades drop and his attitude changes.Suddenly a harmless pastime becomes a destructive habit.Out of nowhere devastating words pierce the soul of an unsuspecting loved one.We've all seen it, felt it, even caused it. Just as Jesus predicted, what originates in the secrecy of our hearts won't always remain a secret. Eventually it finds its way into our homes, offices, and neighborhoods.The heart seeps into every conversation. It dictates every relationship. Our very lives emanate from the heart. We live, parent, lead, relate, romance, confront, react, respond, instruct, manage, problem solve, and love from the heart. Our hearts impact the intensity of our communication. Our hearts have the potential to exaggerate our sensitivities and insensitivities. Every arena of life intersects with what's going on in our hearts. Everything passes through on its way to wherever it's going. Everything.We need the courage to ask the heavenly Father for help to watch over, understand, and purify our hearts. He is eager to respond and to show us how to replace old bad habits of the heart with new and better ones that will in time make us more like his Son.In the next four days of these devotionals, we'll be looking at four enemies of the heart that everyone faces.What do your recent thoughts, words, and actions reveal about what's going on in your heart? Ask someone close to you for his or her opinion about this as well.
“The Simmering Volcano”Scripture: Matthew 15:1-20Our tendency is to monitor our behavior while pretty much ignoring our hearts. After all, how do you monitor your heart? I can't get too far off base in my behavior without somebody drawing it to my attention. But my heart? That seems a bit more complicated.Jesus said something that still has huge implications today: “The things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart,” and then, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts.”The heart is such a mystery. In fact, one prophet asked of the heart, “Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Good question. The implication is that nobody can. With which I readily concur. And even if we do begin to understand it, we certainly can't control it—which is all the more reason we need to learn to monitor it. Like the seismic activity of a dormant volcano, what you don't know can hurt you.Suddenly someone files for divorce.Suddenly a kid's grades drop and his attitude changes.Suddenly a harmless pastime becomes a destructive habit.Out of nowhere devastating words pierce the soul of an unsuspecting loved one.We've all seen it, felt it, even caused it. Just as Jesus predicted, what originates in the secrecy of our hearts won't always remain a secret. Eventually it finds its way into our homes, offices, and neighborhoods.The heart seeps into every conversation. It dictates every relationship. Our very lives emanate from the heart. We live, parent, lead, relate, romance, confront, react, respond, instruct, manage, problem solve, and love from the heart. Our hearts impact the intensity of our communication. Our hearts have the potential to exaggerate our sensitivities and insensitivities. Every arena of life intersects with what's going on in our hearts. Everything passes through on its way to wherever it's going. Everything.We need the courage to ask the heavenly Father for help to watch over, understand, and purify our hearts. He is eager to respond and to show us how to replace old bad habits of the heart with new and better ones that will in time make us more like his Son.In the next four days of these devotionals, we'll be looking at four enemies of the heart that everyone faces.What do your recent thoughts, words, and actions reveal about what's going on in your heart? Ask someone close to you for his or her opinion about this as well.
Get more blog posts, photos, and specials at our website: https://www.refocused-ae.com ------------------------------------------------ FOLLOW US: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refocused.ae/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/refocused.ae/ TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdj9XBMP ------------------------------------------------ For you PODCAST listeners, you can find us on all platforms, just pick your favorite: ANCHOR: https://anchor.fm/anthony-and-essence APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/refocused-with-a-e/id1586192271 GOOGLE: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy82YzU4ZThkNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gfRDlINIjUH7YDuSEJws9 ------------------------------------------------ Show Notes: We have heard the adage of "Loving Thy Neighbor" all our lives, but how do we truly apply this, and when is it used out of line? The Story of the woman at the well (John 4: 7-26) Then a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink”— 8For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food— 9The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a The Jews considered Samaritan women ceremonially unclean. Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God's gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).” 11She said to Him, “Sir, The woman's response is due to the fact that “living water” was the normal description for running water. She probably thought that Jesus was referring to the underground water source that fed the well. You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12Are You greater than our father Jacob (renamed Israel in Gen 32:28) was the son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham and father of the twelve sons who established the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?” 13Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.” 15The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.” 16At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your God does not regard cohabitation as marriage. Marriage is a binding, legal covenant between a man and a woman. husband. You have said this truthfully.” 19The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].” 21Jesus replied, “Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God's kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. 24God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Ch
May 1, 2022Acts 9:1-20Our stories of encountering the risen Lord are how we bear witness to Mary's Easter morning discovery of the empty tomb. We are witnesses to the very voice that knocked Saul on his behind, who spoke to Ananias, who overcame the power of Sin and Death, and who continues to speak to us today.Luke tells us Saul was completely changed – from Enemy-Number-One to being the person who would carry the Good News of God in Jesus Christ to the Gentile world. To people like you and me.We stand today as witnesses to the awesome work of God along the Damascus Road. It would have been easy, maybe even justified, for God to write off Saul. After all, Saul was Enemy-Number-One of the Church. But as we read each year on Good Friday, God is not in the business of writing people off. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, he prayed for the forgiveness of the very people who killed him.And that is Grace – the nothing you can do to earn or lose it love and forgiveness of God. Right now, it is yours, just as it is Saul's and Ananias'.Right now, it is yours, just as it was extended to the soldiers who put the nails in Jesus' hands and who mocked him.Right now, this amazing Grace is yours just as it is for the person you might believe deserves it the least.The conversion of Saul is a story of God's Grace before it is the story of Saul being converted or changed. A story of the work of God in the people and times we least expect. As resurrection people, this is what we bear witness to – the work of God. To one another. To the world.
SUMMARY:Our guest on this episode of Songcraft is Natalie Hemby, a six-time Grammy nominee and two-time winner who has earned five CMA Song of the Year nominations and was named Music Row magazine's 2021 Female Songwriter of the Year. Her songs have been recorded by Kacey Musgraves, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Maren Morris, Ed Sheeran, Sheryl Crow, Dierks Bentley, Eli Young Band, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Isaak, Blake Shelton, Lee Ann Womack, and many others. We last spoke with Natalie in 2017, but we catch up with her today to find out more about her life as a behind the scenes songwriter, her work with supergroup The Highwomen, and her critically-acclaimed solo album Pins and Needles. PART ONE - 2:49Scott and Paul chat about Pearl Snap Studios and set the stage for this very special "old friends" episode.PART TWO - 6:02They guys welcome longtime friend and fellow music geek David Manning to argue about beloved songs that they actually hate. PART THREE - 39:20Our in-depth conversation with Natalie HembyABOUT NATALIE HEMBY:When we first spoke with Natalie Hemby in 2017 she'd already racked up three CMA Song of the Year nominations and written a half dozen #1 singles, including “Pontoon” and “Tornado” by Little Big Town, “Downtown” by Lady A, “You Look Like I Need a Drink” by Justin Moore, and Miranda Lambert's “White Liar” and “Automatic,” the latter of which was named ACM Song of the Year and snagged Natalie her first Grammy nomination for Best Country Song. In the five years since then, her songwriting star has continued to rise. She co-wrote three songs on Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year—across all categories—and earned Natalie a CMA Song of the Year nomination for “Rainbow.” Natalie co-wrote two songs with Lady Gaga for the soundtrack to A Star is Born, including Song of the Year Grammy nominee “Always Remember Us This Way” and the Grammy winner for Best Song Written for Visual Media, “I'll Never Love Again.” She has scored additional #1 hits with Jon Pardi's “Heartache Medication,” as well as Miranda Lambert's “Bluebird,” which was nominated for both CMA and ACM Song of the Year, and the Best Country Song Grammy. Natalie beat herself in that Grammy category when she won the Best Country Song honors for “Crowded Table,” which she wrote with Lori McKenna and Brandi Carlile. The song was recorded by the supergroup The Highwomen, of which Natalie is a member alongside Carlile, Marren Morris, and Amanda Shires. “Crowded Table” was also named Song of the Year by the Americana Music Association, while The Highwomen won Americana Album of the Year and Duo or Group of the Year. Recent pop cuts, including Kelly Clarkson's “I Dare You” and Ed Sheeran's “Love in Slow Motion,” illustrate Natalie's versatility and underscore why she was named Music Row magazine's 2021 Female Songwriter of the Year. In addition to her work with The Highwomen, Natalie's been flexing her considerable artist muscles recently with the release of her album Pins and Needles, which PopMatters calls “a phenomenal album from an artist coming into full possession of her gifts.”
All the Joy You've Ever Known- 3:30Remember When- 11:30Bullet In Board- 19:55A bunch of other songs and bands with "Bullet" in their names- 25:00Listener Questions- 42:20Our feelings won't be hurt if you skip through our alt-rock deep dive (it's not that deep)Patreon
Revd Graham Hunter speaks on being A Christian's Relationships:In Church and World during our Online and In Person Worship Service. The Reading is from Matthew 7:1-20Our mission is to be a Beacon of Hope for Hoxton.Worship God | Make Disciples | Share Jesus | Transform Hoxton
Leading with InclusionIn this episode, herdacious host Lorelei chats with Jashn Agrawal as she advocates for companies to lead with inclusive cultures, which will then garner them diverse talent. Oftentimes we hear the terms diversity and inclusion used interchangeably in DEI conversations; however, understanding the fundamental difference and interactions between the two is critical to cultivating a truly diverse and inclusive workplace. As an HR professional with a passion for inclusion-first policies, Jashn clarifies that inclusion goes beyond the numbers and focuses on nurturing appreciation for and amongst all employees. From acknowledging and addressing our unconscious bias to being consistent in our organizational core values, Jashn affirms that although inclusion is an extensive process, it's nonetheless necessary to achieve an optimal workplace. As inclusive cultures become the norm, diverse talent often follows [and stays] of its own accord, thereby benefitting both the employers and the employees. Host: Lorelei GonzalezCo-host: Jashn Agrawal, MBAJashn is an accomplished HR Leader with a strong track record of leading & supporting global teams for companies like IKEA, Burson-Marsteller, AMEX and GE. Her expertise lies in successfully leading organizational planning and development through strategic initiatives and programs. Jashn holds a double MBA in HR with the most recent one being from Cornell University's International Labor Research (ILR) Institute. In her free time, Jashn loves to bury her nose in a non-fiction book, do yoga, or go for long walks. Things you will learn in this episode (chapter markers available): Diversity vs. Inclusion 2:55Common challenges 6:00Consistency is key 8:26Gender-specific stereotypes be gone! 10:18The harsh reality 17:20Our unconscious biases 22:10Strategize and prioritize 23:58Tracking progress 27:38Femme fact: Deborah Sampson 31:30Resources mentioned in this episode: HBR (website)Cornell Inclusive Excellence PodcastMcKinsey (website)SHRM (website)Episode sponsors: HERdacity Moonray Looking for additional resources on this topic? Check out our blog “Why It's Important to Have an Inclusive Workplace”Loved what you heard on herdacious and want to share with friends? Tag us and connect with HERdacity on social media:Twitter: @herdacityFacebook: @HERdacityInstagram: @herdacityLinkedIn: HERdacity Email: herdacious@herdacity.orgFor up to date information on HERdacity events, webinars, podcasts, and community activities, join our newsletter here. Disclaimer: While we appreciate our sponsors' support in making this show possible, herdacious content is curated with integrity and honesty.Support the show (http://herdacity.org/donate/)
Find more from Truman - Locals: returntoreason.locals.comYouTube: Return to ReasonTwitter: @mymundanemindSpotify: Return to ReasonEnemy at the Gates"We don't know where this thing isn't."-Bret WeinsteinTruman is compiling a list to illustrate the total societal takeover by Far-Left Orthodoxy, including the explicit targeting of our kids for indoctrination. Find the complete list at ReturntoReason.locals.comCompromised entities:NickelodeonCartoon NetworkKellogg's CerealMattel ToysLegoSesame Street (SESAME STREET
In this week's episode of The Bones Booth, Maggie, Taryn, Andrew, and Aqeel discuss the ninth episode of the second season of Bones, "Aliens in a Spaceship."Shownotes and timestamps: Episode breakdownIMDb reviews of the episode: ~1:41:40Music from the episode: ~1:44:20Our reviews of the episode: ~1:45:55Links to our playlists on Apple Music and Spotify: https://linktr.ee/thebonesboothJoin the discussion by emailing us at TheBonesBooth@gmail.com. Follow us @thebonesbooth on Twitter. Find more episodes at TheBonesBooth.com. If you like the show, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a review!
