A ditty bag is a small bag used by sailors to hold small items such as a needle and thread. These are odds and ends I've saved up over many years.

Alphabetical verb study reflecting God's character

My personal mission statement
"Creatively present the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to my generation in ways that are strategic and true to the Bible regardless of the response."

"Use my technical and language skills as a platform for evangelism."

An appeal I wrote in 1999:
Where will you spend eternity? If you could have a "days, minutes, hours until Y2K" type clock for your life's endpoint, would it help or hinder your answer? Tomorrow is promised to no one!"

Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Verse of the Day... Matthew 25:21 AMP: "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

Amos 8:11 AMP
In our streets and in our cities there is a famine in the Word of God. What are YOU going to do about it?

National Atheist Day: April 1st (Psalm 14:1-3 AMP) (Ray Comfort, AtheistCentral)

Our non-physcial make up
Mind, will, and emotions

Personality Types
Sanguine: fun, life of the party
Choleric: be the boss
Phlegmatic: whatever, if there's peace, everything else will be OK
Melanacholy: detailed, organized

My comment: you can be a combination of the above personality types.
The Holy Spirit can mitigate the lesser traits of each type.
One can learn to apologize and not dominate another.
I had to give up perfection with JesusIsLord.org. Links change daily but you don't know and don't fix them since there are so many to check. My guess is JesusIsLord.org has 25,000 links all of which potentially can change or just disappear. I do my best and no longer worry. There is enough out there that works. I did have software that checks for expired links but they stopped providing this service. If anyone can write software to check a list of my pages and list the dead links, I would appreciate this.

Natural Disasters (per a church bulletin)
Natural disasters give people an eternal perspective like nothing else
Therefore, the church should be poised for action (be equipped and challenged)
The fuel for touching the world is the compassion of God
God wants to touch the world through us
We can take great risks for the Kingdom in touching the world because God will meet us and supply all our needs

Road Signs to Know God's Will
1. God's Word (John 17:17 AMP)
2. Inner prompting of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25 AMP)
3. Circumstances surrounding your decision (I Chronicles 12:32 AMP)
4. Personal desires (Psalm 37:4 AMP)
5. Mature godly counsel (Proverbs 11:14 AMP)
6. Special guidance (Judges 6:17 AMP)

The Names of God
1. Jehovah-Jireh ("The Lord will Provide") Genesis 22:14 NIV
2. Jehovah-Rophe ("The Lord Who Heals") Exodus 15:26 NIV
3. Jehovah-Nissi ("The Lord Our Banner") Exodus 17:15 NIV
4. Jehovah-M'Kaddesh ("The Lord Who Sanctifies") Ezekiel 20:12 NIV
5. Jehovah-Shalom ("The Lord is Our Peace") Judges 6:24 NIV
6. Jehovah-Tsidkenu ("The Lord Our Righteousness") Jeremiah 23:6 NIV
7. Jehovah-Rohi ("The Lord Our Shepard") Psalm 23:1 NIV
8. Jehovah-Shammah ("The Lord is There") Ezekiel 48:35 NIV
9. Jehovah-Sabaoth ("The Lord of Hosts") 1 Samuel 1:11 NIV

Google evangelist Vincent Cerf: "Information flow is what the Internet is about. Information sharing is power. If you don't share your ideas, smart people can't do anything about them, and you'll remain anonymous and powerless." (Forbes Magazine, June 6, 2011, page 40)

The New Barometer
The following story is told by E. Schuyler English: "A man who lived on Long Island was able one day to satisfy a lifelong ambition by purchasing himself a very fine barometer. When the instrument arrived in his home, he was extremely disappointed to find that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck, pointing to the sector marked 'HURRICANE.'

After shaking the barometer very vigorously several times, its new owner sat down and wrote a scorching letter to the store from which he had purchased the instrument. The following morning on the way to his office in New York, he mailed the letter. That evening he returned to Long Island to find not only the barometer missing, but his house also. The barometer's needle had been right - there was a hurricane!" From The Harvester, Gospel Tract Society reprinted from P.R.V., Our Daily Bread, April 28.

