Spin It Lucky

The reception is easily one of the biggest costs of the wedding, so it’s very important that you have a clear, and well documented contract with your banquet sales representative and/or your caterer.

Here are some things you need to iron out before signing the check:

- Does your caterer have a license? Has it met local health department standards? Does it have liability insurance?

- Does the fee include just the food or additional services like tables, chairs, silverware? Do you need to pay extra for seat covers, place settings, equipment?

- Will the caterer provide waiters? How many people will each waiter serve? How many people will assist at the buffet table?

- Does the package include place cards, centerpieces, guest book?

- What is the caterer’s experience in food styling? (Ask to see photos of prior settings.)

- What drinks are included? Will you need to pay corkage fees if you bring in your own sodas or liquor? (Compare the costs of an open bar, corkage fees, or set drinks.)

- What are the special fees not included in the cost of menu? This includes sales taxes, service fees, bar fees, security deposits, corkage, etc. Always ask for the total package cost and check against your wedding budget.

- When is the downpayment and final balance due? What is the cancellation and refund policy?

- What date will the caterer need a final headcount?

- Who will oversee the event on the actual wedding day?

- Can you have a special menu for kids or friends with dietary considerations (i.e., kosher, vegetarian, etc.)

Be organised, ask plenty of questions, and you’re much more likely to find the right wedding caterer.

Seeking help from marriage counselors is a good step in improving your marriage. This shows your sincerity in keeping the relationship together and to make it stronger. But this also shows that your marriage is on the rocks. Why seek counseling if the marriage is doing great?

Maybe the vow that you made together with your husband or wife in front of the church altar is not enough to keep your marriage out of trouble. This could be due to some uncontrollable circumstances, failure to address this problem is the reason why many married couples are now resorting to counseling., and if it does not work, a divorce may be the last recourse.

Some people look down at the thought of seeking counseling. They feel that a third person could not fix what the two of them could not. But getting a fresh perspective from an experienced person may just be the answer.

The Right Time

It would be advisable to start your marriage counseling on an early basispreferably before you get married or early in the marriage, especially if you sense that the two of you are having communication problems with each other.

Do not treat counseling like a “sealant in the leakage”. Some people have misconceptions that it should only be considered if the situation will lead to divorce. Instead of seeing it in that point of view, it will be better if you will take counseling to enlighten and help you and your husband or wife develop a clear and honest communication and proper handling of your problems once you and your partner get involved in a marriage.

Improve your marriage in its best condition. It will not be good if the two of you will just get a marriage counselor just because you are planning to separate from each other. Instead, let your marriage counselor be your guide in shaping your relationship in the best possible shape there is. Your counselor is not the best solution to your problemit is both of you that can fix it. It is your commitment and your dedication to the marriage.

Up here in Idaho the state is in the process of passing an amendment to the State Constitution to ban marriage between anyone other than a man and a woman. This is Mormon Country and our influence (I’m a Mormon) may guarantee the passing of the amendment when it gets to the people.

Marriage to a Mormon is a God-ordained union between a man and women that can be eternalized in a Mormon Temple.

I think that most Idahoans would agree with the first part of that definition. They would accept that marriage is a God-ordained union between a man and a women that ends at death.

Marriage also has the definition of an intimate and close union.

Intimate has its own meaning. Two peas in a pod are intimate but probably not engaged in a sexual relationship.

The crutch of the current activity is anti-homosexuality. I’m against homosexuality from at least this point of view: The DNA of such folks is all too often not passed on. Talents and intellect are lost forever.

Our society has decided that when two women or two men live together that they are homosexuals. This may not be true. It’s not always true. Adults often like to combine resources to live better. For example, sharing the cost of a home makes it possible to have a better home.

Having someone to talk to is also a benefit.

No sexual relationship is required or need to be implied. School teachers that have never married often share a home.

We should not decide that every male couple living together is engaging in sodomy. We should give them the benefit of the doubt. Don’t you feel better when you feel that someone is not doing what you consider to be evil?

Anyway, here is the point. Same-sex couples living together have legal rights. They need to be protected in regard to property distribution in case of separation by agreement or by death. If children are living in the home, as they often are, they need to be protected. Such couples should have legal agreements to protect themselves.

In normal marriage, the state sets up legal agreements inherent in the marriage.

You get married, you have rights.

