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May I invite you now to turn in your Bible again to the wonderful fourth chapter of 2 Timothy in which we find ourselves studying God's Word? Second Timothy chapter 4, particularly we are looking now at verses 6 through 8 and taking our time as we move through these verses because of their great importance to us.
One of my favorite calls to commitment was written years ago by Theodore Roosevelt. I have a plague with this calligraphed on it which sits in my den on a cabinet as a reminder to me. Roosevelt wrote these words: "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, whose strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, who does actually try to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly. Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checked by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in a gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat," end quote.
I don't want to be caught in that gray twilight. I want to know what it is to dare great things and to see glorious triumph become a reality. And I believe the Apostle Paul was just such a man with just such a commitment. Paul lived his life doing great things in the power of God. And in the two epistles that we know as 1 and 2 Timothy, the Apostle Paul passes on to Timothy the challenge that was the challenge of his own life. He calls Timothy to be committed to the cause of Christ, to be totally committed to that cause.
Now in unfolding his heart we have gone through chapter after chapter after chapter and we have read the passion of Paul. As we come to chapter 4 and verses 6 through 8, this is really Paul's final word to Timothy. Oh there are a few things in verses 9 and following that have to do with some practical details but in terms of pouring out the passion of his heart for ministry it comes to an end in verses 6 through 8. And in fact, this is the last chapter Paul ever penned that is included in the inspired text. So this is Paul's swan song. This is his final statement and it is a summary of his own life in his own words. Here he writes his own epitaph. Let's look at verse 6. "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing."
There are the words of God's greatest servant, words which give personal testimony to his own life. He faces death, the imprisonment in which he is now incarcerated will end in his martyrdom and he knows that. It's a hard time to leave the church. He had poured his life into the church. And in the years since the church was born in the Gentile world, difficult times have come, doctrine has been corrupted, ungodly behavior has found its way into the church, unwholesome, unbiblical and unspiritual leadership has arisen. It's not an easy time for Paul to leave but his time is up. The thirty or so years of his ministry are ended and he faces death. He faces death not fearfully, and not regretfully but triumphantly, but not without a strong desire in his heart that Timothy would carry on in his place. While he longs to be with Christ, as he said to the Philippians which is far better, he still longs for the growth of the church, knowing it is time for him to be with Christ he desires that Timothy would take up the leadership which he himself had carried out. He is confident about the faithfulness of his own life and expresses that in the verses I just read and he wants Timothy to live an equally faithful life in taking his place.
So, there's a note of triumph here and yet there's a great note of concern. As you look then at verses 6 to 8 we can conclude that here is a man's look at a faithful life, a man's triumphant anticipation of being with the Lord. Here you have his own testimony and his own epitaph. But I also believe that inherent in his giving this is the longing of his heart that Timothy would catch the vision of living a similar kind of life so that he could die with a similar kind of epitaph. This then is not just a summary of his own life but an encouragement to the life of Timothy and to every other servant of God who has ever read it.
As I pointed out to you last Lord's day, these three verses are divided into three tenses...the first one deals with the present tense, I am already being poured out as a drink offering. The second verse deals with the past tense...I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. The third verse deals with the future tense...in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. As Paul looks at the present tense of his life he sees the close of his life and he is ready. As he looks at the past tense, he sees the course of his life and he was faithful. As he looks at the future, he sees the crown of his life and he will be rewarded. Last Lord's day we talked about the present tense, the close of his life and he's ready. Next Lord's day we'll talk about the future, the crown of his life and he will be rewarded. But this morning we want to talk about the present of his life...pardon me, the past of his life, looking at it from the course of his life and the great reality that he was faithful, he was faithful.
But let me just touch base with point number one in verse 6. As Paul looked at the present tense of his life, he could see that his life was being poured out as a drink offering. I told you last Lord's day that that is a very vivid expression. Going back to Numbers chapter 15 when God instructed the people of Israel upon entrance into the promise land about the sacrifices they were to give, He instructed them that making a full offering to God had three parts. There was a burnt offering, an animal, there was a meal offering, that is grain and oil mixed, and then finally there was a libation or a drink offering, the pouring out of wine. A sacrifice or offering to God then had three parts. First there was the animal sacrifice, then the meal offering and then the drink offering. When Paul says I am already being poured out as a drink offering, he is simply saying this is the last act in my spiritual sacrifice. I have already offered my life as a living sacrifice, a burnt offering...I have already offered my energies and my time and my talents, as it were, as a meal offering and now I will literally pour out my blood in death as a drink offering. This then is his final act of sacrifice.
He is eager. He doesn't even call it death. He calls it departure in verse 6. That very lovely word is so rich in meaning. Do you remember last time I said that the word departure is used of unyoking an animal so that its labor is over and it is free to rest? It is used of releasing a prisoner, taking his chains off of him so he is free to move. It is used of loosening the ropes of a tent when you arrive at a permanent home, no more setting up and tearing down tents. It is also used of untying the ship's ropes that keep it to the dock and Paul looked at his life as having been loosed from earth to sail into the harbor of heaven. So he would rest from his labor, he would be free from the chains and bondage of this life. He would never again have to loose the tent because he would be living forever permanently in the Father's house and he was leaving the shore of this life for the last time to anchor in the harbor of heaven. He was ready...he was ready. He said to the Philippians, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is...what?...is gain...is gain."
He was honored to die for Christ. Scars I mentioned last week were second-class marks of a faithful servant. Death was the first-class mark. He had the scars but he was also willing to die the death. So he viewed the present tense, saw the close of his life and is ready.
Now for our study this morning let's come to verse 7 and look at the past of his life, the course of his life and see that he was faithful. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith." To put the words in the Greek order it would read this way, "The good fight I have fought, the course I have finished, the faith I have kept." In each of those three sentences there is a perfect tense verb which describes completed action in the past with continuing results indicating that all the way along he had fought the good fight, all the way along he had continued in the course until it had been finished, all the way along he had kept the faith.
As the great Apostle looks back on his life, there are no regrets. There is no sadness. There is no remorse. There is no sense of unfulfillment. There is no feeling of incompleteness. He does not see the smallest thing having been left undone. What God called him to do, he did. What God equipped him to do he did. What God providentially gave him opportunity to do, he did. And so he faces death with a wholly satisfaction. He faces death triumphantly in the memory of a life work completed.
I can't think of a more glorious way to leave this world than with the confidence that you have done all that you were called to do. I can't think of anything more wonderful than to yield up your life in death with a total sense of having finished what God gave you to do and been faithful to it. That's the way to go, that's the way to leave, that's the way to come to the end of your life. Now somebody at this point says, "But how can we live so that that kind of triumphant joy in the face of death could belong to us? How can I live my life so that it ends like that, so that I can come to the end of my life and say I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith? How can my life end with such triumph?"
I believe in those three sentences you have the answer. And I want to give you several things to think about that I believe can guarantee to you and to me that we can finish our life with the same note of triumph that Paul did.
First of all, will you please note, I will give you five principles. Principle number one, these are necessary for a triumphant finish...these are necessary if we're going to complete our life in the way that Paul did. Principle number one, he recognized that he was in a spiritual struggle...he recognized that he was in a spiritual struggle. Please note that he says in verse 7, "I have fought the good fight." The word "fought," the verb, agonizomai, the word "fight," the noun agon or agona, I have agonized the agony is a transliteration. The term is used in different ways in the New Testament, that is to describe different kinds of struggles. But keep this thought in mind. The underlying common denominator, every time these terms are used, agonizo and agona is that they express excessive effort and energy expended in some kind of contest. That's the root idea of the word. It depicts some kind of struggle, some kind of contest. It could be a boxing match, it could be a wrestling match, it could be a race. It's used in all those ways in the New Testament, but the underlying idea is that there is excessive effort required and expended in some kind of contest, conflict, struggle. And you'll remember that he talked about running a race in 1 Corinthians 9 and running in order to win. You'll remember that he talked about boxing and he says I'm not like someone who beats the air, or shadow boxes, I'm serious and I strike my opponent. And you remember also that in Ephesians 6 he says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies.
You see, the Apostle Paul realized that he was in a struggle. He was in a contest. He was in athletic combat for victory and victory would be gained only by maximum effort. I personally believe that really in the world only the people who are able to compete successively succeed. There has to be a driving compelling within the heart of a person to win in order for their life to really count. And I don't mean by that that you necessarily focus on competing against someone else, but if you're to be successful in the spiritual dimension, you've got to see your life as a struggle against which you must compete. Who is the enemy? William Hendrickson wrote regarding Paul, "It had been a fight against Satan, against the principalities and powers, the world rulers of this darkness in the heavenlies, against Jewish and pagan vice and violence, against Judaism among the Galatians, against fanaticism among the Thessalonians, against contention, fornication and litigation among the Corinthians, against incipient gnosticism among the Ephesians and Colossians, against fightings without and fears within and last but not least against the law of sin and death operating within his own heart," end quote.
It's always a struggle. And you're battling your own flesh and your own sin and your own ignorance and your own laziness and your own lack of priorities. And you're battling against those things that pull you off to do good things that aren't the best things. And it's only as you compete successfully against that with the sense that you are in a struggle, you are in combat and you must win that that you're going to come to a triumphant end. No one will ever make the maximum effort in ministry who doesn't see the reality of a great spiritual struggle that demands supreme commitment and maximum effort. And that's not just true for Paul and Timothy or for me, it's true for you. If you understand that you are in a spiritual struggle for the advancement of the Kingdom of God, for the advancement of the cause of Christ, you understand that you are in that kind of struggle and you don't give a maximum effort, then that's just a revelation of the spiritual state of your apathetic heart. It's a struggle. It's a warfare every day. Every single day there is a front on which the struggle goes on...constantly. Paul says to the Colossians in chapter 1 verse 29, "I labor to the point of sweat and exhaustion, the verb means, striving according to His power, always agonizing, always working, always laboring." To the Philippian believers in chapter 1 he says, "I..I want you to conduct yourselves in this manner, standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel," then he says, "don't be alarmed by your opponents," in verse 28. And in verse 30 he says, "Expect the same kind of conflict you've seen me endure." Spiritual life is war, spiritual life is an athletic contest that goes to the people who make the maximum effort. If you want to come to the end of your life victoriously, it takes a maximum effort, it can't be a part-time indulgence. You can't fritter your life away in trivia and come to a triumphant end and be able to say I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. It's a life commitment to the spiritual reality of conflict and struggle. We are in a demanding contest that takes all the energy and all the fiber of your being all the time to accomplish God's goals.
Please notice a word that I want to draw to your attention in verse 7. Not only does he say I have fought the fight, but he calls it the good fight. And that takes us to principle number two. Principle number two is this, he not only recognized that he was engaged in an unending spiritual struggle but he recognized also that the cause for which he was engaged was noble. That's principle number two. The cause for which he was engaged was a noble cause.
Now please take that word "good," it's the word kalos in the Greek, it could be translated beautiful. It could be translated profitable. It would be right to translate it excellent, or delightful or honorable or distinguished. But my favorite word to use as a synonym is noble...noble. That sums it up. You see, Paul saw the fight as a noble fight. He didn't say, "I fought that dumb fight...I fought that ridiculous unending tiring boring fight...I fought that debilitating defeating fight.....I fought that noble fight." He had a tremendously elevated sense of the cause in which he was engaged in his life. It is a stately word, the word noble, and it is a noble cause for which we fight.
Paul writing to the Philippians in chapter 2 and verse 19 said, "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition." He wanted to send Timothy to Philippi, get a report, have Timothy come back and tell him. He said, "I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare for they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus." And that indicates to me that the rest of the folks who didn't seek after the interests of Jesus Christ didn't know how noble that cause was and how ignoble their own interests are. I mean, where are you giving your life? Men and women have given their lives for many causes, but none is as noble as the cause of Christ. None is as noble as the advancement of His glorious Kingdom. Paul was literally consumed with this so that in Philippians 3 he says, "Whatever things were gained to me, those I have counted loss for the sake of Christ. I count...verse 8...all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but manure in order that I may gain Christ." It's all nothing but garbage to me, and rubbish, the whole world of stuff. And he had a lot of credentials. He had a lot of things that men would prize. He counted it all garbage and gave it all away for the cause of Christ.
It's a noble cause, beloved, it's a noble cause. There's nothing like it...nothing like it. In 1 Corinthians, the last chapter, chapter 16, again Paul referring to Timothy says, "He is doing the Lord's work as I also am." What a marvelous commentary on his life. He is doing the Lord's work, he's giving himself to a noble cause. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ. What a noble cause! What a noble calling!
And so we are to look at our life as a struggle. We are involved in a spiritual struggle in a spiritual contest. We can never let our guard down, we can never rest, in one sense, from the struggle and yet we are bouyed(?) on, encouraged and literally catapulted into it because of its nobility. We are fighting for such a noble king, such a noble cause. We have a high and holy and a heavenly calling, says Scripture. And I do believe that the men and women who come victoriously to the end of their life and who face death the way Paul faced it with confident triumph are those who engaged life as a struggle and who saw it as a noble struggle, worthy of all they had.
Now for Paul it called for great courage, giving up everything, tremendous courage. But he just went to the Lord for his strength. Carl Baker wrote some years ago, "Courage is fear that has said its prayers." That's what courage is. Course is fear that has said its prayers. You commit your soul to God for His safe keeping and courageously live and die, if need be, for the noble cause. Courage born of confident faith in God compels us to a maximum effort in the struggle. When you and I accept the reality that we're in that life-long struggle with sin and the flesh, the world, devil, demons, souls of men we understand that's going to take total commitment. And when we see that this struggle is the noblest of all struggles in the universe, we certainly ought to be able to make that commitment. I mean, look at your own life and ask yourself...am I really giving my life for the cause of Christ? Do I know what my spiritual gift is? Do I know how God has gifted and equipped me? Do I really want to give all my energies and all the time and talent that I have and am able to give to the cause of the Kingdom? Or am I wasting my life...so much of it?
There's a third principle that I want to draw to your attention and it's brought to us in the second sentence of verse 7, "I have finished the course." I have finished the course. The third principle is this, he recognized the need to avoid wandering and have the self-discipline to stay on course. He recognized the need to avoid wandering and have the self- discipline to stay on course. This is so instructive, beloved. There's two things that can get somebody off course. If you're going to finish your course, you've got to stay on course. You can't finish in the time God gives you to finish if you're running all over somewhere else. It's almost as if, you could look at it this way, God gave you a moment to be born in His Kingdom, and that's when the race began. And God has ordained a moment when you enter His presence and that's how much time you have to run the race. And if you intend to finish the race that He has defined for you to run, you've got to stay on the course because all the time that you spend off the course is lost to the race. And what may happen is the end may come before the finish comes. And so the point being that if you're going to finish the course, you must recognize the need to avoid the wandering and have the self-discipline to stay on track. That's just basic.
Many people start out on course and they get off. You say, "Well, John, what gets off...what gets us off course? How do we get deviated away?" Well, I think there are two things that tend to do that. By the way, the word "course" here is dromos, means an athletic race. Sometimes we talk about a cycladrome(?), or some kind of drome that comes from that word, a track. How do we get off the track? How do we get off the course? Two things generally, I might just draw to your attention, Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, would you look at that with me for a moment? Hebrews 12:1 and 2. Now the Apostle who wrote this, the instrument of God whoever it was, encourages us in the race of faith, verse 1, to lay aside two things. First he says lay aside every...what?...weight or encumbrance, and the sin which does so easily entangle or beset us and then we can run with endurance the race that is set before us. I believe there are two things that slow you down in the race. Two things that divert people off the course. One is encumbrance, two is sin. They can't therefore be the same thing. What is encumbrance? That is simply unnecessary baggage. You don't run a sprint in an overcoat. You don't run a mile carrying your luggage...not if you're running in a track meet. There are some things that aren't necessarily immoral, aren't necessarily unrighteous, they're unnecessary. And let me tell you very honestly, this is a personal testimony, the toughest thing in the life of the servant of God is to spend his life staying on the track that God has gifted him and put him on and not wind up getting all kinds of baggage into his life which diverts him all over the place. And it is a battle, believe me...it is a battle. I think especially it's a battle in my case because I tend to accumulate so many things and to keep my mind and my heart and my focus right straight ahead and know that God gifted me and called me to preach and teach His Word and that's what He wants me to do and not try to run all kinds of operations and do all kinds of other things, that's just weight, that just bogs me down. I know what it is that God wants me to do and it's a question of battling to have the self-discipline to say no to those things and yes to the track that's ahead of you.
