What’s Your Four-Minute Mile? Myers Barnes
On May 5, 1954, at Iffley Road track in Oxford, about 3,000 spectators watched a track meet between British AAA and Oxford University. A 25-year-old medical student named Roger Bannister had announced that this would be the race of a lifetime. He would be the first person in recorded history to run a mile in less than four minutes.
As a teen, Barrister had won several races and was a successful athlete. When he went to Oxford University to study medicine, he devoted his spare time to running track and became an accomplished middle-distance runner. At the time, the out-of-reach carrot for all runners was to break the four-minute mile. It had never been done and, therefore, was widely assumed to be an impossible task for a human being.
However, Bannister believed it was possible and spent hours researching the mechanical aspects of running. He studied his own running ability and combined it with his medical knowledge to develop scientific training methods that accommodated his body.
Then, on May 5, he went to the track. Here is what he wrote later about that day:
“At three-quarters of a mile the effort was still barely perceptible; the time was 3 min 0.7 sec., and by now the crowd was roaring. Somehow I had to run that last lap in 59 seconds. …I had a moment of mixed joy and anguish, when my mind took over. It raced well ahead of my body and drew my body compellingly forward. I felt that the moment of a lifetime had come. There was no pain, only a great unity of movement and aim. The world seemed to stand still, or did not exist. The only reality was the next two hundred yards of track under my feet. The tape meant finality - extinction perhaps.
I felt at that moment that it was my chance to do one thing supremely well. I drove on, impelled by a combination of fear and pride. The air I breathed filled me with the spirit of the track where I had run my first race. The noise in my ears was that of the faithful Oxford crowd. Their hope and encouragement gave me greater strength. I had now turned the last bend and there were only fifty yards more.
My body had long since exhausted all its energy, but it went on running just the same. The physical overdraft came only from greater willpower. This was the crucial moment when my legs were strong enough to carry me over the last few yards as they could never have done in previous years. With five yards to go, the tape seemed almost to recede. Would I ever reach it?”
Roger Bannister did reach it with a time of 3:59.4 and was rewarded with the honor of being the first person to run the Miracle Mile.
After his win in May of 1954, his record was broken two months later in Finland by Australian runner John Landy, who achieved a time of 3:58. Within three years, 16 other runners had also broken the record.
What happened in those three years? Was there a sudden human evolution? Where steroids actually introduced in the late fifties?
No, the basic human equipment was the same. What changed was the mindset. The runners of the past were held back by the belief that they could not surpass the four-minute mile. As a “barrier buster,” Bannister changed that. He broke the mental limit so others could see the magic of doing something they thought was impossible.
When asked how so many others had run that fast so soon after he did, Bannister replied, “It was never a physical boundary; only a mental one. The mental approach is all important because the strength and power of the mind are without limit. All strategy can be harnessed by the correct attitude of the mind.”
Just as the mindsets and belief systems of runners kept them from the four-minute-mile threshold, the new mental model by Bannister liberated them to achievement. The challenge issued by Bannister is one we should constantly ask ourselves today: “Is it that it cannot be done; or is it that it has not yet been done?”
Update: I drew liberally from Myers' post on Roger Bannisters breaking of the 4-Minute Mile barrier. Go to his link to see his application of this feat to sales. I pulled just the story, you really need to read his application.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
From the Protestant Church of Smyrna
A letter to the Global Church from The Protestant Church of Smyrna
Dear friends,
This past week has been filled with much sorrow. Many of you have heard by now of our devastating loss here in an event that took place in Malatya, a Turkish province 300 miles northeast of Antioch, the city where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).
On Wednesday morning, April 18, 2007, 46 year old German missionary and father of three Tilman Geske prepared to go to his office, kissing his wife goodbye taking a moment to hug his son and give him the priceless memory, “Goodbye, son. I love you.”
Tilman rented an office space from Zirve Publishing where he was preparing notes for the new Turkish Study Bible. Zirve was also the location of the Malatya Evangelist Church office. A ministry of the church, Zirve prints and distributes Christian literature to Malatya and nearby cities in Eastern Turkey. In another area of town, 35 year old Pastor Necati Aydin, father of two, said goodbye to his wife, leaving for the office as well. They had a morning Bible Study and prayer meeting that some other believers in town would also be attending. Ugur Yuksel likewise made his way to the Bible study.
None of these three men knew that what awaited them at the Bible study was the ultimate testing and application of their faith, which would conclude with their entrance into glory to receive their crown of righteousness from Christ and honor from all the saints awaiting them in the Lord’s presence.
On the other side of town, ten young men all under 20 years old put into place final arrangements for their ultimate act of faith, living out their love for Allah and hatred of infidels who they felt undermined Islam.