Same-sex couples living together have no inherent rights although I’m sure they can have an attorney write them up. But why can’t they go to the courthouse and get a license to join in a state sponsored legal agreement such as marriage? Wouldn’t that be the right thing to do?

I know that some homosexuals want to be married and treated like other married couples. They want legal rights and they want to adopt children. They want permanent binding.

I think that we must remove the concept of sin from same-sex unions. It may be an incorrect assumption on our part. We should allow such unions to be protected by law. The problem is a conceived problem that is not going to go away until we solve it.

I’ve read that some American Indian tribes saw homosexuality as just a fluke of nature. Homosexual men were separated to their own tent and left on their own. That is the thinking that we must get rid of. We can’t push same-sex couples out of our society.

Leave the concepts of sinful, unnatural, kooky, and such to the psychologist and clergy on a personal basis. The rest of us need to worry about what is right under the law.

If we are going to reserve marriage for heterosexual relationships, then maybe we should reserve Binding Relationship for same-sex couples having common property interest.

Then we would receive invitations such as: John Murphy and James Henderson would like to have you join them in celebration of their Binding on September 15, 2008 at 7:00 P.M. at the town firehouse. Bring a covered dish and either a dessert or a salad.

Now don’t worry if men are dancing with men or women dancing with women. That happens at wedding receptions, doesn’t it? Would you go?

The End

copyright©2006 John Taylor Jones, Ph.D.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.dumbincome.com

After months and months of planning every detail to create your perfect wedding, you want to have those moments documented so you can look back on time and time again. Your photographs are what you have in the end, after all the planning and the money spent and the day has come and gone. Choose wisely. You will share your wedding album with family and friends, your children and their children.

Finding your photographer doesn’t have to be such a challenge. Check the professioanl associations. Ask your event facilities and your church. Ask your married friends about the photographer they used, they can tell you what they did and did not like, and what they would do differently if they had the chance to do it all over again. These are all great resources.

Make certain you feel comfortable with and like the photographer you hire. They will be with you and your family and friends for a good part of the day. Also, think about how your family and weddding party will connect with this person.

Time and time again we’ve heard stories of brides or their families hiring ” a friend of a friend” to shoot the wedding, thinking they would give them the business or get a break on price. Most of the time this turns out to be a disaster, by receiving poorly exposed images, blurry images,no creativity, lost film or no images at all, or not showing up. Remember think wisely.

Find a photographer who cares about capturing and telling your story. Your story should be more than the standard posed “stand here and smile” shots. They should be imaginative and reflect who your are. Your consultaion with the photographer should be relaxed, you should feel comforable with him or her and not feel presured what-so-ever to sign with them or purchase a certain package. Communication is so important; ask lots of questions. Make sure they have a web-site. You should first be impressed there before making your initial consultation.

Here are some questions to ask:
-Will you be the one shooting my wedding?

If not, then look at that person’s work.
-What if you are sick or an emergency comes up?

-Is this your full-time job?
-Do you belong to any professional associations?
-How long after the wedding do I receive my proofs? And the final Wedding album?

You should receive your proofs no later than one month
after the wedding and the final album 2 to 3 months after
making your photograph selections.
-How many weddings do they photograph a year? What percentage of their business are weddings.

This is important because it will indicate they know how
things run. In their confidence level. They are prepared
for the unexpected things that turn up occasionally.

Your personalities should be compatible. Is their photography style what you are looking for? Have them show you lots of their work. Look at a wedding in it’s entirety, not just enlargements of their best work. Do you like the style album they offer? Ask if they customize their packages. For example: you may like their package B, but want to add something that is included in package D to your package B. Being able to do this ensures you get exactly what you want, and not pay for goods and services you are not interested in.

After you have chosen your photographer, discuss any traditions you and your families and friends may have. If the photographer knows ahead of time, these important events or annoucements are not missed due to lack of communication.

Cut out magazine photos you like and give them to the photographer. The photographer then gets an idea for what you are envisioning, of course, it will not be exactly the same image, since it’s a different location,different bride, different lighting, different everything, however, the mood and overall feel of the image could possibly be similarly created. Discuss any special photos you would like, provide the photographer with a list, so they refer to that list the day of the wedding and these will not be forgotten. You will be occupied with many other things and probally will not remember. Go over the days time-line. Work with your photographer in planning how much time is needed to get the photographs you want. Go over what time family and wedding party should arrive. If your photographer has plenty of experience, they will provide you with a lot of information and advice, and not just about the photography end of it. They are professioanls and do this all the time.