And the second factor is sin. People get off course and sometimes get off course and totally explode into small bits and people never to run again because of moral evil. The two things that get you off track so that you can't finish in the time God gave you is encumbrances unnecessary baggage that you divert into and sin...and sin. And I would daresay that for every servant of God who explodes in a moral disaster and is out of the race, there are probably ten who got off the track because they were diverted by stuff that was inconsequential to the real vision and their real giftedness and calling of God. Paul knew that he had to avoid the wandering and have the self-discipline to stay on course. And it goes all the way back to the principle of Acts 6. Look, said the Apostles, we can't wait on tables, we must give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word and you get some guys to do that. That's focus...that's focus, never deviating from the course.
In Acts chapter 20 the Apostle Paul articulates, I think, the kind of focus that he had when he says, actually starts in verse 22, "Behold, bound in the Spirit I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying that chains and afflictions await me." All I know is I'm going to get chained up when I get there. "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself in order that I may finish my course." That's the whole point. I'm staying on course, chains don't bother me, bonds don't bother me, prison doesn't bother me, death doesn't bother me and I'm not going to do all that other stuff that isn't God's calling. And if a man can keep his focus clear and his life pure, if a woman can keep her focus clear, her life pure, he or she can finish.
Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? Do you know how God wants to use you in His church? Do you know how God wants to use you with His people? Are you giving yourself to that wholeheartedly? Is your focus clear?
There's another key to this thing in Hebrews 12:2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. If you want a perfect example of someone who stayed on course, who is it? Jesus...you know, He never ever deviated from the track? He said, "I only do what the Father shows Me to do." He said things like My hour has not come, I can't do that now. Never deviated from the track, never got side tracked into some other enterprise, always on track, always on course, always doing only the will of the Father in the perfect timing of the Father, nothing more, nothing less. Furthermore, He never deviated morally, did He? Never. Perfect holiness, on track. That's why you want to keep your eyes on Him.
Now it's hard sometimes to do that. Peter's a classic illustration. John 21, Peter finally gets his act cleaned up and the Lord confronts him and he says, "I love You, Lord." And the Lord says to him, "Follow Me, Peter, it will cost you your life but follow Me." Peter takes probably three big steps, turns around, sees John, says, "What about him? What about him?" And I'm sure in some exasperation the Lord says, "Look, if he lives till the Second Coming, it's none of your business, you follow Me." Focus, keep it clear. If you want to go through your life and end where God wants you to end, having finished what He gave you to finish, you've got to realize you're in a struggle which demands maximum effort all the way, there's no time to let up, no time to let up. You've got to realize the nobility of the cause in which you are engaged and you've got to recognize that it is essential for you to keep clear your calling. And I would venture a guess that most Christian people really don't have any idea why they're here or what they're supposed to be doing for the Lord. And it's not because He wouldn't want them to know. It's because our lives get filled up with so much useless stuff.
I've always loved Rudyard Kipling's expression of the essence of a self-disciplined life. It's secular but it's on target. Listen to what Kipling wrote. "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too, if you can wait and not be tired by waiting or being lied about don't deal in lies, or being hated don't give way to hating and yet don't look too good nor talk too wise, if you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same, if you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves or made a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to broken and stoop and build them up with worn-out tools, if you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss and lose and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss, if you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone and so hold on when there's nothing in you except the will which says to them hold on, if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue or walk with kings and not lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, if all men count with you but none too much, if you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything that's in it and what is more, you'll be a man, my son."
I like that line, "If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run...yours is the earth and everything that's in it." The focused life. I remember as a boy reading about Ted Williams, the great hitter. It has been said through the years that he probably had the greatest powers of concentration of anyone who ever played baseball. And I read the fascinating account from some who were on his team that when he would be at the plate to hit, they would throw firecrackers at his feet and he had such incredible ability to concentrate on what he was doing that he would not hear them go off. Focus, concentration...it belongs to the one who wins. It belongs to the one who stays on track, the self-disciplined focus. The one who ends his life knowing the joy of triumph in a finished work is one who has stayed on the track and maximized his opportunity.
And that leads to a fourth principle that's inherent in this that I believe we need to understand. If you're going to finish where you need to finish at the end in triumph, you like Paul must recognize the need to treasure time. Paul recognized the need to treasure time. If you're going to finish the job just as the years of life run out, then you have to run against the clock. We all have to run against the clock, just like in a race the clock is the thing...time is the thing. Watching the news last night after I was home late, I noticed that they were showing the little clips from some of the speed skating and one man had lost by fractions of a second because at one point he missed one step and dropped one arm down for a brief moment. By the time he got it back up he was finished for winning a medal. The smallest minutest loss of time....do you treasure time? Do you like Paul said in Ephesians 5:16 redeem the time because the days are evil? Do you buy up time? Is time precious to you? Or do you waste time? Does the world go by, the days go by, the hours go by, the minutes go by without consequence? If you're going to finish, you've got to run against the clock. I only have so many breaths, my heart only has so many pumps and when the last one is there, that's it. Time is a precious thing. I want to be sure, and I know you do if you're thinking seriously about it, that you've taken time as a treasure from God, maybe the most treasured thing that you and I possess and filled it up with all that God would have. So basic.
Paul says I have finished the course. How did you finish, Paul? I finished because I considered time. I had to fill every moment of my time with the maximum effort. William Barclay writes about this particular imagery of finishing the course, "The battle of marathon was one of the decisive battles in the history of the world. In it the Greeks met the Persians and if the Persians had conquered, the glory that was Greece would never have flowered upon the world. Against fearful odds the Greeks defeated the Persians and won the battle of marathon. After the battle a Greek soldier ran all the way day and night from the battle to Athens with the news. Straight to the magistrates of Athens, he ran. Rejoice, he gasped, we have conquered. And even as he delivered his message, he fell dead. He had completed his course and done his work and there is no finer way for any man to die," end quote.
Today the marathon that we know is a tribute to that soldier. Its distance is supposed to be the same distance as that soldier ran. And he ran his life out so that he finished, gave his message and died because he made the maximum use of time. He gave the maximum effort for the moments that he had. That's the way to live your life. Run full speed until you reach the goal, deliver the message, finish and die. But you have to give the maximum effort along the way.
I used to run track and the coach used to say, "If you have anything left ten yards past the finish, you didn't give your all...you didn't give your all." How can you live so as to have a triumphant conclusion? How can you live so as to have joy in the face of death? How can you live so that you know when you come to the end you've done the work? One other principle, principle number five...he says that third sentence in verse 6...verse 7, the third sentence there is, "I have kept the faith." Here is the fifth principle. He recognized that he was fulfilling a sacred trust regarding the Word of God. He recognized that he was fulfilling a sacred trust regarding the Word of God.
This is the controlling element of everything, folks. The reason we are committed to the warfare is because the Word of God calls us to that. The reason we understand it to be a noble cause is because the Word of God defines it as such. The reason we want to run with self-discipline and finish strong is because that's what God's Word calls us to. And the reason we want to treasure time is because God tells us to do that. You see, the underlying element here is the Word of God in all of this but there's a thought here that I want you to capture. The faith refers to the revealed Word of God. "I have kept" is the verb guarded, I have guarded the revealed Word of God. In other words, in all my running, in all my struggling, in all my conflict, in all my labor I have been always conscious of the sacred trust of the Word of God, to obey it and proclaim it and never compromise it.
In chapter 6 of 1 Timothy, do you remember verse 20? "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, guard it because some have professed and gone astray from the faith." Don't do that. In 2 Timothy 1:14, "Guard through the Holy Spirit which dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you." The faithful servant of the Lord through all that lifelong effort will guard the holy sacred Word of God, earnestly contending for the once-for-all delivered to the saints faith, Jude 3 says. No matter how difficult, no matter how often attacked, no matter how much persecution comes, there is an unwavering and obedient commitment to live and proclaim God's Word...God's Word. That's the treasure of all treasures.
Do you live life for the Word of God? Is it that precious? Is it that treasured? If you're going to finish strong, you have got to be a person who is committed to the treasure of the Word of God.
I read a beautiful story this week about a missionary in France who was telling about a little French girl who came to Christ and she was blind and had been blind from birth, knew how to read with Braille and so someone got her the gospel of Mark in Braille. And she was so enamored with the Word of God that she read it continuously and the account said that she eventually wore calluses on the fingers of both hands so that she couldn't read it anymore because she had desensitized her fingers. And then came the almost unbelievable report that in an effort to get back to the Word of God she cut the skin off the ends of her fingers hoping that that would make her fingers more sensitive. It did just the opposite and permanently scarred her fingers so that she was not able to read. Just as that had happened, the story goes, she bent down to sort of kiss goodbye the pages of Scripture only to find out that her lips were more sensitive than her fingers and spent the rest of her days reading the Scripture with her lips.
What kind of an appetite do you have for the Word of God? Would you cut the skin off your fingers? Would you read it with your lips? Is it that precious to you? Paul lived and breathed for the Word of God. If you're going to come to the end of your life and finish strong, it isn't just effort, it's effort under the direction of the Word of God. Do you understand that? It's not just a struggle, it's a struggle controlled by the Word of God. It's a cause defined by the Word of God. It's a course laid out by the Word of God. It's time used in line with the Word of God.
So what are the necessary factors if you're going to end like Paul ended? You must recognize and be committed to the reality of a spiritual struggle all your life. You must be committed to the nobility of that cause. You must live a life of self-discipline so that you stay on course and don't get diverted by the encumbrances and the sins. You must hold precious to your heart the value of time. And you must live always under the authority of God's Word. And then you can finish the way Paul finished.
I want to close with a wonderful, wonderful testimony. Listen to this. In 1904 a young man graduated from high school in Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of Moody Church and his pastor was R.A. Torrey. His name was William Borden, and if that sounds like a familiar name, it is because he was the heir to the Borden dairy fortune. He was worth millions even in 1904. For a high school graduation gift, his parents gave him a cruise around the world. He went to Hong Kong, went through all of Asia, even found himself in Egypt, toured through the Middle East, went across Europe visiting the capitals of Europe. As he wrote home in the process the tone of his letters began to change. He began to accumulate an incredible burden and passion and compassion for lost people. He had seen millions of them without Christ. One letter said, "Mom, I believe God is calling me to be a missionary." Another letter said, "I'm sure God is calling me, I'm going to give my life and prepare for the mission field." That was not the family plan. He was the most gifted of all the children. He was the one that they desired to run the family business.
But after the cruise he returned home and he spent four years at Yale University preparing for the mission field. After that he went three years to seminary, further preparing for the mission field, seven years of training. During his time in college and seminary, he gave away his fortune. And as he was preparing to go to the mission field, he took his Bible, opened the back cover and wrote two words, "No reserves." In other words, I have nothing but trust, I've given away all my reserves, I'm going in complete faith that God will supply my needs, no reserves.
He wanted to live by faith. He began to pray about where God would want him to go and his heart was moved toward China. So he decided that God had called him to China and particularly to a group of Muslims that were living in China. He announced to his family that he was going and that he would be leaving very soon. Just prior to leaving his father became very ill. In fact, his father was near death. The family came to him and said, "You can't go, we beg you to stay, you have to stay, you're the only one who can run the family business." By now, of course, these seven years had passed and he was a mature young man. They said, "We will give you your father's office, we will give you all the money you want, whatever it takes." They promised him cars and everything a young man could ever dream of. His brothers and sisters came to him and pleaded because they were all somewhat dependent on the continued success of the business. And in his biography it says that he said, "I can't do it, my life is committed now." And again he opened the flack of his Bible and wrote two more words, "No retreat." No reserves, no retreat.
He said God has called me and I'm going. And he sailed for China. On the way going through the Mediterranean from the east coast to the United States he stopped in Egypt. He had been there before. And while he was in Egypt he contracted Cerebral Meningitis and was dead in one month. Never reached China, never reached a mission field, never became a missionary. All that preparation, all that effort and he died.
When they found his Bible after his death, they opened it again to that back flyleaf and this is what they found. "No reserves, no retreat," and just before he died he wrote, "no regret...no regret." He never got there but he lived his life to the maximum of dedication to the Christ he loved. And if that was to be the end, then that was God's choice, no regrets. That's the only way you want to end, isn't it? With no regrets. Let's bow together in prayer.
Father, whether You would give to us a long life as You did to Paul, or a brief life as You did to William Borden, we would like to end the way they did with no regrets...no regrets because there was no retreat and there were no reserves except trust in You. What a testimony. Lord, help us to so live that we can come to the end of our days and say I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have guarded the faith. I gave my whole life in a noble cause with a maximum effort, stayed on track, treasured time and preserved the Word to the end. That's the prayer of my heart for my life and the life of every person who names Your name. Father, help us as a church to be committed to this, to fill up what you give us with our commitment at a maximum level so that we can sign out no regret...no regret. We long to know the heart of Paul and to live the very reality of the statement "for to me to live is Christ," help us to be so committed. We pray in His name. Amen.
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Kevin Mackiewicz is thankful every day for his time at the University of North Florida. The University gave him the skills and the direction to snag his first job.
Santa took on an unexpected form this Christmas for a Jacksonville family in need of some holiday cheer.
Three UNF anthropology seniors have been mapping the layout of a cemetery attached to the historic United Methodist Church in Middleburg under the supervision of faculty adviser Dr. Gordon Rakita.
The phrase "keep it in the family" takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to the University of North Florida's baseball team.
After toiling on the construction of the new Biological Sciences Building for nearly two years, a half dozen workers from Ajax Building Corporation donated about $500 in vending machine revenue to the department.
A chance encounter by John Hayt with some UNF student athletes was the start of relationship that has blossomed into a thriving partnership, paying dividends for UNF and the community.
The transformation of students takes a community to accomplish, and Joe and Sheila Joshi are two of this community's newest donors who are making The Power of Transformation campaign a success.
Amanda Clark learned a great deal about France, its culture and its language when she participated in a summer transformational learning opportunity (TLO) made possible by the Harriet LeMaster French Scholarship.
Jorge Morales wanted to leave a legacy as he prepared to hand over the reins of the family business to his son, Michael. He chose the University of North Florida as the way to establish that legacy and help countless students.
OneJax, UNF's newest strategic affiliation, is an interfaith organization that promotes respect and understanding among people of different religions, races and cultures.
A pair of University of North Florida students has designed a robotic research device that can rumble down into gopher tortoise habitats and help track the species' population.
A group of University of North Florida criminology students, under the tutelage of Criminology and Criminal Justice Department Chair Dr. Michael Hallett, challenged JSO's interpretation of crime data.
Building a strong foundation for a women's golf team at a university that's never had one is no easy feat. The challenge doesn't intimidate new University of North Florida head coach Joanne Steele. She's fought tougher battles.
There have never been more eyes locked on the University of North Florida. For one unseasonably balmy night in January, UNF was the center of the American political universe.


