Chatting Online for the Next 60 Mins – Talking Faith and Health

Join us at this link from 9:00 – 10:00 AM EDT

This will be an informal discussion on the topic of spirituality and health from a Christian faith perspective.

I’ll be using a microphone (VOIP) and Web Cam.  No need for you to have a camera… just turn on your mic and speakers.

When you arrive at the linked page, just enter your name and perhaps where you are from.

If you were not able to join us for this discussion, keep checking in for future opportunities.  The best way to be notified is to sing up to receive my blog posts.

Handy Shortcut for a Cross Symbol

† † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † †

When you learn something you want others to know… why not share it?

Earlier today I received a tweet from my son with a cross in it, like the ones above.  Wanting to learn how he did that, I asked.  He told me.

The solution is pretty simple:

Press and hold the Alt key and while doing that, type 0 1 3 4 on your keypad and then release the Alt key.

Try it.    †

Now I’ll just have to use it a bit so I’ll remember it.

Have a terrific day!

Attending SSTH Meeting at Duke University

I’m at Duke University the next 3 days attending the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Spirituality, Theology and Health.

Along with 30 others, I’m presenting a poster presentation.  The title of my presentation is The Spirituality and Health Connection: Why It Exists – A Christian Faith Perspective.

As I mentioned to a few people yesterday, I guess I’ve tried to capture the essence of the Christian faith – as it relates to health and well-being- and the 66 books of the Bible onto one 36″x48″ piece of paper! Yikes!

After the conference, I’d add a link on my site with my material.

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator.” Blaise Pascal, French Physicist and Philosopher

Have an awesome day.

Jesus’ Pain Gives Us Peace – Holy Week Faith and Health Scripture – John 14:27

I don’t imagine that we can ever love anyone as much as God and His Son, Jesus, loves us.

Leading up to His death and on the cross, Jesus endured such deep emotional, physical and spiritual pain for you and for me.  He agonized before the crucifixion while he was in the garden knowing that He would be separated from His Father for a period of time. He was in such spiritual agony and pain that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood. (Luke 22:44)

As he was beaten by the soldiers he surely experienced excruciating pain.  Imagine the pain He felt as nails were driven into His feet and hands as He was crucified on the cross.

Just before He died, Jesus cried out to His Father, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) At that point, in His last spoken words on the cross, He must have been crying out to God with all His might because the man part of Him did not want to experience death,  even though He knew that was God’s will for Him.

But Jesus did die a very painful, voluntary death… for me… and for you.

In John 14:27, Jesus told His disciples, “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven and so that we can experience eternal life.  Part of that eternal life includes the ability to experience the type of peace Jesus referred to in the scripture above.

Because Jesus experienced pain, you and I can have His peace.

Do you enjoy that type of peace? The deep inner peace that only comes from a personal relationship with God through knowing His Son Jesus?

If you still don’t know this type of peace or understand why Jesus had to die a brutal death follow this link.

Read my short explanation of the biblical truths about the connection between faith, wholeness and health.

Receive Daily Scripture Affirmations on Twitter

I hope to make the most of the ability to send out daily “Tweets of Affirmations” using Twitter beginning this week.

My idea is that many of you might want to receive these affirmation so that you can speak or say  them to yourself.   My first three are included in this post below:

• “I have been set free because I know the teachings of Jesus and obey them.”  John 8:32

• “Although I have many trials and sorrows, I have peace in Jesus because He has overcome the world.”  John 16:33

• “God loves me so much that His son died for me so that I can live eternally.”  John 3:16

One thing we can all do to help us live in freedom is to speak positive affirmations or confessions, based on the truths of the Bible. The idea is to find scriptures that you can personally identify with and to speak them in such a way that personalizes them.  As you do this, and believe these truths, your spirit mixes with God’s spirit and it helps to transform your mind. This transformation of your soul and mind will have a positive affect on your thoughts and behaviors.  As you keep doing this, you’ll be able to experience more spiritual and emotional freedom.  This freedom and the corresponding healthier thoughts and habits will likely impact on your health in a positive way.

