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John 15:12-16
October 3, 1971
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Turning in your Bibles with me this morning to the 15th Chapter of John, we're continuing in our study of John's Gospel and coming to this particular portion which is certainly a classic portion of Scripture. Verses 12 through 16 will be our text for this morning and there are so many tremendous truths here. This is the kind of a‑‑of a passage that you can't really preach as much as you can share with fellow believers. The topic is really, 'The Characteristics of the Friends of Jesus.'‑What it means to be a friend of Jesus Christ.
You know even as Christians, when we talk about something like friendship with Jesus, when we speak about something that intimate, it's absolutely thrilling to realize that the Son of God, who is responsible for the creation and the upholding of the Universe, is literally a personal intimate friend of those who are his own. It's an overwhelming thing when you really grasp that truth, and this morning I trust that you'll see it, perhaps, in a light that you've never seen it before. What it means is to really be a friend of Jesus Christ.
James made the statement that friendship with the world is hostility toward God. A man chooses in his own life whether he will be the friend of Jesus Christ or whether he will be the friend of the world. Friendship with Jesus Christ is intimacy with God. It is fellowship with the Trinity. It is joy unspeakable and full of Glory. Friendship with the world is hostility toward God.
Now, what it means to be afriend of Jesus, we aregoing to seeclearly in these verses. In this wonderful passage Jesus Christ is talking to his beloved disciples, eleven of them now, because Judas is perpetrating his deed of betrayal, so he's gone. These are the eleven remaining disciples, the abiding branches from the analogy in the last few verses that we've studied. They are sad because they are awaiting the departure of Jesus, Their hearts are filled with sorrow. They know he is going to leave them and in this kind of farewell speech that we've been studying through the last couple of Chapters and shall continue to Chapter even study all the way through Chapter 16 and/part of 17 still involves them. We see that in all of these words, Jesus is comforting them. And this beautiful concept that they are to be his personal, intimate, beloved friends has to be one of the greatest comforts of all the things that he says to them. I know how personally it affects me.
Just to give you a little highlight, look at Verse 15 and we'll use that as a springboard, "Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servants knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends." and we'll stop there. That's the basic thought of this particular passage. He calls his true disciples‑‑the abiding branches, the 'for‑real' remaining, fruit‑bearing believers‑‑friends. In the fullest sense of all that word implies, Jesus uses it in reference to his relationship to the disciples. As I saw this, my mind began to go back to many of the things that Jesus calls those of us who love him. In some places in the New Testament, he calls us 'Sons of God,' or 'Children of God'. In other places we are called, 'Brothers of Jesus Christ.' The writer of Hebrews says, "He is not ashamed to call us brothers." We are even called in one passage,, 'The sisters, brothers, and mother of Jesus Christ,' again implying intimacy. We are called disciples which means learners, We are called 'sheep' those who follow. In all of these things, the message is a message of intimacy. The message is that one who personally knows and loves Jesus Christ has a personal, intimate, love relationship with the Son of God, which is a fantastic concept. And the extreme dimensions of that concept will be measured by your understanding of the extreme dimensions of the person in essence of Jesus Christ, himself. If you see how unbelievably great and glorious Christ is, then you'll understand what it means to have an intimate relationship with him‑‑in all that it implies. And so he calls us his friends. Now, there's a very special meaning implied in this. He says, "I'm not going to call you 'servants anymore," in Verse 15, "I'm going to call you friends."
The word servant is the word dulas or dulag and it's the word that means slave. And what he is saying to them is, "You are no longer slaves you're friends," and that's quite an elevation. That's quite a step.The title which means servant or slave was‑‑was really not a title of shame. It was‑‑it was used very often in terms of people who served God. Many people are called a servant of God. Moses was called a servant of God, and it's certainly not a degrading term. Joshua and David, both, were called servants of God. In the New Testament, the‑apostle Paul, counted it an honor, as he said in Titus, Chapter 1, Verse 1, "To be a servant of God." James said the same thing in James 1:1, "That he was excited about being a servant of God." But Jesus said, "I am something even greater yet, some thing even in a more intimate relationship, I want to call you friends." And in the Old Testament, I think only of Abraham who was called the friend of God. This is something that's new. This is a unique intimacy. And, of course, in the Old Testament, Abraham had a unique relationship to God. He was the father of Israel. And so Jesus Christ is saying to these blessed disciples, he is saying, "Men, I am about to establish with you a brand new kind of intimacy‑‑a friendship." And to be a friend of Jesus Christ is something exciting.
At the court of the Roman Emperor and at the courts of Eastern Kings, there was a very select group of men. These men were kind of like what we would call the 'kitchen cabinet' in America, except that they were intimate men. They were not just advisors who were schooled politically; they were dear friends of the King or the Emperor. They were his protectors as well as his advisors. They were the ones who were caring for his life, and at all times, they had immediate access to the King. They could enter into his bed chamber anytime they wanted. They could be with him whenever they needed to be with him. They had to gain no entrance from anybody because they were called the friends of the King. He talked with them before he talked with his generals. He talked with them before he talked with any other rulers of other nations or any other statesman. The friends of the King were those who had the closest possible relationship with the ruler. They had an intimate connection with him, and they had the right to enter his presence at any time. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying to us. You don't need any particular authority. You don't have to pass any particular formality. You have immediate and instant access into my presence at all time‑‑because you're my friends. We're not like slaves who have no right to enter the presence of the master. We're not like subjects who crowd the sides of the street and watch the King pass by and hope, once in a while, we catch a glimpse of his robe flapping in the breeze. We have a complete and total intimacy with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's what it means to be a friend of Jesus. And he gives a clear cut condition for being his friend in Verse 14, he says, "You are my friends if you do whatever I command you." That's the key. The key to being a friend of Jesus is obedience.
And we'll get into this in detail. But isn't it interesting that the friendship with Jesus is predicated on obedience to what he says because that's always the standard for every relationship.‑ Let me show you what I mean by that.
In the early part of John 15, we are branches, and he is the vine. Remember that? Now, we are branches only if we are obedient. Verse 10, "If ye keep my commandments; ye shall abide." The only real, true, abiding branch is an obedient one. So obedience is the key to being a branch in the vine. Over in I John 3, we are called his children and the key to being his child is this, I John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." Those two things are commands of Jesus. To be legitimately a child of God, a Son of God, we must be obedient. Then, also, another passage that came to my mind is in Mark 3:31, and in that passage, we are called the brothers and sisters and mother of Christ, indicating our intimacy with him. And again it is based on obedience to his commands. Verse 31, Jesus was teaching, it says, "There came then his brethren and mother and standing outside, sent unto him, calling him, and the multitude sat about him and said unto him, behold thy Mother and brethren outside seek for thee. And he answered them, saying "Who is my mother or my brethren?" And he looked round about on those who sat about him and said, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister and mother." And again, you see, to be intimately connected with Jesus Christ, as intimately as a brother, sister, mother relationship; as a son relationship; as a branch in a vine; the standard is always the same; it is obedience to his commands‑‑doing his will. It is not that you become that by obedience, it is that if you are that, it is visible because of your obedience. Obedience if the proof that you are intimately connected to Jesus Christ. In John 10, we are called 'sheep who follow him,' and in Verse 27, we read this, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." Again obedience, the standard of a relationship to Jesus Christ. In John 8:31, we are‑called, "disciples," and there Jesus says this; "If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples for real." In every case where the New Testament talks about a relationship to Jesus Christ, that relationship is visible or made visible by obedience. A true branch; a true son; a true brother, sister, mother; a true sheep; a true disciple; will obey Christ. That's the standard. That's not how you become saved, that's the evidence of it. And so it is that in every relationship with Jesus Christ, the mark is obedience. And it is no‑ different for those who ever are his friends. "Ye are my friends," Verse 14, "if you do whatever I command you." Now, that's the mark of a friend of Jesus. So, we are in a beautiful intimacy with Jesus Christ, marked by our obedience. The world can tell who we are because we obey him. It's a fantastic thing to realize‑this friendship. Next time you're in a group where somebody's dropping the names of their friends, drop that name. Tell them you're a personal friend of the Son of God. One thing about a friend, and particularly About Jesus Christ, a friend always seeks the good of the one he loves, and that's how it is with Jesus Christ; he always seeks our good.
Now, as we approach these verses, and we're going to go through them verse by verse, Christ gives us five characteristics of his friends. These are manifestations of the friends of Jesus. This is not how you become a friend of Jesus, this is how it becomes visible that you are his friend. These are five marks, characteristics, or manifestations of the friends of Jesus, and they're really wonderful. The friends of Jesus, incidentally, you have an outline with you to follow, the friends of Jesus, in your bulletin, love each other, know divine truth, are chosen out of this world, bear remaining fruit, and have their prayers answered. Boy, I tell you, as I begin to study these things I get so excited about them that I, you know, I felt like ol' Billy Bray, who said that held shout "Glory" and if someone stuck him in a barrel he'd shout "Glory" through the bungholes, whatever those are. But the idea of all these things belonging to the believer is absolutely beyond imagination. The friends of Jesus love each other, know divine truth, are chosen out of this world,bear remaining fruit, and have their prayers answered. What tremendous promises!!! You know it would be great if we had only one of those but to realize that the friends of Jesus have every one of those. Such love!!!
All right, let's look at them separately: Number one, Jesus'‑friends love each other. Verses 12 and 13 deal with this. And again I want you to get the pattern here. John never makes any exceptions, remember that. John always puts it down in black and white. This is how it is, just as simple as that. John doesn't mess with any exceptions, any allowances, wastes no time on the exception to the rule. He deals purely with the general pattern. In other words, the unbeliever does this, the believer does that, and that's how John leaves it. He doesn't get messed up in exceptions. He just says, this is the believer, this is the unbeliever, draws the line, black and white, and that's it. And so what he's doing is giving the general pattern of the characteristics of a Christian. And in Verses 12 and 13, the first basic characteristic of a friend of Jesus is that he loves his brother. Verse 12, "This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you." Verse 14 says, "If you are my friend," you'll what? "You'll keep my commandment." So it is that the friend of Jesus loves the other friends of Jesus. The true believer, the true Christian, has a love and by that I mean a legitimate, deep, honest, love for other believers. You say, "Yeah, but there are some exceptions." That's right, there are, but John's not concerned about exceptions. He is stating the general pattern. Jesus commands us to keep on loving each other, in the progressive sense. And a true Christian will. A true Christian is one who has in his heart love, and I'll tell you something, that's the greatest thing to have. In a world that is seeking and hungry for love, we experience love. Our hearts are full of love. That's a part of being a believer. Romans 5:5 tells us, "The love of Christ is shed abroad in our hearts." We experience love. We bask in it. We live in it. What a tremendous privilege!!! And the true believer shares it with the other believers. You can't be a true believer in Jesus Christ and not have a love for other believers. I John 2:9, "He that saith he is in the light, and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not where he goeth because darkness has blinded his eyes." The true believer doesn't hate his brother. A man who says he believes and hates his brother is a liar. I John 5:1, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." That's how a man is saved. That's how you become a friend of Jesus. You believe that Jesus is the Christ, receive him into your life. And then, he says, "Everyone that loveth him that begot, loveth him also that is begotten of him." Did you get that? "Everyone that loveth him who begot, also‑loveth‑him that is begotten of him." Now you can take that all the way down the chain. If you love Christ, you'll love the Father, and if you love Christ, you'll love the ones that he begot. There's no such thing as loving God without loving Christ and there's no such thing as loving God and Christ without loving other believers begotten by God and Christ. It is characteristic of a true friend of Jesus that he loves the other friends of Jesus. In I Thessalonians 4:9, one of my favorite verses in all the Bible, I love this on, says this. "But as touching, brotherly love," listen to this, "ye need not, that I write unto you, for ye, yourselves, are taught of God to love one another." Do you see that's part of being a believer. That's part of being a friend of Jesus and You have to actually violate your nature in Christ not to love somebody. You've got to conjure up sin to turn off the love that is there. Because it's natural for a believer to love the other friends of Jesus. Oh, I tell you it's a sweet fellowship of love, isn't it? The world doesn't know much about it. They don't know anything about it, really because, "It's the love that passeth knowledge." Paul says in Ephesians. And, so, really those of us who are the friends of Jesus have a fellowship of love. Oh there's some kinks in it once in a while, some pretty serious wrinkles, but nevertheless, the general pattern of our lives is to love each other and when we don't, we're violating our new nature.
