FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine - International Standard Serial Number ISSN 1449-7425 Issue 52 Vol 5 # 10 October 2004 FreEzine is a free email magazine/newsletter containing articles of interest from a Christian perspective and is published no less than monthly. FreEzine is NOT Spam and is only sent to people who request it. If you ever want to stop (or start) receiving FreEzine you'll find instructions at the end of this newsletter. In order to cater for a variety of tastes and beliefs, the content of FreEzine does not always reflect totally the beliefs of the editor. FreEzine is also available in Spanish - La Revista libre de Ezine, French - La Revue de Ezine libre, German - FreiEzine Zeitschrift, Italian - La Rivista di Ezine libera, and Portuguese - Revista livre de Ezine. A special "hello" to all of our new subscribers. We welcome and appreciate feedback on how we can improve this e-zine for you. IF YOU FIND THIS NEWSLETTER USEFUL... ... PLEASE FORWARD IT TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES! IN THIS ISSUE: Editorial: Making Peace With a Friend Prayer Thought: Be Grateful From My Case Files: What I've Tried and What I Need Letters to the Editor: Is CD audio better quality than DVD audio Daffy-nitions: Comedy What's On? Seminars & Workshops Repeatable Quotable: A Different Drumbeat Article: Plugging In (by Michael W. Smith) Natural Remedies: Diarrhoea Havagiggle: We Are in Big Trouble Split Second Wisdom: Afraid of Deception The Extensive Exposition: Auto Repair Tips The Funny Bone: New Website Sermon Snippet: Pneumatic Tools Freebies: Free 2005 Calendar Freebies: Free Christmas Piano Music Multimedia CD Take a Hint: Finding Similar Fonts Cooks Corner: Fried Buttermilk Scones Watch This Space Subscription & Other Information And in Closing: Where to Bloom FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine Editorial: Making Peace with a Friend Anthony Bloom relates the following incident: "I remember a man of some standing who once came to see me and told me that a friend of his who claimed no small spiritual achievements had offended him. 'Who should go and make his peace with the other?' he asked. 'I cannot answer your question," I replied, 'as I cannot possibly set myself as a judge between you, but one thing is certain to me; the meanest of the two of you will wait for the other to make the move.' The great man said no word, but went forthwith to make his peace with his friend" --Editor. Prayer Thought: Be Grateful A man and his wife, now in their 60s, were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. On their special day a good fairy came to them and said that because they had been such a devoted couple she would grant each of them a very special wish. The wife wished for a trip around the world with her husband. Whoosh! Immediately she had airline /cruise tickets in her hands. The man wished for a female companion 30 years younger... Whoosh! ....immediately he turned ninety!!! Gotta love that fairy! But seriously folks, be grateful and give God thanks for what you have. -- From the Just a Minute "Little Journal" From My Case Files: What I've Tried and What I Need After three decades of counselling, your editor (a retired sociologist) sometimes ponders some of the things which have come up in counselling that, in retrospect, contain an element of humour. This section will be included from time to time to share some of these snippets. Names have been changed to protect privacy. Wife to husband: I've tried self-hypnosis and transcendental meditation, Egbert, but what I really need is more housekeeping money. Letters to the Editor Cantos de poetry, Catchwords, Changes, Clamourings, Clichés, Commendations, Comments, Commercials, Complaints, Compliments, Congratulates, Credits, Cries, Criticisms, Critiques? We'll Take All! MR (email) asks, Is CD audio better quality than DVD audio? Sorry, MR, I didn't know the answer to this one, but I have researched it for you and, as I imagined, the answer is no. This difference can best be explained by first giving a definition of Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). PCM is a method of encoding audio information in a digital format. PCM samples analogue audio information at a fixed sampling rate and measures the amplitude (volume) of the audio signal with a precision determined by the sampling size. Audio is encoded on CD's in the PCM format with a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz and a 16-bit sampling size. (A 16-bit sample size can contain 65,536 possible levels of sound volume that corresponds to a dynamic range of 96dB.) A DVD-Audio can be encoded in PCM with a sampling frequency of up to 192 kHz and a 24-bit sample size. Daffy-nitions: Pain plus time equals comedy. -- Mike Myers, Reader's Digest, March 2000, p41 What's On? Seminars & Workshops: For information on free lifestyle seminars, see . Information on the 2005 GNU Seminars is available from . Also a number of free lectures are advertised on . (P.S. Carolyn of Good News Unlimited has advised that they have some new books in stock: 'The End of Terrorism' (1ET0001) by Des Ford $24.95; 'Which Jesus' (1WJ0001)by Tony Campolo $9.95; 'The Cross of Christ' (1TTC001) by John Stott $14.95; 'Body, Soul & Spirit' (1BS0001) by Pr Ritchie Way $10.00; 'Will Christians go to Heaven when Jesus returns? (1WCG001) by Pr Ritchie Way $7.95; and 'In the steps of our Lord' (1IT0001) by F F Bruce $13.95 (Prices do not include postage - see for details. Repeatable Quotable: A Different Drumbeat Churches tend to attract people who are marching to the beat of a different drum and that's because churches, too, are offbeat with the world. We don't want to squash the spirit of people searching for something better than the world has to offer. But let's be sure that the drumbeat we're marching to is the drumbeat of the heart of God, and that we know how to help people get in rhythm with it. --Dr Roger Henley, quoted by