Taking Care of Missionaries on Furlough
My summary of a much longer Wycliffe document: Missionaries may not want to come home as they are committed to the people they serve. They may have friends on the mission field but no longer at home. Missionaries have to adjust emotionally while looking for a place to live. They may discover with medical appointments that they have problems they didn't know about. Missionaries no longer know what are good prices and could overpay for things they need. Missionaries could even have difficulty speaking their native language! Being at home usually means working to support themelves just as everyone else does with the difference that jobs must be found and adjustments made. The cost of coming home could have depleted budgeted funds. They must speak at churches that have supported them and find new supporters. Their lives are not their own but they are totally responsible for their lives! Give them breathing room on both ends of the furlough!
1. Loan them a vehicle
2. Provide a place to stay
3. Stock their lodging with food and household supplies
4. Offer to go shopping with them
5. Provide rides to or from the airport
6. Make a list showing recommendations for local services like auto maintenance, haircuts, etc.
7. Allow missionaries some time and space before expecting them to participate in church work
8. Consider waiting a month before scheduling presentations with them
9. Pray with them
10. Take the kids on a fun outing
11. Initiate a visit with missionaries without waiting until they're almost ready to leave
12. Give them a gift certificate or take them on a shopping spree to buy some new clothes. They may need different clothes for the climate, or they might need a nice outfit for presentations. Kids will want to feel like they have clothes that are in style.
11. Bring them a meal or some baked treats
12. If you have a gift for them to take back to the field, give it early in their furlough so they can plan for packing and transport of the item
13. Provide a gift card from a coffee shop or restaurant so missionaries can offer hospitality to those they are reconnecting with

Dream God's Dream
This comes from Significant Living, a column called Midstream Moments by Shirley Rose of the Total Living Network. That's the best information I have. I summarize the article:
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." You need a strategy for the rest of your life. You must first have a destination in mind. Your vision will be birthed in much prayer for God's will. Self-examination and self-assessment may help. Ask yourself, "What have I always wanted to do but haven't been able to accomplish?" Ask
1. What makes me happy, energized, and valuable?
2. If I could spend the rest of my life doing anything I wanted, what would it be?
3. Is there some secret desire that is buried deep inside that perhaps I haven't shared with anyone?
4. Do I have a calling from God that I've never been able to fulfill?
5. What gifts, talents, or resources do I have that aren't being used?
6. Is there something I could do now to start preparing myself (such as get more education, learn a skill, or revamp my resume)?
7. How would this goal affect my family and financial situation?
8. How important is it to me to spend time serving others?
9. Any other question you can think of to help you!
Write down your thoughts and discuss them with someone you trust. Never underestimate what God can do when your plans are on track with His plans. Make sure you are not driven by selfish purposes. Allow God to be part of your strategizing. You can say to him, "I am confused. I can't get a clear picture. Please show me!" God may respond that it isn't time yet but he won't be late. (Habakkuk 2:3 AMP) Make the rest of your life the best of your life as your vision unfolds into reality!
Note pertaining to myself: 08/02/2008: "All is on track: I'm getting ready to move to a house." See? It's in his time! Note: since it's 2017, what has become of this? I have been traveling since 8/2/2010. I have a plot of land in another country where I can build a house. I have downsized and right-sized and organized what I have. The Lord had previously said in November of 2007 when I retired, "I will tell you when to build in _________________" I'm sure he will tell me at the right time to build.

Rough notes from somewhere (possibly Pat Robertson on the 700 Club) on some of the gifts of the Spirit

Revelation gifts
Word of Wisdom: If you knew the future, you would have bought land around where Disneyland would be. If God tells you to do something, and you do it even though it makes no sense, "wisdom is justified by her children (the results or outcome), the result will be priceless." (Luke 7:35 ESV)
Word of Knowledge: It can't be perceived by the senses but it is happening. (Many years ago a handsome young man was paying attention to me. I thought in my mind that he was going to stop by and see me in the next few minutes. This is what the Lord told me that I could never have known: "He had a girlfriend in South Africa." I stopped being influenced by his attention. His friends whispered too loudly one time, "How could she know?")

Utterance gifts
Speaking in tongues:
Interpretation of tongues:
Prophecy: (I Corinthians 14:3-5 ESV) Exhortation, edification, comfort; not the future unless coupled with the word of wisdom

Power gifts
Faith: The ability to believe the impossible is going to happen. Faith is both a gift of the Spirit and a fruit of the Spirit.
Healing: The gifts of healing are not resident in the one who delivers them. The "postman" delivers them to those who need and cause illness to cease or accelerate healing
Working of miracles: A person who has no leg will not benefit from acelerated healing. A new hip socket that wasn't there is a miracle.
These notes are imperfect. They are a shell for research. Try
Romans 12 AMP,
1 Corinthians 12 AMP,
Ephsians 4 AMP,
topped off with love in 1 Corinthians 13 AMP.

SMEAC (The Five Paragraph Order) ('Sergeant Majors Eat Sugar Cookies')
Situation (What is the problem?)
Mission (what is our strategy for solving the problem?)
Execution (what tactics will we use as we go about solving the problem?)
Administration and Logistics (updated to Support) (What are the logistics or nuts and bolts of the operation?)
Command and Signal (will we need to co-ordinate with others not yet directly involved?)

