Tell Someone About This Blog

This blog is receiving between 2,000 and 5,000 discrete visits per month.  Why not 5,000 to 10,000?  Tell your friends, relatives, and fellow church members about the blog.  Mention the blog in one of your tweets, on your personal blog, or on your Facebook page.

This is primarily a ministry to Christians but it also is read by persons who are not Christian.  There have been visits originating from occultic and pornographic sites.  Some readers have been followers of non-Christian religions such as Judaism and Islam.

This blog will never intentionally insult anyone but it also will never back away from telling the Truth.  The Good News is for everyone and if only one person comes to Christ because of this blog, the angels will rejoice. (Luke 15:1-10)

The True Meaning of Success

At the 2012 London Olympics in the men’s 1600 meter relay race, Manteo Mitchell ran the first 400 meters, slowly.  The internet erupted in criticism with angry Twitter tweets at his poor performance.  Here is what really happened.  As Mitchell started to run, he heard a loud pop and felt a sudden pain as his left fibula snapped.  He finished his portion of the relay race to make sure that the United States would qualify for the next round.  The event rivals the historical importance of what Kerri Strug did at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in her Gold Medal winning vault.

(Some videos will not play properly when you click on the triangle.  Instead,  click on the title line in the picture and the video will begin .  When the video is completed, close the You Tube pop-up window to return to this blog.)

  

What Mitchell had to say: “I felt I upheld the Olympic standard to the highest degree.  It’s not finishing first or second, it’s doing your best.”  He explained that he felt that he had to “do what I was called in to do.”

Christians are called to be witnesses (the Greek word is  μάρτυρας "martyrs."), even if sometimes doing so is uncomfortable or even dangerous, even if no one seems to be listening. 

In his book, Share Jesus Without Fear, William Fay points out that, for Christians, "success is sharing your faith and living your life for Jesus Christ.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with bringing anyone to the Lord.  It has everything to do with obedience."  Obedience , not results, is success for a Christian.  Results come from the work of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit indwells every believer.  "... we have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, living in us ..."  

Send Posts to Social Networking Sites

From time to time I will announce and explain features on this blog. Readers can now share individual blog posts from this blog to their social networking sites. Just under the post are five boxes: "M" for e-mail; "B" for Blogger; "t" for Twitter; "f" for Facebook; and an "earth" symbol for Google Buzz. If you think that any of the posts might be useful or interesting to others, feel free to send them to your social networking site. Because of copyright issues, please indicate that the blog is http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/


The readership for this blog is growing and, of course, I would like to grow it even larger.  In the past week there have been visitors to this blog from the United States, Canada, Slovenia, Thailand, Israel, India, Sri Lanka, and Luxembourg.  I invite everyone to become daily or weekly readers and to feel free to comment and/or suggest topics.

New Feature on This Blog

I have added a new feature to this blog. Readers can now send individual blog posts to their social networking sites. Just under the post are five boxes: "M" for e-mail; "B" for Blogger; "t" for Twitter; "f" for Facebook; and an "earth" symbol for Google Buzz. If you think that any of the posts might be useful or interesting to others, feel free to send it to them. Please indicate that the blog is http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/

Religious Use of Twitter

     For centuries, religious people have written short prayers on pieces of paper and stuffed them into the cracks in the Western Wall (the Kotel) in Jerusalem.  As the technology developed, people outside of Israel began to send faxes and e-mails which religious Jews would dutifully carry daily to the Wall.

     Now, Alon Nil, an Israeli economist, has begun such a service based on the social networking service known as Twitter.  The free service is only three weeks old and already receives thousands of prayers a day.  Nil says he is overwhelmed but intends that no prayers will be lost and that every prayer will be placed into the Wall.

                      http://twitter.com/theKotel

                      http://tweetyourprayers.info