After the wedding, give your photographer feed back on how both of you thought they did, what your families and guests said about them. Work together to create the wedding album you will treasure for the rest of your lives. The right photographer for you is out there, choose wisely.

Ana Lombardi is a professional photographer. She works out of her home and travels all over the country to photograph weddings. She is part owner in a Photography gallery featuring Wedding photographs as well as Children, Fine Art pieces,It will open in March of 2006 in Tyrone Georgia. It is extremely important to her that happy couples wind up with photographs they love and will treasure forever.

Wedding flowers make up a large part of the wedding decoration. When you talk about wedding flowers, you don’t mean the flowers for the wedding reception only. Wedding flowers also include the bride’s bouquet, corsages, attendants’ flowers and all the other flowers you need throughout the wedding ceremony.

Here are some things to keep in mind when deciding what wedding flowers you need.

• Bride’s bouquet: The most talked about wedding flowers in the whole ceremony. This one has to match your dress and other accessories so decide accordingly. Also, if you intend to preserve your wedding bouquet, then ask the florist for a smaller or similar version of the original wedding bouquet. You can use this for the tossing.

• Floral hairpieces: If you intend to wear flowers in your hair instead of a wedding veil, place an order with the florist well in advance. You may even want to try out the hairstyle a week before the wedding.

• Attendants’ flowers: It is the bride’s duty to coordinate the wedding flowers for the attendants. The maid of honor and the bridesmaids generally carry bouquets that complement the wedding bouquet.

• Flower girl: As the name suggests, wedding flowers are very much required for the youngest member of the wedding party. You can have the flower girl carry a basket full of rose petals, a nosegay or a simple floral and ribbon wreath.

• Corsages: It is wedding tradition to present wedding flowers to the mothers and grandmothers of the bride and groom in the form of corsages. The corsages can match the wedding bouquet, the wedding decoration or the dresses worn by the women in the wedding party. Make sure you ask beforehand whether the women would like corsages to be pinned to their dresses or purses or to wear on their wrist.

• Boutonnieres: The groom’s boutonniere almost always matches the wedding bouquet. The best man, groomsmen and ushers also wear boutonnieres, but different from the groom. The fathers and grandfathers of the groom and bride receive boutonnieres as well.

• Ceremony wedding flowers: You will need to check with the coordinator at the ceremony site before you place any orders for wedding flowers for the ceremony. You generally have the option of decorating the beginning of the pews, the aisle and the arches with wedding flowers. You may also want wedding flowers at the guest book table. A beautiful tradition is to pass around rose petals to all the guests to toss at the bride and groom when they are finally introduced as man and wife.

• Reception wedding flowers: Wedding flowers to be used as part of the wedding decoration for your reception will be determined entirely by the theme of your wedding reception. In general, it is common to have some kind of wedding flowers at each table. The buffet table also needs to be decorated with wedding flowers. One way to cost cut on wedding flowers is to use the attendants’ bouquets to decorate the cake table.

As beautiful as flowers make the occasion, remember to order only as many wedding flowers as you can afford. Also, a great way to share your joy with others is to arrange to have the wedding flowers sent to an orphanage or old age home the day after your wedding. Not only will this bring a smile to the faces of those who receive them, it will bring a big smile to you knowing you passed on your joy to others.

Copyright Andrea Britt, 2005. All rights reserved.

Reprint Rights: Feel free to use this article on your website or online publication. Please remember that you must include the author’s copyright, resource box and live URL links, exactly as shown below, to the author’s website at the end of the article.

Andrea Britt is owner of http://www.CharmingWeddings.com where you can find elegant, unique wedding favors, bridal shower favors, and wedding planning tips for your wedding reception and bridal shower.

To watch or read the news is an effort in trying to see what this world is coming to. The Bible is full of the reality of Demons, Devils and Darkness.
We see the effect of Demons and Devils every day and no longer wonder why this world has been thrown into darkness.
The Word, “Demon”, has a number of meanings, all related to the idea of a spirit that inhabited a place, or that accompanied a person.

In Hebrew demons were workers of harm. To them were ascribed the various diseases, particularly such as affect the brain and the inner parts. For by controlling the brain and thoughts, Demons and Devils can control the physical body.

