FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine - International Standard Serial Number ISSN 1449-7425 Issue 57 Vol 6 # 3 March 2005 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. 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: Easter Prayer Line: From My Case Files: How to Avoid Conflict Letter to the Editor: "Though" or "Although"? Letter to the Editor: What does "doth" mean? Letter to the Editor: FreEzine more Frequently? Letter to the Editor: Pangrams and Holalphabetic Sentences Daffy-nitions: Politics What's On? Seminars & Workshops Repeatable Quotable: The Price of Fame Article: Words to Live By, by Mike Atkinson Natural Remedies: Cracked and Dry Hands Havagiggle: Mum's Room Split Second Wisdom: If Love is the Answer The Extensive Exposition: 'Twenty-Two Mysteries of the Bible' By Gary Stearman The Funny Bone: Etiquette Education Sermon Snippet: What If... Theologically Speaking: Minister Martyrs Freebies Online Take a Hint: Temporarily Bypassing CD Auto-run Cooks Corner: Herb Bread Stuffing Watch This Space Subscription & Other Information And in Closing: FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine Editorial: Easter Unusually, Easter is in March this year. The dating of Easter is pretty complicated. The Nicene Council (in August 325 A.D.) decreed Easter to be the first Sunday after the full moon following the Spring Equinox, March 21, unless that full moon fell on a Sunday (in which case Easter would be the following Sunday). This means that Easter is usually at the beginning of April. But more important that when Easter occurs, is why Easter occurs. And it's not really about Easter eggs, bunnies and marshmallow chickens. Here is my personal definition: Easter is a reflection on the Christ's Friday death, a sharing in His Sabbath rest, and a celebration of his Sunday resurrection. Here are what a few others say about Easter W P Lemon: Easter is not a passport to another world; it is a quality of perception for this one. Donald Harvey Tippet: If Easter means anything to modern man it means that eternal truth is eternal. You may nail it to the tree, wrap it up in grave clothes, and seal it in a tomb; but "truth crushed to earth, shall rise again." Truth does not perish; it cannot be destroyed. It may be distorted; it has been silenced temporarily; it has been compelled to carry its cross to Calvary's brow or to drink the cup of poisoned hemlock in a Grecian jail, but with an inevitable certainty after every Black Friday dawns truth's Easter Morn. Lewiston Tribune (Idaho - Courtesy Peter Sumner): Easter is not a time for groping through dusty, musty tomes or tombs to disprove spontaneous generation or even to prove life eternal. It is a day to fan the ashes of dead hope, a day to banish doubts and seek the slopes where the sun is rising, to revel in the faith which transports us out of ourselves and the dead past into the vast and inviting unknown. And Phillips Brooks: The great Easter truth is not that we are to live newly after death - that is not the great thing - but that we are to be new here and now by the power of the resurrection; not so much that we are to live forever as that we are to, and may, live nobly now because we are to live forever. Have a Happy Easter --Editor. Prayer Line: If you have a prayer request, it can be either confidentially shared via a new Personal Prayer Request website or posted in FreEzine. Check out our website for the links. From My Case Files: How to Avoid Conflict 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. Egbert was explaining his perspective on the solution to the problem of the arguments that he and Maggie were having. He said, "We would never have any conflict if she wasn't wrong all the time!" 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! Letter: Dr Hartley, Can you use "though" or "although" at the end of a sentence or clause, and are they interchangeable? Mary R Reply: Mary R, At the beginning of a sentence, these two words are interchangeable, so you can use whichever sounds better to you. However, at the end of a sentence, you can use only "though", and in the adverbial constructions as "though" and "even though", etc., you must, of course, use only "though". --Editor Letter: (email) What does "doth" mean? I couldn't find it in the dictionary Reply: "Doth" is the archaic third-person singular present tense of "do". --Editor Letter: I have a concern, FreEzine only comes once a month. I use it for my sermons too and I have to preach every Sunday. (I'm not complaining about preaching, but we could do with the magazine more often.) -- Pastor Garrie (posted on FreEzine Feedback Forum, ) Reply: Garrie, Thank you for your comment. I have no immediate plans to publish FreEzine more frequently. There are many daily and weekly ezines 'out there' and I feel it is better to get more less often than to often get less. --Editor Letter: FreEzine, Is there another sentence that I can use for checking typefaces that uses the full alphabet, other than "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"? RC Yes RC, these are called pangrams or holalphabetic sentences Here are some examples: A mad boxer shot a quick, gloved jab to the jaw of his dizzy opponent. A quart jar of oil mixed with zinc oxide makes a very bright paint. Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes. Forsaking monastic tradition, twelve jovial friars gave up their vocation for a questionable existence on a flying trapeze. Just keep examining every low bid quoted for zinc etchings. Six big juicy steaks sizzled in a pan as five workmen left the quarry. Six javelins thrown by the quick savages whizzed forty paces beyond the mark. Six zippers were quickly picked from the woven jute bag. The explorer was frozen in his big kayak just after making queer discoveries. The five boxing wizards jump quickly. The job requires extra pluck and zeal from every young wage earner. The public was amazed to view the quickness and dexterity of the juggler. We promptly judged antique ivory buckles for the next prize. We quickly seized the black axle and just saved it from going past him. Whenever the black fox jumped, the squirrel gazed suspiciously. While making deep excavations we found some quaint bronze jewellery. --Editor Daffy-nitions: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies. - Groucho Marx 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 . Repeatable Quotable: The Price of Fame "If you want a place in the sun, you have to expect a few blisters." -- Loretta Young (Courtesy of Joan Wester Anderson author of Loretta Young's biography, "Forever Young . . . " Article: Words to Live By I have a friend who lives by a three-word philosophy: Seize the moment. Just possibly she may be the wisest woman on this planet. Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming, or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible. How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched "Jeopardy!" on television? I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch in half-an-hour?" She would gasp and stammer, "I can't." Check one: "I have clothes on the line" or My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday. I had a late breakfast. It looks like rain. And my personal favourite: "It's Monday." She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together. Because we cram so much into our lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect: We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet-trained. We'll entertain, when we replace the living room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon, when we get two more kids out of college. Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on" and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit." When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of roller-blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord. My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my hips with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy. Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you want to... not something on your 'should do' list. -- Mike Atkinson (Editor's Archives) 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: Cracked and Dry Hands Soothe sore hands with a mixture of cold cooked mashed potato and olive oil. Simply massage into your skin, leave for 10 minutes, and rinse off. -- Pamela Allardice, Natural therapist Havagiggle: Mum's Room When the Jones family moved into their new house, a visiting relative asked five-year-old Sammy how he liked the new place. "It's terrific," he said. "I have my own room, Mike has his own room, and Jamie has her own room. But poor mom is still in with dad." -- Split Second Wisdom: If love is the answer, could you rephrase the question? -- Lily Tomlin 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. It is important to note that 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 'Twenty-Two Mysteries of the Bible' By Gary Stearman This is in Adobe 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 (526k req.) The Funny Bone: Etiquette Education Bryant, a youngster about four years old, loved having ice cream after dinner every evening. He would sit on his mother's lap and have a small bowl for dessert. Unfortunately, he developed the habit of licking the bowl afterwards to "make sure he got it all". This went on for a while, much to his mother's chagrin. Finally, trying to tactfully hint that it was not such a great idea, she said, "You know, when I was your age, my mother said that licking my dish was a very impolite thing to do." Bryant thought a minute, and then responded, "Well you can do it now if you like, because I don't mind at all! -- 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: What If... If nobody smiled and nobody cared and nobody helped us along. If every moment looked after itself and good things always went to the strong; If nobody cared just a little about you and nobody cared about me, and we stood alone, in the battle of life, What a dreary old world this would be. Life is sweet, just because of friends we have made and the things in common that we share. We want to live on, not because of ourselves, but because of the people who care. It is doing and giving for somebody else on which all of life's splendour depends. The joy of this world, when you've summed it all up, is found in the making of friends. -- Contributed by a reader Theologically Speaking: Minister Martyrs Some ministers would make good martyrs; They are so dry they would burn well. -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon Freebies Online Check out www.geocities.com/gratisgift. Freebies available while stocks last. Take a Hint: Temporarily Bypassing CD Auto-run To keep a CD from running automatically when you put it your CD ROM drive, just hold down the SHIFT key while you insert it. Cooks Corner: Herb Bread Stuffing When I was young, my family would occasionally eat chicken, duck, turkey, swan or some other fowl. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to eat what I had earlier seen running around the yard or swimming on the lake. However, I loved my mother's recipe for stuffing, and would eat a helping of stuffing instead of bird. Nowadays I am a vegetarian and I still enjoy eating a good stuffing, but I use it to stuff baked Zucchini instead. Here is a recipe you might like to try. (Not my mother's.) --Editor 12 cups bread cubes, slightly dried; one-third cup snipped parsley; one-third cup finely chopped onion; generous pinch of cup finely chopped celery; a half teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon crushed dried thyme; 1 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary; 1 teaspoon ground sage; 6 tablespoons butter or margarine; and 1 cup vegetable broth (not condensed) You can buy bread cubes or you can make you own. To make your own; let a loaf of bread sit out uncovered over night, then slice into cubes with a very sharp knife. Combine all ingredients except bread cubes in a large saucepan. Cook over a medium heat until it simmers and the butter melts. Add bread crumbs all at once and toss with a fork to mix. Turn heat to low, cover and continue to cook for 10 more minutes and serve. (There is no need continue cooking after the bread crumbs have been added.) -- Recipe courtesy of Windows Cuisine 2.0 Watch This Space: Future issues will include other sections not listed here. 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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: How Not to Resolve Problems with Friends Step 1: Stew in your own juices! Step 2: Make mountains out of molehills! Step 3: Overanalyse with all your friends, particularly those who'll agree or pretend to agree! When in doubt, conclude that someone is "insecure." Step 4: Gather more information to support your hypothesis! Step 5: Find some outlet for your resentment anything but open confrontation!