On Resurrection Sunday, five of these men had been to a by-invitation-only evangelistic service that Pastor Necati and his men had arranged at a hotel conference room in the city. The men were known to the believers as “seekers.” No one knows what happened in the hearts of those men as they listened to the gospel. Were they touched by the Holy Spirit? Were they convicted of sin? Did they hear the gospel in their heart of hearts? Today we only have the beginning of their story.
These young men, one of whom is the son of a mayor in the Province of Malatya, are part of a tarikat, or a group of “faithful believers” in Islam. Tarikat membership is highly respected here; it’s like a fraternity membership. In fact, it is said that no one can get into public office without membership in a tarikat. These young men all lived in the same dorm, all preparing for university entrance exams.
The young men got guns, breadknives, ropes and towels ready for their final act of service to Allah. They knew there would be a lot of blood. They arrived in time for the Bible Study, around 10 o’clock. They arrived, and apparently the Bible Study began. Reportedly, after Necati read a chapter from the Bible the assault began. The boys tied Ugur, Necati, and Tilman’s hands and feet to chairs and as they videoed their work on their cellphones, they tortured our brothers for almost three hours*
[Details of the torture--
* Tilman was stabbed 156 times, Necati 99 times and Ugur’s stabs were too numerous to count. They were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Fingers were chopped off, their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. Possibly the worst part was watching as their brothers were likewise tortured. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated.]
Neighbors in workplaces near the printhouse said later they had heard yelling, but assumed the owners were having a domestic argument so they did not respond.
Meanwhile, another believer Gokhan and his wife had a leisurely morning. He slept in till 10, ate a long breakfast and finally around 12:30 he and his wife arrived at the office. The door was locked from the inside, and his key would not work. He phoned and though it had connection on his end he did not hear the phone ringing inside. He called cell phones of his brothers and finally Ugur answered his phone. “We are not at the office. Go to the hotel meeting. We are there. We will come there,” he said cryptically. As Ugur spoke Gokhan heard in the telephone’s background weeping and a strange snarling sound.
He phoned the police, and the nearest officer arrived in about five minutes. He pounded on the door, “Police, open up!” Initially the officer thought it was a domestic disturbance. At that point they heard another snarl and a gurgling moan. The police understood that sound as human suffering, prepared the clip in his gun and tried over and over again to burst through the door. One of the frightened assailants unlocked the door for the policeman, who entered to find a grisly scene.
Tilman and Necati had been slaughtered, practically decapitated with their necks slit from ear to ear. Ugur’s throat was likewise slit and he was barely alive. Three assailants in front of the policeman dropped their weapons.
Meanwhile Gokhan heard a sound of yelling in the street. Someone had fallen from their third story office. Running down, he found a man on the ground, whom he later recognized, named Emre Gunaydin. He had massive head trauma and, strangely, was snarling. He had tried to climb down the drainpipe to escape, and losing his balance had plummeted to the ground. It seems that he was the main leader of the attackers. Another assailant was found hiding on a lower balcony.
To untangle the web we need to back up six years. In April 2001, the National Security Council of Turkey (Milli Guvenlik Kurulu) began to consider evangelical Christians as a threat to national security, on equal footing as Al Quaida and PKK terrorism. Statements made in the press by political leaders, columnists and commentators have fueled a hatred against missionaries who they claim bribe young people to change their religion.
After that decision in 2001, attacks and threats on churches, pastors and Christians began. Bombings, physical attacks, verbal and written abuse are only some of the ways Christians are being targetted. Most significant is the use of media propaganda.
From December 2005, after having a long meeting regarding the Christian threat, the wife of Former Prime Minister Ecevit, historian Ilber Ortayli, Professor Hasan Unsal, Politician Ahmet Tan and writer/propogandist Aytunc Altindal, each in their own profession began a campaign to bring the public’s attention to the looming threat of Christians who sought to “buy their children’s souls”. Hidden cameras in churches have taken church service footage and used it sensationally to promote fear and antagonism toward Christianity.
In an official televised response from Ankara, the Interior Minister of Turkey smirked as he spoke of the attacks on our brothers. Amid public outrage and protests against the event and in favor of freedom of religion and freedom of thought, media and official comments ring with the same message, “We hope you have learned your lesson. We do not want Christians here.”
It appears that this was an organized attack initiated by an unknown adult tarikat leader. As in the Hrant Dink murder in January 2007, and a Catholic priest Andrea Santoro in February 2006, minors are being used to commit religious murders because public sympathy for youth is strong and they face lower penalties than an adult convicted of the same crime. Even the parents of these children are in favor of the acts. The mother of the 16 year old boy who killed the Catholic priest Andrea Santoro looked at the cameras as her son was going to prison and said, “he will serve time for Allah.”