In this week's episode of The Bones Booth, Maggie, Taryn, Andrew, and Aqeel discuss the third episode of the second season of Bones, "The Boy in the Shroud."Shownotes and timestamps: Episode breakdownIMDb reviews of the episode: ~1:34:25Music from the episode: ~1:38:20Our reviews of the episode: ~1:41:25Links to our playlists on Apple Music and Spotify: https://linktr.ee/thebonesboothJoin the discussion by emailing us at TheBonesBooth@gmail.com. Follow us @thebonesbooth on Twitter. Find more episodes at TheBonesBooth.com. If you like the show, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a review!
Technically PVP Show Notes Episode 127 - Boomkins 9.0 9:45 - Need-Greed-Pass Which of these mythologies would you like to see in the next expansion? 1.) First nations 2.) Polynesian 3.) African Sub-Saharan 17:13 - Upcoming WoW PVP Events Dalaran Gaming hosts 5v5 1v1 duels. So teams of 5 that 1v1 duel (pokemon style). Keep an eye out - https://twitter.com/dalaran_arogueDiabolus 3v3 Death Bowl returns April 15th (NA this time) - https://diabolus-esports.com/deathbowlFlark’s 3v3 Tournaments are back! Sunday 18 April, with a starting prize pool of $150.Oasis Discord Non-Gladiator Tournament 30 Apr (non-glads only; random teams) - https://twitter.com/oasis_w0w/status/1380207352444375041?s=20Blizzard Tournaments (https://gamebattles.majorleaguegaming.com/pc/world-of-warcraft/tournament)AWC Circuit runs 20 Mar to 18 Apr (four weeks) - https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/esports/scheduleMDI Global finals 23-25 Apr - https://twitter.com/WoWEsports/status/1371238256138883083?s=20The Great Push (M+ Key push tournament) - 28-30 May - https://twitter.com/WoWEsports/status/1379826458193928192?s=20 23:24 - Subject of Analysis Today we will discuss Balance Druids 1:54:08 - WOW PVP NEWS Oasis Discord Community hosted the first ever “Meet Your Partner” event. Turned out really well helping people find arena partners! They continued with a form filler on the discord - https://twitter.com/Cherry_pvp/status/1375138804768546818?s=20Hotfixes - https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23646890/hotfixes-april-7-2021Something interesting happening with Matcherino. Possible RBG tournament? - https://twitter.com/matcherino_/status/1381323030241013761?s=20Our friend DesMephisto is hosting his month-long Warriors for Autism charity again. Go show him some support and give a few bucks if you can spare it. Find him here - https://twitter.com/DesMephistoRunning of the Corgis Charity Event - https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/running-of-the-corgis-charity-event-aprilmay/9251979.1 PTR datamining started this afternoon. Check your new site of choice for info on the changes Finding Us Guest Rudar - https://twitter.com/RudarRule https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcdEEO7nwOvjpu5vep0Lijw https://www.twitch.tv/rudarz Podcast Cohosts Technically - https://twitter.com/Technically_PvP https://www.twitch.tv/warcraftradio https://discord.gg/qAvRtbP Technicallypvp@gmail.com https://warcraftradio.com/ Andallyn - https://twitter.com/Andallyn1 https://www.twitch.tv/andallyn
John 4:145 (ESV) Jesus and the Woman of Samaria 4Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4And he had to pass through Samaria. 5So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacobs well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. 8(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. 11The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. 13Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. 15The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. 16Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here. 17The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right in saying, I have no husband; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. 19The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. 21Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 25The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things. 26Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. 27Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, What do you seek? or, Why are you talking with her? 28So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? 30They went out of the town and were coming to him. 31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat. 32But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. 33So the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought him something to eat? 34Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35Do you not say, There are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.36Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, One sows and another reaps. 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. 39Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the womans testimony, He told me all that I ever did. 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. 43After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44(For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.
In this week's episode of The Bones Booth, Maggie, Taryn, Andrew, and Aqeel discuss the nineteenth episode of Bones, "The Man in the Morgue."Shownotes and timestamps: Episode breakdownIMDb reviews of the episode: ~2:06:40Music from the episode: ~2:10:20Our reviews of the episode: ~2:11:25Links to our playlists on Apple Music and Spotify: https://linktr.ee/thebonesboothJoin the discussion by emailing us at TheBonesBooth@gmail.com. Follow us @thebonesboothon Twitter. Find more episodes at TheBonesBooth.com. If you like the show, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a review!
Worship Him With Your Life John 4:19-24 19“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
It's a joy to introduce to you Brendan Vermeire, or @The_Holistic_Savage to the KYPO Podcast today!Brian is a Functional Medicine Educator and CEO of Metabolic Solutions Institute where he teaches that the best medicine is teaching people how not to need it.We dive into some biology, some issues with Big Pharma, some existential crises, and a bit of what you can do in your own life to live a little more like we were BUILT TO LIVE.Brian is one of those intellectuals who calls humans microbes, but somehow he does it in a way that is approachable and digestible. “We are so in our minds, we have lost our senses”Humans are pretty far from the way we were intended to live. Technology, our pace of life, our diets, and our quick fix solutions have broken down some of the integral portions of what it means to live fully. On this show, we talk about how far we have come and what it would look like to live more symbiotically with our environment!METABOLIC HEALTH -what keeps us from true metabolic health?-what role does medicine have in our metabolic health?-what role does TECHNOLOGY and SELFISHNESS have in our metabolic health?EGO & SELF DEVELOPMENT 22:20Our ego keeps us self interested, keeps us safe in an energy scarce environment, but in our culture of abundance keeps us from growing.The self love culture keeps us self obsessed.Self love vs self respect.Humans need a self of purpose to be healthyWe can't show love or empathy if there is none to be found in our own thoughtsBrian answers what REALISTICALLY he has built in his own environment to make sure that allows him to nourish his mind, body, and soul. (And Brian's realistic may not be yours!) So we go into what building yours would look like, too!You are going to love this podcast and more importantly, you are going to LEARN SOMETHING!Let us know when you do!You can find Brian on instagram @the_holistic_savage or his business at https://www.metabolicsolutionsllc.com/You can find me on instagram @keepyourplantson or my program, recipes, and blogs at www.howtokeepyourplantson.com
Snowy Owls are a beautiful species and a special animal to see for birders and non-birders alike. In 2013-2014 there was an irruptive year that taught us much about this species. And in 2020, they are being seen along the Canada-U.S. border and in urban environments for all to enjoy and appreciate.Main Story about Snowy Owl information skip to: 11:20Our adventure to Seattle for the Snowy Owl: 43:15Show notesAudubon CBC webpageSnowy OwlProject SNOWStormBlack Swamp Bird Observatory guidelines for viewing OwlsSnowy Owl in the newsBilly Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife RefugeeBird hotspotSeattle Snowy Owl eBird checklistIntro Bird Call: Barred Owl (Recorded: June 2019 Clatsop, OR)Outro Bird Call: White-crowned Sparrow (Recorded: April 2019 Clatsop OR)Connect with us at...IG: @Hannahgoesbirding and @Erikgoesbirding Twitter: @WeGoBirding Facebook: @HannahandErikGoBirding Email us at HannahandErikGoBirding@gmail.com Website: http://www.gobirdingpodcast.com
Ephesians series message 46Text: Ephesians 6:10-20Our final message on God's Armor will focus on the only piece that is a weapon of offense - the sword. It is tied to the Word of God and thus, aptly named the sword of the Spirit. The power, practice, and preeminence of prayer is the perfect ending to this unparalleled passage on spiritual warfare. The goal is for us to be prompted to skillfully wield the sword of truth against Satan's lies and truly be a people of prayer.