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IT security firm Sophos has announced a new version of its mobile device management solution, offering protection for Apple, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices.
Sophos Mobile Control 2.0 allows all of these devices to be monitored and controlled from a single web-based console. IT administrators can execute consistent policies across the board, such as blocking unencrypted devices or blacklisting specific applications.
The new 'compliance enforcement' feature also allows administrators to identify any non-compliant devices and automatically disable access to corporate data. For devices that are lost or stolen, remote device locking and wiping capabilities are also available. Any policy violations are flagged up on the administrator's dashboard, together with recommended actions.
Mobile Control 2.0 also offers access to Sophos' Enterprise App Store, which enables administrators to deploy company-specific apps that are not published in the Apple App Store or the Google Market. Existing apps can be specially configured or recommend for download by administrators.
"We understand that businesses are increasingly mobile and their workforce is adding an extra layer of complexity," said Matthias Pankert, vice president of Product Management, Mobile Data Protection, Sophos. "With the enhancements within Sophos Mobile Control, we are aiming to streamline and simplify device and data protection, while giving employees the flexibility they want, and IT departments the protection they need."
Sophos has stolen a march on BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM), whose mobile management platform Mobile Fusion is in limited beta testing and due to ship in late March 2012. Fusion is a software platform for managing Android and iOS phones and tablets, as well as BlackBerry smartphones and RIM's PlayBook tablet. It can handle security, policy definition and enforcement, app management and other tasks required to oversee mobile devices in an enterprise.
Meanwhile, a study by Gartner published in July identified Zenprise, Mobile Active Defense and MobileIron as among the best mobile device management platforms, scoring highest overall in various use cases. Good Technology was found to be the best single email-centric solution for secure enterprise mobile email.
Sophos highlighted separate research by Gartner, which forecasts that at least 50 percent of enterprise email users will rely primarily on a browser, tablet or mobile client, instead of a desktop client, by 2016. Meanwhile, around 45% of UK firms allow employees to use their own devices for business purposes, according to a study released last month by Citrix.
A Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) strategy can help businesses achieve significant cost savings. However, the proliferation of employee-owned devices is creating headaches for businesses and their IT staff, who are now under pressure to enable the use of consumer devices and develop new mobile applications for business use, while maintaining consistent policies and device compliance across all employees.
The Citrix report found that 57% of UK firms have no policies, procedures or IT systems in place to manage the use of personal devices for business, and only half are aware of all the devices their staff are using for business purposes.
"Enabling support, monitoring and managing remote and mobile workers is now a de facto requirement for IT to ensure highly productive and effective businesses," said Elizabeth Cholawsky, vice president and general manager of IT Services for Citrix.