The young men involved in the killing are currently in custody. Today news reported that they would be tried as terrorists, so their age would not affect the strict penalty. Assailant Emre Gunaydin is still in intensive care. The investigation centers around him and his contacts and they say will fall apart if he does not recover.
The Church in Turkey responded in a way that honored God as hundreds of believers and dozens of pastors flew in as fast as they could to stand by the small church of Malatya and encourage the believers, take care of legal issues, and represent Christians to the media.
When Susanne Tilman expressed her wish to bury her husband in Malatya, the Governor tried to stop it, and when he realized he could not stop it, a rumor was spread that “it is a sin to dig a grave for a Christian.” In the end, in an undertaking that should be remembered in Christian history forever, the men from the church in Adana (near Tarsus), grabbed shovels and dug a grave for their slain brother in an un-tended hundred year old Armenian graveyard.
Ugur was buried by his family in an Alevi Muslim ceremony in his hometown of Elazig, his believing fiance watching from the shadows as his family and friends refused to accept in death the faith Ugur had so long professed and died for.
Necati’s funeral took place in his hometown of Izmir, the city where he came to faith. The darkness does not understand the light. Though the churches expressed their forgiveness for the event, Christians were not to be trusted. Before they would load the coffin onto the plane from Malatya, it went through two separate xray exams to make sure it was not loaded with explosives. This is not a usual procedure for Muslim coffins.
Necati’s funeral was a beautiful event. Like a glimpse of heaven, thousands of Turkish Christians and missionaries came to show their love for Christ, and their honor for this man chosen to die for Christ. Necati’s wife Shemsa told the world, “His death was full of meaning, because he died for Christ and he lived for Christ… Necati was a gift from God. I feel honored that he was in my life, I feel crowned with honor. I want to be worthy of that honor.”
Boldly the believers took their stand at Necati’s funeral, facing the risks of being seen publicly and likewise becoming targets. As expected, the anti-terror police attended and videotaped everyone attending the funeral for their future use. The service took place outside at Buca Baptist church, and he was buried in a small Christian graveyard in the outskirts of Izmir.
Two assistant Governors of Izmir were there solemnly watching the event from the front row. Dozens of news agencies were there documenting the events with live news and photographs. Who knows the impact the funeral had on those watching? This is the beginning of their story as well. Pray for them.
In an act that hit front pages in the largest newspapers in Turkey, Susanne Tilman in a television interview expressed her forgiveness. She did not want revenge, she told reporters. “Oh God, forgive them for they know not what they do,” she said, wholeheartedly agreeing with the words of Christ on Calvary (Luke 23:34).
In a country where blood-for-blood revenge is as normal as breathing, many many reports have come to the attention of the church of how this comment of Susanne Tilman has changed lives. One columnist wrote of her comment, “She said in one sentence what 1000 missionaries in 1000 years could never do.”
The missionaries in Malatya will most likely move out, as their families and children have become publicly identified as targets to the hostile city. The remaining 10 believers are in hiding. What will happen to this church, this light in the darkness? Most likely it will go underground. Pray for wisdom, that Turkish brothers from other cities will go to lead the leaderless church. Should we not be concerned for that great city of Malatya, a city that does not know what it is doing? (Jonah 4:11)
When our Pastor Fikret Bocek went with a brother to give a statement to the Security Directorate on Monday they were ushered into the Anti-Terror Department. On the wall was a huge chart covering the whole wall listing all the terrorist cells in Izmir, categorized. In one prominent column were listed all the evangelical churches in Izmir. The darkness does not understand the light. “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (Acts 17:6)
Please pray for the Church in Turkey. “Don’t pray against persecution, pray for perseverence,” urges Pastor Fikret Bocek.
The Church is better having lost our brothers; the fruit in our lives, the renewed faith, the burning desire to spread the gospel to quench more darkness in Malatya …all these are not to be regretted. Pray that we stand strong against external opposition and especially pray that we stand strong against internal struggles with sin, our true debilitating weakness.
This we know. Christ Jesus was there when our brothers were giving their lives for Him. He was there, like He was when Stephen was being stoned in the sight of Saul of Tarsus.
Someday the video of the deaths of our brothers may reveal more to us about the strength that we know Christ gave them to endure their last cross, about the peace the Spirit of God endowed them with to suffer for their beloved Savior. But we know He did not leave their side. We know their minds were full of Scripture strengthening them to endure, as darkness tried to subdue the unsubduable Light of the Gospel. We know, in whatever way they were able, with a look or a word, they encouraged one another to stand strong. We know they knew they would soon be with Christ.
We don’t know the details. We don’t know the kind of justice that will or will not be served on this earth.
But we pray-- and urge you to pray-- that someday at least one of those five boys will come to faith because of the testimony in death of Tilman Geske, who gave his life as a missionary to his beloved Turks, and the testimonies in death of Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, the first martyrs for Christ out of the Turkish Church.