As we abide in Christ, remember how we learned that principle? As we abide in him, that's how we experience the fruit of the spirit, which is love. If you don't have love for somebody in your life, the problem is not conjuring up love, as I told you last time, the problem is just to get close to Jesus, so that love becomes a fruit produced by him through you, the abiding branch. Then he gives the nature of our love and this is what really is fantastic. Verse 13. Well, the end of Verse 12, let's go to that one first: "As I have loved you, "that's the character of our love. We are to love each other as he loved us. "Greater love hath no man than this, then that a man lay down his life for his friends." Jesus says, "I want you to love as I loved you." Now you say, well, I can't love in a substitutionary way. That's right; you can't. But you don't have to put too much into this verse. You can't love to a point of redeeming the whole world, we know that. And you can't love with the pure undefiled total agape that Christ can love with, but you can love in character as he loves, and that is, you can love with a sacrificial giving kind of love, and that's what he's saying. He's not expecting you to love in an eternal divine dimension of love equal to Christ. He is expecting you to love as Christ loves. And how does he love? He loves with a sacrificial, self‑giving, kind of love. The disciples are not merely to attach themselves to one another externally and be devoted and helpful to each other. They are to agape. They are to love like Jesus loved. They are to love with total self‑giving. You are to look at your brother in Christ, not as somebody who's to be kind of your external acquaintance, not some kind of a superficial relationship. You're to look at your brother in Christ and to see him like Jesus would see him. You're to see him in terms of his soul's need. You're to see him in terms of eternal interests. You're to see him in terms of what is his deep heart cry and the anguish of his soul. You're to see him in terms of a self‑giving, comforting, spiritually instructing, and burdening‑bearing kind of love. And I think sometimes, we substitute this kind of superficial, very much superficial, really on the surface, relationship, for something that is deep and that is really soul‑to‑soul love, where we care about the intimate needs of the man and the woman who is around us, who is our brother in Christ. And our love like that is going to be our testimony. Remember what Jesus told the disciples back in the 13th Chapter, the 35th Verse? He said, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." This is how we are to show the world who we are. And this kind of love and this kind of caring that reaches into the heart and soul of somebody that allows us to give our time to that individual; to give our wealth to that individual; to bear that individual's burdens; to empathize, to feel what they feel; to hunger for their needs, and to get inside their life, and to do what we need to do to show the fullest kind of love‑‑the intensity of it is described in Verse 13. It is to be so intense that if need be we would literally die for them. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." The world over, for all of history, the world has always acknowledged the supreme evidence of love, is when a person would die for the one he loved. And that's exactly what Jesus is about to do. He loves these disciples. If he doesn't die, they'll spend forever in hell, and so would you and so would I and so would everybody else, who ever lived, because there would be no sacrifice for sin. Jesus knows his death is only a few hours away. He's not dying for himself. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He became sin‑for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He was dying a substitutionary death, and we are the beneficiaries. We're not just witnesses of Calvary. We're the recipients of what was accomplished there. We reap the benefits of his life and his free surrender in death. And so the nature of our love is to be the kind of love that causes us, if need be, to die for another believer.
And you know it's hard to think about that but you know the world does that in some dimensions. I always think of the story of the mother, who loved her child, in Scotland in the highland country, and was taking the baby from one place to another and a snowstorm came and the baby was cold and the mother took off all of her clothes to keep the baby warm, tucked the baby in a place by a tree and naked the mother died. They found her frozen the next day and the baby was warm and alive. That's giving your life. William Gladstone, one time, stood up before the parliament in England, and he was to tell them that Princess Alice had died. And he told them how Princess Alice died. Princess Alice had a little daughter, who contracted diphtheria, and the little girl was lying on her bed in the palace dying and Princess Alice, her mother, came over to the bedside and the doctor had instructed her to stay away because diphtheria can be contracted from the breath, and most of all not to kiss the child, but as she saw the struggles of the last moments of life, she couldn't resist picking up that little life and planting a kiss that only a mother can plant on a dying child; contracted diphtheria and died. Charles Dickens, in the classic tale, THE TALE OF TWO CITIES, records, for us, the story of Charles Darney, who caught up in the swirl of the French Revolution, was innocently found guilty. He was really blameless and it was unjust. He was put into prison to await the guillotine. He had a friend, Sidney Carton, who came to the prison, drugged him, took his clothes and because he was so close resembling Darney, took the guillotine for him the next morning, while friends took the 'body' of Darney out. His life was spared because his friend died for him. We read about this in the world. We read about it in those dimensions. Certainly, of all the loves that exist, the divine agape that we believers know between us should be infinitely greater than that. There have been missionaries, who died to take the Gospel to others. We are to love with a selfless sacrificial love. Some of us don't even love enough to give our time to somebody, let alone our life. Some of us don't even love enough to take a group of little children that may be around us in our neighborhood or maybe somewhere, that need to know the truth of Jesus Christ; we can't even give them the time and the energy, let alone our life. Some of us know believers who aren't growing, who need help, who need ministration of gifts, and some of us aren't even willing to give them the spiritual gifts that we have of the Holy Spirit, let alone die for them. There are places around the world where there is money needed for ministries to be carried on, some of us aren't even willing to do that, let alone give our lives. Some of us operate within the framework of the body of Christ evidently in secret because it's not obvious that we're doing anything. We haven't even learned how to live for others, let alone die for them. Total sacrifice of our life is what it's all about and we are to love like Jesus loved. I'll tell you something, friends, when we begin to do that, the world is going to get in a state of shock and they're going to listen to our message. Philosopher, once said, Heine, in Germany said, "You show me your redeemed lives and I'll believe in your redeemer." Jesus Christ died for us when we hated him. Paul said, "For adventure for a good man, some would dare to die," but then he said this "But God commended his love toward us while we were yet‑‑what?‑‑sinners."
Sacrificial love for the unlovable person. Have you been able to do that? Have you ever given yourself to somebody? Have you ever met somebody's need? The friends of Jesus love each other. Let me read you a verse or two in I John 3:16, "By this, perceive we, the love of God because he laid down his life for us." Isn't that good? Say, how do you know God loves you? Well, 'cause he laid down his life. My little Matt, when he was real little, used to say, "I love you, Dad." and I'd always ask him, "How much do you love me?" and he'd say, "I love you big much." you know, and Id say, "How much is big much?" and he'd do the same thing, jump up into my lap, put his arms around my neck, and squeeze as tight as he could and he'd say, "That's big much." If you could get up on God's knee sometime and say, "God, I want to know, really, how much you love me?" I believe he'd point to a rocky hillside outside Jerusalem, and he'd say, "You see the cross in the middle? That's my Son. That's how much I love you." That's what he says right here: "By this, perceive we, the love of God because he laid down his life for us." Listen to it, here it comes, "And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." Are you ready to do that? Do you really care about each other? There are some of you that need to be rebuked. Some of you need to be restored. Some of you need to be loved. Some of you need to be aided in many ways. Some of you need to be taught. Some of you need physical needs. Supplies. Some of you need to have somebody pray with you. Have you looked around to see who needs what and minister to them, in love? We talk about loving but I don't know if it's there‑‑in every instance. Verse 17, "But whosoever hath this world's good," here's practical, "and see if his brother have need and shuteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" You see someone with a need and don't supply it; does the love of God abide in you? "My little children," listen to this, "let us not love in word, neither in tongue but in‑‑what?‑‑in deed and in truth." We talk about it yet I wonder if it's there. So Jesus says, "My friends love each other.
Second characteristic, and this is good, oh, this is good!!! The second characteristic, Jesus' friends know divine truth. I mean just to think about that absolutely blows my mind. When I stop to realize that I literally, little ol' puny little me, you know, in my little brain know divine truth. I mean that's fantastic. I mean I got a ID' in Algebra. Do you understand what that means? I know the truth of the Universe. So do you, if you know Jesus, if you're his friend. Watch it in Verse 15 "Henceforth, I call you not servants," watch this one, "for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friend, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." Is that fantastic? Everything that Jesus heard from the Father he tells us. The slave could never be a friend‑‑the slave in the Greek was really a living tool is what he was. His master never told him why he just told him what, you know, go do that. The master didn't disclose all of his goals, and all of his passions, and all of his loves, and all of his purpose to the slave, he just went out and said, you go over here and do this, and you go over there and do that and he'll take care of the purpose for all of it. But we who are Jesus' friends are not blindly obeying; we are in on the details. We share his heart. We share his plans. We share his motives. We share his purposes. Slaves serve so they can earn money. Right? They serve toget their keep. Servants work just to get their money, get their keep. They could care less what the master's wishes are. Mostly they have a crummy attitude toward theboss. They just serve. They just crank it out to get it done‑‑earn their money. Not us. Not friends. Oh no. Our passion is the passion of Jesus. We want what he wants accomplished. And so, we're not working to earn anything, we're working because it's our heart's desire to do it. Because we know the whole plan from beginning to end. He's revealed it to us past, present, and future. Jesus said, "if you are my disciples and continue in my word, "John 8:32, " you shall know the truth." We have a scoop, inside scoop, on divine truth. Over in the 17th Chapter of John, Verse 6, "I have manifested thy name under the men who now gavest me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest them to me and they have kept thy word". Watch this, "Now they have known that all things whatever thou have givest me are of thee, for I have given unto them the words, which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me." Jesus says, Father everything you told me, I passed on to them. In Matthew, I love this one, 13th Chapter, Verses 10 and 11. It says, concerning the parables which Jesus gave and the disciples came and said unto him, "Why speakest thou unto them in parables?" He answered and said unto them, "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries, the sacred secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given." To those who are the friends of Jesus, he discloses his inmost heart's desire. In Luke 10:23, it says, "And he turned unto his disciples and said privately, 'Blessed are the eyes which sees the things that ye see."' Isn't that good? Verse 24, "For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them." For those who are the friends of Jesus, there is an intimacy of knowledge that came from the Father through the Son to us. You know it first came to those apostles and to Paul and they passed it to us in the pages of the word of God. They learned it straight from Jesus and passed it to us. And Paul says in Acts 20:27, "I have not failed to declare unto you the whole counsel of God." It's right here in the book. We have it in Scripture. In Ephesians 3, Paul talks about the mystery being disclosed unto us. At the end of the book of Romans in the 16th Chapter in Verse 25 and 26, he says, "Now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." In other words, the manifestation of God's truth, through the Scripture. You say, "Well, that doesn't set us apart. Anybody who buys the Bible can read it." Not sot Not so. Read again I Corinthians 2 and you'll find out the natural man does not understand the things of God; they have to be discerned spiritually. And by the in‑dwelling spirit and the word of God, we know divine truth. We know things no one else knows. All the philosophers and all the scientists, of our world, searching and seeking for truth, are like babes in the woods, compared to the simplest Christian, who is exposed to the revelation of God through the word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I think, sometimes, we take it for granted, don't we? I really think we do. I don't think we really get a grip on what it is, to know what we know. And so Jesus never expected his disciples to be blindly obeying him and just kind of dragging along, cranking it out, but they were to be his friends, intimately acquainted with all his heart's desires, all his work and all his missions. And what a privilege that is. In fact, he even lives his life through us. So the friends of Jesus love each and they know divine truth.