This week, Leyla and I read the upcoming military fantasy novel by RF Kuang, "The Burning God!" We give a spoiler-free review of our thoughts on the end of our favorite trilogies, discuss Kuang's speech at the 2020 Hugo Awards, and cry over our poor, sweet children. Many thanks to Pamela Jaffee and the team at Harper Collins for making this happen!Link to RF Kuang's Astounding Award for Best New Writer speech: https://twitter.com/kuangrf/status/1289404961143439361?s=20Our theme song is "Obsolete" by Keshco, from the album "Filmmaker's Reference Kit Volume 2." Find more of their music at: https://keshco.bandcamp.com/Follow us @MortifiedPod on twitter (http://twitter.com/MortifiedPod). Sign Up for our monthly Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/g7jjj5Aaron: Twitter: @aaronsxl (http://twitter.com/aaronsxl)My Brother, My Brother's Friend and Me: @MbMbfandMe (http://twitter.com/MbMbfandMe)Leyla: Twitter/Tumblr/Instagram: @leylses (http://twitter.com/leylses, http://leylses.tumblr.com)Astral Heart: @_astralheart (http://twitter.com/_astralheart), http://astralheartcomic.com
Transcription:Redonda Miller 0:03We have this playbook of physical capacity staffing policies. I'm thinking about all the thought that went into standing up a visitor policy or a masking policy or a travel policy. Now we can turn those on and off as needed.Gary Bisbee 0:20That was Dr. Redonda Miller. President at Johns Hopkins Hospital, speaking about the core competency of scaling up and scaling down, developed to respond to the COVID crisis. I'm Gary Bisbee. And this is Fireside Chat. Dr. Miller outlines the top three priorities of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and she speaks about the benefits and challenges of the Maryland all-payer model. Let's listen to Dr. Miller respond to the question of how the COVID crisis changed her as a community member.Redonda Miller 0:50As a community member Gary, I think this was probably the most impactful and humbled every day by the incredible appreciation from the community, the number of ways they stepped up. Whether it was school kids making cards for the healthcare workers here. Whether it was the donations of homemade masks, businesses sending food to the front line. I really feel a part of the community here in Baltimore like I've never felt before.Gary Bisbee 1:20Our conversation includes Dr. Miller's view of the need for a reliable PPE supply chain and the necessity of governmental stockpiles, how telemedicine visits grew overnight from 35 to 20,000 per week, the strategy for educating the community to return for necessary surgery and treatments, and the top characteristics of a leader in a crisis. I'm delighted to welcome Dr. Redonda Miller to the microphone. Good morning, Redonda, and welcome.Redonda Miller 1:52Good morning, Gary. It's such a pleasure to be here virtually so to speak.Gary Bisbee 1:56Exactly. We're pleased to have you at the microphone. Let's begin with learning a little bit more about you – start out at the very beginning. Where did you grow up?Redonda Miller 2:06Well, I actually grew up in southern Ohio, very rural area near Kentucky and West Virginia, where my parents still live. And in a desperate attempt to escape, so to speak, I ended up at Ohio State for college, and then here in Baltimore for medical school at Johns Hopkins, and I've been here ever since.Gary Bisbee 2:27What have you found that you liked the most about Hopkins? What's the culture of Hopkins like?Redonda Miller 2:32When I came to interview for medical school, I had this mental notion in my mind of very smart people, serious scholars, discoverers and sure, that is all true. It is. But what I found 31 years ago was this incredible warmth, and humanity and kindness and esprit de corps. And honestly, that is what has kept me here for 31 years. There is a drive toward excellence. Everyone wants to be the best. They want to be on the cutting edge, but at the same time, a sense of collegiality and family that it's really a powerful combination.Gary Bisbee 3:13Let's drop back a bit. At what point did you decide on medicine, Redonda?Redonda Miller 3:17It's an interesting story. I am a lover of math and physics and economics and finance. And I started my college career, wanting to be an engineer, an aeronautical engineer. But I quickly learned that there was a human side to what I wanted to do, probably stemmed from in high school, my parents, who my dad, in particular avid gardener, they were both school teachers. But he was an avid gardener on the side. And one evening, after dinner, they became very ill very quickly and within 15-20 minutes, were both passed out. I called 911. I was a freshman in high school, the oldest of four children. I remember vividly the sight of the paramedics doing CPR on my dad as they wheeled my mom and dad out of the house to the local hospital. And I will tell you, the paramedics, the nurses, the doctors at that local rural hospital saved my parents. And it turns out they had organophosphate poisoning, which was very common, you know, it's from insecticides that have since been banned. My parents are fine today alive and well. But I always remembered how those healthcare workers saved their lives. And it really influenced my choice later on.Gary Bisbee 4:33Sure. The fact that they were teachers, do you think that cultivated your sense of learning and excellence?Redonda Miller 4:39I do. You know, in pure teacher form they had high expectations for the children to pursue something they loved and to give it our all. So yes, and in fact, I started out my career here at Hopkins after I finished training as a clinician-educator, there's some of that love of teaching hidden inside of me.Gary Bisbee 4:58At what point did you decide then to pursue your MBA?Redonda Miller 5:01I was probably mid-career in my 30s had been doing very well. I had a typical traditional faculty role as a clinician-educator focusing on women's health but became frustrated with how we delivered care. This was back 15-20 years ago, and we were not as patient-centered as I thought we could be. We were not as efficient as I thought we could be. At some point, you either just whine or you become part of the solution. And it also provided this opportunity to enjoy some of the other subjects that I'd always liked, like economics and finance and math. So I decided I wanted to retool my career and work on clinical operations. I didn't have the right tools. So it prompted me to go back to business school and pursue an MBA. So I at least had some foundational knowledge of operations and healthcare delivery that would hopefully serve me well.Gary Bisbee 5:59I believe you're still practicing. Is that right?Redonda Miller 6:01I do. I do. I'm a general internist. And I love still practicing. Many of my patients I've known for 20 years. I have a clinic once a week. And that of course is all of the physicians who are listening might know your practice doesn't end just because the clinic door closed, so I field phone calls all week long. But it has been invaluable. To live firsthand some of the initiatives we roll out as a hospital, I have to take the same epic training, I see what it's like to care for a patient who may be PUI for COVID and wear a face mask. I also now have a cadre of secret shoppers. My patients are the first to call me with Redonda, "Did you know this happened during check-in?" or "I was in the hospital and this happened or did you realize this?" And so it's been so valuable in many ways.Gary Bisbee 6:54Unintended benefit of practice. Do you find as a leader at an academic medical center that it gives you more credibility with those you're leading that you're still practicing?Redonda Miller 7:06I think it does, because once again, anything that you say we have to do, I'm going to do it as well. And so I do understand the frustrations of clicking in an electronic medical record. I can empathize more, and hopefully, it informs decision making a little better.Gary Bisbee 7:23In terms of leadership, what drew you to leadership?Redonda Miller 7:28I'm not for sure I was drawn to leadership per se. In fact, I think more what I was drawn to was this notion of fixing things. As a true general internist, I like variety, I like diagnosing, and I like trying to fix things. And so what I liked about hospital administration is those same principles applied. Your day consists of a myriad of different problems that hit your desk, and you pull the right teams together, diagnose the situation, and try to fix it. The leadership part, I think was sort of an accidental outcome of that, that perhaps my mentors hopefully acknowledged somehow that okay, I could execute on what we designed. And then that led to greater responsibility. But I didn't necessarily go into this hospital administration route thinking I wanted to be a leader.Gary Bisbee 8:21Right. Sometimes it's referred to as an accidental leader, but you're doing a terrific job. Why don't we turn to Johns Hopkins Hospital? You've been president now I believe for four years. Will you describe Johns Hopkins Hospital for us?Redonda Miller 8:36Sure. The Johns Hopkins Hospital is a 1,000-bed hospital, roughly, with revenue of around 2.6 billion. We have about 11,000 employees, about 2,500 medical staff, and then 1,300 residents and fellows. We have the usual typical designations level one trauma center, comprehensive transplant, NCI-Designated Cancer Center, but we're part of a larger health system. And our larger health system is comprised of six hospitals – five in the Mid-Atlantic and one in Florida. We have a payer arm, we have a home care group, we have a community physician network. So that's a little bit about the hospital and how we fit into the health system.Gary Bisbee 9:17How do you relate to these other hospitals? Do you draw from them? Or do they draw from you? How do you think about that?Redonda Miller 9:23Oh, it's very commensal. And I would say that's something we've struggled with over the last decade becoming a system. But over the last couple of years, and particularly with the crisis of COVID-19, we have really done wonders to become functioning more like a system. I will tell you, I learned things all the time from my community hospital colleagues, the presidents of our community hospitals. Hopefully, they would say the same thing about the academic medical center, but it's been a great partnership.Gary Bisbee 9:55What are your main priorities at JHH?Redonda Miller 9:56I would be remiss, Gary, if I didn't tell you COVID-19 rose to the top three months ago. And for the next year or two, it will continue to be right at the top. And it's interesting how the focus has changed from “Oh my, how are we going to deal with that initial surge” to now the focus of how do we conduct our usual business and as an academic medical center, there are patients that we really specialize in and have expertise. So how do we care for those patients, in addition to caring for COVID-19? So that's priority number one. I think priority number two, we had started all kinds of good work on high-value care. In the era of patients paying more out of pocket for their health care, they are going to want to choose wisely. And so we have to hold ourselves accountable to being high value. How do we deliver high-quality care, but at a price that is appropriate? So that would be our second priority. And then interestingly, we have really shifted a lot, without losing our emphasis on discovery and innovation. We at the Johns Hopkins Hospital can never lose that. But thinking more about population health and community care, and what it means to serve East Baltimore. Historically, obviously, we focused on transitions out of the hospital, care coordination, disease management, but we've taken that to a different level. And how do we tackle the social determinants of health? We've done work on jobs and hiring. More recently, we partnered with the other city hospitals, health care for the homeless and the city to house 200 individuals experiencing homelessness, and we decided we were going to build and renovate houses, but go beyond that and provide all the supportive care one needs. Job counseling, treatment for chronic diseases, help getting to and from the grocery store. So those are really our priorities high-value care, community care, and of course COVID-19.Gary Bisbee 12:06What percentage of patients come from Baltimore and surrounding communities?Redonda Miller 12:10Right now about two-thirds of our 50,000 discharges derive from Central Maryland, and about one-third from Baltimore city itself. And then of course, the final third, given some of our areas of expertise draw from states far away and internationally.Gary Bisbee 12:28Why don't we go to the Maryland all-payer model for lessons learned there? Could you describe that for us, Redonda?Redonda Miller 12:36Oh, sure. We've had the all-payer model here in Maryland since 1977. And it was initially designed and still is today. It functions as all-payer in the sense that everyone pays the same for care delivered in Maryland hospitals, and by everyone I mean, commercials, Medicare, Medicaid. We love that about the model, it takes away any kind of gamesmanship or trying to attract a certain patient over another, everyone pays the same and the rates that hospitals are allowed to charge are set by a commission. In 2014, there was another unique component to our model that was added, hospitals were now going to be reimbursed via global budget revenue. So each hospital in Maryland knew its revenue for the next fiscal year out of the gate. And then year after year, that revenue would be tweaked, based upon volume shifts, market shifts, demographics, and so forth. So I know going into FY 21, what my revenue will be. That's been our model to date. It's highly regulated, and year to year, you're not going to have huge operating margins as a hospital in Maryland. But I will tell you during bad times, and we've looked at over the last three or four months, that model can be protective. Well, because the volumes dropped so precipitously, none of us could charge up to our full GBR. We did have some increased charging authority that provided the cash flow and liquidity we needed to survive the pandemic.Gary Bisbee 14:13As a result of COVID, one imagines that legislators in Washington DC are going to be thinking about some kind of model like the Maryland all-payer model. So we may end up with something more like it at the national level, who knows. What's the payer mix? If I could ask, what's the current payer mix?Redonda Miller 14:32Here at the hospital, government payers are about 48%, 19% for Medicaid, about 29% for Medicare. And then commercial, we are about 49%. And then self-pay about three.Gary Bisbee 14:46So that would be among a lot of health systems that country pretty favorable payer mix, actually. Why don't we turn to COVID you brought that up, and I think we all agree a crisis accelerates existing trends, but thinking about capacity, PPE and so on, how did that fare at JHH?Redonda Miller 15:06We did okay with PPE, but we have the luxury here in Maryland of learning from Seattle, learning from Italy and learning from New York. So we knew right away that we had to start conserving. We focused meticulous attention on PPE conservation. We also had help from partners. Local industry stepped up to