Brenton Stacey, Dealing with Difficult People, Record, October 19, 2002, p9 Article: Plugging In My brain's going to explode. That's how I felt when I was about four months into working on my most recent record. We still had about two months to go before the record would be completed. I was working 12-hour days, we were over budget, and I wasn't sure if the record would be finished on time. I was overwhelmed. It had been awhile since I had met with the guys from my prayer group. Our prayer group has seven couples in it, and the women meet every Tuesday without fail. Sometimes the guys put off our meetings. But I need those guys in my life to keep me accountable in my Christian walk. So one day at the recording studio I said to my co-producer and engineer, "I'm going to lunch, and I don't know how long I will be gone." I met the guys in the boardroom at a nearby restaurant. It was perfect; we were away from everyone else. One guy had been struggling spiritually but had not told anyone. He began to weep. I confessed that I too had been struggling. We prayed for each other. Little did the people in the offices down the hall know that in the boardroom we were weeping and crying out to God. That day healing took place. Restoration took place. And afterward I thought, "Why did we wait so long? We need each other so much." Satan comes to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10). Christian marriages are breaking up and families are falling apart; people aren't plugged in anywhere. Some people may attend church, but most of the time people aren't really plugged in to a group to help them to live for Christ. We have a lot of "lone rangers" who try to make it on their own. But we all need to find a family, a safe place, friends who will hold us accountable. Sometimes it is difficult to get together. We are so busy, and it seems as if we don't have time. But we need to nurture the relationships that God has given us. We need to be open, to admit our struggles, to be honest about what's going on in our lives. I don't know anyone who can make it on his or her own. We need to plug in, and I thank God for helping me to plug into an amazing group of brothers in Christ. They pray for me - and they hold me accountable to live for Jesus Christ. -- Decision, April 2000 (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) (Michael W. Smith is a Christian contemporary-music artist. In 1999 he received the Dove Award for Artist of the Year and the Dove Award for Producer of the Year. He and his wife, Debbie, are parents of five children and live in Franklin, Tennessee.) Natural Remedies: Exploring some of nature's hygiene helpers and ways to fix basic ills, chills, aches and pains. Common sense is paramount - some of these hints are health related, and if you have a medical condition such high blood pressure, are taking prescription medication or are in any way unsure whether you should follow the self-help suggestion/s provided, consult a doctor or natural therapist. This month: Diarrhoea Peel and grate an apple into a bowl. Wait until it goes brown (approximately 15 minutes) and then eat it. -- Pamela Allardice, Natural therapist Havagiggle: In a certain suburban neighbourhood, there were two brothers, 8 and 10 years old, who were exceedingly mischievous. Whatever went wrong in the neighbourhood, it turned out they had had a hand in it. Their parents were at their wit's end trying to control them. Hearing about a priest nearby who worked with delinquent boys, the mother suggested to the father that they ask the priest to talk with the boys. The mother went to the priest and made her request. He agreed, but said he wanted to see the younger boy first and alone. So the mother sent him to the priest. The priest sat the boy down across a huge, impressive desk he sat behind. For about five minutes they just sat and stared at each other. Finally, the priest pointed his forefinger at the boy and asked, "Where is God?" The boy looked under the desk, in the corners of the room, all around, but said nothing. Again, louder, the priest pointed at the boy and asked, "Where is God?" Again the boy looked all around but said nothing. A third time, in a louder, firmer voice, the priest leaned far across the desk and put his forefinger almost to the boy's nose, and asked, "Where is God?" The boy panicked and ran all the way home. Finding his older brother, he dragged him upstairs to their room and into the closet, where they usually plotted their mischief. He finally said, "We are in BIG trouble." The older boy asked, "What do you mean, BIG trouble?" His brother replied, "God is missing and they think we did it." Split Second Wisdom: It's counterproductive to become so afraid of a deception that we fail to embrace the genuine. --Graham Loftus, Finding Spiritual Balance, Record, Nov 22, 2003, p11. The Extensive Exposition. Each issue we will make available a longer article available by email free to those who request it. This is to keep the FreEzine a readable length yet make available more in-depth material for those who are interested. Articles provided under this section do not always reflect totally the beliefs of the editor. In some issues more than one article will be available under this section and articles will need to be asked for by name to save confusion. We have no separate mailing list for the automatic despatch of articles in The Extensive Exposition so a separate request will need to be made for each article. This month's article is the full text of "Auto Repair Tips" This is in Adobe(R) Acrobat format, resourced from the editor's archives and made available free by writing to the editor and asking for the article by name. (Please check the available space in your email box before requesting articles (125k req.) The Funny Bone: New Website A new website on handbells with a humour section is Aside: Are you a writer, a poet or an illustrator? If you have something you have written or illustrated that you