YOU The
parable of the unforgiving debtor The
parable of the unforgiving debtor Matthew
18:21-35 Here
is one of twenty-five parables re-written for today's
times in Keith Tondeur of Credit Action's new book:
Street Parables [Authentic £5.99] A
church leader was talking to one of his house groupers
leaders. He gently brought up the subject of giving and
wanted to know why the house group leader was making no
contribution. The house group leader pleaded “I have
purchased too expensive a house, filled it with too many
things and my family is really struggling. I am sure
however that I will be able to pay it back eventually”
he stammered. “It's just a question of hoping for
something to happen” The
church leader ascertained that a figure of £20,000 would
clear all the debts. He felt sorry for the man and his
family. “I
need to talk to my wife about this and pray things
through” he said “but I am mindful to help you
settle your debts.” The
House Group leader was elated but at the House Group
meeting that night he took aside a member and pinned her
against the wall in the kitchen saying “You promised
me that £50 back that I lent you last month. Give the
money you owe to me now or else I will take you to court
and I will see that you are thrown out of the church.
There's no place for thieves in the family of God.” The
person in question was a single mum who was able to
survive by cleaning the church leader's house once a week.
The following day it was clear to the church leader that
something was troubling her. “What's
the matter?” he asked her gently. “It looks
like you've been crying a lot.” The
whole sorry story soon emerged. The church leader was
appalled. He gave a gift to the lady to help her through
her current financial plight. Then he summoned the house
group leader to him. “I
just cannot believe that you would be so evil as to
pursue the small amount of money owed by someone who
quite clearly is struggling even to survive. But to do it
after I told you that I was thinking of clearing ALL your
huge debts is astonishing. Given this I have no intention
of giving you a penny and what is more you have quite
clearly demonstrated that you are totally unfit to be in
any leadership role in this church. Leave.” Anything
others owe us is nothing compared to what we owe Jesus. Are
you obsessed? Do
you remember the 'Beanie Babies' that came out a few
years ago – cuddly animal toys with that 'aaah'
factor? Some little girls got carried away –
at least one child's bedroom was taken over by nearly 100
furry faces, and still she and her mother scoured the
Internet and local shops for new arrivals. Other
crazes have since replaced Beanie Babies, and so it goes
on. How easily we can become addicted and obsessed
with material things and hobbies; also attitudes and
actions. Whether it's golf, football, browsing the
Internet, or watching TV, being house-proud or a
compulsive shopper, it isn't healthy for body, mind or
spirit when all thoughts, words and actions are geared to
only one thing. Obsessions
tend to be selfish: the 'must have', 'must watch',
'must do' way of life excludes others and puts only our
only desires first. Bernard
of Clairvaux, writing in the 12th century, observed:
“Theirs is an endless road, a hopeless maze, who
seek for goods before they seek for God.” One
modern day Christian has observed: “A small
coin held up to the eye can obliterate the sun from sight.
In the same way, we can allow insignificant
preoccupations to cut us off from the light of God.”
Jesus
said: “You must love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind. You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” A
Girl's Best Friend If
you want someone who will bring you the paper without
first tearing it apart to remove the sports section...
get a dog. If
you want someone willing to make a fool of himself simply
over the joy of seeing you... get a dog. If
you want someone who will eat whatever you put in front
of him and never says it is not quite as good as his
mother made it...get a dog If
you want someone to scare away burglars, without a lethal
weapon.... get a dog. If
you want someone who will never touch the remote, doesn't
care for football, and who will happily snuggle up to you
and watch a romantic film on TV – get a dog. If
you want someone who is content to get up on your bed
just to warm your back or feet, and whom you can push off
when he snores – get a dog. If
you want someone who never criticises what you do,
doesn't care if you are pretty or ugly, fat or thin,
young or old, who acts as if every word you say is
especially worth listening to, and who loves you
unconditionally, perpetually... get a dog. But,
on the other hand, if you want someone who will never
come when you call, ignores you totally when you come
home, leaves hair all over the place, walks all over you,
runs around all night, only coming home to eat and sleep,
and acts as if your entire existence is solely to ensure
his happiness, then my friend.... Get
a cat! (Any resemblance to a man is purely
coincidental.) Chocolate
– food of the gods! Did
you know that the botanical name for the cocoa bean is
Theobroma – which means 'food of the gods'? Millions
of us obviously think chocolate is special – half a
million tons of it are consumed in Certainly
many of us find that chocolate makes us feel better.
Some scientists believe that this is due to the chemicals
it contains. These trigger the release of
endorphins similar to those we naturally produce when we
fall in love. But
nutritionists warn against using chocolate as a pick-me-up,
especially in the evening. Chocolate eaten before
bed-time can cause blood glucose levels to plummet during
the night, which will disrupt your sleep. Chocolate
eaten in quantity every day can lead to mood and energy
swings, weight gain and poor immunity. If you have mad
cravings for it, you could have a problem with blood
sugar, or a deficiency in magnesium, copper, zinc or iron. But
occasional consumption of cocoa can provide medical
benefits. Chocolate containing 60 per cent or more
cocoa solids is rich in essential trace elements and
nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium, and many
vitamins. Good
as all this may be – most of us enjoy chocolate
because of its high sugar and caffeine content. Chocolate
simply gives you an instant sugar hit, providing a sudden
burst in energy, unfortunately followed by a slump and
the desire for another sugar-fix. How
to complain about something on Television What
is the best contribution a Christian can make when it
comes to the continual decline in the standards of taste
and decency on today's TV? When
we read of some forthcoming show that we think is going
to be extremely offensive or degrading, do we lodge an
immediate complaint? Or should we instead complain after
the event? Or do we do nothing? Most
of us take the latter option – it can be hard to
respond to the need to register the occasional protest.