help us. Sagamore Spirit made hand sanitizer. Under Armour made masks. Many volunteers went to our central distribution center, and we crafted our own face masks. So we really and then of course, other businesses donated N95s. So we were okay. But it wasn't without a struggle. And I will tell you we're still not where we need to be as far as PPE, but we're working on it.Gary Bisbee 15:53If you formulated a point of view, Redonda, about the reliability of supply chain, do you think we need to do something nationally about that? What's your thought?Redonda Miller 16:03Oh, of course, absolutely we do. I think we've learned about when you have a sole producer in the market or one country dominating the manufacturer of a good bet is a common good, you run into trouble. I think we saw this in the pharmaceutical industry somewhat. And we talked about the escalation in drug prices a couple of years ago, where market economics resulted in a sole source provider of certain generics that have been around forever and the ramifications. I think we see that with PPE. We need to make sure that we have the right supply chain that is diversified. I also think we need to take a look at our stockpile and rethink exactly what numbers are appropriate. And the conversation about do we do that as a nation or by individual states, we need to fine-tune that conversation and make some decisions.Gary Bisbee 16:54That's definitely being discussed around the circuit. There's no question about that. How did your ICU capacity hold up?Redonda Miller 17:02That was, even to this day, everyone here will tell you that is our major factor. We were incredibly lucky. When the COVID pandemic first hit, we decided as Johns Hopkins Health System that we would transfer the initial code of patients here, particularly those that were critically ill. So we were taking a lot of patients from the National Capital Region, Gumby county where they were very hard hit Howard County and bringing them to the Johns Hopkins Hospital. And we did that predominantly for two reasons one had to do with our physical capacity. We have new patient towers that we were able to flip unit by unit to negative pressure and keep staff and patient safe. We had the luxury of having a lot of ICU. So we had staff expertise who were gifted at critical care, nurses, doctors, anesthesiologist, so ICU capacity we did okay.Gary Bisbee 18:08It seems to lead to a new competency, maybe even a core competency to scale up and scale down quickly. Do you think about it that way?Redonda Miller 18:19What we do every day, we call it our playbook, our pandemic playbook. And honestly, I think it could be used for other global health crises or even any crisis. But so much of our initial time was spent trying to figure out which units could be converted. How are we going to redeploy staff and leverage expertise? We have very highly specialized staff at AMC, so retraining people to go back to their roots in their core competencies. So we have this playbook of physical capacity staffing policies are in the playbook. I'm thinking about all the thought that went into standing up a visitor policy or a masking policy or a travel policy. Now we can turn those on and off as needed. And some of the models of care. Thinking about testing, we know how to do community testing now and how to stand up tents. We know how to compile a Go team that will help go into nursing homes and do testing and risk mitigation at potential hotspots. So yes, I do think this has taught us that five years from now two years from now, who knows when the next issue hits, we will have processes in place that we can roll out much more easily.Gary Bisbee 19:37Terrific. What about tele-visits? Most of the health systems saw dramatic, even exponential increase in tele-visits, how about you?Redonda Miller 19:46I laugh because telemedicine was sort of on our three to five-year goal, of okay, we’re really going to roll this out. And then overnight, I mean, literally Gary, overnight. We went from around 35 tele-visits per week across our health system to 20,000 per week, overnight. So here at the hospital, we're doing 5,000 telemedicine visits a day. It's about two-thirds of our ambulatory visit volume. And I have to say it's going well. Patients like them and you know, I can tell you that firsthand. My own practice. I have patients who will say, "I was reticent to do this, this high tech stuff Redonda. I don't know about this." They love telemedicine visits, they don't have to drive into East Baltimore. They don't have to pay for parking. They can do it from their own home. I think telemedicine is here to stay.Gary Bisbee 20:38Do you think that the older generation will adapt to it?Redonda Miller 20:52That was the first thing that went through my mind is how is the older generation going to handle this? They are fine. I have patients that are in their 90s. They're doing just fine with it. I think the big challenge will be wrestling with the reimbursement. Here at hospital-based clinics, if we just reimburse only the profit part, I don't think that's going to do justice to all the infrastructure needed to conduct an efficient telemedicine visit. You still need staff to virtually room the patient and make sure that the med reconciliation has been done and all that pre-visit work, you're still going to need staff to do the follow-up and schedule appointments and tests. So I think we have to give some serious consideration about the appropriate reimbursement model.Gary Bisbee 21:38The CMS waivers on payment and physician licensure across states, no doubt were important. Do you have a feel for how important they were to accelerate the visits?Redonda Miller 21:49Very important. We still struggle because there's not complete reciprocity and licensing. So we still struggle with sometimes delivering out of state care, but hopefully, we'll get there.Gary Bisbee 22:00How did you ramp up to 20,000 visits? I mean, did you employ just a whole bunch of your doctors and nurses, or how did that work?Redonda Miller 22:08We have an amazing telemedicine team and an amazing ambulatory team. You asked me, What do I like about Hopkins? Well, people just they rally and they get it done. So everyone did their virtual online training so that they would understand how to use it. We redeployed our staff, so they can handle the volume. I don't think there was any magic bullet. I think it was just a culmination of group effort.Gary Bisbee 22:35Terrific. Well, why don't we turn to elective surgery assuming that you had to lock down and discontinue that for awhile. Have you restarted?Redonda Miller 22:43Yes, we did restart our elective surgeries. On May 18, we opened up for our ASC. And then this past Monday, we started hospital-based elective surgery. The biggest limiting factor for us is just getting our ICUs back online. We still have a decent amount of COVID-19 patients here that are critically ill. So bed capacity is our biggest limiter.Gary Bisbee 23:09How have patients responded?Redonda Miller 23:12Initially, we were worried that people would be hesitant to come back to the hospital and I think there's still some fear. But every time we've opened our schedule, we've been able to fill it. The pent up demand is so great that we've not had difficulty filling our OR schedules. Now some of this could also be due to an aggressive campaign we've launched encouraging patients to return to hospitals who've been very worried about some of the statistics in the literature about people putting off care and having heart attacks at home. And we saw it here at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Our ED visits fell to a third of normal. We knew that patients were out there and bad things could be happening. So we did launch an aggressive campaign both here at our own institution via messaging through MyChart and Epic and text messages and articles and videos and graphics. But we also partnered with the Maryland Hospital Association, who launched a broad sweeping campaign in Maryland, billboards, TV, radio, encouraging people to really seek necessary care.Gary Bisbee 24:19Why don’t we turn to economics, which is not a pretty picture for any of our health systems. How was JHH affected by the whole COVID crisis in terms of your financials?Redonda Miller 24:30As I mentioned a bit earlier, our GBR here under the Maryland payment system did protect us to some degree, I mean, we will experience losses, and I think that's to be expected. Anytime you lose that kind of volume, you're going to suffer, but we've managed okay to be honest. Capital, we had to reduce our capital expenditure and delay some of it so we took a really close look at what our plans were for capital expenditure. And what did we absolutely have to do in the name of patient safety and quality? And then put other things on hold. We're hoping to revisit that. And of course, a lot of our strategic capital plans we had to put on hold some of our larger projects. Hopefully, the numbers will continue to go down. I'm going to be an optimist. Gary, I am. I think we will have a surge in the fall. But hopefully, we can contain it and manage it and we can get back on track for some of our strategic priorities.Gary Bisbee 25:28With your optimistic hat on what are you thinking about 2021 Redonda? Will you be able to get back to "normal" by then, do you think, financially?Redonda Miller 25:37Our goal here is to really be able to resume all the essential care we did. I think about care here at the hospital, transplants, high-end surgeries, all of that work that really we rely on our AMCs to do as we don't often have that kind of expertise and community hospitals. I view we owe it to the local Maryland community toet back in that business right away. And so our goal is to really figure out how we're going to ramp up all of our usual book of business, and then still take care of COVID on top of that. That's going to be meaning adding or renovating physical capacity that's going to be looking at staffing plans. And can we bring on staff to do that to get us through the next year? Just like all of my colleagues across the country, we're looking at, you know, people who've retired do they want to come back for a year. We have some fellows who are graduating, who are worried about the job market, and they want to spend time next year being COVID hospitalists and really take a year-long break. And so we think that's going to help us on the provider front. But our goal is to try to get back to do all of our usual work and take exquisite care of COVID-19 patients.Gary Bisbee 26:49Leadership's always important, particularly magnified, probably in a crisis. When you first became aware that the COVID crisis was gonna strike, what was your first thought?Redonda Miller 27:00I think that was probably like most people. Your first thought out of the gate is, oh my, we have never faced anything like this before. This is going to be a long three months. But I have to say it was quickly followed by a little notion of, we've got this. We had already practiced. We're one of the regional centers for biocontainment. And we stepped up after Ebola to become a center of expertise. So we've already been training on a continual basis. Staff, nurses, doctors, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, you name it, who knew what it was like to step into a pandemic, and they were able to train others pretty quickly. So I figured, we'll be okay. We will manage this. And luckily, that has been the case.Gary Bisbee 27:46What is one of the most important characteristics of a leader during a crisis like this, do you think?Redonda Miller 27:51I think some of the most important characteristics are, number one, being able to pull groups of experts together and then just trusting those experts to manage. This notion that we're all in this together and having the right people around the table because no one has complete mastery of a pandemic like this. No one does. So it really was this getting the team together and building our plans in unison. And then I think, honestly, for leaders, you have to be the person who is positive. And explaining that, yes, we can do this. Yes, we're going to make decisions that we will have to rethink and maybe pivot in a different direction. And that's okay. But we will get through this. So the leader has to have some element of positivity.Gary Bisbee 28:42This has been a terrific interview, Redonda, I have one last question if I could, and that is how does the COVID experience change you as a leader and as a family member?Redonda Miller 28:54As a leader, I'm not sure it's so much has changed me as reminded me of all that is great in health care. As a physician, I trained in crisis mode. A patient would code on the unit and you stepped into action quickly and you were the leader of a team who did the CPR and the resuscitation. And so that muscle memory came back. And what I like about it as a place like Hopkins, it reminded me how every single person on the team stepped up in just that fashion. There was no wailing and whining, and it was all about, we can do this. So I think it was very refreshing to be reminded of how incredible my colleagues are. As a family member, boy, it changed me a lot. I have two daughters. They are ages 15 and 11. My husband is a pulmonary physician, who helps take care of COVID-19 patients at a different hospital here in Baltimore. So my poor little daughters became orphans overnight. They got themselves up, made breakfast, did their online school work. So I told them it was good practice for college and being on their own. But it did change me. And I realized that my daughters are growing up and they can be self-sufficient. And then as a community member, Gary, I think this was probably the most impactful, humbled every day, by the incredible appreciation from the community, the number of ways they stepped up, whether it was school kids making cards for the healthcare workers here, whether it was the donations of homemade mass businesses sending food to the front line. I really feel a part of the community here in Baltimore like I've never felt before, and I think all of them for their kind gestures and donations to support our healthcare frontline.Gary Bisbee 30:52Well, we appreciate your thoughts, Redonda. This has been a terrific interview. Thank you very much for being with us, and good luck to you and everybody else at Johns Hopkins.Redonda Miller 31:01Thank you, it was a real pleasure.Gary Bisbee 31:04This episode of Fireside Chat is produced by Strafire. Please subscribe to Fireside Chat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening right now. Be sure to rate and review fireside chat so we can continue to explore key issues with innovative and dynamic healthcare leaders. In addition to subscribing and rating, we have found that podcasts are known through word of mouth. We appreciate your spreading the word to friends or those who might be interested. Fireside Chat is brought to you from our nation's capital in Washington DC, where we explore the intersection of healthcare politics, financing, and delivery. For additional perspectives on health policy and leadership. Read my weekly blog Bisbee's Brief. For questions and suggestions about Fireside Chat, contact me through our website, firesidechatpodcast.com, or gary@hmacademy.com. Thanks for listening.