The Word, “Devil”, means, A subordinate evil spirit, A bad or fallen Angel .
When a seed of unrighteousness is planted in a mans mind, he rejects any other thing that would alter what he has already accepted as truth. Here is one example of thought control, speaking of Homosexual rights;
“I am humbled that I am the one given the honor to sign the bill,” she said. “It took the tenacity of many people to make this day possible.”

A demon seed was planted in the minds of lawmakers to further the growth of homo-sexuality and it became law. Here is another example from the spirit of greed; A dead body can be worth tens of thousands of dollars when it is dissected for parts. Millions of dollars a year are made from stealing body parts and selling them to hospitals.

Here is another example from Matthew 17:15, “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.” (Strong’s G4582), the moon, one who was affected with his disorder at the change and full of the moon. This is the case in some kinds of madness and epilepsy. This youth was no doubt epileptic; but it was evidently either produced or taken advantage of by a demon or evil spirit.

A lunatic is a commonly used term for a person who is mentally ill, dangerous, foolish or unpredictable. Another great example is in the Book of Job, 2:7.
Matthew 8:16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
The word, “possessed” means, Controlled by or as if by a spirit or other force; bewitched.

These demon seeds are present in the following types of people, sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, liars, fornicators, adulterers, drunkards, effeminate, extortioners, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies and Envyings.

Demon seeds come in various manifestations. Most of them in this modern times, are seeds of theft by law. This is stating of the many companies around the world that steal from their employees by using the law to protect their theft, such as retirement, medical benefits, ect. Other demons seed, such as rape, theft by deception(Using the Law of Emanate Domain to steel land from others to profit from their loss.) and even war, are gaining strength in this world.

Isaiah 56:10-11; His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
No one wakes up in the morning determined to rape, murder, steal nor deceive anyone. These actions take place when a demon seed is planted in their mind. Demons and Devils work independently from one another and even independent from Satan.

Demons and Devils mainly go after the weak and unsaved. For in those that are saved, the Demons and Devils fear the Spirit of God that dwells within the Believer. Many times these seeds come not from the planting in the mind but from permission from God. Even Satan cannot harm a believer unless He is given permission from God, as in the experience of Job. We see this in, Matthew 8:29, And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Demons and Devils know that their time of controlling man, is a short time. Demons and Devils cannot reconcile themselves with God, for their sin was a grevious sin. They have already been judged unrighteous and will spend eternity in the lake of fire. Here are examples of different Demons and Devils in Scripture.

Mark 5:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. The Demon Legion, is the most famous or should I say Infamous in Scripture. He controlled the multitude of the others demons and devils that were present.
Legion, also known as the Gadarene demon, ie; generally or often considered a vulgar demon.

Luke 8:30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. Luke 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. Demons and Devils fear not mankind, for they seek to control them, but they are afraid of the spirit of God.

Acts 16:16-18; And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. The spirit of divination is world wide today, false prophets, teachers, preachers and doctrine. If you noticed in Acts 16:16-18, Paul didn’t address the woman but the demon directly. Each Demon and Devil has a name. To controll them and remove them from our lives, we must do as Jesus and Paul instructed us. We call each unclean spirit by name and rebuke them in the Name of Jesus Christ. By doing so we gain control of them and can command them to depart.
One Thing that a Christian can not do to an unclean spirit is send it to Hell. That is not within our Power. Proving this, all we have to do is look at all the spirits cast out by Jesus and the other disciples. None cast a demon to hell but simply out.

Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; ars

(References; Gen_38:16; Jdg_16:5, Jdg_17:10, Jdg_18:19, Jdg_18:20; Isa_56:11; 1Ti_3:3, 1Ti_6:9, 1Ti_6:10; 2Pe_2:3, 2Pe_2:14, 2Pe_2:15 Mat_27:3-5; Gen_37:26-28; Zec_11:12, Zec_11:13; Act_1:18)

Temple of Spirit & Truth Ministries
A.R.Smith Ministries
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/a/arsmithsermons/

According to Rebecca Gill, Vice-President with TGI Ltd., “TGI closes the loop on information delivery with Enterprise DSS. Enterprise DSS is a Decision Support System that is integrated with TGI’s Enterprise 21 ERP software package.” Enterprise DSS runs in a windows compliant graphical, client-server environment, and consists of three primary components: * A Data Warehouse, which is seamlessly integrated into the Enterprise 21 ERP software system * A Metadata (or data about data) interface which acts as the link from the warehouse and the conceptual business framework to the DSS application * A powerful Windows compliant DSS engine Enterprise DSS provides over 1300 views into the Enterprise 21 data. The information is presented in various chart and columnar formatted “views”. Gill notes, “Because of its design, Enterprise DSS provides unmatched ease of use. Users simply chose from a list of filters (data selection criteria) base upon organizational, product, customer, geography, or time and then “drag” the appropriate filter combinations onto the desired report.”