Thirdly, Jesus' friends are especially chosen. This is good. Friends usually, you know, in a human situation mutually chose each other. Not so in this case. Verse 16, just the first part, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, watch this, "that ye should go." And we'll stop right there. I like that. He says, I have chosen you, you've not chosen me and he's talking about salvation there. Verse 19, says, "I have chosen you out of the world." Jesus has chosen certain ones to be
His friend and he chose them out of the world. That refers to salvation. In Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 4, "According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world." Chosen out of the world. In Mark, a Verse comes to my mind, I think it's the 13th Chapter and the 20th Verse, which says, "And except that the Lord has shortened those days," talking about the tribulation, "No flesh should be saved but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days." Jesus chooses his friends. In fact, if you read carefully the 6th Chapter of Luke and down in Verses 13 and 14, you'll find that he directed that especially to the disciples. "When it was day he called unto him, his disciples and of them he choose twelve." And then it names them. We know that he choose the salvation and we know, secondly, that he also choose these to be his 'particular disciples.' Then I want you to see another word in that verse. He said, "I have chosen you," and we've talked so much about that in the past, "God's Great Decree," then he says, "I have chosen you and ordained you." Now that's a different word. That's a Greek word and it's an interesting word because it means to appoint for special service or to set for a special reason. In several places in the New Testament, it talks about certain individuals being appointed or being ordained. And I think it's a very important word because it introduces to us here a very important concept. In Paul's letter to Timothy‑‑In Paul's letter to the Church at Corinth, in Chapter 12, he says he's appointed some to be apostles, prophet, teachers, and so forth and then lists the gifts in Verse 28 of Chapter 12. In II Timothy 1, he says‑‑talks‑‑ about being appointed or set for a certain purpose. The word ordained means‑‑implies the idea of service. Chosen to salvation, ordained to special service. That's the distinction in the verse.I have chosenyou‑‑that is to salvation. I have ordained you‑that is to service, special service. Jesus' friends, then, are specially chosen and as I said in Verse 19, they are chosen out of the world. Now, I want you to see what they're chosen for, and I love this. First of all he says, "You are chosen and ordained that you should‑‑what's the next word?‑‑little word‑‑go." That you should go. I like that. No Christian was ever chosen to stop‑‑or to stand around and watch.
Yesterday, I was in Santa Barbara and I had an all day conference with the students at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Isle Vista, and you know that's been a pretty hot deal up there. And so, there's a lot of really strange, various kinds of groups and things. But I was speaking to them, three or four times yesterday, and one guy came to me and I said, "Are you a Christian?" We began to talk and, of course, you know, he was a Christian and we talked further and found out that he had been to seminary and dropped out and I said, "What are you doing now?" And he says, "Well, we have a little fellowship up here and we just praise God together and we don't have any‑‑we don't meet or anything‑‑we just meet every day in homes, we don't have a building," and he was going on and on about this kind of an underground church type of thing. "And we just meet together," and I said, "Well, what do you do? Who teaches you?" and he said, "No, no. Nobody teaches us, we just share. No one ever teaches." And I said, "Do some of the people feel they have the gift of teaching?" He said, "Probably." And I said, "Well, what do you do, what's your purpose?" "Well, we just praise the Lord a lot." "Well," I said, "you probably go down the street and share your faith? Right? He said, "No," he said, "we've been in existence two and a half years and we've never told anybody." He says, "We don't feel we're called to that." He says, "We feel we're still an infant church and the infant church never went out and evangelized." I said, "How long have you been a Christian?" "Fifteen years." I said, "My friend, you're not an infant believer." Plus I'm not too sure that's legitimate anyway. But the idea was they had been called and chosen to sit with each other, and sing songs every day. My friend you were chosen to go.The world isn't about to come, you have to go. The Bible doesn't say, "Hey, all you in the world, come to the Church." "Go out on the highways and the by‑ways and compel them to come in." Jesus said. "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." Jesus said, "After the spirit of God has come upon you, you should be my witnesses, Jerusalem, Judea, Sumeria, and the other most part of the earth." Get out and reach the world". My friend you were chosen to go, not to come. And come 'til you're ready to go and then go. So Christ elected a group of men out of the world of darkness. He saved them first, he trained them, he loved them, he called them his friends, he ordained them, sent them right back in the world where he got them, only when they went back they were ready to do something to the world they came out of. What a high calling. Every believer has been chosen for salvation, ordained to special service and you're to be fired right back into the world again to communicate Jesus Christ. The idea is motion in the Christian life. The idea is to go. I'm thinking of a verse in II Thessalonians 1:11. Paul says "Wherefore, also, we pray, always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power; That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you." Boy, we're called and ordained to glorify the name of Jesus Christ in the world. We're called and ordained to let God work his perfect will through us. We're not called to sit. We're called to go. So Jesus' friends love each other, know divine truth, and are especially chosen.
And fourthly, Jesus' friends bear remaining fruit. Verse 16 says this in the middle, after 'ago'. It says, "And bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain." We'll stop right there. You know, one‑of the fantastic things about the Christian life is that it's so purposeful. I mean, do you realize that when you go out and communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to somebody and they receive Christ, you have brought about an eternal transaction. I mean, you know, just to look at life apart from Jesus Christ and just to watch it kind of dwindle away, day after day, meaninglessly, with no results and no effect on anybody for any time at all and then to compare that with the life of a believer, a friend of Jesus, who bears fruit that is eternal, what a fantastic realization! Just like the ripples in the pond when a rock goes in, your life will ripple throughout all eternity with fruit, born in time, to the Glory of God ... Boy, I'm telling you, it's exciting. A wonderful promise. That you'll have fruit that remains. You say, what is fruit? Remember what it is? It's Christ‑likeness. It's confession of praise. It's a contribution of love. It's communication also that blesses others. It's conduct in general‑‑good works, and it's also converts led to Jesus Christ. All of that is fruit and your fruit, my friends, is eternal. Those are commodities that affects people's lives, forever. You say, "Well, I don't have any eternal fruit,, I never led anybody to Jesus. Maybe, you never had the final result, maybe, you never reap the harvest, but every time somebody saw love or joy or any other fruits of the spirit in your life, the planting of the truth of God was there and when that person came to Christ, you were part and parcel of the experience. And it was your fruit as well. And when you've taught somebody else the word of God and enriched their Christian life, which gives more Glory to God, you have thus born eternal fruit. I'll tell you, it's wonderful to have a life that has products going on forever. Boy, do you ever get a grip on really the significance of your own life in Christ. Just to realize that you're not just, you know, one little tiny dot in the world that's meaningless. You have eternal consequence attached to your life. You affect eternity, forever. Promise of a life with eternal fruit, how fantastic! No. sir, a true branch doesn't just make a temporary splash‑‑abiding fruit. I love what Paul said in II Corinthians 5:17, he said, "I witness because if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away and behold all things become new." You know why Paul was in the ministry? Because he had such a tremendous joy in seeing the finished product and knowing it was eternal. The things that you do for God never pass away. Did you know that? Remember the little saying, "Only what's done for Christ will last. All the fruit you bear is forever." Boy that's fantastic. Remember in Revelation have what it says about the Saints who have died? It says, "They have died and gone to Glory and their works do what?‑‑follow them." See? Their fruit goes right with them‑‑forever.
Lastly, Jesus' friends not only love each other, not only experience divine truth, and all these other things, but Jesus' friends have their prayers answered. Look at the end of Verse 16, "That whatever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." Isn't that exciting? A true friend of Jesus has his prayers answered. Now, we've talked so much about the principle of asking in Christ's name. It simply means to say, I'm asking this because this is what Jesus would want. Selfless‑‑not to consume in all your own lusts. But because this is the desire of Jesus Christ. I'm asking for Jesus because this is what he would want, and God will answer.
I wanted to spend more time on that but we're done. Here they are, the characteristics of those who are the friends of Jesus. They love each other. They know divine truth, They have a special calling apart from the world to go back into the world. They bear remaining fruit that is eternal. They have their prayers answered when they pray in the name of Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be a friend of Jesus. Now, let me add one thought. This is a key thing. These are all characteristics of you who know Christ. All of them. But in every case, now watch this, in every case, though these are yours by the general pattern and by your position in Christ, the New Testament takes it a step further and encourages you to really operate on those principles. The true friends of Jesus love each other and yet the Bible says we much love each other fervently, pushing us to the extreme. The true friends of Jesus know divine truth and yet the Bible says study the word of God to show yourself approved, rightly dividing it. The true friend of Jesus has been called out of this world and yet the word of God says so carefully to us, walk worthy of such a high calling. A true friend of Jesus bears eternal fruit and yet the Bible says seek to bear more fruit in response to the purging of the Father. The friend of Jesus prays and God answers and the Bible yet says pray fervently, pray effectually, and pray without‑‑what?‑‑ceasing. You see in every one of these patterns and positional truths, there is that practical implementation, to get in on all that there is available. The resources are all yours, if you're Jesus' friends. You say, "What about those who aren't his friends?" Well, now, Jesus said this, "He that is not my friend, he that is not with me, is against me." Are you searching for love? Are you searching for truth? Are you longing for purpose, to live for something, to be a part of some plan? Are you longing for a meaningful, productive life? Are you searching for supernatural resources to all your needs? Then I say to you simply, be a friend of Jesus and you'll have them all. You say, Can 19 1 thought Jesus chose his own friends." He does and if he's speaking in your heart right now, and calling you to himself, you must respond personally and individually.
Father, we thank you for teaching us this morning again, and Lord, we know there are some here this morning who have never received Jesus Christ. Father, there are some that you're calling right now to be your friends. Lord, Jesus, there are some you've chosen to be your friends and you're waiting for them to respond and right now in their hearts they sense you saying, come to me and believe in me and give me your life and receive my friendship and all that it implies. Father I pray that they might do that. That they might become that friend. Father, those of us who are your friends are ready to love you. Help us to take all these general patterns and positional patterns that we have and stretch them to their limit. Help us to be the truest kind of friends, that you might be glorified in us. We pray in Jesus' name, whom we love and whom we serve with love. Amen.
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REGIONALREPORT Western
When Mark Kearse was a student at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, friends nicknamed him "Goose" because of his long neck. Roughly three decades later, a former classmate helped the co-owner and president of Valle Crucis-based Misty Mountain Threadworks Inc. find his company's golden egg.
MORGANTON — Melville, N.Y.-based Levington Manufacturing, maker of wiring and lighting products, will expand its plant here, investing $7.3 million and adding 152 to its statewide workforce of 531 within three years. Average annual wage will be $35,488, higher than Burke County's average of $31,304.
LENOIR — Bakers Waste Equipment will open a plant here, investing $2.9 million and hiring 60 workers within three years. The Valdese-based company makes containers and compactors for the waste, construction and recycling industries. Average annual wage will be $29,157, less than Caldwell County's average of $29,640.
TRYON — Fendrich Industries will expand operations here, investing $740,000 and adding 23 to its local workforce of 40. The Greenville, S.C.-based company makes printed bandanas and bleaches and dyes yarn for home furnishings. Average annual salary will be $28,739, on par with Polk County's average of $28,496.
ASHEVILLE — Mission Health is negotiating management agreements with Highlands-based Highlands-Cashiers Hospital and Rutherfordton-based Rutherford Regional Health System. Leaders have approved the affiliations, but details were still being worked out in early October.
ASHEVILLE — Asheville Regional Airport will begin offering nonstop flights to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Nov. 15. Las Vegas-based Allegiant Airlines will operate the flights twice a week on different days.