Reported by Darlene N. Bocek (24 April 2007)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Please please please pass this on to as many praying Christians as you can, in as many countries as you can. Please always keep the heading as “From the Protestant Church of Smyrna” with this contact information: izmirprotestan@gmail.com // http://www.izmirprotestan.org/
Veg Soup's comment: "Coincidence? Look at what the Lord Jesus said to the church at Smyrna 2,000 years ago!"
Similar post over at Graphegoogle
Dear friends,
This past week has been filled with much sorrow. Many of you have heard by now of our devastating loss here in an event that took place in Malatya, a Turkish province 300 miles northeast of Antioch, the city where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).
On Wednesday morning, April 18, 2007, 46 year old German missionary and father of three Tilman Geske prepared to go to his office, kissing his wife goodbye taking a moment to hug his son and give him the priceless memory, “Goodbye, son. I love you.”
Tilman rented an office space from Zirve Publishing where he was preparing notes for the new Turkish Study Bible. Zirve was also the location of the Malatya Evangelist Church office. A ministry of the church, Zirve prints and distributes Christian literature to Malatya and nearby cities in Eastern Turkey. In another area of town, 35 year old Pastor Necati Aydin, father of two, said goodbye to his wife, leaving for the office as well. They had a morning Bible Study and prayer meeting that some other believers in town would also be attending. Ugur Yuksel likewise made his way to the Bible study.
None of these three men knew that what awaited them at the Bible study was the ultimate testing and application of their faith, which would conclude with their entrance into glory to receive their crown of righteousness from Christ and honor from all the saints awaiting them in the Lord’s presence.
On the other side of town, ten young men all under 20 years old put into place final arrangements for their ultimate act of faith, living out their love for Allah and hatred of infidels who they felt undermined Islam.
On Resurrection Sunday, five of these men had been to a by-invitation-only evangelistic service that Pastor Necati and his men had arranged at a hotel conference room in the city. The men were known to the believers as “seekers.” No one knows what happened in the hearts of those men as they listened to the gospel. Were they touched by the Holy Spirit? Were they convicted of sin? Did they hear the gospel in their heart of hearts? Today we only have the beginning of their story.
These young men, one of whom is the son of a mayor in the Province of Malatya, are part of a tarikat, or a group of “faithful believers” in Islam. Tarikat membership is highly respected here; it’s like a fraternity membership. In fact, it is said that no one can get into public office without membership in a tarikat. These young men all lived in the same dorm, all preparing for university entrance exams.
The young men got guns, breadknives, ropes and towels ready for their final act of service to Allah. They knew there would be a lot of blood. They arrived in time for the Bible Study, around 10 o’clock. They arrived, and apparently the Bible Study began. Reportedly, after Necati read a chapter from the Bible the assault began. The boys tied Ugur, Necati, and Tilman’s hands and feet to chairs and as they videoed their work on their cellphones, they tortured our brothers for almost three hours*
[Details of the torture--
* Tilman was stabbed 156 times, Necati 99 times and Ugur’s stabs were too numerous to count. They were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Fingers were chopped off, their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. Possibly the worst part was watching as their brothers were likewise tortured. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated.]
Neighbors in workplaces near the printhouse said later they had heard yelling, but assumed the owners were having a domestic argument so they did not respond.
Meanwhile, another believer Gokhan and his wife had a leisurely morning. He slept in till 10, ate a long breakfast and finally around 12:30 he and his wife arrived at the office. The door was locked from the inside, and his key would not work. He phoned and though it had connection on his end he did not hear the phone ringing inside. He called cell phones of his brothers and finally Ugur answered his phone. “We are not at the office. Go to the hotel meeting. We are there. We will come there,” he said cryptically. As Ugur spoke Gokhan heard in the telephone’s background weeping and a strange snarling sound.
He phoned the police, and the nearest officer arrived in about five minutes. He pounded on the door, “Police, open up!” Initially the officer thought it was a domestic disturbance. At that point they heard another snarl and a gurgling moan. The police understood that sound as human suffering, prepared the clip in his gun and tried over and over again to burst through the door. One of the frightened assailants unlocked the door for the policeman, who entered to find a grisly scene.
Tilman and Necati had been slaughtered, practically decapitated with their necks slit from ear to ear. Ugur’s throat was likewise slit and he was barely alive. Three assailants in front of the policeman dropped their weapons.
Meanwhile Gokhan heard a sound of yelling in the street. Someone had fallen from their third story office. Running down, he found a man on the ground, whom he later recognized, named Emre Gunaydin. He had massive head trauma and, strangely, was snarling. He had tried to climb down the drainpipe to escape, and losing his balance had plummeted to the ground. It seems that he was the main leader of the attackers. Another assailant was found hiding on a lower balcony.