This can be used for a yard sale, an evangelistic outreach, etc.

My father used it on our family vacations having been a captain in the army. Let me attempt to use SMEAC as he might have:

Siutation: I have 2 weeks of vacation and not alot of money
Mission: We will visit my wife's parents 2000 miles away by driving the family car, preparing it to be a floating sleeping quarters
Execution: I will build a collapsable open-in-the-back V-shape wood tent for the 3 kids for sleeping when we stop. My wife and I will sleep in the back of the station wagon below the kids. During the day all will be stored in the closed almost-flat box (like car top carriers today) on the car roof that was the kids' sleeping quarters. My wife and I will drive and change off every hour for safety. We will take our own food. Our only expense should be gas and two nights camping coming and going. (The truth is we never stopped or camped)
Support: My wife will acquire a food container and be responsible for all meals for the two-day drive. She will make sure sleeping bags, changes of clothes, sheets, etc., are ready the night before for packing. She will make sure we have cash on hand for gas and traveler's checks for later expenses (this was the 1960's) I will make sure the car gas tank is full, tires are inflated, oil checked, etc. I will acquire all maps to be used (pre-Interstate highways). My wife will keep track of expenses and inventory while on the road. My wife will make sure the kids have ways to entertain themselves while confined to the backseat for so long.
Command and Signal: Middle daughter (me) must mow the lawn the day before we leave. My wife will stop the newspaper, milk delivery, mail delivery; notify neighbors to keep watch. Each person must close windows for their bedrooms and I am to make sure all is secure at home. I must tell kids they must be in the car at 0200 not to be left behind (we knew he meant 0145).

This may not be perfect but it gets things headed in the right direction. There is no, "I thought you were going to..."

(From an unmarked printout about the Bible)
Manuscript Evidence for Ancient Writings
BCE=before the common era (BC: before Christ), same thing, less offensive to some; CE=in the common era (AD: after Christ), same thing, less offensive to some
Author.................Written.......Earliest Copy.....Time Span....#Mss. (Manuscripts) (could be fragments)
Caesar...............100-44 BCE........900 CE...........1000 years..............10
Plato................427-347 BCE.......900 CE............1200 years...............7
Thucydides......460-400 BCE.......900 CE............1300 years...............8
Tacitus....................100 BCE.....1100 CE............1000 years.............20
Seutonius.............75-160 CE........950 CE..............800 years..............8
Homer (Iliad).........900 BCE........400 CE.......... ...500 years..........643
New Testament.40-100 BCE........125 CE...........25-50 years....24,000

"The Bible is a unified story of how God worked throughout history to restore his relationship with the human race."
The Old Testament: Someone is coming
Gospel: He is here
Epistles: Someone is coming again

Read it cover to cover and you find:
One hero: the Messiah
One villain: satan
One problem: sin
One purpose: salvation

Scientific Accuracy:
"Another striking evidence of divine inspiration is found in the fact that many of the principles of modern science were recorded as facts of nature in the Bible long before scientists confirmed them experimentally. A sampling of these would include:
Roundness of the earth (Isaiah 40:22 AMP)
Almost infinite extent of the sidereal universe... (Isaiah 55:9 AMP)
Law of conservation of mass and energy (2 Peter 3:7 AMP)
Hydrologic cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:7 AMP)
Vast number of stars (Jeremiah 33:22 AMP)
Law of increasing entropy (Psalm 102:25-27 AMP)
Paramount importance of blood in life processes (Leviticus 17:11 AMP)
Atmospheric circulation (Ecclesiastes 1:6 AMP)
Gravitational field (Job 26:7 AMP)

Hell's Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort (53 minutes audio)
(You can listen while you look at the longer entries below: note at 7:30 minutes to 13:00 minutes speaks about the Gospel being like a parachute)

Social Media: The people formerly known as the audience (The Economist, July 9, 2011)
Summary: in English-speaking countries the Facebook LIKE button and Twitter are on the upswing in creating and filtering and verifying news and recommending websites (domain names) while search engines, such as Google.com, while still dominant, are set to lessen in finding information on the web. For other language speakers search engines remain the source of finding websites and information. It is important for Christians to have their websites available for Facebook and Twitter recommendation to friends and will become more important as time goes on.

Obituary: Michael Hart (The Economist, September 24, 2011)
Summary: He was the inventor of e-books. Starting out with the Declaration of Independence on the Arpanet with a limited audience, he sought to free books from copyrights in favor of unlimited distribution. As he freshly leaves this earthly life, perhaps as with the Lone Ranger who rides away after helping greatly, your reaction might be, "I wanted to thank him."