subset: commoncrawl


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- shop by theme
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Host your daughter's ocean, little mermaid or tropical themed party by using this great looking aqua tableware. This tableware is the same color as beautiful, exotic oceans so it's perfect for island themes and summer luaus as well. Some of the items you can choose from include cutlery, napkins, plates, cups and a table cover. The cutlery can be bought in a set 24 meaning you'll receive 8 forks, knives and spoons or they can be purchased separately in sets of 20. The napkins come in two different sizes as there are beverage napkins and luncheon napkins. The plates also come in two different sizes, 7 inches round and 9 inches round. As you can see you'll find everything you need to equip your party in style.


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What better way to properly light your game room or fan cave while showing off your team spirit then with this officially licensed billiard lamp. Real stained glass that matches your favorite teams colors. Looks great in any game room. Rack 'Em Up! Chain and ceiling mounting hardware included. 16" Glass Light Made in the USA
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May 31, 2016
Members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are preparing to go to the polls to vote. Next month, the tribe will vote on changes to the tribe's constitution. The changes involve three amendments.
"There are three proposed changes to articles that we have in the tribal constitution,' says Misty Brescia Dreifuss, who is the Public Information Director for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. 'So, as always, the tribal constitution is important to the people. So, it is an important election. We need people to vote and to register. We want it to be the will of the people."
Voting will take place Feb. 19. Tribal members who will be 18-years-old by that date are eligible to vote. However, tribal members must be registered to participate. The deadline to register to vote in the upcoming election is Jan. 29. Forms to do this are available at the tribal office and online. A link is provided below.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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- Description
- Reviews
- Q and A
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This very popular 4" x 6" Format Picture Frame features a thin plastic edge and clear glass which pops out from the front of the frame for easy loading of photos. Great for digital photos.
Note: Due to space limitations these frames will only accept thin paper mats.
- Photos or documents can be displayed either horizontally or vertically
- Frame is 9/16 thick
- Comes ready for wall mounting
- Includes a snap-in easel for tabletop display - see Easel Instructions
- Made by MCS Industries
Note: Due to space limitations these frames will only accept thin paper mats.
See other available sizes: MCS Format Frames
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Aug 5, 2014 | By Melodie Slaymaker
We used these frames for an employee board. The uniformity makes it look very nice. Lots of folks enjoying the pictures. The frames were good quality & affordable price when we needed so many. The project turned out extremely attractive - many compliments.
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handsome frames
Jul 13, 2014 | By beekay
love these! handsome, flattering, so easy to pop photos in or remove, versatile hanging possibilities or simply stand alone, and so very cost saving - truly getting one's money's worth.
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Format Frame 4x6
Jun 15, 2014 | By Joe Aldrich
I was fully familiar with this product as we had in the past used 20 or more of these frames and found them ideal for displaying 4x6 photos. However when I just recently went to my supplier I found they no longer carried the product. A quick internet search took me to Get Smart Products where I placed my order. The product arrived very timely in perfect condition. Thanks, -Joe
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good frame for the price
Jan 29, 2014 | By ted
I have used over 50 the 4x6 frames to create a collage of photos of family and friends. They are easy to hang and change out photos as needed. Only negative comment would be the quality of the plastic piece for standup use, it's a bi flimsy.
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frame breakage occurs very easily
Nov 30, 2013 | By RGP
These inexpensive frames are nice for a quick or informal display. However, these frames can be somewhat fragile and tricky to get the glass out/in thus damaging the plastic frame itself. You have to be very careful when handling these plastic frames to prevent breakage. My current display, though, looks nice, neat and uniform w/ these frames.
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Eagle county and Gunnison County have produced the highest number of Boone and Crockett bucks the last 10 years.
The Gunnison units have been down since the hard winter in 2007, but if you don't get a hard winter, I'll bet in a year or two those units will be getting back up to par. It is hard to beat Unit 55, 66 and 67. Hopefully they will offer 4th season tags again in the next few years.
In Eagle country, I understand that Unit 44 is the star unit. Deer numbers are down.
If I was a resident with 10 points I would hold out 2-5 years for the age class to develop in the bucks in those units and they go for a 4th season tag.