would like to consider having published, a free 60 page Style Guide is available online at , or from the Editor of this FreEzine. There is no charge for publishing and YOU receive payment on publication (see the free Style Guide for details). Publishing formats include Books, Pamphlets, Leaflets, Magazines & Ezines, Online video & audio, CD-ROM & floppy-disk electronic books & multimedia, Video & Audio tapes and Talking Books & audio CDs. Sermon Snippet: Pneumatic Tools Many of us are familiar with a lug wrench (wheel-changing spanner). They come with most cars to take the lug nuts off of a wheel in order to change a tyre, if you get a flat. If you've ever used one to try to get the lug nuts off, you know that you strain with all of your might to try to get them loose. These days they have new tools called pneumatic tools, otherwise known as air wrenches. The air wrench is hooked up to a compressor, which gives it a lot of power. The air wrench (pneumatic tool) can easily do what was very difficult with the standard lug wrench. In Bible College, we had a class called Pneumatology. It was a study of the Holy Spirit, the Pneuma. If we don't rely on the Holy Spirit's power, God still loves us. If we have accepted Christ as our saviour, we'll still go to heaven. No one can make you use pneumatic tools; it just makes things easier, by using the additional power that's available. If a person wants to continue using a lug wrench, it's ok, it's just harder. Likewise, no one can make us depend on the Holy Spirit's power, but we will be missing out on an additional power that is available to us. Zechariah 4:6 says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:4, "And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." We shouldn't just minister in our own strength and abilities. Some of us used to rely on the Holy Spirit but now have become too self-sufficient. Galatians 3:3 says, "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" Most of us don't have any problem relying on pneumatic tools to service our cars. Let's rely on the Holy Spirit, Pneuma, in service of our Lord. -- Mike Barres Freebies: 2005 calendar Normally using the "Reply To Sender" email option doesn't work with FreEzine as a commercial or other unrelated distributor occasionally sends out the magazine. However, for this issue, by using the "Reply To Sender" email option we will regard it as a request and will send you a free one-page 2005 calendar to print or give-away. Get in early for 2005! Reply to sender. Freebies: Christmas Piano Music Multimedia CD. This is a free CD (however you will need to pay postage). Use is as an audio CD and enjoy 13 carols from around the world. It is also MP3 compatible. And it can also be used in a computer to print the full sheet music scores (intermediate piano) for all 13 carols! Check out Take a Hint: Finding Similar Fonts Have you ever had a font that was "almost" what you were looking for? For Windows(r) users, here is how to look at fonts that are similar to the one that's almost right! 1. Click the Start button, Settings, Control Panel. 2. Double Click on Fonts. 3. From the drop down View menu, select "List fonts by similarity." 4. In the "List Fonts by similarity to:" drop down box, select the font name for which you wish to find other similar fonts. 5. You'll now get a list in descending order of similarity. Double-click a font to see a sample. Cooks Corner: Fried Buttermilk Scones Ingredients: 900 ml. buttermilk, warmed, 2 tablespoons active dry yeast, 1/4 cup of warm water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 8 cups of flour 1 tablespoon of oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda Method: Dissolve yeast in water. In a large bowl combine buttermilk, sugar, eggs, oil, and softened yeast, then add salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add 4 cups flour and beat until smooth. Add enough of remaining flour to make a soft dough. Cover, allow to rise until double. Punch down, cover, refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll out to a 1/2 inch thickness, cut into rectangles and fry in 375 degree oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serves 8. --Recipe courtesy of Windows Cuisine 2.0 Watch This Space: Future issues will include other sections not listed here. Why not write to us suggesting what you would like to see included. Subscription Information: FreEzine is a free email magazine/newsletter, published by Lionel Hartley, PhD () no less than monthly and sent out ONLY to those who request it. As FreEzine only uses an opt-in email list, we never buy or otherwise obtain email addresses. Although we encourage our readers to forward a copy of FreEzine to their friends and invite them to subscribe, we have a strictly No Spam Policy. To subscribe, please send an email telling us where you heard about FreEzine, to and type SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. 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Although all care has been taken to check details in this newsletter but no responsibility can be taken if information is inaccurate. The Editor would appreciate being informed of erroneous information so that it may be corrected. Contents of FreEzine are COPYRIGHT and we make every endeavour to acknowledge sources. (Our extensive search for copyright sometimes causes some articles to appear in FreEzine some considerable time after they were written). You may freely quote from FreEzine PROVIDED is cited as a reference source. Occasional contributions from Good News Australia are used with permission. YOUR contributions and comments most welcome. Although all out-going emails are scanned using Symantic's Norton AntiVirus with the most recent virus definitions, FreEzine cannot warrant or represent that this communication (including any enclosed files) is totally free from any electronic viruses, faults or defects. And, in closing: Where to Bloom Bloom where you're planted. -- Mary Englebreit