Schumpeter: Think different (The Economist, August 8, 2011)
Summary: Innovation is the Holy Grail of today. Innovators connect things that don't seem to be connected. How do they do it? A ceramics company eliminated bubbles by talking with those who had successfully frozen sperm. What problems can God solve on earth through you if you learn to be an innovator?

Fresh Faces: There were 18 newcomers this year (Forbes Magazine, October 10, 2011)
Summary: Jin Sook and Do Won (Don) Chang! Go Forever 21 marketers!

The Daughters' Inheritance by J. Lee Grady, SpiritLed Woman, April May 2006, pages 16-18, 20 (link reused) (search doesn't work well)

Everyone wants a new life, a whole new perspective out of which they can operate. They just don't know how to get it. Be a breath of fresh air in someone's life by listening in a friendly way to them. At some point you can insert a word of help and hope. They may not initially agree with you but you leave them open for the next breath of fresh air. You don't need to worry about what people think, just move on. As you trust God to lead you, you will show up in people's lives being affable (pleasantly easy to approach and to talk to; friendly; cordial; warmly polite) and knowledgable, pointing them to Jesus. Don't exclude anyone. Then God can use you to run into people who might not ever otherwise receive God's offer for a new life. That's being strategic while letting God guide you through the day.

I secured JesusIsLord.org on January 17, 1996. I just checked the 1996 calendar and it was a Wednesday just as I remembered it. The previous evening I had implored the Lord to put a tool in my hand to reach the world for Christ. So many people when I had told them what I wanted to do told me by way of reply that it is too big of a task, one person can't do it. Instead of fanning the flames of my passion for the lost, they were extinguishing it. God said he would never quench or put out the flame but establish justice and truth on the earth (Isaiah 42:3-4 AMP). I told God I didn't have to hear what people tell me from him. "You're God! I don't have to take that from you! Put a tool in my hand to reach the world for Christ!" So he answered the next morning by suddenly being allowed to go learn about the Internet as part of my job instead of being told no.

After arriving to work, I had just a moment to get back into my car and drive to the seminar, just up the street. The man leading the seminar, the President of whatever company it was, said of the Internet, "The Internet is bigger than the Guttenberg Press; it's bigger than radio and television. Something like this only comes along once in a millennium." I had already figured out the Internet is like the Roman Roads of the Gospel and that hypertext is like the all-pervasive Greek language of Jesus's time.

A person named Dan, and I know longer can remember who it was, said to me during snack time at a Bible study, "The Lord just told me you'll be managing something like channel 42 some day." At the time he said it, who could have foreseen the Internet? Channel 42 was a Christian channel in the Silicon Valley run by the Cathedral of Faith in San Jose, CA. As I type this, I have no employees; I am working at a USDA free broadband Internet place in a poor rural area which is overcoming the Digital Divide. Little did I know when the Lord brought me here for part of the year that he already had an oasis in the wilderness where I can work. And who knew about WI-FI? Who knew eventually you would be able to drink a cup of coffee while connected to the Internet for free on a laptop you can easily carry? Who would know people with simple cell phones where there is no Internet service can receive the eternal Gospel in their mother tongue (heart language) without being observed by those around them? Who would know about search engines and Google and Unicode which has the promise that working in any language will be as easy as working in English! As they used to say to me at my job in electronics (I get very excited), "Don't get any on the equipment!"

I now understand all those years of sharing the Four Spiritual Laws with people and praying for them and helping them to grow in Christ. As I stepped back behind a computer screen I retained the full confidence that presenting God's Word blessed by the Holy Spirit can change people's lives whether I am asleep or awake. It doesn't matter if I am even aware of who comes to Christ and who doesn't. Much fruit is obtainable to everlasting life if I will continue to trust God and keep on typing. Many people who would never speak with me will respond gladly to Jesus Christ if it's only between Jesus and them (anonymous)! It's what I always suspected: we are God's ambassadors but only God can work with people to want to come to him. It turns out it is just like electronics. I wrote programs to test computer chips in the design stage. Once the programs are written, someone else can run the tests at any time; I don't have to be there. I could be sick or on vacation! The programs still work! And I finally understood why God would have me, a personal evangelist, go to seminary and study toward and earn a Master of Divinity degree, just as a pastor would. When people pull out the photos of their grandchildren from their wallets to show me, I pull out the names and character of my websites, which are similar but created to help a certain part of humanity to better understand the Gospel. I might not get it all right, but I learned from Reinhard Bonnke, when God tells you to do something, he means for YOU to do it with his input. He does not mean for you to ask others how they would do it. In the end, I expect only God to bless my work. I realize if people don't approve, they and I will get over it. I'm going to report to my Commander-in-Chief that I carried out my orders to the best of my ability. I know you can too! In whatever he asks you to do. I am not special! God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34 AMP). But he really likes obedience!