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Laremy Tunsil Commits to Mississippi — National College Signing Day 2013
Laremy Tunsil, the nation's top-rated prep offensive lineman, announced Wednesday that he would play at Mississippi. A 6-foot-6, 295-pound senior at Columbia High School in Lake City, Fla., Tunsil helped his team to an 11-2 record in 2012.
"His strengths are his size and length," said Chad Simmons, Southeast recruiting manager for Scout.com. "Six-foot-six, long arms down close to your knee caps, great feet and mobility. He has the tools."
Tunsil joined top-ranked prep football prospect Robert Nkemdiche and offensive lineman Austin Golson in declaring for Ole Miss on National College Signing Day 2013.


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Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams was on his way to a 30-yard touchdown on homecoming weekend against the Washington Redskins when a referee blew an inadvertent whistle.
Relive every game this season online and on-demand with enhanced viewing features, including the "All-22" coaches film. Get NFL Game Rewind.
The referee appeared to be anticipating Williams going out of bounds, but the running back never got that close. The whistle was blown with Williams at the 17-yard line. Redskins defenders stopped pursuing him. And yet the touchdown was allowed to stand in the Panthers' 21-13 victory.
It seemed very unusual and wrong at the time. On the other hand, Williams appeared to be on his way to scoring the touchdown anyhow, so it was hard to get upset about it. It appeared the refs got the call right in a backward way. But in a statement Monday, the NFL says the officials got it all wrong.
"In Sunday's game between the Carolina Panthers and Washington Redskins, the Panthers were incorrectly awarded a touchdown following an inadvertent whistle," an NFL spokeperson said in a statement to CBS Sports.
Redskins coach Mike Shanahan told reporters Monday that the blown whistle was "an obvious mistake" and that the NFL had no choice but admit the officials were wrong.
The ball should have been dead when the official blew the whistle. The Panthers should have had a choice to have the ball on the 17-yard line or replay the down at the 30.
It is rare to see an entire group of NFL officials melt under pressure like they did in this case. It certainly appeared the officials knew they made a mistake by blowing the whistle, so they tried to correct it, even if that meant going against the rulebook.
We can only imagine how badly replacement refs would have been crucified had this happened under their watch.Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.