By clicking on the output format icon, the user can easily control the format in which data are presented. Data can be viewed in graphical, chart, map, or alert (management by exception reporting) presentations methodologies. Data are easily exported to a variety of Windows-compliant word processing and spreadsheet packages. Enterprise DSS offers sophisticated drill-down, alert, and report stacking functionality. The client organization’s product, organizational, and marketing structures are automatically embedded into Enterprise DSS, offering a tailored, ready-to-use Decision Support System. Unlike traditional Executive Information Systems, Enterprise DSS is geared towards providing information to multiple management levels and insures that user’s at all organizational levels see the same information.

About Technology Group International, Ltd. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Technology Group International is a proven technology leader delivering Tier 1 application software functionality at a price performance level that can be readily accepted by organizations of all sizes. Specializing in software solutions for small and mid-market manufacturing and distribution companies, TGI’s integrated Enterprise Series software suite is a complete business process management solution. The product offering includes Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Warehouse Management System (WMS), Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS), Decision Support System (DSS), Business Intelligence (BI), Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and eCommerce. TGI implements, maintains, enhances, and supports its packaged distribution and manufacturing software solutions directly and via its channel partners.

Technology Group International www.tgiltd.com Rebecca Gill 800-837-0028

*A true Christian is not necessarily a regular churchgoer who faithfully keeps the rites and rituals of his/her particular denomination.

*A true Christian does not think it is important to be a member of a Church where one pays tithes.

*A true Christian is not someone who was simply baptized in the name of the “Holy Trinity”, as a child or adult.

*A true Christian is not someone who unquestionably believes in the Christian Creed, or in the so-called inerrancy of the Bible.

*A true Christian is not a selfish individual who is deceived into believing that “Jesus died for his sins” providing an easy and instant “salvation” by faith in His blood.

*A true Christian is not one who approaches God out of fear, seeking an eternal “insurance policy”.

*A true Christian is not necessarily one who some time “went forward” during an evangelistic campaign and repeated a stereotyped “statement of faith”, which a pompous “evangelist” dictated for him, boasting that by doing so is now “born again” and “saved”.

Who, then, is a true Christian?

Unfortunately the name “Christian” has been so badly misused, abused and ridiculed over the centuries that it is very difficult now, and perhaps too late, to re-establish its rightful nobility and regain its true meaning. However, I will try to highlight the issue, hoping that the unbiased reader might gain some new understanding and even add fresh insights to it.

─A true Christian is a person full of love for everyone, and full of gratitude for the gift of life.

─A true Christian is not necessarily perfect (no one can be perfect…), but is a humble person who is ready to admit his/her mistakes, repent and apologize.

─A true Christian is ready to forgive those who have harmed him/her, bless those who cursed him/her and forget the wrongs they did.

─A true Christian is a person who at some point of his/her life, without external coercion, fear or expectation of a reward, turned repentantly and humbly to God, longing to be united with the Holy Spirit and follow Christ’s spiritual path.

─A true Christian never calls himself/herself “Christian” for he/she knows that religious labels have no spiritual value, as they derive from pride and self-righteousness, causing divisions, antagonism and even hatred and violence among people.

─A true Christian is a humble and enlightened individual, who respects all other religions, recognizing that they are but different paths to the same God – The Source of everything, the beginning and end of Existence, Impersonal, yet personalized through the spirit of the individual, Intelligent Universal Spiritual Energy and Sovereign Law, incomprehensible, unfathomable and awesome!

─ A true Christian knows that organized religion, although useful for society and needed by the majority of individuals, creates bondage for its followers by forbidding them to seek the Truth for themselves, thereby depriving them of their divine birthright, namely the freedom of thought, the oxygen of spirituality.

─A true Christian maintains that when someone has experientially known God, the same drops religion and doctrine. Such a Christian can worship God everywhere and can pray together with people of other faiths.

