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Cybersalt News
Sunday greetings everyone!
There are only 5 days left in 2020 and in that short time I have a number of pre-New Year's goals to accomplish. They are:
- End the year with a zero inbox for emails received in 2020. I'm close on this one - but it is still going to take a concentrated effort.
- Empty the "toss it in this box and do it later" box that has been sitting on the floor of my office. I thought it was left over from when I closed my office at the church in October of 2017, but my wife reminded me it existed for years before that. It still seems to me it has only been 3 years, but I'm taking her word for it because that thing is practically invisible to me and I sure she has a better eye for spotting my messes because she lives with them. Fortunately for me, that seems to be an ability she developed after we were married. I think constantly gazing at me in admiration while were were dating and then engaged was a helpful distraction in this area.
- Go to bed New Year's Eve with a clean desk. This one is a 5 minute tidy away from completion after Grandma Cybersalt took a couple of hours and help me tackle it last weekend.
- Finish up a bit of work for clients that I am super behind in. I think I can make a good dent in this one, but business is growing and I just incorporated so there is a bunch of fiddly paperwork and setting up I have to tackle this week as I wrap up being a sole proprietor. (Technically, even when I was a sole proprietor I was already limited to a degree.)
- Be kind to myself. It's the last week of a very tough year so I'm going to cut myself some slack in having to reach my goals. Stressing about reaching them will only make them harder to attain. Accomplishing and celebrating steps along the way is a much greater motivator for me.
This week's video share is actually a playlist for the first season of "The Chosen."
Last Thursday's video share about the shepherds in Bethlehem was actually the unintentional pilot for this series. The shepherd video was made for a church by Dallas Jenkins following the biggest failure of his directing career, but it went viral and that lead to this amazing series.
Click here to find the playlist on YouTube.
Enjoy the rest of today's mailing!
~ Pastor Tim
Winter House
We purchased an old home in Northern New York State from two elderly sisters.
Winter was fast approaching and I was concerned about the house's lack of insulation.
"If they could live here all those years, so can we!" my husband confidently declared.
One November night the temperature plunged to below zero, and we woke up to find interior walls covered with frost. My husband called the sisters to ask how they had kept the house warm. After a rather brief conversation, he hung up.
"For the past 30 years," he muttered, "they've gone to Florida for the winter."
One-Liner #1534
When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.
- Rodney Dangerfield
"Be a Billionaire!"
and Help
Refugees and
Persecuted Christians
Edge-Wise Words
Did you hear about the self-help group for compulsive talkers?
Its called On & On Anon.
Quote #1972
"Be good to people. You will be remembered more for your kindness than any level of success you could possibly attain."
- Mandy Hale
Hope
The coach's wife yells to her husband, "It's Sports Illustrated on the phone."
The coach falls all over himself racing to the phone and says, "Hello?"
Then he hears, "For just $20 a year..."
Featured Illustrations are items well suited for illustrating or inspiring a point in a sermon, speech, or devotional. Funny, moving, or perhaps even graphic, the point of them is the point you make with them.
Rev. James Snyder, God's Penman, writes . . . .
Another Christmas Tree in the Bag
It's hard to believe, but another Christmas has come and gone. It comes so slow but leaves so fast. I guess I'll never understand that. This Christmas was probably the most unusual that I have ever experienced.
When I was young, I remember those first Christmases; they were so slow in getting here. I think for the week leading up to Christmas, every day gained at least 10 new hours. By the time Christmas Eve arrived, I was so worn out waiting that I didn't know what to do.
I can't remember my first Christmas because I was only five months old at the time. I have a hard time remembering those early Christmases, but I'm sure they were times of fun and merriment. There were no cell phones at that time and so I have no selfies to show.
Read moreThe Cybersalt Digest is a ministry of Pastor Tim and Cybersalt.
When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.
Did you hear about the self-help group for compulsive talkers?
We purchased an old home in Northern New York State from two elderly sisters.
For the majority of the Christmases since Cybersalt began back in 1998, I have sat down to pen a Christmas Eve message to send out to Cybersaltines, wishing them (you) a merry Christmas, while also expressing an awareness each year that for some, Christmas would be hard. Some of those years I was a member of that "some."
A minister is visiting his children to celebrate Christmas. When he walks into the house, he sees a beautiful nativity set.
Not saying I live in a rough area, but just bought an advent calendar and half the windows are boarded up!
Aggressive Carolers: Wassailants
In his book Dare to Believe, Dan Baumann illustrates the unique experience of knowing that something is ours, yet longing to enjoy it more fully. He explained that at Christmas time he would always do a lot of snooping, trying to find the gift-wrapped presents and figure out what was in them.
We think Cybersalt's collection of Christmas jokes is the best collection on the net. Right now it features over 70 jokes.
Over the years, some of the most popular pages on the Cybersalt site have featured Funny Cat Pictures. We have to admit that even though cats often look at humans like they owe the feline world something (remember dogs have owners and cats have staff), cats aren't as bad as a lot of the press that they get.
Some say the world can be divided into two types - cat people and dog people. For the cat people of the planet, Cybersalt has the 