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Just when I thought I had lost it, there it was. My love affair with the bike found a new romance. We met on a warm summer night under the light of a full moon.
We rendezvoused on Skyline Boulevard, a ribbon of pavement perched on the crest of the Coast Range running from San Francisco to San Jose. From atop this ridge you can see the Pacific Ocean and to the east there's Santa Clara Valley. In the distance on a clear day you'll see the Sierra Nevada.
I've ridden on Skyline at sunrise and at sunset, in the fog and clouds, on clear and on smoggy days, but never at night.
We started from Palo Alto, riding past high-powered venture capital firms on Sand Hill Road and then into the rural setting of Portola Valley. One of the darkest roads to Skyline is Old LaHonda, a 1,200-foot climb.
The moon shone fitfully through breaks in a canopy of redwoods and tan oak. Under the white light of the moon, with our colorful cycling garb, we looked like ghosts drifting through the trees.
In this Stygian darkness I saw monsters — behind a tree, ahead in the middle of the road. But they let us pass with nary a boo to be heard. The headless rider must be right around the bend.
Alone in the night, we enthused about the ride. "Hey, I wonder if our eyes glow in the dark like deer when we see car lights," said Dave. "This reminds me of a dream I had," another rider chimed. Is this a dream? "Watch out for bug lamps," Sterling yelled. "Don't be drawn in by the light!"
The one-liners continued as we made our way up the mountain, bike lights showing the way. "On your left. Watch out for the hole. Which one? The one I just rode through." Bump! "You found it!"
The climb had never gone so fast, or so it seemed. Night riding creates a sensation of speed.
As we climbed, someone asked the inevitable: Has anyone ever fixed a flat in the dark?
From the bald top of Windy Hill we looked down on the valley bathed in the glow of incandescent light. To the north, the skyscrapers of San Francisco glowed like inverted chandeliers. Mt. Diablo loomed in the east, an ink-black spot. The still, warm air cast a surreal quality over the scene and I couldn't help but think life is still a mystery.
With the flash of my camera, I captured another memorable event on film, evidence photos for the grandchildren I suppose. Six people on top of a mountain under a full moon smiled for the tiny black box.
The fun wasn't over, not with a ride down Windy Hill. We found our way, some riding, some walking, some falling down.
Where the trail goes is anyone's guess tonight. Head for that grove of trees. Watch out. There's a barbed wire fence. Nancy, where are you? Crash! Josh is down.
At the bottom of the hill on Portola Road we're all accounted for. Once underway, we're Flying Dutchmen speeding through the night, headed for home under the light of a romancing moon.


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Out of Stock
Item # ENV0019
Don't worry though, we have a lot more Clincher Wheels in stock than that.View Similar Products
ENVE Classic 65 Carbon Road Wheelset - Clincher $0.00
The ENVE Classic 65 Carbon Clincher Road Wheelset has been touted as the 'Founder's Favorite' of all the rims in the ENVE arsenal. ENVE's most versatile rim, the 65 is the preferred rim for professionals for everything from cyclocross to triathlon to road racing. There's even a peloton debate on whether they're better at climbing or time trials. Seriously, though. The funny thing is that pros all say that it's the best rim for whatever discipline they've been using it for. With a 65mm rim depth, the wheel offers weight savings comparable to many top wheelsets like the HED Stinger 4 Carbon Tubular and the Zipp 404 Firecrest Tubular. We are talking about a 65mm deep clincher, right?
Of course, there are many factors to the 65's ridiculous stiffness-to-weight ratio. Starting at the interface between the spokes and the rim, ENVE uses a patented process of molding in spoke holes, nipple seats, and valve stem holes. Knowing that carbon fiber gains strength from continuous fibers, ENVE routes the fibers around each hole in a 100% intact design. This design allows a lower weight at the spoke face, and adds overall rigidity to the rim. When built, the molded design promotes both higher spoke tension and tension uniformity. Another aspect of the 65's light weight is due to ENVE's use of removal bladders during the molding process. While most composite rim manufacturers leave the rim-shaping inflatable bladder in the rim, ENVE spends the time and money to remove it. This time-consuming process reduces rim weight, and makes for a perfectly tensioned wheel build.
And while all of that technology creates an aggressive stiffness-to-weight ratio, we all know that a 65mm deep wheel is solely built for speed. Sure, rigidity adds to this variable, but so does the build. The ENVE 65 is hand-built in the USA with DT Swiss 240s laced with 24 DT Swiss Aerolite bladed spokes. So, when you utilize the quick, powering gains of the rim, the 240's low-resistance and minimal rotational weight (around 209g) will keep your speed on the rivet with less exertion coming from your end. And when using a 65 as a rear wheel with an ENVE 45 up front, your aerodynamic footprint gets into disc wheel categories.
The ENVE Classic 65 Carbon Road Wheelset is available as a rear wheel and in a clincher version. For the freehub body, you can choose either a Campagnolo or Shimano compatibility. Please note that the Shimano option is compatible with the new Shimano Dura Ace 9000 11-speed system.
- DT Swiss 240 hubs
- DT Swiss Aero bladed spokes
- Compatible with Shimano/SRAM 9/10/11 or Campagnolo 11-speed
Tech Specs
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Another level of wheels
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
If you want a great set of wheels go with the 404s, however if you are looking for better than great buy the Enve's they are best wheelset I have ever owned and I have ridden and destroyed almost all of them
I can't select campy freehub. Is 700c/Shimano compatible with campy 11 speed?
No, campy 11 is not compatible with with the Shimano option.
I noticed that the website suggests I purchase Shimano centerblocks along with the wheel set. Are they necessary to install these wheels on my SuperSix Evo with 11 speed Ultegra?
No, that is only for the disc brake version of these wheels, sorry for the confusion there. Let me know if you would like me to get an order going or have any other questions. firstname.lastname@example.com
A+ grade wheelset
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
I rode a prototype of this wheel several years back and fell in love with them. Subsequently I got another pair that I actually still own and have been using for several years. Comfortable, compliant, quick to wind up, stable, a fantastic wheel all around. I will say that I may personally pick these over the 6.7's by the smallest of margins due to the weight difference. I will admit to being a weight weenie and to get a wheel this aero and stiff at this weight is a real treat. These are definitely in my list of top 5 wheels out there. Super light but deep enough of a dish that you get the aero benefits, and again won't beat you up if the winds kick up. I think my earlier statement attests to the durability which is something you have to consider when spending this kind of money on a wheelset. I have not had to do a thing the the set that I have, highly recommended. If you have specific questions or help with shipping price you can contact me directly here at email@example.com
I've Had 2 Pair's of the 65's and Loved
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
So much so I gave my 1st pair to her {50+ QOM's} Later she bought me a set for my Birthday . I upgraded the Bearing on each with Ceramic,and now they are even Faster and Smoother then Before !!!
What width tire do you use with this rim? I have looked for a 700x22c tire but haven't found any.
HI HIMP658239. You can run a tire wider than the rim width on this clincher rim. For example, a 23 mm (or 25 mm tire) will be fine. If you really want to match the tire width to the rim, some tires run a bit thinning than advertised.


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To set up or adjust Time Machine:
1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then click Time Machine.
2. Slide the switch to ON.
3. Click "Change Disk."
4. Choose a disk where backups will be stored, and click "Use for Backup."
Any disk attached to your computer that can be used to store backups is listed. The list includes internal hard disks except for your startup disk, and most external disks. If you have partitioned a disk, the partitions are listed.
iPods and iDisks can't be used for Time Machine backups.
When Time Machine performs the first backup of your system, it may take a while. You may want to set up Time Machine in the evening so that the initial backup can be done overnight. Subsequent backups take less time because only items that have changed are backed up.
Note: Time Machine works best if you use your backup disk only for Time Machine backups. If you keep files on your backup disk, Time Machine won't back up those files, and the space available for Time Machine backups will be reduced.