My prayer of 06/25/2003:
"Do not let me die until I've reached the world for Christ, matching the Internet pie chart. Let my life count for eternity. Let me provide the Word of God in their own languages in a way that feels right to them. As satan attempts to reach the world with his message, let me be right there with the Word of God."

From the August/September 2011 World Missionary Press newsletter:
Mother saved at childbirth
Pastor Jaime has worked in rural communities in Bolivia for five years, distributing The Way to God scripture booklets house to house. Each booklet has his address and cell phone number on the back. "One night, close to midnight, I received al call from a 12-year-old boy whose mom was having childbirth contractions and didn't have anyone to help her. Her son found my number on a booklet and called me. I went there with others to take care of her, and she accepted salvation along with her new child."

Source unknown:
Think miracle
Develop a plan to execute this miracle
Don't complain
Don't be negative
Don't talk about finances
(This is the God of the Universe)

Source unknown:
Simple procedure for guidance:
Is it yes or no? (to your satisfaction)
Depending on the answer, then it leaves this set of choices (make list)
Is it yes or no on the choices left?
(You're 75% of the way there already)
Repeat 20x if necessary until you know the answer
Then demons can't stop you.

Get prayer online from a reliable source of prayer (The World Prayer Team)

How do I get my personal effect and mission supplies to the mission field?
Use Mercy Flight International
Special low rates (up to 70% discount!) for Airfreight are now available for 110 countries worldwide. Reverse rates to the U.S. are available on request. We are able to ensure that the shipment is forwarded by the most cost effective means possible to its destination by air and is received intact with the shortest possible delay. Mercy Flight Intl PO Box 115, Sierra Madre, CA 91204 626 405 0843 800 456 0843

Will the world end in 2012? (GNmagazine.org, September - October 2011 issue)
Summary: The Bible doesn't confirm the western understanding of the Mayan outlook or predictions for 2012 as we understand them. Modern Mayans look to renewed hope and life, not destruction. Planet X and Jesus' words are also presented.
GNmagazine.org
JesusIsLord.org note: Ask yourself, "What is the mechanism for a prediction happening?" "What power or force will bring about the change in question? If suddenly we all live together in harmony, how does this come about? How will your own heart be changed so that you contribute to the harmony? Does the mechanism make sense? We can see in the world problems with the economy and they may become very dire. But we can see that past policies and past behaviors by us have brought the troubles about. Don't sell your soul for something that has no mechanism to come about.

Directions to your church
I put this at the bottom because I didn't know how you would receive it. Let's say I walk up to you and ask you how to get to your church so I can find it? You know how to get to your church but can you explain it to someone else so they can follow what you say and get there? It's wrong to tell them to look it up on the web. Maybe they can, maybe they can't. This is your big chance!!!

Directions I respond to go like this: Do you know where Main and Broadway cross? Yes. You go north toward the fairgounds on Main 5 miles. The church is on Eternal Way which is 5.0 miles north of Main and Broadway. It's a T intersection and you turn right. The church, Mighty People of God, is at the end, about .5 miles and takes up the whole cul de sac. If you have GPS, it's 345 Eternal Way, Country Town, State, zip.

Drive your directions and update them! If you say it's 5 miles, it should be 5 miles, not 2. If you say it's just beyond the old furniture store, that may mean something to you but maybe not to them. Make sure a stranger passing through can follow your directions!

The saddest directions I ever was given included things like, "It's just past a restaurant," "you can't miss it." Some people say they don't know north, south, east and west. If you are in the U.S., the sun rises in the east, arcs south and westward, and sets in the west. Look at a map. Maps have north shown. Face north. Put your left hand out to your left side (that's west). Put your right hand out to your righty side (that's east). South is the direction you are not facing.

Giving directions to your church is a building block in fulfilling the Great Commission. Be prepared to give them!"

Last updated: 05/10/2017

Background music is:

REMEMBER WELL THIS DAY (Exodus 13)

Remember well this day
When by strength of hand
The Lord removed our chains
And brought us to the promised land!

(Chorus)
With a strong hand, and a mighty arm
The Lord delivered me!
Scattering the enemy
Triumphing victoriously
Our God is a mighty God,
Our God is a mighty God!

by Tim Barber ©1992-2000 Papa's Music. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.