To untangle the web we need to back up six years. In April 2001, the National Security Council of Turkey (Milli Guvenlik Kurulu) began to consider evangelical Christians as a threat to national security, on equal footing as Al Quaida and PKK terrorism. Statements made in the press by political leaders, columnists and commentators have fueled a hatred against missionaries who they claim bribe young people to change their religion.
After that decision in 2001, attacks and threats on churches, pastors and Christians began. Bombings, physical attacks, verbal and written abuse are only some of the ways Christians are being targetted. Most significant is the use of media propaganda.
From December 2005, after having a long meeting regarding the Christian threat, the wife of Former Prime Minister Ecevit, historian Ilber Ortayli, Professor Hasan Unsal, Politician Ahmet Tan and writer/propogandist Aytunc Altindal, each in their own profession began a campaign to bring the public’s attention to the looming threat of Christians who sought to “buy their children’s souls”. Hidden cameras in churches have taken church service footage and used it sensationally to promote fear and antagonism toward Christianity.
In an official televised response from Ankara, the Interior Minister of Turkey smirked as he spoke of the attacks on our brothers. Amid public outrage and protests against the event and in favor of freedom of religion and freedom of thought, media and official comments ring with the same message, “We hope you have learned your lesson. We do not want Christians here.”
It appears that this was an organized attack initiated by an unknown adult tarikat leader. As in the Hrant Dink murder in January 2007, and a Catholic priest Andrea Santoro in February 2006, minors are being used to commit religious murders because public sympathy for youth is strong and they face lower penalties than an adult convicted of the same crime. Even the parents of these children are in favor of the acts. The mother of the 16 year old boy who killed the Catholic priest Andrea Santoro looked at the cameras as her son was going to prison and said, “he will serve time for Allah.”
The young men involved in the killing are currently in custody. Today news reported that they would be tried as terrorists, so their age would not affect the strict penalty. Assailant Emre Gunaydin is still in intensive care. The investigation centers around him and his contacts and they say will fall apart if he does not recover.
The Church in Turkey responded in a way that honored God as hundreds of believers and dozens of pastors flew in as fast as they could to stand by the small church of Malatya and encourage the believers, take care of legal issues, and represent Christians to the media.
When Susanne Tilman expressed her wish to bury her husband in Malatya, the Governor tried to stop it, and when he realized he could not stop it, a rumor was spread that “it is a sin to dig a grave for a Christian.” In the end, in an undertaking that should be remembered in Christian history forever, the men from the church in Adana (near Tarsus), grabbed shovels and dug a grave for their slain brother in an un-tended hundred year old Armenian graveyard.
Ugur was buried by his family in an Alevi Muslim ceremony in his hometown of Elazig, his believing fiance watching from the shadows as his family and friends refused to accept in death the faith Ugur had so long professed and died for.
Necati’s funeral took place in his hometown of Izmir, the city where he came to faith. The darkness does not understand the light. Though the churches expressed their forgiveness for the event, Christians were not to be trusted. Before they would load the coffin onto the plane from Malatya, it went through two separate xray exams to make sure it was not loaded with explosives. This is not a usual procedure for Muslim coffins.
Necati’s funeral was a beautiful event. Like a glimpse of heaven, thousands of Turkish Christians and missionaries came to show their love for Christ, and their honor for this man chosen to die for Christ. Necati’s wife Shemsa told the world, “His death was full of meaning, because he died for Christ and he lived for Christ… Necati was a gift from God. I feel honored that he was in my life, I feel crowned with honor. I want to be worthy of that honor.”
Boldly the believers took their stand at Necati’s funeral, facing the risks of being seen publicly and likewise becoming targets. As expected, the anti-terror police attended and videotaped everyone attending the funeral for their future use. The service took place outside at Buca Baptist church, and he was buried in a small Christian graveyard in the outskirts of Izmir.
Two assistant Governors of Izmir were there solemnly watching the event from the front row. Dozens of news agencies were there documenting the events with live news and photographs. Who knows the impact the funeral had on those watching? This is the beginning of their story as well. Pray for them.
In an act that hit front pages in the largest newspapers in Turkey, Susanne Tilman in a television interview expressed her forgiveness. She did not want revenge, she told reporters. “Oh God, forgive them for they know not what they do,” she said, wholeheartedly agreeing with the words of Christ on Calvary (Luke 23:34).
In a country where blood-for-blood revenge is as normal as breathing, many many reports have come to the attention of the church of how this comment of Susanne Tilman has changed lives. One columnist wrote of her comment, “She said in one sentence what 1000 missionaries in 1000 years could never do.”