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By Alissa de Carbonnel and Luke Baker
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum on the decision in 10 days' time in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula.
The sudden acceleration of moves to bring Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority and has effectively been seized by Russian forces, formally under Moscow's rule came as European Union leaders held an emergency summit groping for ways to pressure Russia to back down and accept mediation.
The 28-nation EU condemned Russian actions in Crimea as illegal, voiced support for Ukraine's territorial integrity but took only minor steps suspending talks with Moscow on visas and a new investment pact while warning of tougher steps if there is no negotiated solution within a short period.
By contrast, U.S. President Barack Obama announced immediate first steps to punish Russians and Ukrainians involved in what he called "threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine", ordering the freezing of their U.S. assets and a ban on travel to the United States.
The names on the blacklist were not immediately made public but a U.S. official said they did not include Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Pentagon also announced a large-scale air force exercise in Poland which Washington's ambassador to Warsaw said had been augmented to reassure U.S. allies in the region in the light of the Ukraine crisis.
The crisis began in November when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, under Russian pressure, turned his back on a trade deal with the EU and accepted a $15 billion bailout from Moscow. That prompted three months of street protests leading to the overthrow of Yanukovich on February 22.
Moscow denounced the events as an illegitimate coup and refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities.
The Crimean parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday "to enter into the Russian Federation with the rights of a subject of the Russian Federation".
The decision, which diplomats said could not have been made without Putin's approval, raised the stakes in the most serious east-west confrontation since the end of the Cold War.
The vice premier of Crimea, home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, said a referendum on the status would take place on March 16. All state property would be "nationalized", the Russian ruble adopted and Ukrainian troops treated as occupiers and forced to surrender or leave, he said.
EU leaders, the U.S. State Department and the new government of Ukraine all branded the referendum decision illegal because it was incompatible with the Ukrainian constitution.
Russian stocks fell and the ruble weakened further after the referendum news. Moody's ratings agency said the stand-off was negative for Russia's sovereign creditworthiness.
On the ground, a mission of 35 unarmed military observers from the pan-European Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe was stopped from entering Crimea by unidentified men in military fatigues when they travelled from the port of Odessa, Poland's defense minister said.
In Brussels, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy outlined a three stage plan to try to resolve the crisis, while announcing that the EU would sign the political parts of an far reaching agreement with Ukraine before May 25 elections there, and offer the country extensive aid and trade benefits.
Unless Moscow opens negotiations with Ukraine and an international "contact group" soon, the EU would move to travel bans and asset freezes on Russian officials, and boycott a planned June Group of Eight summit in Olympic venue Sochi.
If Russia took action that destabilizes Ukraine further, there would be "grave consequences" for bilateral economic ties, he said, without giving any deadlines. Poland's prime minister said the EU talks on sanctions had been "stormy", hinting at frustration at his inability to achieve stronger measures, which require a unanimous decision of 28 member states.
Putin has cited threats to Russian citizens to justify military action in Ukraine, as he did in Georgia in 2008. Far from seeking a diplomatic way out of the present crisis, Putin appears to have chosen to create facts on the ground before the West can agree on more than token action against him.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said after meeting EU leaders that Ukraine's armed forces would act if Russian military intervention escalated any further into Ukrainian territory. "We are ready to protect our country," he said.
Military experts say Kiev's small and underequipped forces are no match for Moscow's superpower might.
The U.S. Navy announced a guided-missile destroyer, the USS Truxton, was heading to the Black Sea in what it said was a long-planned training exercise and not a show of force
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who had refused to meet his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday, held talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome, but said there was still no agreement after their third encounter in two days.
Earlier, Kerry discussed Ukraine with his colleagues from Britain, Germany, Italy and France, which are reluctant to impose sanctions, and informed them of U.S. plans to sanction individuals and officials whose identities were not made public.
The EU said it had frozen the assets of ousted Ukrainian president Yanukovich and 17 other officials suspected of human rights violations and misuse of state funds.
As expected, the EU summit was unwilling to adopt more than symbolic measures against Russia, Europe's biggest gas supplier, because neither industrial powerhouse Germany nor financial center Britain is keen to trigger a tit-for-tat trade war.
France has a deal to sell warships to Russia that it is so far not prepared to cancel, London's banks have profited from facilitating Russian investment, and German companies have $22 billion invested in Russia.
The European Commission has announced aid of up to 11 billion euros ($15 billion) for Ukraine over the next couple of years provided it reaches a deal with the International Monetary Fund, entailing painful reforms like ending gas subsidies.
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said the crisis had already had a major impact on the Russian and Ukrainian economies, but little effect so far on the euro zone. However if political risks mounted, Europe's economy could also be hit.
Russia kept the door ajar for more diplomacy on its own terms, announcing on Thursday a meeting of former Soviet states, including Ukraine, for April 4.
Lavrov said attempts by Western countries to take action over the Ukraine crisis via democracy watchdog OSCE and the NATO military alliance were not helpful.
He stuck to Putin's line – ridiculed by the West – that Moscow does not command the troops without national insignia which have taken control of Crimea, besieging Ukrainian forces, and hence cannot order them back to barracks.
Outside Crimea, in eastern and southern cities that saw big pro-Russian demonstrations, the tide of public opinion appears however to be turning in favor of Kiev.
Ukrainian police cleared pro-Moscow demonstrators from the regional parliament building in Donetsk, where pro-Kiev demonstrations are now much larger than pro-Moscow ones in the city, home town of ousted leader Yanukovich.
The White House is imposing visa restrictions on Russians and Crimeans who it says are "threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."
In addition, President Barack Obama has signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against "individuals and entities responsible for activities undermining democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine."
The new action on visas comes in addition to a U.S. policy denying visas to those involved in human rights abuses related to political oppression in Ukraine.
The White House announcement comes as Western nations have been wrestling with a response to Russia's military incursion into Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.


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Is it my imaginiation, or is the whole engine housing on this "Bullet" a little closer to the horizintal and perpendicular to ground/frame than in the current G5 , (in which to me it appears to be angle ever so slightly forward. )? The whole bike looks like it has a slightly more "upright " appearance. It may be just the effect of the squared rear fender , but it looks more vertical. Nigel
Loving that G5! Now why didn't they do that from the start? Damn! Hope the parts retro fit; I guess it's cheaper than buying a new one.
When will these actually be available to us?-Jake
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Make sure you watch all of these Classic Family Christmas movies throughout the holiday season. Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment here is the TOP 8!!
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
1964's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has been telecast every single year since its release, making it the longest-running Christmas TV special in history! Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is also unique because it was produced in stop motion animation. In this classic Christmas story we learn about Rudolph's childhood full of ridicule for his glowing red nose, and the events that lead up to his famous flight on Christmas Eve. Along with his friend Hermey the elf, Rudolph helps save his friends and family, and leads Santa's sleigh through a blizzard, saving Christmas.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas was originally aired in 1965, and has since become a classic that many families love to watch during the holiday season. In this holiday special, The Peanuts gang attempts to put on a Nativity play, and Charlie Brown picks up his iconic feeble Christmas tree, that droops with the weight of just one ornament. As Charlie Brown fights the commercialization of Christmas, he and his friends begin to realize – with the help of Linus – the true meaning of Christmas.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Originally released one week before Christmas in 1966, How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of the few Christmas specials from the '60s that is still shown regularly on television. This tried and true favorite tells the tale of the grouchy, green Grinch, who tries to spoil Whoville's over-the-top annual Christmas celebration. After stealing all of the Whos' decorations and presents, the Grinch finally realizes that the true meaning of Christmas doesn't depend on material goods, and returns everything to its rightful place.
Frosty the Snowman
The Frosty the Snowman TV special was released in 1969, and consistently ranks on "best of" lists for holiday specials and movies. In this story, Frosty is able to come to life from a magical hat that was stolen from the mean Professor Hinkle. Frosty and his friends, Karen and Hocus Pocus (Professor Hinkle's rabbit), then voyage to get Frosty to the North Pole where he will not need to worry about melting due to rising temperatures. With Santa's help, Frosty is preserved, and returns to celebrate Christmas with Karen each year.
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novella, A Christmas Carol. This was the first original Mickey Mouse theatrical cartoon in more than 30 years, and it didn't disappoint (the film was even nominated for an Academy Award as Best Animated Short Film). This short film features your favorite Disney characters in the famous Dickens tale: Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge, Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit, Donald Duck as Fred, Goofy as Jacob Marley, and Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Shrek the Halls
Shrek the Halls originally aired in 2007, and features all of your favorite characters from the Shrek films. In Shrek the Halls, we find Shrek celebrating his very first Christmas, and trying to make it special for Fionna and their children. Not knowing anything about Christmas, Shrek buys a "Christmas For Village Idiots" book, and decorates the swamp. Unfortunately, Donkey, Puss in Boots and Gingy ruin Shrek's plans. But, after apologizing to one another (and a quick snowball fight), Shrek's friends and family are able to enjoy their first Christmas together.
Merry Madagascar
Merry Madagascar was first broadcast in 2009, and features the lovable animals of Madagascar trying to save Christmas. When Santa's sleigh is accidentally shot down in Madagascar, leaving Santa with amnesia, it is up to Alex, Marty, Gloria, Melvin and the penguins to deliver Santa's presents and save Christmas. When the animals return from delivering the presents, the run into Santa with his sleigh, curing his amnesia. After Santa and his reindeer leave, the group decides to celebrate Christmas in their own way as they are now filled with the holiday spirit.
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas is this year's must-see holiday special! Spend the holidays with your favorite prehistoric friends as they try to save Christmas for the whole world! After accidentally destroying Santa's workshop, Manny, Sid, Diego and all the other animals must work together to save Christmas for everyone. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, and Seann William Scott all lend their voices to this hilarious tale of a group of friends out to save the holiday season.
Ice Age Mammoth Christmas was just released on Blu-Ray and DVD the end of November. Share this new Christmas movie with your family for the holidays.
My daughters loved the movie, and we have fun watching it together. It is a short film, but definitely worth it. Especially if you love the Ice Age movies--this is a fun story.
Win a copy of Ice Age Mammoth Christmas on Blu-ray/DVD
Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. If you don't see the form, please click on the blog post title and give it time to load. Good Luck!!
Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. If you don't see the form, please click on the blog post title and give it time to load. Good Luck!!
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Canada's Hottest Startups on Fuelling Innovation, Seeking Inspiration, and Finding Support
Where do startups draw that innovation-fuelling inspiration from? Where do they find the support to make their ideas a reality? What do these companies need to do to expand globally?
GoToMeeting in Canada asked the hottest startups across the country to share their thoughts on growth and what is means to be innovative.read more


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Toddler Daycare Escapees Found Playing on Train Trackstoddler-times
This story brings a whole new meaning to "wrong side of the tracks." Two toddlers escaped from their California daycare were reportedly found playing ON the nearby railroad tracks.
And here we were thinking a toddler in the middle of the road was bad. OK, it's still bad.
But the story of how two kids ended up on the tracks seems tinged with a bit more idiocy – someone had cut a hole in the fence between the daycare and the tracks. Why?
Even assuming it was vandalism, isn't that something you notice when you're running a daycare and, oh, I don't know, need to keep a lot of kids enclosed in one space?
The good news: the kids are fine. Better news: the cops are investigating the daycare.
Does this one sound like a simple human mistake or stupidity?


