Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Even Billy Graham has Regrets

It seems impossible to live a long life without having regrets, it’s just how you deal with that regret that matters.  Amanda’s Grandmother, Aurelia, would always say “FIDO…Forget It and Drive On”  Billy Graham, the beloved evangelist known as “America’s pastor,” says that looking back on his long life and public ministry, one thing he would do differently is to avoid the political entanglements that have been one of the rare blots on his otherwise hallowed legacy.”I . . . would have steered clear of politics,” Graham, now 92 and in need of round-the-clock care, said via e-mail in response to questions from Christianity Today, the evangelical monthly he founded in the 1950s.

Graham also said that if he could go back and do anything differently he would “spend more time at home with my family, and I’d study more and preach less.”

Full Story Here

Oprah’s Big Reveal

Oprah revealed she has a half-sister on her show yesterday.  It was fascinating to watch the story of how the Family Secret came out, and how her half sister respected the family enough to hold on to this secret for 4 years without going to the media.  While telling the story Oprah said she felt her mother had been “stuck in shame” all these years keeping this secret about the daughter she gave up for adoption.  No matter what secret or shame you feel about your life Oprah reminded her audience “telling the truth gives freedom to all.”

Family Safety Tip:  Pets in the Bed

Cuddling with pets puts you at risk of catching some icky bugs, warns a report published in the February issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the public health journal of the Centers for Disease Control. The probability of getting sick from sharing your bed with your pet is extremely rare, said lead author, Bruno Chomel, a professor of zoonoses at University of California Davis. But he warned that children and people who have compromised immune system should be aware of the risks. “It can happen,” he said.  “It’s rare when it happens and it can be bad. It’s not told to panic people or scare people, but to be aware there are things that can happen.” In a survey from the American Kennel Club, 21 percent of dog owners said they regularly slept with their dogs.  Chomel and co-author Ben Sun looked through published literature about cases in which people’s illnesses correlated with sleeping, kissing or being licked by pets.
Some of  examples are startling:
– A man had a dog sleep under the covers with him.  The dog licked his hip replacement wound and the owner got meningitis.
– A 9-year-old boy slept in bed with a flea-infested cat and got the bubonic plague in 1974 in New Mexico.
– A newborn was sickened with meningitis.  The pet cat had stolen the baby’s pacifier and had been toying with it.
– A 44-year-old woman developed meningitis and admitted that she was “regularly kissing the dog’s face and feeding it by transferring food mouth to mouth.”

Prayer for your Family:  Purity

“Create in them a pure heart, O God,” and let their purity of heart be shown in their actions.” Ps 51:10
Download your Prayer Calendar here

Brenformation (aka Brennan’s News)

State of the Union Address is tonight…the president is expected to focus on the economy, the deficit and how to cut debt. Republicans are pushing hard for deep cuts in federal spending.

Some parents in Fairfax County are up in arms about some kindergartens only being half day while others are full day…they say it creates stress because the kids have to learn the exact same things only some have 7 hours to do it in, while others have 3 hours to do it in…

Fairfax County School board said they planned on rolling out out a plan for full day kindergartens in every school but because of what happened with the economy, that never happened.

Thousands of people in PG county are under a boil water advisory after that huge water main broke yesterday in Largo MD…WSSC says it could take months before investigators know what caused the main to blow…about 400K customers – most who live south of Central Ave – are under the boil water advisory.

We may have one of the worst commutes in the country, and may be the rudest, but we’ve at least got nice roads…there’s a report out that says DC leads the country for least dangerous roads for drivers, right before Massachusetts.  The reason for it is that urban roads are safer than rural roads.

Oprah’s got a sister…that was the big reveal yesterday. She had a half-sister she never knew she had…she was put in foster care and officially adopted by another family at age 7….

Positive Thoughts

Gray hair is God’s graffiti.
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
If you ever need a helping hand you’ll find one at the end of your arm.
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?”