St. Paul and the 12 Steps

St. Paul was like the rest of us and had to figure out how to defeat besetting sins. Here is his testimony.

^14-16 I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.
^17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

^21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

²⁴ I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

²⁵ The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

Read The Healing Release of the Holy Spirit to better understand these issues.

Caring Costs Time, Money and Stress

"Four in 10 adults in the U.S. are caring for an adult or child with significant health issues, up from 30 percent in 2010," according to a recent national survey by Pew Research Center. Given our aging population, that number is almost certain to increase, with employers taking a chunk of the burden, at least financially: A 2011 Gallup study says full-time employee absenteeism due to caregiving duties costs employers some $25 billion annually.

What is less obvious is the hidden impact caregiving has on employee health. Byproducts of unrelenting stress, such as depression and poor sleep, and a lack of attention to personal health, including nutrition and exercise or -- as in Heffern's case -- neglecting preventive care, take a toll. Eliza Corporation of Danvers, Mass., a leader in health engagement management, in partnership with Altarum Institute, developed the Vulnerability Index (VI) to help insurers and employers measure how life issues like caregiving, financial troubles or marital problems impact employee health. The Company says the index has three times the predictive power of self-reported health problems than traditional measures.

According to their research, these vulnerability factors make people much more susceptible to chronic conditions such as mental illness, lower back pain and diabetes. Caregiving shows a particularly strong link; caregiving employees are nearly three times more likely to be highly vulnerable to health issues than non-caregivers. The Pew study also showed that caregivers were more likely to have faced a recent health crisis than non-caregivers.

Caregiving measurably impacts employer health costs, too; according to a 2010 study of the MetLife Market Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving, health care costs for caregivers are roughly eight percent more than non-caregiving employees, costing employers an estimated $13.4 billion per year extra.

See our new web for ideas about care.

Get the book Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty for ministry focus.

Tools That Support Wellness

Look at how may people do not follow Doctors' orders! That is why companies and government agencies spy on us. We are developing ways to help people take better care of themselves without "Big Brother" forcing us.

As you all might remember, we have set up a new organization designed to help people comply with the new ACA Laws. The ACA completely changes the way illness and issues are treated and paid for. Over the last century the focus has been on Diagnosis and Treatment and giving the Patient a treatment regime such as medications, surgery, etc. The work was done in the Medical Office by a Clinically trained Professional. The Patient was passive.

The Clinic was paid for every visit and every diagnosis including X Rays, MRIs, surgeries, etc. For example, if I went in for a hip replacement, the Doctor, Hospital and Nurses were paid a standard fee no matter what the procedure required or how long I stayed in the hospital. They got me in and out quickly and sent me home with minimal instructions about home care.

If I had a problem at home I was readmitted and the Clinical Team and the Clinic was paid again. For example, the result of a hip replacement can be two weeks of severe pain, especially if I do not get good home treatment. Many people get worried and anxious and go to the ER for treatment. Few patients have Doctors and Nurses at home and many have no strong family members to assist them.

In the ACA, that has been changed. If I go to the hospital for a hip or knee or heart surgery today, Medicare will pay a very low set fee and they will send me home. However, if I do not get great home care and must be readmitted for any reason within 30 days, the Clinic and Doctors get ZERO and the Hospital gets fined for not doing it right the first time. Even if I fall or refuse to take my medications and get an infection the Clinic and Doctors are punished.

Our new company Patient Home Advantage, has tools to help Medical Systems and Patients plan better for great home care. Cincinnati Innovates is ready to receive your vote. If we get a lot of votes we could receive financial support. The 25 to friends can put us over the top. 

Go to the web site and look for Patient Home Advantage and Family Resource Builder and vote for us please.

By the way, it is not too late to marry a Doctor or a Nurse or send one of your kids to Medical school. It is the best way to guarantee good home care.

Families with Members who face Disabilities Need Your Vote

I have mentioned before that I lived near two relatives with severe disabilities. My Dad's brother was brain damaged and my Mom's father was severely depressed and bed fast.

My Grand Mothers were extremely busy taking care of a son and a husband. In fact. one of them developed ulcers and the other died very young. Stress takes a tremendous toll on every member of the family.

It is no wonder I became a Minister and a Counselor. That was my main role as a child and teenager. I tried to make the family feel better.

For several years we have worked hard to develop tools and processes to reduce family stresses, increase efficiency and decrease expenses. Thank God, with the assistance of gifted people like Jim Donovan and Andrea Bowsher we have accomplished great things and are ready to launch the tools.

In fact, we heard this week that two counties are ready to implement the use of the Family Resource Builder wit their staff and client families.

Now you can assist us greatly. Go to Cincinnati Innovates and vote for our entry, Patient Home Advantage with the Family Resource Builder. We have made great progress but another 100 votes could win $2,000.00 !!!

Changing the World

From the Resurrection to Constantine was about 300 years. In that time the churches of Jesus Christ grew from a few dozen to over 30 million people! How!

Big church buildings with video feeds?

Large scale revivals?

Large gatherings with healing preachers?

Distribution of Bibles?

Electing Christian legislators?

Demanding religious freedom?

Crusades forcing Christian morality?

Placing the Ten Commandments on the square?

None of the above?

All of the above?

Can you find the passages of scripture when Jesus commanded His students to do something that would successfully change the world?

We want revival. I want revival. I want to see change but the secret sauce was cooked by Jesus 2000 years ago and it still feeds hungry people and quenches their thirst.

By the way, HOPE Church here in Northern Cincinnati is doing it soon! Call them and find out what He said and what they are doing.

My store has plenty of things to help churches foster revival.

Why Support Foreign Missions?

                             Trying to hear the Lord's call!

When we first head the call of the Lord to take the good news to the people in Russia, I was a skeptic. A big skeptic! It was 1987 or 88 and we were in Norway but the pull to "Go Farther East to Russia" was strong.

My first response was, "There is no way the Communists will allow us to take our message of freedom and liberty into that closed society. (Remember that Russia was really the USSR back then. It was an atheist country.)

Then in 1988 I spoke with a Norwegian member of the Bible Society who said that the Ambassador had approached them to request 1000 Bibles in the Russian language! What was happening?

God was breaking down the Iron Curtain and I was unable to see it. (Go to the web to read more about our work.)

Despite my lack of faith, God took us to Russia and I have seen miracles. Pray for our ministry there. 

Is Revival The Best Way to Bring Changes in Society?

if revivals are so important why did Jesus forget to mention them as a source of good? What did Jesus recommend instead?

Maybe Jesus forgot. So what did Paul suggest as the best way to impact the world? Was it revivals?

C'mon, you know it was not a revival but something much more important to God.

What did every Apostle and Elder do to bring changes?

"WHAT was the #1. Most important thing Christians can do to impact society?

See Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty for some clues. 

Mathew 28 tells us and so does Ephesians 4:11

Finally, what Christian leader was the best at changing churches and society?