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Out of Stock
Item # LGN0446
Don't worry though, we have a lot more Panniers in stock than that.View Similar Products
Louis Garneau Stream R-12 Bag $0.00
If you have all your cross-country touring gear ready to go, but this weekend's ride is just across town, attach the Louise Garneau Stream R-12 Bag to your rear rack and streamline your set-up. The Stream R-12 comes with an insulated main compartment for storing food and protecting delicate equipment as well as side pouches for packing extra tubes, repair gear, and layers.
- Water-resistant fabric and zips help prevent water from seeping in
- Foam insulation keeps your camera batteries from wasting away quickly in the cold
- Removable shoulder strap makes the Stream R-12 a great option for urban trips
- Bike pump straps keep your repair-kit essential on lockdown (pump not included)
- Reflective detailing and safety-light holder help keep you visible during night commutes
- Helmet holder keeps your lid secure when it's not in use
- Water-resistant fabric
- Foam insulatin
- Removable shoulder strap
- Bike pump straps and helmet holder
- Reflective detailing
Tech Specs
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Reviews & Community
Looks Good. Works Medium.
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
This bag looks good but doesn't work all that well. It is pretty waterproof thanks to the sealed zippers. I didn't test the shiny, insulated lining with my heated, Louis Garneau-designed filet-mignon lunch, but the cargo area was just a tad small. The four-point velcro straps are much more secure and faster than the two-strap versions that you have to thread under the whole rack. The helmet carrier holds the helmet, but you have to use the shoulder strap to carry both the bag and the helmet strapped on. You can't really use that helmet-holding mesh as a handle, either, because of its elasticity. The material did rip a little on the back panel, too. The Blackburn EX-Trunk Bag had a carrying handle in place of the helmet holder that was convenient and it had a shoulder strap, but it was so wide that it would never stay centered on the rack. If you don't need too much space, and you don't mind using the shoulder strap to carry the trunk pack with helmet attached, you should check this out. The helmet doesn't cinch too tightly, and you can probably just clip your helmet to your courier bag or even the trunk pack itself more easily. The side pockets, both the zip and mesh are pretty thin and not so usable, respectively.
What are the physical dimensions of this...
What are the physical dimensions of this bag? Specifically the front height vs the back height?
the flap at the narrow end does it also...
the flap at the narrow end does it also have a zipper or it just hangs there. things in the bag can come out if i am riding on a bumpy road please advice.thank you, Robert
The back flap is secured by velcro, and is also an attachment point for the shoulder strap. It works well, but you have to be sure the zippers are fully closed before you pick it up by the shoulder strap. If the zippers are closed, nothing is coming out.
Write your question here...I am look for...
Write your question here...I am look for a bag for my bike that I can use to commute to work and be able to fit my military uniform and shower stuff in. Would this bag be able to accomodate something of this nature?
This bag should be more than able to accommodate your belongings. With water resistant fabric, your clothing will stay dry on your commute to work


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In any lake, Shabbona Lake in particular, WEEDS = FISH. Annually, there are lots of fishing articles written about Bass, Crappie, Muskie, Catfish or Bluegills, but rarely is there an article written about their primary habitat. Weeds are the predominant home of at least 90 % of the fish in any given lake.
In this article I will show you that weeds make fishing easier, contrary to public opinion. Read on, you will learn how to fish inside weed edges, outside weed edges and main weed pads.
In the early Spring, during the month of May, weeds begin to form along the shoreline. This creates an inside edge closest to the shore and an outside edge toward the main lake. The most under fished area, and obviously, the area you should try first, is the inside edge.
Many fishermen are not sure of the correct techniques for inside edge fishing. Walk quietly along the shoreline, always looking at least 50 feet in front of you. Move slowly and quietly. With a good pair of polarized sunglasses, you can see the fish before he sees or "feels" you. He "feels" you through the vibrations that you make when you walk along the shoreline, which are transferred to the water and picked up by the fish's lateral line.
Prepare your fishing rod before you start walking. Be ready to cast past the Bass or other fish that you see. This draws his attention in the opposite direction from you. You can reel and set the hook, without spooking the fish, because he is looking the other way at the bait. A nightcrawler, plastic worm or plastic mouse seem to work best at Shabbona Lake. The secret is to make a soft cast past the targeted fish.
You will simply be amazed at the number and the size of the fish that you can catch, once you have mastered the above techniques. Some of my biggest Bass (20 inch plus) have been caught using these methods. Even if you do spook a fish back into the weeds, make note of the area & return in about 15 minutes. He will be back in the exact same spot.
Once the Weedbeds form at Shabbona Lake, Walleyes set up on the outside edge weedpoints, especially next to drop offs, such as Area 10, Area 17, Area 23, Area 29 and along the 1/2 mile dam face. (Maps portraying these areas can be purchased at Shabbona's Lakeside Bait, Tackle & Boat Rental, located on the shores of Shabbona Lake, within Shabbona Lake State Park, 815-824-2581.)
The best outside edge is the one with the wind blowing directly INTO it. Anchor your boat upwind at least one good long cast upwind from any visible weeds. Chances of some nice catches are very good, if you picked an outside weedpoint, that the wind is blowing into.
There are several techniques that work on outside weed edges. At Shabbona Lake, some of the favorites are : 1) drift a bobber with a leech or nightcrawler along the weed edge, using the wind to your advantage, 2) bounce a nightcrawler or leech with a small slip sinker, 1/16 - 1/8 ounce maximum, and 3) work the edge with a crank bait or top water lure.
At Shabbona Lake, under these conditions, you can catch Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleyes, Catfish, Crappie and Perch. Don't be surprised if you end up staying in one productive spot for over an hour. Once you hit a good point, you can stay there and catch several fish over an extended time.
The main mass of weeds can be referred to as a Weed Pad. As the weeds grow they form a thick pad of weeds. As they grow up to the top of the water, they start to grow horizontally making a thick cover for the fish. The weeds are much thicker on top then below. This creates cool water with tunnels for the fish to swim in and out of.
At Shabbona Lake, you want to look for open pockets in the weeds to fish. These occur naturally as the weeds form. Every so often there will be an open pocket, even in the thickest weeds. Whenever and wherever, you see these pockets, a signal should go off saying, A There is a prime spot to try.
Make a long cast past the pocket and bring your lure back to the edge of the pocket. Hesitate momentarily, then pop your lure into the pocket. Pause again and hang on ! This is when the weeds will explode, as the Bass comes charging after your lure. If you get a big Bass (18 inches plus), you will need to take your boat to him. You will not be able to pull him through the thick weeds
Lures that work great at Shabbona Lake for fishing weed pads are : Plastic Mouse, Buzz Baits, Plastic Frogs, Plastic Worms and large nightcrawlers Texas-rigged. Hook the nightcrawler once through the head end and then bury the barb of the hook back into the body of the crawler. This makes it basically weedless, and with an accurate cast, it is almost a guaranteed fish every cast.
Try these techniques on the three parts of the weeds : 1) Inside edge, 2) Outside Weed Edge and the Main Weed Pads, 3) and you will catch more Bass and Walleye than you ever thought existed.
For more information on Shabbona Lake, visit us at our Web Site or call us at Shabbona's Lakeside Bait Tackle & Boat Rental at 815-824-2581. Stop by and see us at Shabbona Lake State Park, we are located on the "Shores of Shabbona Lake".


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Jigsaw Game Overview
Piece together a daily puzzle!Solve jigsaw puzzles from the comfort of your own desktop! Jigsaw boasts a host of features that make solving puzzles easy and enjoyable. Choose from three new puzzles daily!
1.Click the navigational arrows to choose a puzzle. Select from Easy, Normal, Hard, or Advanced difficulty. Choose a 'Rotate' option ('off' is easier) and then click Start.
2.Click and drag pieces to move them. Release your mouse button to drop them.Fun tip: Use the Tools and Menu buttons for more options, like showing the completed puzzle picture and changing the color of the background.
3.Drop a piece next to a matching piece. The two will lock together.
Tips and Strategies
· Use Arrange to clear the workspace and see all unplaced pieces.
· Complete the edges first. Use Edges to show just the edge pieces – this will make it easier to complete the outside of the puzzle.
· Zoom in to get a detailed look when snapping pieces in to position.
· Zoom out to get a better look at the entire workspace.
· Open the Guide image to get a look at the completed image, just as you would use the top of the box for reference at home.
· You can place the guide image wherever you like on the workspace for better reference. To do so just click in the image and drag and drop to the desired location. Close the guide image by clicking the Close button in the top right-hand corner.
· Keep Rotate off for an easier puzzle-playing experience. If you're looking for a greater challenge, turn Rotate on and test your puzzling abilities.
· Use Arrange towards the end of a game to pull in any wayward pieces.