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The Add your blog to our listings? setting determines whether or not your blog will be linked to from Blogger.com — specifically, the Blogger homepage and Next Blog.
If you select "No," your blog won't appear in these places, but it'll
still be available on the Internet. This blog will still be displayed on
your profile, unless you hide it by deselecting the relevant checkbox
on the Set Displayed Blog page.
The Let search engines find your blog? setting
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Search and if it will send a signal to Weblogs.com, a service which
continually displays recently
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blog but search engines and other content aggregation services will be
instructed not to include it in their listings.
You can access these settings by clicking on the drop-down menu next to the gray Post List icon, going to Settings | Basic, and clicking Edit under the Privacy section.


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The La Jolla Playhouse has been receiving a barrage of negative criticism from members of the Asian American community over its casting choices for the new musical "The Nightingale," featuring songs by the "Spring Awakening" team of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater.
"The Nightingale" is adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen story and is set in ancient China. The workshop staging for the La Jolla Playhouse, which began performances earlier this month, features a mostly non-Asian cast, with the lead role of a Chinese monarch played by a white actor.
The theater company has received a number of highly critical messages from Asian Americans on its Facebook page questioning the casting choices of the musical. "How could you stage 'The Nightingale,' a show set in ancient China, with a cast that is almost completely non-Asian?" wrote one commenter on the company's page.
Another commenter posted: "Would you cast non African American people in the roles of 'The Color Purple' or an August Wilson play or 'Topdog/Underdog'???"
In response to the criticism, the company has scheduled a free talk-back session on Sunday afternoon following the matinee performance of "The Nightingale."
The Playhouse has defended the casting for "The Nightingale," saying that it wanted to create a multi-ethnic ensemble. The cast features actors of different ethnicities, including African American and Asian performers.
Christopher Ashley, the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse, wrote on the company's Facebook page that it was "our intention from the onset to create a multicultural cast in a reinterpretation of this Hans Christian Andersen classic fable, blending East and West, past and present."
"The Nightingale" features music by Sheik, and a book and lyrics by Sater. The pair worked together on the hit Tony Award-winning musical "Spring Awakening." The La Jolla production of "The Nightingale" is directed by Moises Kaufman.
The musical is being presented by the company's Page to Stage program -- a developmental workshop series in which new works are tested out in front of paying audiences.
Flaming Lips musical to debut in late 2012, minus Aaron Sorkin


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Description:NC7771 Gigabit Server Adapter PCI-X 64/133 10/100/1000-TPart Number(s)Option Part# 290563-B21
Overview:The HP NC7771 PCI-X Gigabit Server Adapter is a follow-on to the NC7770. The NC7771 is a single port copper PCI-X Gigabit server adapter that runs over Category 5 (or better) twisted-pair cabling. Along with all the advanced features that ProLiant customers have come to expect the NC7771 includes support for teaming for failover and load balancing jumbo frames Dual Address Cycles (DAC) Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE) PCI hot plug large send offload capability cold boot WOL and multiple VLAN tagging.