Transcription:Russ Cox 0:03What we soon found out was that we were posting that on YouTube. Employees were watching it regularly. But what we also found out is it in a vacuum of information, they were forwarding the link to their family members and to other people. And it became a very good community communication as well. To the point we even had media watching it.Gary Bisbee 0:22That was Russell Cox, President and CEO of Norton Healthcare commenting on the benefit of his daily video for Norton caregivers, which quickly went viral in Louisville for their families, the Board of Directors, local media, and the Louisville community. I'm Gary Bisbee, and this is Fireside Chat. Russ is only the fifth CEO in Norton's history. We'll track Russ from his first job as a teacher and explore lessons learned that he uses to this day. All health systems have seen telehealth visits explode as has Norton. Russ provides a unique answer to the question of whether telehealth visits will recede along with COVID and which demographic will benefit from them and why? Let's listen.Russ Cox 1:05You look at folks who have mobility issues, immunosuppressed people that have transportation issues. I think our patients have always had the muscle to do telehealth they've just never had to flex it. And COVID made them flex it and made them actually say I've got this I can do it.Gary Bisbee 1:20Our conversation includes reference to the community dismay at canceling the Louisville institution, the Kentucky Derby, the importance to maintain needed surgeries and treatments in the face of a crisis like COVID, how Norton invested in its employees so that they could focus on Norton's patients, characteristics of a leader in a crisis, and the fundamental learning from COVID. I'm delighted to welcome Russ Cox to the microphone. Well, good afternoon, Russ and welcome.Russ Cox 1:32Thanks very glad to be here.Gary Bisbee 1:55We're always pleased to have you at the microphone. Most of us are generally familiar With Norton Healthcare, but probably not in as much detail as we'd like to be so could you please describe Norton Healthcare for us?Russ Cox 2:08Yeah, sure, Gary. We're in Louisville, Kentucky. We sit in a metropolitan area with a population of about 1.2 million people. We have five hospitals that are geographically located within 13 miles of each other, the furthest to reporter 30 miles. So we operate very much as a system where about two and a half billion dollar system that probably the most meaningful statistic for you to think about where Norton healthcare is in loyal is that we have about a 55% market share, which is really a good thing. It's many things but it's a responsibility when you really think about it.Gary Bisbee 2:42Right, but quite amazing. How would you characterize the culture of Norton Healthcare?Russ Cox 2:49The culture of Norton Healthcare really goes back a long way when you go back to the beginning of Norton Healthcare. We've only ever had five CEOs. I'm the fifth one. So there's been very few CEOs, folks who stay around a long time, and we go back to Wade Mounts who was the first CEO who was the very first president of AHA and really did some great things in the Hall of Fame. And you come right on through to Jim Petersdorf who was very focused on measurable quality. Then come right on through that Steve Williams, the CEO prior to me, we were the very first organization to post every quality score on our website when we did that 12 years ago. So transparency is part of the culture, very community based, our Board of Trustees all sit right here and live in Louisville, Kentucky. So it's a very community-centric, very transparent, very trusted asset in the community.Gary Bisbee 3:40Actually, I was at AHA when Wade was chairman officer so I go way back with Norton and your leaders.Russ Cox 3:47Sadly, we lost Wade this year.Gary Bisbee 3:48Really? Okay.Russ Cox 3:49We lost him the first week of March. He had a great life. He lived 93 years and he was healthcare through and through.Gary Bisbee 3:56We'll get into the COVID outbreak in a little bit, but could you describe your main priorities before the COVID outbreak?Russ Cox 4:03We were in the beginning of a brand new approved strategic plan that really had great focus on extending access even further in our community and had a strong emphasis and platform on telehealth for convenience, for reach, for being able to extend our nearly 2000 on the medical staff 1500 employed position and provider platform that we really felt was a great opportunity. It turned out to be a great thing that we were because we certainly needed it sooner than we thought we would, but we were all about pushing access. We were all about looking for ways that we could personalize and make the convenience much better for the consumer. I think everybody had that focus going into it, but it just really was taking on a bigger role in how we advocate for patients and getting access to specialty services for patients who lived out further in Woodland in Kentucky. So again, it was fortuitous that we had such a focus on the virtual model. And we had already begun construction of that and already begun preparing for that way. So we were able to accelerate very quickly when this COVID-19 issue came about.Gary Bisbee 5:14Absolutely good timing. Let's turn to you for a minute. Russ. It's always fun to get the background of the CEO, the health system, so a lifelong resident of Louisville ever think about going elsewhere?Russ Cox 5:25Oh, sure. I had the opportunity to in my early days. I worked with what was Humana, the hospital company, and then it became an insurance company and then it became Galen. And then it became Columbia HCA and then it became HCA. I had the opportunity to relocate to Nashville, Tennessee with HCA and I actually did live there on a temporary basis for about a year and a half, two years. But I've always considered Nashville a very dynamic city from the standpoint of what the Frist family has done for entrepreneurship and healthcare and how so many interesting things have happened in healthcare in Nashville. So I'd say Nashville would be up on that list.Gary Bisbee 6:02Of course, we all think about Louisville we think about the Kentucky Derby. Seems like you and the Norton executives are all active in Kentucky Derby week. This year didn't happen, probably what the first time in a long time that the Kentucky Derby wasn't held?Tim Pehrson 6:19It absolutely was. And it's just another one of those signs of how different things are because we can't even imagine the first Saturday in May is just absolute tradition in our state and in the country. And for it not to happen this year was just devastating, both mentally and from a financial perspective to our community. So we're certainly hopeful that it can be run in September, we're not sure whether or not we're going to be able to be there to watch it in person. But these are different times and we understand that we all have to adapt and adjust and we certainly are going to be supportive of fire brother and at Churchill Downs and hopefully we get through this and things get back to normal.Gary Bisbee 7:00Well, what do you like best about Louisville?Russ Cox 7:02You know, I'd have to say here that one of the things that have always attracted me to Louisville is the strong healthcare DNA and Humana. David Jones and Wendell Cherry started up a hospital company here from scratch that turned into what you still know is Humana but in a different configuration. It's all about insurance and on the payer side and Medicare Advantage, we've had a lot of firsts that happened in this community in healthcare. If you go back to hand transplants and you know, a competitor hospital if you go to the first pediatric heart transplant that was done at Norton Children's Hospital. And there's been a whole lot of things that have happened in our community that have really made that DNA strong and such a vibrant part of the community. And I think that's always been an attraction. I'll tell you the other thing that you have to appreciate about Louisville is that it's not a parochial community at all. We've had people we've had physicians relocate here, we've had all kinds of people relocate here. The one thing they say is you can be as involved in the city as you want to be. It's a very welcoming, very open, very willing to let you be involved in anything you want. It doesn't matter what your last name is here. It really just matters what your passion is. And it's been a great thing for this community. I think it's it's helped us get through this particular time as well.Gary Bisbee 8:14Now, I know from past discussions that you were a teacher earlier in your career, was that your first job after college?Russ Cox 8:22Actually, it was, I was certain that I wanted to be an attorney. I had been accepted to three law schools. My father had paid a $500 deposit for me to attend one. I clerked the summer of my senior year in college and came home and said, "Oh my god, I can't do this." This is not like what lawyers look like on TV at all. And it was a good experience that I never will forget. My father told me that I said, I'll pay you back to $500. And he said, don't worry about that. $500 to find out what you don't want to do is a good investment. I graduated from undergraduate and taught school for two years and taught Middle School of all things. So I often say that if you can be prepared five days a week for middle school students, you can do anything in healthcare, because it's a different kind of challenge. But I did that while I went to graduate school and was able to then find myself working in the early 80s. For Humana in its early days as well, in the Human Resources function there. So I jumped into healthcare in 1982, after having been a teacher for two years and had a good background and obviously Training and Education and Human Resources area, and the rest was kind of history. It was such a growing company back then. And the opportunities for somebody to come in and really develop and really grow were great because it was growing so fast. They needed people and Mr. Jones and Mr. Cherry were not afraid to throw you in the deep end and help you learn how to swim. That's exactly what they did with me and it's been good for me, I still say that I call upon those teaching skills on a daily basis, Gary,Gary Bisbee 9:55Well, the other skill may be what you learned at Humana. Can you share with us? What lessons did you learn there that you've carried on to Norton?Russ Cox 10:05There's so many things to transfer both ways, the investor/own side of it. And let's just put this at the top of it. Both places put the patient at the very center of every decision that they make. And I never saw a decision made at Humana that was in any way detrimental to a patient. As a matter of fact, it was always about the patient. So there's a lot of similarities that are there. I think the differences that you have to think because you have a responsibility to shareholders. We have a responsibility to bondholders, but we can be a little bit longer-term thinking the not for profit side. And I think that's an advantage. You can be more strategic from the long perspective. I think that when you're investor-owned, you have to think about what am I doing that will increase value over the next 90 days. Now, that's not to say that everything's that way. But you get a report card every 90 days, and that's a pretty serious report card. So I learned to think in terms of how can we improve a situation and get it done quickly? How can we expedite? I think I also learned a whole lot about measurability because in the investor/owned side, it was very important that you be quantitative, that you get the right data to make decisions with. And I think that's played over into the not for profit side, currently. But I think it took a little bit longer to get to that place. So there's a lot of things that have transferability. But at the end of the day, we're all very similar in how we approach patient care.Gary Bisbee 11:30Let's turn to the COVID-19 crisis. What was the surge or the profile of the surge in Louisville?Russ Cox 11:40Well, it's been an interesting time for us. Obviously, we anticipated a larger surge than what we actually experienced. And hopefully, if we're going to want to say that we took enough very appropriate action quickly and made certain that certain things happen. We had a very, very strong, newly released Governor Andy Bashir, who really took a great leadership position in the state and made sure that while the decisions weren't always popular to shut things down earlier to stop things from happening, that it was the right thing to do. So we were able to preempt a whole lot of what that surge could have been, we were all prepared for it. What we've really seen is more of a less than expected surge that we would hardly call a surge and it's flattened into what we now are calling a steady plateau. We're seeing about the same numbers come in and go out on a daily basis. So our new abnorma...l is I'm calling because I don't think anything will be normal again... but our new abnormal is that we're probably likely going to have in our system 40 to 50 COVID positive patients on the inpatient side, every day for a while. We were fortunate that we didn't see a whole lot of event utilization. We were prepared for that. But we always had plenty events, most of our obviously more serious patients on the inpatient side, we're in the ICU. So we monitor those days very carefully. But it's been a pretty steady sort of run over the past two to three weeks. And hopefully as things begin to open up, we'll be able to see that steadiness continues. We hope that it doesn't create a spike. But we're prepared for that. If it does, and hopefully by continuing to do the things that we're doing, we'll continue to see that gradual decline.Gary Bisbee 13:20Building on that we've seen that there's a lack of information and probably disinformation going around how have you communicated with the community, Russ?Russ Cox 13:31Well, we've taken a multi-pronged approach to how we communicate. We knew in early March that this was going to be different and we were going to have to do some things very differently. So one of the things we did is I started recording a video once a day, about 10 to 12 minutes where I was 100% transparent with employees gave them exactly the numbers of people that were coming in. How many of them were positive, how many of them were impatient, where they were, how many employees we tested, how many employees were positive. We gave how many people were Were out on medical furlough, how many people have returned from furlough, then we would use what was left of the 10 to 12 minutes to talk about significant shifts in policy that we needed to make whether it be a restricting visitation, whether it be utilization of PPE. I took the last two or three minutes and we set up an email where people could send in questions and we just tried to run through questions that people had sent in as quickly as we could. What we soon found out was that we were posting that on YouTube. Employees were watching it regularly. But what we also found out is it in a vacuum of information, they were forwarding the link to their family members to other people, and it became a very good community communication as well. To the point we even had media watching it. And again, 10 to 12 minutes is about all you can do. The players don't have time, but what we found was that people were watching it at home, letting their spouse watch it at home. And so it was a very effective sort of communication. We send it to all of our physicians, all 16,300 employees got link to that on a daily basis. This afternoon I'll film number 72 in a row of doing that. And it's been one of those good things that we've been able to do because people will watch that video, people tend to get an email and only glaze through it and not get some of the details. So we've really tried to extrapolate what is it that people really need to know to do their job the next day. So that's been very effective. The other thing we've done is we've worked very effectively with local and state governments to make sure that they had our information that we were helping them in any way that they needed possible to get messages out. When you have 55% market share, you have an opportunity to leverage that. We're an epic, EMR. We've got my chart, we were able to leverage my chart to really improve telehealth. We went from probably 250 telehealth visits in February to the month of April, we had 18,000 telehealth visits. So we were able to use that to communicate with patients as well. We did zoom media availabilities once a week where we would just again, be very transparent. Take any questions that the press had. I just felt like that our history of transparency and a responsibility that we have to make sure that we're providing as much information as we can for the public really required us to take an hour out of a week or whatever, and just sit down with the media and say, here's what we're saying, here's what we think, what can we answer for you? We leverage social media as much as it could be possibly leverage during this