─A true Christian is ever open to more revelation from Divine Spirit, ever ready to be corrected and guided deeper and deeper into the awesome realm of the vast spiritual Reality.

─A true Christian remains forever a humble student of Truth and would not dream of demanding followers to blindly believe every word he/she says.

─A true Christian can never be de-converted to an atheist or agnostic, for the same knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that God “IS”. He IS the Great, Eternal “I AM”, and we humans, by our inner spirit, are an inseparable part of The Deity.

─A true Christian knows that the word “Christian” (from the Greek verb “chrizo”=anoint) means the anointed one, someone who has had one or several interactions (mystical experiences) with the Spirit of God, and as a result his/her own spirit is awakened to the spiritual dimension.

─A true Christian is one whose “inner man” has been quickened by the Universal Spirit, realizing qualities and powers that he/she never knew before and putting these powers in the service of fellow human beings, without expecting any reward as a return.

─A true Christian is a mystic, a “Buddha” (enlightened one), an “alchemist”, who endeavors to transform spiritual darkness to light, human pain to joy, sickness to health, strife to peace, hatred to love.

─A true Christian is a “keeper”, a watchman, a warrior against falsehood, injustice, violence and every vice.

─ A true Christian is an intercessor for the kingdom of God to be established in the hearts of men and hence in the world as a whole.

─A true Christian is a peacemaker, a source of love, light and divine energy, comforting, renewing and refreshing every one who comes near him/her.

─A true Christian is an enlightened person who understands and endorses the esoteric meaning of the words attributed to Jesus, such as “I and my Father are one”, and knows that this also applies to him/her.

─A true Christian wholeheartedly goes about his/her Heavenly Father’s business, helping others, near and far, to realize and manifest their own divinity and fulfil the purpose for which we have been born in this life.

─A true Christian is the individual who has discovered the “kingdom of God”, i.e. the precious spiritual “pearl” in the core of his/her being, knowing that this “pearl” is an inherent element of God, which also needs pure spiritual nourishment in order to mature and realize its full divine potential.

─A true Christian is a person who neither idolizes nor worships any individual, whether prophet or saint, for he/she knows that all people in this life are imperfect and fallible and the worship should be given only to God ─ the invisible Creator of the Universe. ─A true Christian neither wants any blind followers nor is he/she a blind follower of any prophet, teacher or mystic, however enlightened that person might be.

─A true Christian is not a person of a Book, for he/she knows that all religious books, including the Bible, were written by imperfect men or women, occasionally inspired by God, but often self-motivated, and thus inevitably contain some deliberate lies and deceptions among their great truths.

─A true Christian is never afraid to read material from every faith or “-ism”, but studies everything prayerfully, seeking discernment in order to rightly divide the word and separate the wheat from the chaff.

─A true Christian is like a bee, knowing that nectar can be absorbed from every flower, and wisdom can be found in every spiritual or religious book, written by a great or small prophet.

─A true Christian never wastes time and energy arguing whether Jesus Christ were a historical figure or not, if he were a prophet, a revolutionary, a magician and the like. He/she is only concerned with the life-transforming teaching that is attributed to Jesus, and primarily with Christ’s central message of unconditional LOVE.

Now, in the light of these few simple thoughts, let all those who label themselves “Christians” ask their conscience: “Where am I standing spiritually? What is all this futile noise and boasting about being a “saved” Christian, a “born-again” one, an Evangelical, Pentecostal, Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant?

Some critical questions for us to answer are these:

─Do I make a positive difference to my family, to my environment, to the world?

─Do I radiate love, peace, joy and light?

─Do I demonstrate in my life the power of someone anointed by the Spirit of God, using this power for the healing of the sick, the “binding” of the broken-hearted and the liberation of the “captives”?

─Which are my priorities in life? Are they simply to please myself and serve my selfish interests?

─Am I willing to sacrifice some of my comfort for the sake of others? Am I willing to “deny” myself, pick up my “cross” and follow the “narrow” path of Jesus? These are His words, not mine…

If some answers to these questions are negative, then we would be wise not to boast that we are Christians, lest we be an embarrassment to the Spirit of Christ and cause others to mock His name. The Christ Spirit does not need advertising from us but a clean “vessel” to function through us. Are we willing to be such a “vessel”?