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Mount Carmel Catholic High School
The issues explored in my work revolve around the notion of the 'self'. It deals with the identifying, exploration and consolidation of the personal world contained within the 'self' of an individual. Having lived through many cultures and traditions, I was knicked into anxiety upon the 'self' itself, and somewhat of my own. I have gone about this implementation of the 'self' by portraying my very own. Almost unbreakable code and symbols have sunk into the work. Life itself becomes a universal complexion. This imaginative 'play' around the 'self' is performed by my very own singular cast.


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Sterling silver angel wing design stud earrings. Genuine sterling silver - Superb quality. Each wing measures 9mm x 3. 5mm (very small). Post length is 11mm. Sterling silver butterfly fastenings. Supplied in a Touch Jewellery gift pouch
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"It has several puzzles to make it more thinking oriented as well as being full of action. You will traverse and do battle in many different places: labs, offices, warehouses, underground areas, silos, and several outdoor areas. You will also encounter a large variety of enemies on your mission. When it seems like everyone wants you dead, you will find many ally grunts to aid you in your mission. You will also see many sequences in Dark Operations. Enjoy." ~Barry A Bollinger
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


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Are there more devastating natural disasters occuring closer together or is it the omnipresence of the media, the earth's huge population, disasters happening in densely populated areas, which makes the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami - and any disaster of this magitude - so frightening? Now Japan is confronted with a major nuclear catastrophe.
Our thoughts are with everyone in Japan who have suffered this terrible earthquake and tsunami and are now confronted with a major nuclear catastrophe which threatens to contaminate Tokyo, a megapolis of 35 million persons.
It is very troubling that it has taken a disaster of this magnitude to reconsider the safety of nuclear installations. The lesson it teaches us, as Pierre Ruetschi, chief editor of the Tribune de Genève writes, is the impossibility of foreseeing a major nuclear accident. The Japanese had foreseen earthquake, but not combined with a devastating tsunami. Being unable to foresee such an occurrence is a certainty. The other certainty is the "formidable devastating potential of the atom".
On 14 March 2011, Switzerland declared a moratorium on the reconstruction of three of its five nuclear installations. These installations were built to resist an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale. The last earthquake of this magnitude occurred in Basle in 1356. The Swiss were to vote on this issue in 2013 and in fact, the canton of Berne had voted only last month by a majority of 51% to 49% to go forward with replacing the reactor which is 40 years old and similar to that of Fukushima. Angela Merkel has announced the immediate shutdown of seven of Germany's oldest nuclear installations for the next three months.
Not only is there the issue of the risk of accident which has the potential to affect very large populations over a vast area but also the ones of uranium mining which contaminates the environment and toxic nuclear waste. We must act now to pressure our governments into considering the phasing out of nuclear energy.
Are there more devastating natural disasters occurring closer together or is it the omnipresence of the media, the earth's huge population, disasters happening in densely populated areas which makes the recent Japanese earthquake – and any disaster of this magnitude - so frightening?
While the main focus of this blog is the impact of the environment on health, we cannot neglect reflecting on recent events: the upheaval in North Africa and parts of the Middle East where people are sacrificing their lives to win freedom from their oppressors and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
The 11 March earthquake occurred in Sendai, an agricultural and fishing community of about one million persons. The impact of this disaster on the lives and environment of this population, comprising many older persons, will be devastating. It reminds us of our fragility in the face of the terrifyingly powerful forces of nature. It also reminds us that our society is set up in such a way that it could magnify the devastation of such disasters. There are several nuclear reactors in the affected area which have had to be shut down. The potential for a further disaster exists. If the reactors cannot be cooled, the core will be exposed, temperatures will rise to as high as 5,000 degrees F. The reactors could experience a meltdown. Unlike Chernobyl, Japan and the United States have safety systems which make it difficult for radioactivity to escape (information source: CNN International).
This invites reflection on the potential dangers of nuclear power and its impact on the environment and health: radioactive leaks, nuclear waste, uranium mines. Twenty per cent of the world's 432 nuclear reactors have been constructed in zones of seismic activity. We must continue to advocate for the phasing out of nuclear power as a source of energy.
by Meris Michaels
(Refer to the advocacy organization "Nuclear Information and Resource Service" www.nirs.org for updates on the situation of the Japanese reactors and information on what one can do to halt the construction of reactors and other nuclear issues concerning the United States.)
(Refer to the advocacy organization "Nuclear Information and Resource Service" www.nirs.org for updates on the situation of the Japanese reactors and information on what one can do to halt the construction of reactors and other nuclear issues concerning the United States.)


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All Expo students are invited to submit an essay from their Expository Writing class for possible inclusion in Brainstorm, the Program's journal of student writing. At the end of each term, a selection committee will choose 3-5 of these submissions and invite the authors to revise their essays for publication.
Expository Writing at the University of Oklahoma
The Expository Writing Program offers students the opportunity to sharpen their critical thinking, reading, and writing skills through the intensive examination of a particular topic. The defining feature of an Expo course is students' collaboration with their instructors.
Students who complete an Expo course will come away with the knowledge they'll need to explore the wider academic world that the university has to offer and the skills they'll need to make their voices heard within that world.
The faculty in the Expo program are experienced teachers of college writing who bring to the classroom an advanced knowledge of their subject and a passion for helping students develop their writing.
Facts and Features
Expo course credits
- Expository Writing 1213 meets the GenEd Core I Second Semester Composition requirement.
- Expository Writing 1223 meets the GenEd Core IV Lower Division Western Civ. & Culture requirement.
- EXPO 1213/1223 may be taken as an alternative to ENGL 1213, which also satisfies the Second Semester Composition requirement.
All Expo courses feature
- a guided investigation of a special topic
- seminar-sized class of no more than 16 students
- an emphasis on individual instruction and student/teacher collaboration
- an open, interactive classroom atmosphere


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Welcome to the CRG Discussion Forum!Forum registration problems: Make sure you enter your email correctly and you check your spam box first. *Then* email KurtS2@gmail for help.Classified ads are not allowed on the forum.
I've got some survivor/original pics, some with a/c. Also some redone. Like already mentioned, is there something specific you need?


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Depending on who you ask, you get a different definition of cloud computing. But despite all the hype and controversy, cloud computing is taking on a life of its own. In a survey of over 200 customers, Hubspan, a provider of business integration and workflow services in the cloud, found that the vast majority of the respondents said cloud computing is a strategic direction for their company. But at the same time, it's also clear from the survey that definitions of cloud computing vary widely. It's that lack of understanding of cloud computing, coupled with internal IT inertia and a lack of budget, that is slowing down the move to cloud computing. And about the one thing that everybody seems to be able to agree on is that security is a primary cause of concern.
Five Tips for a Well-Done Tech Resume A tech pro's resume has to match the speed of this fast-changing industry.
Top Outsourcing Trends for Q2 2010 The latest outsourcing trends identified by the Everest Group.
12 Top Productivity Apps for Your BlackBerry Top business productivity apps from BlackBerry AppWorld.
Related Topics : Cloud Computing, Dell, Services Vendors, SMBs, Web Platform Vendors
IT administrators need to identify zombie assets, verify idle status and shut off anything that is unused. Here's how to get your dormant infrastructure back in shape. ... More >>
Cloud SaaS adoption allows organizations to gain the flexibility and scalability necessary for creating a high-velocity business. ... More >>
IT executives need the right tools to monitor and control their cloud infrastructure to maximize the positive impacts and mitigate security threats. ... More >>


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Star Wars Geeki Tikis - Series 1
On a beach far, far away
- Choose to drink with Boba Fett, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, R2-D2, a Stormtrooper, or Yoda
- Ceramic mugs are great as decoration
- A ThinkGeek creation & exclusive
The Mos Eisley Kon-Tiki Bar is the only wretched hive of scum and villainy where you can count on every drink to come with a little umbrella. You're welcome to come in any time of day, but you'd better leave your blaster and lightsaber by the door. Serenaded by the soothing notes of Figrin D'an and his Modal Nodes' ukuleles, you can drape a flower lei around your neck and enjoy your Mai Tai in complete relaxation.
And what better tiki mug to drink from than one that looks like a character from the Star Wars? Choose to drink with Boba Fett, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, R2-D2, a Stormtrooper, or Yoda. Each holds about 14 oz. and has a contrasting interior, which will make you happy when you get to the bottom of the drink and have to ask, "But why is the rum gone?" Or at least, it'll entertain you a little. We think the lack of rum has something to do with moisture farming, but you didn't hear it from us.
- Star Wars Geeki Tikis
- Officially-licensed Star Wars merchandise
- Series 1 includes Boba Fett, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, R2-D2, a Stormtrooper, and Yoda
- A ThinkGeek creation & exclusive
- Capacity: ~14 oz.
- Materials: Ceramic
- Imported
- Dimensions: All have 2" interior diameter and 2 1/4" - 5 1/2" exterior diameter (depending on sculpt)
- R2-D2 & Yoda - 6 1/2" tall
- Boba Fett, Darth Vader, & Stormtrooper - 7" tall
- Chewbacca - 7 1/2" tall
- Care Instructions: Top-shelf dishwasher safe and microwave safe.