time, as I'm sure everyone did. But my goal for our organization was to be accused of over-communicating. I think that's one of the things you learn for being a teacher sometimes is that sometimes you've got to be repetitive, repetitive, repetitive, as they say for students to learn and sometimes for the public to understand we have to just continue to they use that message I'd really like to have $1 for every time I said, make sure you wash your hands, make sure you social distance, make sure you cough it to your elbow. Make sure you don't go to your eyes and nose with your fingers. I mean, I could give these speeches over and over again, but we just made it our goal to over-communicate. I also should add that we included our Board of Trustees in those videos. And that was probably one of the smarter things that we did because it sure made board meetings a lot easier. They would watch that video every day and be able to keep up with what we were doing and how we're doing it. So we got a board meeting and we didn't have to recreate everything that had happened over the past month. It's an effective tool.Gary Bisbee 17:26Well, it's 72 videos, you're going to be quite a personality around Louisville. If you need an agent Russ just let me know I'm available.Russ Cox 17:36I didn't say the news was always good. I was delivering. We did learn from that too, Gary. That if you are palms up with your employees and tell him exactly how it is and it's pretty hard for me to stand in front of that camera last month and say, folks, the month of April, we're going to lose $80 million. But it was very much a rallying cry for everybody to say hey, at least I know what it is. And at least I feel like we have a plan to figure this out. And we did our best to make sure that every day, and it got us through some PPE issues to hearing, because we had PPE problems just like everybody else did. I mean, I literally would go on the video every day and say, here's how many of these we have, here's what our burn rate is, we're going to need to reuse these and we're going to need to use ultraviolet rays to sanitize these masks, and you're going to need to use them the next day and I bring in somebody from our infectious control to actually talk about this will work and you need to trust it. So it has so many uses that I would do it all over again, I think that was the one strategy that really did make a big difference for us.Gary Bisbee 18:41If we could dig into telemedicine, you made the point that your virtual strategy was a priority pre-COVID, and that played well into what came post-COVID. How do you see televisits growing from here?Russ Cox 18:59I think they'll grow. There's going to be circumstances where the face to face visit with a provider is always going to be the best possible way to do it. But there's going to be a real need for telehealth and increase telehealth going forward because we have so many people who fit into this higher risk category. And until we have a reliable vaccination, we're going to have people who shouldn't be out and about. So leveraging this and the good news is one of those categories of at-risk are elderly people. The good news is that elderly people have been introduced to technology to communicate with their grandchildren and their children. So telehealth now feels very natural to a whole lot of people who in the past, wouldn't it use telehealth? So, you look at folks who have mobility issues, immunosuppressed people that have transportation issues. I think our patients have always had the muscle to do telehealth, they've just never had to flex it. And COVID made them flex it and made them actually say, hey, I've got this I can do it. So we're pretty excited. We last week announced a concept that I'm very excited about and really it just came from understanding more about telehealth. We're building the first permanent drive through testing diagnostic site that I think we've ever seen. We certainly have none of them in this region. And I don't know if there's any in the country, but we saw how telehealth works so well. And we realized, hey, if we could almost if you could think of a Jiffy Lube concept, but for healthcare, we're gonna have three bays where people could pull up, they can have lab work done. They can have diagnostics done. They can have tests, they can have vaccinations, and we learned a lot that if you can do it in your car, you can have a telehealth visit, get the orders, go get your lab work and your car and not have to leave your car and not have to come into medical office buildings or labs and interact with people. And we can put two people in Pampers for the whole day and save PPE. So we're moving up telehealth to the next iteration of testing diagnostics for an express drive-thru and walk-up perspective that we think will help drive even more telehealth. So I think we have to look at how do we get ahead of the curve on this because the circumstances that we're in may change, but the memory of the patient is not going to change for a long time. And if we have spikes, we're going to need this capacity. If we have another virus of some kind, which is altogether possible, we're going to need this skill set. We're going to need these kinds of opportunities with telehealth and travel through testing to make people feel very comfortable with continuing to use. So yeah, I'm very bullish on telehealth and drive-thru and walk-up permanent testing sites. Be interesting to see how it works.Gary Bisbee 21:35Yeah, for sure. Well, that's a terrific initiative and on Norton's part, one quick question there. Do you think insurance companies will continue to reimburse for televisits the way they have during the crisis?Russ Cox 21:48We certainly advocated for this during the time we've worked with all of our political leaders that we know we've worked with our payers. It will be a shame if they don't because we're able to make a difference in so many people's lives that otherwise won't come in. And I've tried to convince some payers along the way that we will probably lost some people that will never get to come to again. And that's going to be to their benefit. So hopefully, they'll see the wisdom in continuing to invest in good reimbursement levels for telehealth, but I'm going to be honest with even if they don't, the consumer is not going to let us discontinue this service. I really think that it's a whole different world that we're living in as it relates to patient and patient advocacy around how they want to receive health care.Gary Bisbee 22:33Let's turn to a story that's not quite as attractive and that is surgeries, particularly elective surgeries, you make the point that we might be a captive of our own terminology. Why don't you dig into that a bit? If you could, Russ?Russ Cox 22:46We've always known the importance of surgical procedures, diagnostic procedures, and the like on hospitals. I don't think in my careers, and I've been in it since '82, that it's ever been hammered home more than it was when we were forced to discontinue those kinds of services because it's a severing of the cord, if you will, with the patient in many ways to not be able to do those things. Not to mention what it does to your revenue stream. But I really do feel like we're a victim of our own nomenclature at times because the word elective, so often go to the mind of a consumer or the mind of the general public that all we did was cosmetic procedures. And that's so wrong. All we did really was delay procedures that needed to be done. And they got categorized as elective and pretty soon everyone's arguing over what elective is, and I think that was a learning for us all in this that we need to really examine how we define surgeries that need to be done. And all we did was delay which many times put the patient in a compromised position. What is elective about a person needing spine surgery with horrific back pain? What's the elective about a knee replacement? If the person has a blood infection in that joint, there is nothing elective about that. But we found ourselves arguing about what's elective and what is just really has to be done. It certainly was an eye-opener for us. As I mentioned earlier, we lost $80 million in the month of April. And a whole lot of that goes to the fact that we couldn't do surgeries, we couldn't do procedures. We never laid anybody off. We never reduced anybody's pay, we made the conscious decision that we were going to invest in our employees and that we were going to ask them to focus on patients and focus on staying ready when the patients came back, and we were going to fight through it together. So it all added up to not a good financial result. But the culture of our organization is better for the fact that we stood by our employees and I think physicians have noticed that I think that as they make decisions as to where they want to practice in the future, they're going to remember to take care of their employees. So we're glad to see that we're able to return to 100% of elective surgery starting tomorrow. We were at 50% for the past two weeks. We saw a very strong willingness for patients and physicians to come back. We were worried. I think one of the lessons I learned here is that you can't just tell patients, trust us, it's safe. They expect us to say that. They think oh, of course, you're gonna say it safe. But what we have to do is tell them how it's different. And so our communication strategy has been to communicate with patients how it's different. You're going to get your temperature taken before you come in the door, you're going to be asked to put a mask on, you're going to be asked to only have one visitor with you, when you're here. We clean all of our areas with UV ray machines, we're not going to have waiting areas with chairs that are not six feet apart. So we've worked very hard on building trust back by not just saying trust us, but by saying here's what's different. We're encouraged our fear at times that what I'm seeing right now and feeling good about is just a backlog of necessary surgery that is enthusiastic, we come back so I think we'll know a whole lot more over the next four to six weeks is to the general public's willingness to read Return to those procedures. We've done a lot of research, I think that everybody knows that they're more comfortable returning to ASC than they are to hospitals that have procedures. So we've done everything we can to communicate what we're doing and how we're doing it and to get people to places where they're going to be comfortable with a procedure with the surgery being done.Gary Bisbee 26:19Following up on the economic story, how do you see 2020 ending up? And how do you see '21 ending up given there's so many variables here that it's just impossible to figure out?Russ Cox 26:32It really is. I have to say that I'm very pessimistic for the rest of 2020. Simply because I think that it could have everything from spikes to another surge to still some reticence on the part of patients to come back as quickly as we would hope. I think it's going to be a difficult slog for us. Well, let me say that the Cares Act has made a difference for us. For us getting $43 million is significant. It doesn't make up for the revenue we lost. But it helps. And it's certainly something that we didn't count on or expect. So I think that's been a good thing for hospitals and healthcare organizations to at least have that assist going forward. We don't know how much more that's coming if he's coming. But that would always certainly be welcomed and help. I like to think that payers are going to understand that they've done very well during this time. And that hopefully, they'll see their way fit to help us through this time as we go forward. So might be crazily optimistic on that. But I think these are different times. I think that it's in everyone's best interest to be some shared help along the way. So I'm more optimistic that if we're able to do the things that we're doing and sustain the behaviors and activities that we're in right now that 2021 can be a year that we maybe not return to the levels where we have been in the past, but that we begin to calibrate more towards what we're used to.Gary Bisbee 27:54We've touched on this several times before today, but let me ask that question directly if I can, what are the characteristics of a leader in a crisis? What should they be?Russ Cox 28:06I'm going to go back to what I said earlier, I think it's number one, two, and three, a good communicator, and a communicator that's willing to share everything that they know. And everything that I say, I think is important for people to know. And be willing to do it in a way that is very palms up, very transparent. And that creates a sense of stability and calm. I think the mistake that a lot of leaders make during this time is to get so buried in the details of execution on operations around things that they forget that just communicating that we're going to be fine. We are going to get through this and that we do have a plan and that we're going to tell you about that every day and be willing to say to people, it's going to change because the situation is gonna change and just watch us every day. Listen every day and if you have concerns, we set up a hotline one 800 number for if you have concerns about PPE call this and it will get it resolved to date. If you're not feeling good call employee helpline. It's one central line here. But I think communication I just go back to, it sounds so easy to say all communication is so important. What I found during this time is you cannot communicate too much. And you need to be out there regularly. They need to be able to see your face and not just read an email, they need to be able to see the emotion that you feel. They need to understand that you're very much into this and that you're very much about making certain that they're safe, that they have the tools they need to do their job, and that they can take care of patients. I've become a big believer in that anything in everything that you can do. To communicate is very important and I haven't it hasn't been lost on me that you're not just communicating with your employees. you're communicating with their families in the morning information they're able to share with their families, the more secure their families feel about that person coming to work and putting themselves in harm's way every day.Gary Bisbee 30:09Well said, Russ, this has been a terrific interview, we appreciate your time, I'd like to ask one final question. That is this idea of new normal, you make the point that we're not going to see normal again. But what comes to your mind in changes in the delivery system as a result of COVID that you would like to see?Russ Cox 30:29Flexibility. I think there's going to be a list of terms that we hate going forward and I'm going to put in an abundance of caution on that list. I hate that term. I feel like I've used it so many times and it's become so trite but new normal is another one that I hate, but I think the new normal if you will, is flexibility. We've got to meet patients where they are. Some are going to want those telehealth opportunities, some are going to want to come to the office. Some are going to want to delay care. How do we stay in touch with them? Some are going to want to do it virtually, we established a virtual hospital during this time, it's been a great success. We were able to discharge people into this virtual hospital where they had a virtual visit every day from their provider, and we were able to monitor their vitals remotely. So we're just going to have to meet people where they are and have a flexible approach to saying, How do you best interact with us, and what makes you most comfortable, what makes you feel the best about it? What makes you feel the safest? So my new normal and the thing that I preach here every day is meeting that patient where they are and having a flexible enough model that we can accommodate whatever it is that they choose, and however it is they choose to interface with us,Gary Bisbee 31:41Russ, thanks so much for your time today. Norton is lucky to have you and we've enjoyed very much having you on the show.Russ Cox 31:48Appreciate being here. Appreciate the great work of the Academy and look forward to us all being able to get back together again someday.Gary Bisbee 31:55This episode of Fireside Chat is produced by Strafire. Please subscribe to Fireside Chat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening right now. Be sure to rate and review Fireside Chat so we can continue to explore key issues with innovative and dynamic healthcare leaders. In addition to subscribing and rating, we have found that podcasts are known through word of mouth. We appreciate your spreading the word to friends or those who might be interested. Fireside Chat is brought to you from our nation's capital in Washington DC, where we explore the intersection of healthcare politics, financing, and delivery. For additional perspectives on health policy and leadership. Read my weekly blog Bisbee's Brief. For questions and suggestions about Fireside Chat, contact me through our website, firesidechatpodcast.com, or gary@hmacademy.com. Thanks for listening.