However, if we do feel the need to do something – it
has to be thought through very carefully, otherwise our
well-intentioned efforts are wasted. If we
understand and abide by the rules, the various
organisations concerned are not allowed to ignore us.
Every single complaint that is made at the right time to
the right place will make a difference. If
you feel it is right to lodge a complaint before a
programme has been screened, first of all make sure you
have all the facts. Then you should write to the
broadcaster, not the regulator. In
the case of the BBC, you should write to BBC Information,
For
ITV you should contact ITV Network Limited, If
you are writing after the programme has been screen, you
can then write to the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom.
They are not able to deal with any complaints until after
the programme has been screened. Write to Ofcom
Contact Centre, The
Evangelical Alliance has some good advice for anyone
writing a letter of complaint: state
specifically what you found offensive If
you ever feel you need advice on such matters, contact
the EA on 020 7207 2100 or visit www.eauk.org. How
to recognise the early signs of mental distress As
many as one in four of us will suffer some form of mental
health problem in our lifetime – and that means
millions of us. However, mental distress is not a
problem that we talk about much... So
what is mental distress? It
covers a range of experiences which have the effect of
seriously limiting an individual's ability to cope with
day-to-day living. Some people may experience
differences in perception, or may self-harm. Extremes
of, or rapid changes in, mood are frequent indicators,
from prolonged depression to extreme highs. What
are the first signs? Changes
in sleeping patterns are a common sign, and appetite may
be affected. Take note if the person spends more
time in bed, is lethargic, and avoids socialising: these
are often forerunners of depression. On the other
hand, a 'mood high' is on the way if the person needs
little sleep, and wants to be out and about all the time. What
causes mental distress? Bereavement
is a common trigger, as is the break-up of a relationship.
For many people, problems can be linked back to physical
or sexual abuse, sometimes many years previously. Other
traumas such as accidents or disasters can also take
their toll. Many people find that certain events or
circumstances can act as triggers for them. What
can be done? There
is no single guaranteed approach: some people need drugs,
some need counselling. If people are given a range
of support, they will be better placed to discover what
works best for them. There
are strategies we can all adopt to improve our own mental
health: learning to relax, how to deal with
difficult situations, setting goals, expressing feelings,
facing up to problems, and finding someone to talk to. The
school run How
do your children get to school? If you have
pavements then the safest way is by walking – in a
conducted 'walking bus'. Walking uses up the
calories and keeps the child fitter than sitting in a car
for a short journey each day. If
you think this might be a good idea for your children,
visit www.walkingbus.com for more details. Looking
for romance? The
Christian introduction agency, Friends First, is now in
its sixth year – and still growing. It is open
to unattached Christians across the “Many
people have found that simply leaving things to chance
could mean facing a life of loneliness,” says a
spokesman. “Our aim is to facilitate a
friendship process which we hope will be rewarding for
every one of our members.” So
far there have been about two dozen marriages, involving
couples in their 20's to couples in their 80's, from If
you want to make new Christian friends of the opposite
sex, visit www.friends1st.co.uk Why
you lost those keys If
you've lost your car keys, and snapped at your boss
recently, take heart – there's probably a good
chemical reason why you did it: you are under
stress. Stress
can disrupt your rational decision-making and short-term
memory, according to recent research. Scientists
put the blame on an enzyme that is activated in stress,
called protein kinase C, or PKC. It affects the
executive functions of the brain, including planning,
judgement and short-term memory. Exposure to even
mild uncontrollable stress is known to impair these
functions. So
if you are under stress, and you feel it is 'doing your
head in' – you are absolutely right! Stop
snoring – please! National
Stop Snoring Week for 2005 is to be held 18 - 23 April.
If that seems an odd awareness 'week' to hold, it is
because snoring is actually a widespread and sometimes
serious problem for people. What
makes that ghastly sound, anyway? Snoring
is made by vibrations of the soft palate and other
tissues of the mouth, nose and throat (upper airway). It
is caused by a partial blockage of the upper airway. Who
snores? When we are awake we have
sufficient muscle tone to keep the airway open. When
asleep we lose this muscle tone and the airway narrows.
This reduction of breathing space is not a problem for
most of us but for some it is the precondition for
snoring. Snorers may have an additional feature, which is
an obstruction of some kind somewhere between the Adam's-apple
and the tip of the nose. This blockage can be swollen
tissue, congestion or a deformity. Snoring
Facts 41.5%
of the please
visit: www.britishsnoring.co.uk Strudel
Doodle It's
a symbol you probably use almost every day: @. But did
you know that it was first used in a Venetian mercantile
document in 1536, and that it's variously known as about,
ampersat, amphora, ape, arobase, at, cabbage, cat,
clinging monkey, commercial symbol, cyclone, each, little
dog, mercantile symbol, rolled pickled herring, rose,
schnable, scroll, snail, strudel, these, vortex,
whirlpool and whorl? What
you call it will depend on what you use it for, what you
think it looks like and what language you speak. In
general English usage and e-mail addresses, it's a
strudel - the punctuation mark denoting the word "at".
In computer coding, it denotes the character 0x0040 (which
in decimal is the number 64). In
Spanish and Portuguese, @ is a weight unit: arroba, about
16 kilograms. Several languages use the symbol to replace
letters in rude words in order to make them 'polite'. For
example, "puta" (Spanish for "whore")
would become "put@". |