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Volunteers are vital to the success of the Sitka History Museum. We welcome those of all experience levels who wish to contribute a little or a lot of time! Whether you would like to get involved with exhibit construction, working with collections, or membership and fund development, the Sitka History Museum has numerous volunteer opportunities. Volunteering is a great way to learn more about local history, get involved in the community, and help to preserve Sitka's rich and storied past.
Those interested in volunteering may complete and return the following Volunteer Information Form.
150th Volunteers
Those wishing to volunteer their talents and efforts to the 150th Commemoration of the Transfer of Russia's claims on Alaska to the United States may complete the form above and return it to 150th Community Liaison, Linda Williams, at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Hold on there, Conway Elementary School seventh-grade flag football team. Not another step. Your logo is infringing on the intellectual property rights of Penn State University, and must be removed from all t-shirts, school binders and backpacks. Here are a team of copyright lawyers to make sure you comply. Next, our attorneys will go into the woods to make sure that no actual lions are sitting around in that copyrighted pose. Joe Paterno will personally wrestle any large felines found not in compliance. Thank you.
Penn State has notified a Virginia elementary school that it must cease using its cougar logo, because it too closely resembles the Nittany Lion logo used by the university. After all, we can't have a rogue elementary school siphoning off Penn State revenue, now can we? The Collegiate Licensing Company generously allowed Conway to keep two floor mats with the image, and the school will not have to dig up a time capsule stamped with the now-restricted logo. Thank you for your kindness, Dean Wormer.
One has to wonder why Conway didn't grab this opportunity to teach its students a little something about the court of public opinion. Look the Nittany Lion in the eye and tell him to go screw; think Penn State would fight it? Think of the great publicity that would generate. Gloria Allred is already sharpening her talons.
Besides, look at the neck shading in the two logos. Totally different!
Conway Cougar Clawed [Fredricksburg.com]


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Synthesizing Molecular and Ecological Datasets to Evaluate How Diversity in Coral Endosymbiont Communities (Symbiodinium) Maps Onto Environmental Sensitivity in Corals
Principal Investigator(s):
Climate change-related increases in seawater temperature pose a serious threat to the world's coral reefs. A key conservation issue, and research priority, is understanding how corals and coral reef ecosystems will respond to these environmental shifts. Changes in the composition of coral endosymbiont (Symbiodinium spp.) communities have been proposed as a mechanism by which corals might adapt to elevated seawater conditions in a time frame concordant with the rates of environmental change. As a sabbatical fellow at NCEAS, I will develop the capacity to examine the biological support for this proposed adaptive trait by synthesizing ecological data on coral responses to thermal stress with molecular diversity data for coral endosymbiont communities. A major product of this effort will be a spatially contextualized Global Symbiodinium Database and Mapping Website that will provide an interface for any Internet user to perform text-based or spatial queries. This powerful tool will then be used to examine how thermal history has influenced the present day global composition of coral endosymbiont associations; and also to evaluate whether corals ranked by ecological environmental sensitivity exhibit differences in the nature and composition of their endosymbiont communities that are predictable within rank. The results of these analyses will be the subject of a review article styled for Biological Reviews or Coral Reefs.
More information [1] about this research project and participants.


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Virtualization In Healthcare: To Be Or Not To Be?
Virtualization continues to be a hot topic in the healthcare industry with many industry pundits calling this technology a potential game-changer. There seems to be a lot of excitement around how this technology can help the healthcare industry in terms of cost optimization and efficiencies. Some of the key virtualization drivers include the move towards electronic medical records (EMR) deployment, support for increasing number of mobile devices, and providing secure access to patient-sensitive data to authorized individuals (HIPAA compliance).
I do believe that healthcare organizations have much to gain by embracing virtualization in their networks, data centers, and end-user workspaces, but they must have complete confidence that benefits can be achieved without compromising core requirements for clinicians, administrators, and IT. In order to build this confidence, one must clearly articulate the "incremental" return on investment for adopting virtualization technology. I have seen and heard several bold claims as to how virtualization is going to transform the healthcare industry but yet those very claims are light on how it's truly going to help healthcare organizations be "incrementally" better. I keep emphasizing "incremental" because that is the true value-add customers are looking for in order to justify their investments. In today's macro environment, everyone is being tasked to do more with less.
In most healthcare environments, clinical and administrative applications are client-server based. Often a nurse or a doctor who has to enter data into an application ―for instance, an EMR application― does so from a shared workstation. This task starts with the user identifying himself/herself through a secure login process that can take anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes. After entering the data, the user often immediately logs out, leaving the station available for the next user. In an average healthcare setting, clinicians will repetitively access such workstations for data entry, sometimes as often as 50 to 70 times per shift. The cumulative productivity loss can add up to about an hour (60 times, with a 1-minute login procedure each time). The nurse or the doctor could use this time more productively by meeting with patients or other clinicians and increasing the number of patients they can see. This is just one example where virtualization could provide the "incremental" value-add by significantly cutting the productivity loss, which has a direct positive impact on patient experience.
Healthcare industry is at an interesting cross-road due to the confluence of virtualization and cloud computing. Several healthcare organizations are viewing virtualization as a stepping stone in their cloud journey. Increasing number of healthcare applications are being used in a virtualized environment – either at server level or desktop/mobile level. This is resulting in simplified clinical workflows and providing nurses and physicians with fast access to the applications and information they need, wherever they are, to support positive patient outcomes. Over the subsequent blogs, I will articulate how Cisco virtualization platform is providing the "incremental" value-add that gives the healthcare organizations the complete confidence they need to embrace this capability. Until then, stay tuned.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


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It seemed like such a good idea! Get two guys who were very funny on a TV show together, get their production company to make a Call of Duty series, star in it themselves. Easy success, easy money.
Or...not. This is an episode of Cocked Hammers, a machinima series starring Arrested Development's elder Bluth brothers, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.
The trailer looked awful, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt! The full second episode, seen above, shows my charity was all for naught.
Cocked Hammers - Season 1 - Episode 2 [YouTube]