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|Julie Hanes safe, captor dead in kidnapping ordeal
|Written by Wauneta Breeze
|Thursday, 29 August 2013 17:30
Escorted by Imperial EMTs, Julie Hanes enters a farm building not far from the field from which she was released after her harrowing kidnapping experience. (Imperial Republican photo)
Hanes' family asks for
privacy as she recovers
By Jan Schultz and Russ Pankonin
The Imperial Republican
"It could have had a much different outcome."
Those were the words from State Patrol Capt. Jim Parrish Sunday night following a daylong ordeal that ended in the death of the suspect who kidnapped one of Imperial's own.
Julie Hanes, 38, of Lincoln, the daughter of Jim and Pam Hanes of Imperial, was released by her captor, her estranged husband Dwayne Lawrence, also 38, from a Haarberg Farms cornfield near Imperial at 6:25 p.m. Sunday.
About 90 minutes later, Lawrence took his own life with a gunshot wound to the head in the same field Hanes walked out of, two miles northwest of Imperial.
Lawrence's 7:45 p.m. death ended a 33-hour ordeal that began in Lincoln Saturday when Hanes was taken at gunpoint from her business, Audacious Hair Salon & Massage.
Residents of this normally quiet community on a Sunday afternoon had that peacefulness upturned as the sound of a search helicopter and CodeReds alerted them that the Lincoln kidnapping had come to their doorstep.
Many were aware of Hanes' kidnapping Saturday, but confirmations they had come to this area weren't made until Sunday morning.
Two CodeRed alerts Sunday, one at 8 a.m. and another shortly after 10 a.m., informed residents that the 1993 Chase County High School graduate and her abductor were in the Imperial area.
Another late Sunday afternoon CodeRed said the search was continuing and was concentrated in an area northwest of Imperial.
After Hanes' release at 6:25 that evening, she was rushed to an Imperial EMS ambulance, then taken to Chase County Community Hospital for treatment that included IVs and a reunion with local family members.
Officers confirmed they heard a shot about 7:45 p.m. in the field, and the ordeal had ended.
Concern heightened when car spotted here
After notification from the Lincoln Police Department (LPD) about 11:30 a.m. Saturday of the kidnapping and Lawrence's possible intention of coming this way, Imperial police immediately set up surveillance at Jim and Pam Hanes' home on West 5th St.
LPD had notified local officers that Lawrence had made terroristic threats against the entire Hanes family.
Police officers and the Chase County Sheriff's Department continued to keep watch on the home through the day Saturday and into Sunday morning.
Between 3 and 3:30 a.m. Sunday, the 1998 Chrysler Concorde identified in Nebraska State Patrol alerts was spotted by a police officer on foot outside the Hanes' home.
Police Chief Rob Browning said the car drove into the alley behind the home. After officers attempted to make contact, the car went dark, sped off and they lost contact.
The first big break in the case came Sunday morning when local farmer Dan Reeves was on his usual morning round of checking pivots. He found a strange vehicle backed into one of his pivot roads near the John Keil farm.
Reeves said he knew something wasn't right. "When stuff is out of the norm, you notice," he said.
Reeves said he checked Facebook and Twitter that morning and learned about the kidnapping and the possibility they could be coming to Imperial.
He thought the car matched the description being disseminated to the public and immediately called Browning.
Browning said the plates were gone but the sheriff's office positively identified the car through the vehicle identification number.
This confirmed the suspicion that the couple was indeed headed for Imperial and in the area.
Also that morning, Max Kaiser, who lives along Ave 331 northwest of Imperial and was out checking pivots, spotted a couple walking hand-in-hand around 7 a.m. along Ave. 331, not far from the Kaiser home.
Kaiser said he stopped and offered them a ride, but they declined, saying they were just out for a walk.
Having no knowledge yet that the couple was in the area, he didn't think much about it.
"I can remember her looking at me, but nothing really registered" that she was in trouble, he said.
But, he recalled that Lawrence was carrying a towel draped over his hand. Kaiser said he can assume now that the handgun may have been underneath.
When law officers started showing up in the area, "It clicked," about the couple walking on the road, he said.
He then contacted police that he believed he'd seen them.
Kaiser also said he noticed their abandoned car about 6 a.m. parked off the side of the road north of his place, but hadn't heard about the vehicle descriptions yet.
Local officers had already called in for assistance from the Nebraska State Patrol, which eventually had about 20 officers on the scene, including its helicopter and 12 SWAT team members.
At a 5 p.m. press conference Sunday, Capt. Parrish, Sheriff Kevin Mueller and Chief Browning all said they believed the couple was still in the area and on foot, despite the hours that had passed.
Some rural house-to-house checks were made, and officers advised rural residents in that area to pull keys from their vehicles.
Tracks were found leading into the corn field, prompting the agencies to focus their hunt in a two-mile square vicinity of the field.
But, with the corn's height and density, along with the inability of finding them with infrared cameras due to the heat, they could not be located.
However, late Sunday afternoon, officers remained convinced they were still alive and had not hitchhiked out of the area.
"We are going on the premise they are alive. We have no indication otherwise," Parrish said at the 5 p.m. press conference.
About 90 minutes later, Hanes was released by her captor.
Sheriff Mueller said Hanes exited the field on the pivot road, carrying flip-flops, and wearing boots and socks given to her by Lawrence.
At a press conference Sunday night, Capt. Parrish of the Nebraska State Patrol said a 40-caliber handgun was recovered from the scene.
Sheriff Mueller said after Hanes had exited the field, she told one of his deputies he intended to kill himself, and gave directions to his location.
When the ordeal eventually came to an end, his body was found only about 130 yards in from where their tracks were spotted.
Capt. Parrish said they never had any contact with Lawrence by phone or otherwise. Officers had his cell phone number, but he never answered their calls.
Parrish, Mueller and Browning all praised the cooperation between the various law enforcement agencies, which also included the FBI.
In all, about 30 law officers were eventually on the scene Sunday.
An autopsy will be done on Lawrence along with a Grand Jury investigation, according to officers. A special prosecutor will be named by the County Attorney's office to go through the Grand Jury process.
The only real problem experienced during the search for the couple was inoperable radio communication between the different agencies.
That was aided by 12 portable radios brought to the scene by Prairie States Communications.
It was a long and expensive operation, but Parrish said that does not matter in these situations.
"It's a human life and those can't be replaced," he said.
SWAT team members from the Nebraska State Patrol had a strong presence in the area Sunday as the search continued for Julie Hanes and her abductor. Here, a pair of SWAT team members travel along Highway 6, west of Imperial. (Imperial Republican photo)
|Last Updated on Thursday, 29 August 2013 17:31


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May 31, 2016
As part of its annual career fair Friday, students at Crestwood Elementary in Meridian learned about a number of different occupations.
Organizers say this is an important part of a student's education.
"It makes their education seem real to them. In that, they have a purpose for doing their work, for doing their math. For learning to read and they see real people as examples and mentors," said teacher Fern Hedglin.
Professionals from more than 20 different fields were on hand for the event.
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Worked With:
Jessica Lucas
Birth Name: Jessica Lucas
Born: 09/24/1985
Birth Place: Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
Born: 09/24/1985
Birth Place: Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
Born and raised in Vancouver, Lucas began acting at the age of 7. She appeared in local productions of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Grease" before making a conscious decision to land a professional acting agent; at the time, Lucas was 13. She landed her first breakout role on the Canadian teen drama "Edgemont" (CBC, 2001-05) two years later. Lucas appeared on 48 episodes of the show, while simultaneously appearing on various other Canadian television series, such as the children's adventure show "2030 CE" (YTV, 2002). However, Lucas soon felt limited by the caliber of roles she was being offered in Canada, and in the mid-2000s, she started auditioning for American television shows.... Continue Bio >>
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May 14, 2014
The NCAA announced its multi-year Academic Performance Report (APR) for NCAA Division I schools today and the University of Utah was again near the top of the Pac-12 for APR success.
The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation of all student-athletes on scholarship, and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.
The latest multi-year APR calculations include scores from 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13. The average for Utah's teams was 980--falling just short of the previous record of 981 established last year and easily exceeding the NCAA minimum requirement of 930.
Football achieved a single-year team record APR of 985, which elevated its multi-year APR to 970, also a team record. For the second-straight year, football's multi-year APR ranks third in the Pac-12 Conference, while gymnastics (996), baseball (988), men's golf (987) and men's tennis (990) also have multi-year scores that rank in the top third of the league for their sports.
The men's basketball team was one of eight Utah sports to achieve a perfect 1000 single-year APR in 2012-13. The others were men's golf, men's skiing, men's tennis, women's skiing, women's soccer, women's tennis and volleyball.
Eight Utah teams improved their multi-year scores from a year ago. Making gains were soccer (+10), women's tennis (+7), football (+5), baseball (+5), volleyball (+5), men's skiing (+1), softball (+1) and women's swimming (+1).
For figures on all Division NCAA I schools, choose the following links:
APR Data, Postseason Ineligibility and Penalty Information


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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says it is asking a prosecutor to drop charges against a couple who nursed an injured baby deer back to health.
The DNR said in a statement Friday that Gov. Mike Pence asked the agency to reevaluate the case.
The DNR says it is seeking the dismissal of misdemeanor charges of illegal possession of a white-tailed deer against police officer Jeff Counceller and his wife, Jennifer, of Connersville.
The case has sparked an Internet furor.
The couple found the injured deer in 2010. The DNR told the Councellers to return the ailing deer to the wild, but they took it home and nursed it back to health. The deer vanished last summer on the day when the DNR planned to euthanize the animal.