Using the sensational hypnosis therapy called Future Life Progression, aka FLP, males and females could now see 9 years in the future and identify if you get engaged to the bloke you are bed hopping with. The fantastic hypnosis technique was first ascertained 14 years ago and has been researched ever since by top psychics. It has currently taken till the twenty first century for this eye-opening hypnosis technique to be made available to all that wish to see the future. If you love tarot cards you should a reading with Anne Jirsch.

The Future Life Progression hypnosis method first starts by putting a lady into a relaxed state using future life progression and this naturally takes around 6 minutes. The induction therapy technique will make males and females feel tremendous and you will then be made to relax even more. The therapist will naturally ask you to then think you are in a flying ship and you are travelling fast forward until you reach your 5th year. This will be when you move forward seven years and then you can be able to see with your very own eyes your very own future.

There are lots of fabulous uses for Future Life Progression, aka FLP, you will probably view if you are married, you will view if you are still residing in the same country and you can often also see if you are working in the same business.

If you’re new to PC video editing then knowing where to start can be a bit daunting, so hopefully this guide will point you in the right direction.

To start with you will need a few items of equipment

Camcorders/Video Decks

Depending on your requirements or aims there are number of different solutions to discuss, so i will split these up into separate sections.

1.If you are starting from new then i recommend buying a new digital camcorder, this will give you superior video and sound quality as well as making getting started in video editing very simple, so ideal for the beginner. There are thousands to choose from catering for various types of budgets.

2. You may already have an old video deck or camcorder which uses the old analogue outputs such as composite or s-video (be sure to check first what outputs you have).
For this kind of setup you would need a capture card/analogue to digital converter, this is discussed in more detail further on in the article.

A PC for Video Editing

It is now possible to easily capture footage from your Digital Camcorder directly to your PC and edit it.
If you looking at buying a new PC or building a new one then the currents spec’s are more then powerful enough ,a typical spec PC these days is a P4, 512Mb Ram, 80Gb HDD, Windows XP or something along those lines.
You could always use your existing PC if you have one, but i wouldn’t recommend using anything below a PIII 600.

Additional Hardware

When transferring video from your camcorder to your PC there are a number of additional things to consider depending on the type of camcorder your using.
If you’re using a digital camcorder then all your need is a firewire card (also known as an IEE1394 card), a lot of current PC’s have these as standard now, otherwise you will need to purchase the card separately. Some of these will come bundled with editing software such as Adobe Premiere but this really depends on which card you buy and how much you spend, once your camcorder is connected to your firewire port windows will automatically recognise your Digital Camcorder.
If your using the old analogue camcorder then you will also need an analogue to digital converter, see the section on video editing cards below.

Speed?

Its worth considering your Pc’s Processor speed, the speed will effect the rate your video will encode, encoding is where your DV video clips are converted into a more compressed format, for example DVD’s are encoded to MPEG2. So the faster the better really. Also consider the amount of RAM in your PC, 256Mb would be the minimum.

Extra Hard Drive Storage

Its worth considering having an extra dedicated drive for your video footage, remember that five minutes of DV footage uses 1GB of hard drive space so consider a large capacity hard drive such as an 80Gb or 120Gb, also consider the disk drive RPM, at least 7200RPM would be recommended.
If your PC supports it (most new ones do now), then a Serial ATA (SATA) drive will offer increased date transfer rates of up to 150MB/sec compared to 100 or 133 offered by the IDE drives, you may also consider a SCSI drive if you’re PC has an SCSI adapter as standard.

DVD/CD Burners

If your planning on putting your film onto CD-ROM (VCD), or DVD then a CDRW or DVDRW is an essential piece of kit, most new pc’s may have a CDRW or DVDRW as standard, to burn your DVD, you’ll need DVD authoring software.
Video Editing Cards
If you have and older analogue video camera/deck then an analogue USB or PCI capture cards will suffice.
These dedicated analogue to digital converters take process of conversion away from the CPU and therefore speeds up transfer.
If worth getting a quality capture card as the cheaper cards can produce mixed results,

The Video Editing Software

This is where all your creative work starts and the creative work starts, you can capture video from your camera, edit the captured clips, arrange them into a sequence, add transitions, credits and a soundtrack, titles and when your ready export your movie back to the camera or a suitable encoded file format (DVD, VCD etc).

About the Author

Founder of http://wwww.avmechanic.co.uk a Free Video Editing and Computer help community covering a wide range of topics.