Follow me on Twitter to receive these daily affirmations and be free in Christ!

Readership in 2008 and Current Demographics

Thought that some of you might be interested in a few tidbits of information about the readership from 2008.

Top Read Posts -  Below are the Weekly Faith & Health Scriptures (with links) that were most popular with readers.

1. The Scriptures, Jesus and Stress – Matthew 11:28-30
2. God Gives Strength – Isaiah 40:29
3. The Spiritual Exercise of Healthy Thinking – Philippians 4:8
4. Jesus on Stress Management – Matthew 11:28-30
5. Hope and Your Health – Romans 15:13

Top Keywords – Used by people in searches to land on pages were as follows:

1. faith and health
2. Bible scriptures on stress
3. faith and health connection
4. spiritual fitness
5. health scripture
6. scripture on health
7. stress scripture
8. scripture for stress
9. scripture for health
10. scripture on stress

I commented a few times toward the end of the year about the prevalence of the keyword of stress and how many people seemed to be searching the scriptures for information on that topic. Interesting!

Countries – Where people visited from most:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Australia
5. Philippines
6. South Africa
7. India
8. Singapore
9. Malaysia
10. New Zealand

Current Demographics – I’d find it helpful to know who you subscribers are from a demographic standpoint.  In that light, I hope you’ll take just 10 seconds to complete this survey.  Only two brief questions.  Thanks so much! 

Inviting You to Provide Some Feedback

Over the last few months, readership of my blog has increased steadily. I’m hoping that the content is helpful …. a blend of teaching, encouragement and challenge.

As you might appreciate, there are so many directions I can take this blog. In that light, I’d find it helpful to receive feedback from you so that I might tweak what I’m doing. Comments would be appreciated. If you’d like to read more about a particular subject area or any aspect of the faith and health connection, please let me know.

Feel free to post them as a comment, or email me.

Thanks so much…… and have a terrific week!!

Sharing This Good News & RSS Feeds with Others

I’ve been asked to give subscribers to my posts an easy way to share these feeds with others at popular social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Facebook, Mixx, StumbleUpon and Digg to name a few. For those who may have heard about Social Bookmarking but don’t know what it’s all about, read more on Social Bookmarking on Wikipedia.

After doing some research and changing my blog setup, I think I’ve been able to provide a fix. Beginning with this post, you should see links for many sites at the end of the feed. One of them is an Email link – – that makes it easier to send a link for a feed to someone. You can also use all these links to share any page on my site with others. Please let me know if there is a link you need that I may not have included and if it’s available, I’ll add it. Read more about this plug-in to my Word Press software that makes this possible at Sociable.

I appreciate your interest and desire to share my feeds and pages with others! If you have any questions or feedback please add a comment here so others can benefit from the discussion.

Thanks and have an awesome day!

It’s Springtime in North Carolina!!

It’s definitely spring in Charlotte, North Carolina. I spent much of today sitting out back writing an article on how God can help us manage our stress. Fortunately I didn’t feel much of any stress throughout the day as I was writing. On the contrary, it was wonderful relaxing in the 80 degree sun-drenched day sitting under a big umbrella on my small patio.

I know it’s spring because of the flurry of activity in the air. Today was my first sighting of the year of a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. He came to the feeder no less than a dozen times throughout the day. And then there’s the chickadees family. I suspect that yesterday the babies hatched in their nest. All day yesterday and today I watched the parents fly to the nest( in a box meant for Eastern Bluebirds) with green worms in their beaks to feed the little ones. If it’s quiet out, I can hear the babies chirping as they are being feed. Ah….. another visit by the hummingbird as I type this! Cool!!!

The flowers are popping up nicely. Within a few weeks the perennials meant to attract and feed the hummingbirds and butterflies will be doing their magic. And I’ll have a few roses in bloom about that time.

All this is definitely conducive to writing some good material… and it’s good for my health!

I had a great run today, albeit it a little warm. Now I just have to get out again on my friend’s boat and go fishing for some large mouth bass!

Hope you have a great day! I did!!