#020 Host Josie's top 10 favorite places to visit in Italy (so far!)Do you have favorite places to visit in Italy? In this episode our host Josie takes her turn in choosing her Italy top 10. It's no easy decision. And after many years of trips to Italy, frankly it just gets harder. In the end, while the cities, scenery and beaches all have their allure, it's those family memories made throughout Italy that Josie treasures the most. You'll learn about the sights and places that stole her heart to help you to plan your own dream trip.Grazie, thank you for listening. We hope you enjoy our show and would love you to subscribe for all the latest episodes.If you would like more information on my top 10 plus links and full show notes for this episode, head over to:https://untolditaly.com/20Our free community for Italy travel lovers:https://untolditaly.com/community
Welcome to the Tipsy Filmmakers Podcast, where we wine about film!Our podcast introduction episode is here! In this episode we cover:Song - Hotshot by Scott Holmes. Licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial License; 0:16Co-host intros; 0:43Podcast future and goals; 1:17Tori and Nicolle’s friendship history; 2:20Our first meeting; 3:45Our first bonding experience; 5:18Our timeline; 9:10Coke Stuff: https://youtu.be/pXksTUNbesU; 9:13Nicolle meets Lily; 9:35“Dark side of campus”, a term used by some UNLV students to describe a section of campus; 9:55Making friends; 10:19Future plan; 10:45One of our best decisions; 11:22We thought we didn’t make; 12:08College friends for life; 13:44Our socials; 15:29Last words; 15:57Cheers! 16:26 Our recommendations in this episode:Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Nicolle’s favorite movie)Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Tori’s favorite show) You can find us on:Our website: https://blubrry.com/tipsyfilmmakers/ Facebook: Tipsy Filmmakers Podcast - Home Instagram: @tipsyfilmmakersTwitter: @tipsyfilmmakers Feel free to connect with us and stay up to date with us on our socials or email us any questions or suggestions you have @ tipsyfilmmakers@gmail.com We would love to hear from you!
In this episode we interview two long-term missionaries from Southeast Asia. We discuss what led them to the mission field, what life is like overseas, and what advice they have for those considering a life on the mission field.
In this episode we take you along with us on part 2 of our mission trip to Honduras. We also reflect on our greatest takeaways from our time abroad, now that we've been home for a little while.
In this episode we take you along with us on our mission trip to Honduras. Throughout the trip we recapped and debriefed each day, and we share those moments with you here on the podcast.
In this episode we tell our story: trying to bring real life and missions life together. We also discuss two recent articles from the world of missions, including an update to the missionary that contracted Ebola. Finally, we answer a listener's question.
January 19 Jeff Williams Bursting Your Bubble, Part 2 Good morning! Let's do our homework first. Let's get that over with. I know you've been studying hard all week 1Peter 3:15. You're excited. I can just see it in your face. You're excited to show me what you've learned. Let's go ahead and put that on the board and say it. A couple of words are missing. Say it out loud. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect 1 Peter 3:15 So every week we're going to have a few more words go away, and then in the last week we're just going to put up the reference and that's it. You're going to have to just know it and say it. If we have any first time visitors that week they're going to be so impressed with you. They're going to go, "Wow, what a church! Just put up the reference and they know the verse." I've shared with you in the past about my background and my home, growing up in Rockford, the son of a first generation Swedish immigrant. As would often happen when you were an immigrant, you would come over to America you'd get the lowest paying job. So he got a factory job making very little. When I was almost five, my dad passed away. That left my mom who had to drop out of school during the depression to help the family. She didn't have a job that paid very well. I grew up pretty far below the poverty line. Our family never owned a home; most of the time never drove a car. We had to rely on other agencies for food and clothing oft times. I grew up in a four-family flat and lived there basically my whole life until I went to school. It wasn't anything to look at, still isn't. It's still there and it was old when I was a little boy. There's a woman there, my neighbor upstairs, who lived there before I was born and still lives there today. She's lived in that apartment for fifty-five years. She's now eighty-seven years old and her husband just passed away. I've known them all my life. I visited her this week and just went to talk with her, talking to her and crying with her and praying with her. I left the apartment and went downstairs. I have not looked in our apartment (which is downstairs and across the way) in sixteen years. I bent down and I looked inside that window where so many years of my life were lived and was just hit with a flood of memories. I saw my bedroom. I envisioned myself as a little boy playing games in there. My mom and my sister., just a flood of memories coming back. As I looked around that space, which would look like nothing to you and no place certainly you'd want to be. By the way the apartment was empty. It's waiting for renters. I'm not being a peeping Tom. Nobody's in there. I'm looking in there and you know what came out of my mouth? It was one word: home. It's what I said. I didn't plan on saying that. I didn't know I was going to say that. I just looked inside for a while and just went, “Home.” I wasn't trying to make a sermon illustration. It was just how I felt. What's home to you? What does that mean to you? To me, home is the place where you feel like you belong, the place where you feel loved. It's the place that you wish you were, or you'd like to return to if you're not there. It's a place that you're fond of and there are memories there. It's home. It's where you feel comfortable. It's where you felt unconditional love. I thought, also, about a gentleman. I read about a Japanese war hero who just passed away this week. Did you read about Hiroo Onoda? He's a Japanese soldier who was dropped down in the western Philippines in 1944 and his mission was to spy on the Americans. So he would. His mission was: don't surrender and don't die. You're not like a kamikaze who's going to give his life up. Your job is to stay alive, gather intelligence, and help us win this war. Well, when the war was won and Japan surrendered, he didn't believe it. He thought it was all propaganda from the West. It was a big conspiracy theory. So he stayed in the jungle and fought. For 30 years Hiroo lived in the jungle and fought a war that nobody was fighting anymore. For thirty years he scavenged for food trying to survive, trying to avoid the enemy. He tried to be a faithful soldier. He even took some lives of some people who he thought were from the enemy. They would drop down leaflets into the jungle and when Hiroo would read them he would say they were a lie, it was propaganda, it was a conspiracy. He thought they were just tricks to tell him the war had ended when it really had not. So he would continue to hide. It wasn't until his commander in chief put on his military garb, flew to the Philippines, walked into the jungle until he found him and said, “Hiroo, the war is over. Surrender your sword with honor and come home.” And he did. When his commander-in-chief came in there and told him the war was over that's the only time he believed it. So he surrendered his sword and bowed in respect and came home to a hero's welcome. For 30 years he fought the war. You know that really sums up the Gospel. The Gospel is this: the war is over, surrender, and come home. That's the Gospel. God is not mad at you. We know people who will run from God their whole lives. They avoid church like the plague, and you will hear them say, if you invite them to church, “I don't want to go because the roof's going to fall in. If God ever gets a hold of me he's going to teach me a thing or two because I know I've done some bad things. If God ever gets my tail I'm in big trouble.” So they try to avoid God. They are fighting a war that's not there. God is not their enemy. God is not there to put his wrath on them. His wrath went upon his Son. What God is offering is grace and forgiveness and restoration. They don't know that. They don't understand that so they continue to run and hide. But the mission of the Gospel is to share that good news that you're not God's enemy and you need to surrender and you need to come home. Home needs to be a different place for you. Home needs to be not here on this earth but where God is and where the people of God are. So those are our orders. That's a tall order. Let's look and see how Jesus approached that. Let's take a look and see him interacting with the woman at the well in John chapter four. You want to talk about bursting bubbles that we saw on that video? Jesus is going to burst a lot of bubbles here in this passage, alright? A lot of comfort zone breaking here. I'm going to begin reading with verse four, and in a little while I'm going to engage you in the reading as well. You're going to have to come out of your comfort zone a little bit this morning. It says, 4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. So it's noon. The day is getting hot. Jesus is thirsty. He sits down by the well. Now here is where I'd like you to join in. I'm going to be the narrator. Anything that's not dialog, I will read. Men, you get to be Jesus. You'll say the words of Jesus. Ladies, you will say the words of the woman at the well. Anything in parenthesis I will read, okay? You will read dialog; I will do the narration. Are you ready? Are you coming out of your comfort zone? Alright, let's go. 7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Okay, we're going to stop there for a second. We're going to read on through verse thirty eventually, but we'll stop right there. Here's what's going on in the story. Here are the barriers that are being broken down: racial, cultural, religious, and gender. First of all, Jesus is a Jew and she is a Samaritan. A Samaritan was a person who was half Jew half Gentile, so there were racial prejudices between the two. The Jews really looked down on the Samaritans as second class. They were a reminder of what you were not supposed to do. You were not supposed to intermarry, intermix, with the other tribes and countries. That was a violation, so they are a reminder. They [the Jews] had a hatred, a visceral hatred, for the Samaritans. If somebody hates you, usually your response is you don't like them so much either. So there was hostility and tension between the two races. There was religious hostility. Judaism wanted to be really pure, but the Samaritans had a melting pot of religions, a synchronistic melting pot, an amalgamation of different faiths that they had adopted. So they [Jews] looked at them as religiously impure. For Jesus to start a dialog with somebody of this other race and religion was taboo. What's more, to do that as a male, you didn't talk to a woman who was by herself. You just didn't do that, especially if you were a rabbi. You would avoid that woman. You wouldn't even make eye contact, and she wasn't even allowed to speak to you. But Jesus starts a dialog, very out of the box. Jesus is certainly putting her outside her comfort zone, I guarantee you that. She knows what he's doing is very outside the box, and she's going to tell him that. She's not comfortable with this dialog. Then Jesus starts to get personal, doesn't he? He starts divulging things about her past that there's no way he could know. You've had five wives... wait a second now, that's a different story. [laughter] You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now is not your husband. Now those are impressive numbers. To be on husband-to-be number six. Those are Zsa Zsa Gabor numbers. [laughter] Only old people laugh at that joke. So if you laugh, not naming names, Jody. But anyway, that's a lot of spouses! Especially back in the day, if you had that many spouses, man! I mean, she's probably coming to the water to drink alone because she's an outcast. You normally would come in the morning; you'd come as a group and get all your water for the day's chores. She comes at a strange hour. She comes by herself. That's probably not a coincidence. As soon as Jesus starts to probe into personal matters, what does she do? Does she engage in that subject? “Well, you're right. I have had five husbands. Here's what happened…” No, what does she do? She changes the subject. She starts talking about the mountain. “You know this mountain, we worship over here. Where do you guys worship?” Just total avoidance of the question. That's not uncommon. People are used to talking about the weather, or have you seen this movie?, or have you gone out to eat at that new restaurant? But if you start talking about substantive matters, don't be surprised when the person changes the subject. Don't be surprised if they avoid that because they think you're getting a little too personal. Jesus is so skilled that he softly addresses her concern or question and then brings it right back around. Let's continue reading. Let's start with verse 23... 