The missionaries in Malatya will most likely move out, as their families and children have become publicly identified as targets to the hostile city. The remaining 10 believers are in hiding. What will happen to this church, this light in the darkness? Most likely it will go underground. Pray for wisdom, that Turkish brothers from other cities will go to lead the leaderless church. Should we not be concerned for that great city of Malatya, a city that does not know what it is doing? (Jonah 4:11)
When our Pastor Fikret Bocek went with a brother to give a statement to the Security Directorate on Monday they were ushered into the Anti-Terror Department. On the wall was a huge chart covering the whole wall listing all the terrorist cells in Izmir, categorized. In one prominent column were listed all the evangelical churches in Izmir. The darkness does not understand the light. “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (Acts 17:6)
Please pray for the Church in Turkey. “Don’t pray against persecution, pray for perseverence,” urges Pastor Fikret Bocek.
The Church is better having lost our brothers; the fruit in our lives, the renewed faith, the burning desire to spread the gospel to quench more darkness in Malatya …all these are not to be regretted. Pray that we stand strong against external opposition and especially pray that we stand strong against internal struggles with sin, our true debilitating weakness.
This we know. Christ Jesus was there when our brothers were giving their lives for Him. He was there, like He was when Stephen was being stoned in the sight of Saul of Tarsus.
Someday the video of the deaths of our brothers may reveal more to us about the strength that we know Christ gave them to endure their last cross, about the peace the Spirit of God endowed them with to suffer for their beloved Savior. But we know He did not leave their side. We know their minds were full of Scripture strengthening them to endure, as darkness tried to subdue the unsubduable Light of the Gospel. We know, in whatever way they were able, with a look or a word, they encouraged one another to stand strong. We know they knew they would soon be with Christ.
We don’t know the details. We don’t know the kind of justice that will or will not be served on this earth.
But we pray-- and urge you to pray-- that someday at least one of those five boys will come to faith because of the testimony in death of Tilman Geske, who gave his life as a missionary to his beloved Turks, and the testimonies in death of Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, the first martyrs for Christ out of the Turkish Church.
Reported by Darlene N. Bocek (24 April 2007)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Please please please pass this on to as many praying Christians as you can, in as many countries as you can. Please always keep the heading as “From the Protestant Church of Smyrna” with this contact information: izmirprotestan@gmail.com // http://www.izmirprotestan.org/
Veg Soup's comment: "Coincidence? Look at what the Lord Jesus said to the church at Smyrna 2,000 years ago!"
Similar post over at Graphegoogle
Friday, April 20, 2007
Drudge Report - What's happening today
OK, I haven't been over to Drudge in a while, so I thoughts I'd grab their feed today:
'Heightened Threat' in Germany...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
BALDWIN SLAMS 'PIG' DAUGHTER; BASINGER LEAKS TAPE
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
World Bank Board Adjourns Without Reaching Decision on Wolfowitz's Future...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
NEGATIVE: Florida student's comments about classmates spark probe, concern...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
'Ghost yacht' found off Australia...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
Euro approaches record high against dollar...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
Rove raises specter of attacks in U.S. if military pulls back abroad...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
DEM LEADER DECLARES: 'WAR IS LOST'...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
Republicans battle charge...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
Carville: Hillary's chances not better than 50%; but higher than anybody else...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
Many Campus Threats After VTech Shooting...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
NOONAN: Heartlessness of our media and therapy culture...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
Red tide causes a stink...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
NO SCARS: Doctors Remove a Gallbladder Through the Vagina...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
FLASH: Philly's WPHT am drive host Michael Smerconish to get IMUS slot tryout on MSNBC... Developing...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
McCain Message To Joke Critics: Get A Life...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
'Heightened Threat' in Germany...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
BALDWIN SLAMS 'PIG' DAUGHTER; BASINGER LEAKS TAPE
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
World Bank Board Adjourns Without Reaching Decision on Wolfowitz's Future...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
NEGATIVE: Florida student's comments about classmates spark probe, concern...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
'Ghost yacht' found off Australia...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
Euro approaches record high against dollar...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
Rove raises specter of attacks in U.S. if military pulls back abroad...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
DEM LEADER DECLARES: 'WAR IS LOST'...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
Republicans battle charge...
Today, April 20, 2007, 10 minutes ago
Carville: Hillary's chances not better than 50%; but higher than anybody else...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
Many Campus Threats After VTech Shooting...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
NOONAN: Heartlessness of our media and therapy culture...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
Red tide causes a stink...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
NO SCARS: Doctors Remove a Gallbladder Through the Vagina...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
FLASH: Philly's WPHT am drive host Michael Smerconish to get IMUS slot tryout on MSNBC... Developing...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
McCain Message To Joke Critics: Get A Life...
