MEM

By Terrell Perkins (The Sabbath Sentinel)

"I just watched the Ron Clark story on TV. It’s a movie based on the life of an elementary school teacher from North Carolina who moved to Harlem, New York to teach sixth grade students. He chose the remedial class because everyone else had given up on them. The students tried everything they could to get him to quit and give up on them… but that would only have reinforced their view of themselves. Mr. Clark stayed. He showed them that he believed in them and that helped them begin to believe in themselves. They went from being the lowest testing class in the school to the highest in the district. Mr. Clark’s students caught his love of learning and it began to burn in them. He uplifted them by setting them an example of someone who not only loved learning but who was able to show them something of value in themselves.

"To let a child see something of value in themselves through the eyes of an adult…I think that is the greatest thing an adult can give a child. Kids need more than just three squares a day and a roof over their head, they need to know someone believes in them. When a child learns to value him or herself they can easily learn the value of others…when they don’t value themselves they won’t value anything or anyone else.

"I’m reminded of the story of a king in a small country who wanted to adopt a child raised by the village. He told the village about his plan but he wouldn’t tell them whom the child was. So the village raised every child there with love and affection. They were all praised and encouraged. They were instructed with patience and nurtured because of who they might become. As a result the whole generation was uplifted. They prospered as a peaceful people and raised a wise leader for the next generation.

"Children need food, clothing, a safe and peaceful home, an education and the example of honest, upright adults, especially their parents. Every child needs a mother and father who love each other living in their home. Little boys need the example of a man to learn how to become a man. Little girls need a father to teach them how a man should treat a woman. Every child needs a mother to learn how to love.

"Children don’t belong to their parents. They only come through them. They belong to God. Children are only entrusted to their parents for their parents to teach them to become decent human beings. That’s more important than being rich or famous. Our character is what we take with us after we draw our last breath. Everything else is just for training purposes…

"People often wonder what’s going on here on earth. Why are we here? We are raising the Children of God in every generation. We should take that to God in every generation. We should take that to heart because it’s THE most important thing happening in the universe! What we do in our home will echo for eternity…

"Love your children."

*Part of our looking beyond is to teach our children to reach their potential.

Proverbs 3:13 (NAS unless indicated) ​​​​​​​​Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, ​​​​​​​and the one who gets understanding, ​​​ 14 ​​​​​​​​for the gain from her is better than gain from silver ​​​​​​​and her profit better than gold. ​​​ 15 ​​​​​​​​She is more precious (H3368) than jewels, ​​​​​​​and nothing you desire can compare with her. ​​​

Our responsibility toward others is to see their potential value and encourage them.

"The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."

Joseph Addison

M.M.

At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor.

At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.

At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.

At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.

At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.

At 23, started his own law practice.

At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America" and retired from his law practice.

At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.

At 33, took three years to revise Virginia’s legal code and wrote a Public education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.

At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.

At 40, served in Congress for two years.

At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.

At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.

At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.

At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions which became the basis of ‘States Rights’

At 57, was elected the third president of the United States.

At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation's size.

At 61, was elected to a second term as President.

At 65, retired to Monticello.

At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.

At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.

At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams.

Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws, and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future.

John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not" -- Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." -- Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -- Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."-- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

Not all items verified

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his animals in a remote mountainous pasture in Montana when suddenly a brand-new 2018 BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust. The driver, a young man named Cliff in a Brioni® suit, Gucci® shoes, RayBan® sunglasses and YSL® tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

Bud looks at the man, who obviously is a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell® notebook computer, connects it to his Apple iPhone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop® and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany …

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Apple iPad® that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL® database through an ODBC connected Excel® spreadsheet with email on his Galaxy S8® and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet® printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government", says Bud.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars’ worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know nothing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep."

"Now give me back my dog."

You have heard it said that blood is thicker than water, and this affirms the value of family relationships. You have responsibilities toward those related to you if for no other reason than family loyalty. Yet have you found your family members reluctant to affirm you or join you in your spiritual journey? Have you proceeded on to find those who are likeminded and sensed a stronger kinship with them than with your own family? Yeshua (Jesus) faced the same situation and declared that His brothers and sisters were those who did the will of God and warned that there would be division in families because of Him. Spirit is thicker than blood.

Do you prefer conversation or dialogue? You may consider these terms to be synonymous, but conversation can be light and superficial while dialogue implies a deeper level of engagement. You can control a conversation and steer it in the way you want to go, but a dialogue has a life of its own that neither party has control of and to truly engage in it you must be willing to go where it leads, even in unexpected directions. Is this a scary prospect? Yet it is the way to explore new ground and grow, and those who value it will seek out others who also want to engage in it. Come and let us reason together.

(Adopted from a blog post by Dale Cresap)

Ps 36:7 How precious (H3368) is Thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings.

Ps 139:17 How precious (H3368) also are Thy thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

H3368 (Strong) precious

Blessed be YHVH (Genesis 14:20 And blessed be God Most High…)