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” 27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28Then, leaving her water jar, ...and that is significant. It seems like a detail, like, John, why did you tell us that? Who in the world cares that she left her water jar. How in the world is that important to the story? That's huge! That's the reason she was there, right? The reason she was there was to draw water. Now what has happened is that represents a shift in her thinking. She was consumed with self, with the here and now, with the stuff of earth, and all of a sudden that doesn't even matter. She is now consumed with the things of heaven, with new life, with the news of the Savior. So, the water jar? The task that she had to do? That doesn't matter anymore. Something more important is here. Leaving the water jar, that's significant. the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Revival is going to take place in this town through her. We might find, as a church, that it's the person you bring to the Lord who's going to do more good for the Kingdom than you do, and that's okay. So what's interesting in this story, to me, is when she says, “He told me everything I've ever done,” and she's excited about it. Don't you find that a little odd? “He told me everything I've ever done. Come and hear. Come and meet him.” If I said to you this morning, you came into church, and I said, “Now I can't tell you how we did this, but we've managed to capture, on video, everything you've ever done, and we're going to show it to the church this morning.” You'd be like - zoom! You're gone, right? You might even leave town, I don't know. But that's not fun for you. That's not something you're like, “Oh good, let me get some popcorn. I want to see that!” Because everybody in this room has done things that we don't want to share with the public. Hey, I'm embarrassed by that or I'm ashamed of that or that wasn't too good, right? But she said, “Everything I've ever done. He knows all about who I am and he knows about my past,” and yet, when she shares it, she's joyful about it, excited about it. Read between the lines. What was the message that Jesus was sharing with her? We get some of the dialog, but we don't get all of it. What was he sharing? You know what he's sharing? “The war's over. Surrender. Come home. God's not mad at you. I mean, I know you walk around in shame and in guilt and I know people ostracize you. I know they reject you. I know they judge you, but you know what? God's not mad at you. God loves you. God is going to give. I'm the Messiah and I'm here today.” She's no head of state. She's no rich powerful person. There's nothing she could do for him, but Jesus had an appointment with her that day. What does that say about our worth and our value? “The war's over. You've been running and hiding. You've been trying to find intimacy in all these relationships and it hasn't worked. You go from man to man to man to man to man and you can't find what you're looking for so you keep looking, and you'll never find it. You know why? Because it's only found in God. So surrender. Your way's not working. Come home. Come into the Father's Kingdom. Find a Father who loves you. Find the love you've been looking for your whole life. Come home to God.” That's the message of the Gospel. That's what Jesus was sharing with her. That's why she's so excited to tell her friends. If he had been judgmental towards her and condescending, would she go home and say to everybody enthusiastically and excitedly, “Come and meet a man who knows everything I ever did and treated me like dirt! Come and meet him, come and hear him!”? The place for the lecture would be right here where he says, “Right you are! The man you are living with is not your husband. You've had five husbands and the man you're living with now is not your husband.” Insert religious lecture right there. That's where you put it. But it's not there. You know the biggest problem with Christianity? Christians. The biggest obstacle for people coming to Christ is not Christ. It's not what he said. It's not what he did. Most people have no clue what he really said and did. It's Christians. We think somebody has sin in their life it's our business to lecture them and preach at them and let them know why we are so much more superior than they are. That kind of an attitude, that kind of approach just drives a wedge, and people do not respond to that. But all the dirt is there. The dirty laundry is all out in the open and yet Jesus still loves her. You know what your job is if somebody tells you about their past, their difficulties, their lifestyle? You know what your job is? It's to listen. It's not to preach. As they come to the Lord, the Holy Spirit and his Word will begin to work in their life and cleanse them. It's not your job, okay? I was playing basketball at the Club recently and one of my buddies was having a hard time. He was getting fouled a lot, and he was calling foul and the game was really intense. I hadn't gone on my dunking spree yet, where I take over the game and start doing monster slam dunks. I hadn't done that. Actually, I've never done that, but anyway. It was back and forth really intense and there was, “Aw, I didn't foul you! Come on, I didn't touch you!” He stops and he gives a speech right there on the basketball court. He says to the guy, “Can you get in my skin? Could you come inside of my body and feel what I feel? Do you feel the sensation in my right arm right now from where you fouled me? Can you feel what my right arm feels right now?” He pauses for effect. “If you can't get in my skin and you can't tell me what I feel then don't think you can call fouls for me.” Claps. Speech, great speech. But I agreed with him actually, because I've felt that way. When somebody fouled you and you call a foul and they say, “Well, I didn't foul you.” How do you know you didn't foul me? You don't know. You're not me. You can't get in my skin, exactly. When you encounter these seekers or these people who are non-believers and they live a lifestyle that you don't approve of and you know the Bible doesn't approve of, your job is not to judge them because you can't get in their skin. You don't know how they live. You don't know what their past, their background was, and you don't know how you would have lived had you grown up in their surroundings and had their parents or lack thereof. You might have been worse than they are. You have no idea. Your job is to listen to, support, and guide them. This whole idea of Christians acting in superiority, in a condescending manner, is so diametrically opposed to what Scripture says. It says you are to do so in gentleness and respect. One person has said that evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. You've got nothing to boast about, okay? Jesus comes and he just says, “Look, I know you've had a difficult past, but God loves you. You don't need to hide from him. You don't need to run from him. You don't need to go from relationship to relationship. Surrender and come home.” It's the Gospel. I think another powerful point in this story is that God will use you in the here and the now and the everyday circumstances and events of this life. It's great that we have a team in the Dominican Republic, but you don't have to get on a plane and fly to a different country to be used by God. Your mission field is right as you leave this parking lot. God can use you in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your school, your home. You see? If you'd be willing to pray a dangerous prayer and say, “God, use me. God, I'm willing to come out of my comfort zone. Please open doors of opportunity for me to share my faith.” If you'll pray that risky prayer, that out of the “bursting your bubble” prayer God will put you in those situations. One of our members forwarded me a story about a young preacher in 1960 in Texas. It was going to be his first church, one of his first sermons. It was Easter time, so he really worked hard to get the theological masterpiece together. You know, lots a big words and impressive sermon to let them know they hired the right guy. The night before, he was taking somebody home from the congregation. He dropped them off and he got lost because he didn't know the roads. Now remember, 1960. There's no GPS, okay? Places aren't open late at night like they are now. Gas stations weren't open 24 hours like they are now. No GPS, no cell phones, right? You can't call his wife, can't call anybody else. He's just driving around hoping he can figure it out. He doesn't figure it out. He runs out of gas. So now, he's got to get out of his car and just start walking. He starts walking down this dusty dirt road out in the country in Texas. There's nothing around there. He finally sees, in the distance, a glow. He describes it as a glow. He walks towards it, and it gets brighter and brighter. As he gets closer, he hears music coming out, loud music. He finally realizes, as he gets closer, that it's a Texas roadhouse. I don't mean the chain where you get steak. [laughter] What time is it? We could end right now. Cinnamon butter, boy, that's...woo! Before you get me distracted, I'll get back to my story. That's good stuff! It's hot. Oh man! It's Texas roadhouse, but it's the kind of roadhouse where they're in there drinking hard alcohol. There are gangs in there and people are drunk and doing the things you do at a Texas roadhouse. They've got a bad reputation, roadhouses do. So, here's this preacher, he doesn't fit the mode. He comes walking into this bar and everybody looks at him like, who are you and what do you want? One of the guys says, “Hey, there's fresh meat. Maybe we can get some money off of this guy. Hey new guy, come over here and play some pool. You play pool?” “Oh, me? I haven't played since high school, but okay. Maybe God has me here for a reason, so okay.” The preacher starts playing a game of pool. He breaks, and he knocks a ball in. They're playing eight ball, so he gets to knock another one. The preacher said it was like God was guiding his pool cue. He ran the table. He knocked in all of his balls, and then he knocked in the eight ball. They're like, “Oh, you're a shark, huh?” They're laughing. “You came in here to take all our money, huh? You're a shark.” He says, “Nah, I'm no shark.” “Well, who are you? What are you doing here? We've never seen you before.” “Well, I'll tell you who I am. I'm a preacher here in Texas. I'm brand new. I'm at the church over here. I got lost and I ran out of gas. I saw this light in the road and I thought maybe there'd be somebody here who could give me a ride. I've got to get back home. I've got to finish preparing for Easter.” One of the guys listening says, “What's Easter?” The guy next to him goes, “Everybody knows what Easter is.” He says, “Well, I don't. I've never been to church before,” and he says, “What's Easter preacher?” Now the preacher's got an instant congregation. He's got all these guys leaning on their pool cues half drunk or stoned. He's looking at them, and he's got his congregation. He's like, “I don't think I can use my sermon for tomorrow morning with this crowd.” So he changes it a little. “Well, there was this dude named Jesus and he had a gang of twelve. He roamed the countryside doing good things, helping people. But the authorities didn't like him and they wanted to get him, so they convinced one of his gang to rat him out. He ratted him out for money. They took Jesus, and they beat him, and they put him on a cross, and they killed him. But God brought him back to life. God said that anybody who believed in his Son could have everlasting life. And that's the story of Easter. I'm giving you a real quick rundown here. He said a little bit more than that. That's Easter. “Huh, never heard that before. Well, thank you Shark. Let's get you home.” So he hopped on the back of a motorcycle. They drove off and took him back, said goodbye. He didn't know if he'd ever see the guys again. He shows up for church Sunday morning. The service was about to start and you hear the sound of rumbling motorcycles outside. Seven big burly guys in leather jackets come walking into the church. Usher's like, “Can I help you?” The leader goes, “We're just here to hear the shark tell the story of Easter again.” Sat down and listened. Hey, God will do that. God will break your bubble. He'll put you in those “out of the comfort zone” situations. Next thing you know he's got a congregation full of bikers from the Texas roadhouse. Do you want to take that risk? Do you want to be used by God or do you want to stay in your bubble? Well, I kind of like my world the way it is. I don't want anything to burst it. I've got to stop and we'll continue on next week. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this important story of the woman at the well and for giving us a model of how we can interact, even in everyday conversations, about everyday things like drawing water and how you're able to turn that conversation into a spiritual conversation. How you're able to take a person who wanted to avoid talking about what was uncomfortable and gently bring that back around. How you listened to her and how you did not judge her, but you offered her forgiveness. The message that the war was over, to surrender, that your way hasn't worked, and come home. To find unconditional love through your Gospel. That is what you've called us to say. That's what you've called us to demonstrate. Help us to do that, I pray. In Jesus name, amen.
Panel:%20Change%20in%20Our%20Thinking has been in OA since 0000. Recorded at the 2013 OA Birthday Party Overeaters Anonymous meeting in Los Angeles, CA
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