Today, April 20, 2007, 50 minutes ago
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Virginia Tech Update from Andy
Greetings from Virginia Tech – let me update you on what’s happened since Tuesday morning:
We’ve seen incredible demonstrations of campus unity, not only in the university-sponsored convocation and candlelight vigil, but also at a noon prayer gathering on the drillfield on Wednesday. I believe that our ongoing, united prayer efforts, which gave us such a sense of community even before April 16, will be the starting point for campus healing and renewal.
We are still tired – I was hoping to sleep in this morning, but I awoke at 8 am to the sound of an interview in my living room between my roommate/coworker Wes and a reporter from Christianity Today! We’re doing our best to handle the media attention and our unexpected public relations role.
Sadly, the missing student I mentioned in my last e-mail, Lauren, was one of the victims. She was a very close friend to some of the people involved with our ministry. We also grieve for the disproportionately large number of international students and faculty who died.
The impact on the Korean community is deep – there will be a Korean Students Assembly tonight at a local church. Friday night, the InterVarsity chapter will meet together for worship and fellowship with Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, a group with many Korean-American students. Please pray for God’s love to take away all shame and guilt from Korean community members, and that as a united international community, we would all identify with the sinfulness that led to this tragedy as well as a common hope in one savior, Jesus Christ.
Towards this end of international unity, I am hosting an open gathering tonight for international students to come and share a meal, their stories, and their prayers and worship songs. Pray for God to give us hope, peace, and clear direction about what healing steps to take next.
Thank you so much. If you are receiving this e-mail as a forward, know that I appreciate your prayers as well, and the support we’re receiving from all over.
In Immanuel, God with us,
Robert A. Howe
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship @ Virginia Tech
International Student Ministry
(540) 922-2507
www.robahokie.blogspot.com
We’ve seen incredible demonstrations of campus unity, not only in the university-sponsored convocation and candlelight vigil, but also at a noon prayer gathering on the drillfield on Wednesday. I believe that our ongoing, united prayer efforts, which gave us such a sense of community even before April 16, will be the starting point for campus healing and renewal.
We are still tired – I was hoping to sleep in this morning, but I awoke at 8 am to the sound of an interview in my living room between my roommate/coworker Wes and a reporter from Christianity Today! We’re doing our best to handle the media attention and our unexpected public relations role.
Sadly, the missing student I mentioned in my last e-mail, Lauren, was one of the victims. She was a very close friend to some of the people involved with our ministry. We also grieve for the disproportionately large number of international students and faculty who died.
The impact on the Korean community is deep – there will be a Korean Students Assembly tonight at a local church. Friday night, the InterVarsity chapter will meet together for worship and fellowship with Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, a group with many Korean-American students. Please pray for God’s love to take away all shame and guilt from Korean community members, and that as a united international community, we would all identify with the sinfulness that led to this tragedy as well as a common hope in one savior, Jesus Christ.
Towards this end of international unity, I am hosting an open gathering tonight for international students to come and share a meal, their stories, and their prayers and worship songs. Pray for God to give us hope, peace, and clear direction about what healing steps to take next.
Thank you so much. If you are receiving this e-mail as a forward, know that I appreciate your prayers as well, and the support we’re receiving from all over.
In Immanuel, God with us,
Robert A. Howe
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship @ Virginia Tech
International Student Ministry
(540) 922-2507
www.robahokie.blogspot.com
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Virginia Tech Mourning
"Today, we're all Hokies"
To the University Community: The shootings this morning at Virginia Tech have turned a seemingly normal day into one filled with grief and disbelief. For U.Va., especially on this day, Virginia Tech is family. Many of us have parents, daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, and friends who study, teach, or work in Blacksburg. Many of us are Tech alumni.
Our hearts are with Virginia Tech and its many families today, and they will be so long into the future as we remember this awful day. Our thoughts and prayers belong to those who must deal tonight and in future days with a grief that must seem almost more than mind and spirit can bear. Together, we extend our sympathy, concern, and fellow feeling for lives destroyed and bodies broken today and for families and classmates and faculty members who must go on despite these losses.
In the course of this day, we have offered support and assistance as Virginia Tech may need them from us. This offer includes providing psychological support services, other medical assistance, and any other support that may be useful to Virginia Tech. We will stay in close touch with President Steger and those who must now work with him to restore the Tech community.Members of our own community will be affected directly and indirectly by the senselessness and magnitude of what has happened, perhaps more so in coming days as victims' names and attachments become known.We look forward to serving those persons as well.
However near to or far from Virginia Tech and its people each of us may be in kinship or other attachments, today's events take enormous emotional tolls, and not all of these costs are obvious immediately. Faculty members and staff members know this from prior experience. They want to help.They are themselves as mindful of human loss and grief-struck as students and their families are.Their common commitment to the University is first and foremost to our students.
Some additional information for students and their families:
Few deal easily with shock and grief in isolation.Talk together. Students, call home.Parents, call your daughters and your sons. Listen and talk to one another, and in that contact seek the beginnings of solace and comfort...
At 2 p.m. tomorrow in Blacksburg, Virginia Tech will hold its convocation.Along with student leaders and members of our Board of Visitors, I will attend to express our common respect and concern. Also at 2 p.m., the Chapel bells here on the Grounds will toll for five minutes.I urge all within the sound of the bells to pause, reflect, and each in her or his own way express sorrow for the losses that so many families are now discovering.
Again, at 7 p.m. tomorrow night, the Chapel bells will toll for five minutes as students, faculty members and staff, and I gather in the McIntire Amphitheatre in a candlelight vigil to honor the memories and lives of those killed and injured this morning and to express our support for our counterparts at Virginia Tech, for their families, and for their friends.
Caleb Euhus, a student from Lynchburg, wrote a poem today entitled "Tech Wind."He sent a copy this afternoon, and he agreed to my sharing its argument and some words from it with you.He invokes today's fierce winds to combat and assuage the horror and anger that all thoughtful women and men must feel about today's catastrophe in Blacksburg.Echoing sentiments as old as Lamentations, Mr. Euhus calls on nature itself -- the very wind -- to share this grief.The poem ends with the lines "Make haughty grass bow down its stalk/And mourn for all those killed."Mr. Euhus speaks for all of us.
-- John Casteen, University president
To the University Community: The shootings this morning at Virginia Tech have turned a seemingly normal day into one filled with grief and disbelief. For U.Va., especially on this day, Virginia Tech is family. Many of us have parents, daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, and friends who study, teach, or work in Blacksburg. Many of us are Tech alumni.
Our hearts are with Virginia Tech and its many families today, and they will be so long into the future as we remember this awful day. Our thoughts and prayers belong to those who must deal tonight and in future days with a grief that must seem almost more than mind and spirit can bear. Together, we extend our sympathy, concern, and fellow feeling for lives destroyed and bodies broken today and for families and classmates and faculty members who must go on despite these losses.
In the course of this day, we have offered support and assistance as Virginia Tech may need them from us. This offer includes providing psychological support services, other medical assistance, and any other support that may be useful to Virginia Tech. We will stay in close touch with President Steger and those who must now work with him to restore the Tech community.Members of our own community will be affected directly and indirectly by the senselessness and magnitude of what has happened, perhaps more so in coming days as victims' names and attachments become known.We look forward to serving those persons as well.
However near to or far from Virginia Tech and its people each of us may be in kinship or other attachments, today's events take enormous emotional tolls, and not all of these costs are obvious immediately. Faculty members and staff members know this from prior experience. They want to help.They are themselves as mindful of human loss and grief-struck as students and their families are.Their common commitment to the University is first and foremost to our students.
Some additional information for students and their families:
Few deal easily with shock and grief in isolation.Talk together. Students, call home.Parents, call your daughters and your sons. Listen and talk to one another, and in that contact seek the beginnings of solace and comfort...
At 2 p.m. tomorrow in Blacksburg, Virginia Tech will hold its convocation.Along with student leaders and members of our Board of Visitors, I will attend to express our common respect and concern. Also at 2 p.m., the Chapel bells here on the Grounds will toll for five minutes.I urge all within the sound of the bells to pause, reflect, and each in her or his own way express sorrow for the losses that so many families are now discovering.
Again, at 7 p.m. tomorrow night, the Chapel bells will toll for five minutes as students, faculty members and staff, and I gather in the McIntire Amphitheatre in a candlelight vigil to honor the memories and lives of those killed and injured this morning and to express our support for our counterparts at Virginia Tech, for their families, and for their friends.
Caleb Euhus, a student from Lynchburg, wrote a poem today entitled "Tech Wind."He sent a copy this afternoon, and he agreed to my sharing its argument and some words from it with you.He invokes today's fierce winds to combat and assuage the horror and anger that all thoughtful women and men must feel about today's catastrophe in Blacksburg.Echoing sentiments as old as Lamentations, Mr. Euhus calls on nature itself -- the very wind -- to share this grief.The poem ends with the lines "Make haughty grass bow down its stalk/And mourn for all those killed."Mr. Euhus speaks for all of us.
-- John Casteen, University president
Monday, April 16, 2007
Area 51 - Some pretty funny videos
My brother Chad and a friend are posting some fun video over at Area 51
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Possible advance in diabetes study
Stem cell transplant promising for type 1 diabetesScientific American - 12 hours agoNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a small study, a treatment that included stem cell transplantation induced prolonged insulin independence in patients with ...
all 327 news articles »
all 327 news articles »
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Lists of marketing Blogs
You've gotta bop over to Marketing Blueprint to check out the two new lists of marketing blogs I posted last night!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