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HAVELOCK � Andy Patel admits to knowing practically nothing about Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane or the Headless Horseman, but he was glad when a television crew filming a reincarnation of the classic story called to shoot scenes at his motel.
HAVELOCK � Andy Patel admits to knowing practically nothing about Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane or the Headless Horseman, but he was glad when a television crew filming a reincarnation of the classic story called to shoot scenes at his motel.
�They called a couple of days ago and said they liked the location,� Patel said.
Patel owns the Sherwood Motel at 318 W. Main St. in Havelock, where it was lights, camera, action all day long Monday.
A Wilmington freelance film crew under contract with 20th Century Fox is filming scenes for the television show �Sleepy Hollow� that stars Tom Mison, Nicole Beharie, Orlando Jones and Katia Winter. The show will air on the Fox television network at 9 p.m. Mondays and premieres on Sept. 16.
�They are filming in one room, but they blocked about 30 rooms,� Patel said.
The crew came in with trucks and trailers and virtually filled the parking lot with gear.
�Anything and everything they brought on their own. They brought their own catering,� Patel said. �They didn�t even need to go to the hardware store. They brought everything they need. They said they even bring the circus with them if they need it.�
All the trucks, lighting and equipment created quite a stir in Sleepy Havelock.
�It�s interesting,� said Alan Gephart, a hotel guest. �We came down for a vacation and get to see this. Supposedly they are filming the first one here. That�s what they told us.�
One of the scenes involved a couple of sheriff patrol cars, complete with Sleepy Hollow emblems and actors dressed up as deputies, prompting a call to the Havelock News asking what was going on at the hotel and why deputies were there.
For their part, the crew remained silent. An actor in a Sleepy Hollow Sheriff�s Deputy uniform waiting for a scene to start said he was not permitted to talk to the press.
The filming brought Shirley Kendell and Gloria Jensen out to the hotel.
�We�re here to watch the show and to see my favorite hotel is on TV,� Kendell said. �What we�ve seen is people bringing cameras in and out and some boards. So far, we haven�t seen anybody dead yet.�
They said seeing a little bit of Hollywood come to Havelock was neat.
�We don�t see this every day here. It�s cool. It�s kind of exciting,� Kendell said. �The security people are very nice to let us sit here and see what�s going on. We�re trying to see if we see anybody famous.�
Patel said the crew was to wrap up work by Monday night, when the scene was expected to shift to Tryon Palace in New Bern.
�They�ve been good,� Patel said. �It�s good for business. Hey, it�s good for Havelock.�


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Canaries Struggle In Exhibition Loss
SIOUX FALLS, SD -- Sioux Falls Canaries pitchers had difficulty finding the strike zone, while the offense sputtered in a 12-2 loss to the Wichita Wingnuts Saturday afternoon at the Birdcage in the Canaries' final exhibition game.
Canaries pitchers issued eight walks, and hitters struck out 12 times and left 10 men on base as the Birds concluded their exhibition season with a 1-2 record. The regular season begins Thursday in Sioux City against the Sioux City Explorers.
Despite walking four batters, Canaries starter Jordan Whatcott held Wichita to one run on one hit with three strikeouts in four innings.
Wichita overcame a 2-1 deficit in the fifth inning when they scored three runs off Ben Moore, who suffered the loss in relief of Whatcott. Jared McDonald reached on an error to start the inning and advanced to second when Blake Bergeron walked. Stephen Yoo drove both men home with a double and then scored on an Abel Nieves sacrifice fly, making the score 4-2 Wichita.
The Wingnuts put the game away with five runs in their half of the seventh. Ryan Khoury, Abel Nieves, and David Amberson all reached base with two outs. Cole Armstrong followed with a bases-clearing double. McDonald added a two-run two-bagger to push the lead to 9-2.
The Wingnuts finished their scoring with three runs in the top of the ninth. Nieves and Amberson walked to start the inning. Cole Armstrong followed with an RBI single, and Colt Loehrs doubled to drive in another run. Bergeron drove in the final Wichita run with a sacrifice fly, making the final score 12-2.
Armstrong led all Wichita hitters with a 2-for-4 performance with two runs and four RBI.
Canaries batters were held to six hits. Rookie catcher Kevin Dultz hit an RBI-single in the second and scored a run in the fourth. J.P. Ramirez finished 2-for-5 with two singles.
Chris Smith notched the victory for Wichita in relief of starter Junior Guerra. Smith tossed three innings, allowing one run on three hits.
After Thursday's regular-season opener, the Canaries return to Sioux Falls for their home opener against the Explorers at 7:05 p.m. on Friday at Sioux Falls Stadium.
Courtesy: Sioux Falls Canaries


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Possible Duplicate:
Prove: $\int_{0}^{\infty} \sin (x^2) dx$ converges.
I have shown that; $\forall \epsilon>0, \exists r\in \mathbb{R}$ such that $ \forall x,y>0, r<x,y \Rightarrow |\int_{x}^{y} \sin (t^2) \, dt| < \epsilon$.
Also, i have shown that $\forall x,y>0, |\int_{x}^{y} \sin (t^2) \, dt| < 1/x$.
How do i prove that $\lim_{x\to\infty} \int_0^x \sin (t^2) \, dt$ converges?
Please do not close this post. I saw Davide's answer in the link, but don't understand his argument. Why does convergence of $\int_{0}^{\infty} t^{-3/2} dt$ imply that $\int_{a}^{\infty} t^{-3/2} \cos t dt$ converges?
I think that only implies that limsup and liminf of $\int_{a}^{\infty} t^{-3/2} \cos t dt$ is finite. And that's exactly what i said at the first of the sentence in my post.
Of course, i tried to convert this integral to a limit of a series, to apply 'alternating series test'. So i was trying to prove a lemma, but i failed to prove and it is indeed false. (Check this in the comment below) (To be specific, i was trying to show that $\int_{0}^{\infty} \sin t^2 dt = \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \int_{\sqrt{n\pi}}^{\sqrt{(n+1)\pi}} \sin t^2 dt$)
To summarize, what is a theorem that is a generalization of that in Michael's post for Riemann Stieltjes Integral?


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Festool TS 55 REQ Imperial Plunge Cut Track Saw
Setting The Standard for Portable Circular Saws
The TS REQ is not your standard circular saw. With its accuracy and versatility, a better comparison would be to the most advanced table saws, miter saws or panel saws available. Add in its incredible portability and unbelievable ease of use, and you have a precision-cutting solution like no other, at home in the highest-end cabinet shop as well as an onsite remodel. With the addition of micro-adjustable depth controls and a flat housing for flush-cutting against walls or adjacent surfaces, the TS 55 REQ is our most advanced plunge cut saw ever, which is saying a lot.
Standard Equipment:
- TS 55 REQ Circular Saw
- Guide Rail
- Carbide Blade
- Limit Stop FS/2
- Plastic Splinterguard
- Systainer Carrying Case
Optional Accessories:
Bring the accuracy of a panel saw to any site with the TS 55 saw and guide rail system. This combination provides straight, splinter-free cuts on both sides of the blade right out of the box. Unlike conventional pendulum-cover circular saws, Festool's design allows the saw blade to retract into the housing giving you the option to start and end the cut accurately anywhere on the material. All of this innovation means a quicker, safer and more cost-effective precision tool. The dust extraction port ensures less dust and a clear view of the workpiece. Saw close to edges, cut apertures and false joints, and cut to length. For solid wood, fine veneered panels and sheet goods of all kinds, plastic, and aluminum.
Tool not available for export.
See the TS 55 REQ or TS 55 REQ w/55" Rail Kit.
- Power Rating: 10.0 Amps, 120V
- Saw Blade Speed: 2,000 to 5,200 RPM
- Saw Blade Diameter: 6-1/4"
- Bevel Cuts: 0 to 45 Degrees
- Cutting Depth Capacities...
Straight Down: 1-15/16"
At 45 Degrees: 1-7/16"
- Cutting Depth Without Guide Rail: 2-1/8"
- Dust Extractor Connection: 1" & 1-7/16"
- Weight: 9.9 lbs
- When used with Festool guide rails, you can achieve perfectly straight and splinter-free cuts.
- Spring-loaded riving knife (splitter) keeps the cut kerf open so that the material does not pinch the blade. This reduces the chance of kickback.
- The slip clutch helps to minimize the risk of a kickback and minimizes wear on the blade, gear case, and motor.
- Blade changes are easier and safer using the FastFix system which locks switch and arbor simultaneously for easy arbor bolt removal.


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Throughout American history, Congress has often been at odds with the president. But so far, the legislative body has not turned to the third government branch — the judiciary — with a lawsuit claiming the chief executive violated the Constitution.
That may change as House Republicans say they intend to sue President Obama for failing to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed," as the Constitution requires.
As evidence, the GOP will point to Obama's decision to delay enforcement of a provision of his signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, which requires large employers to offer health insurance. According to the law passed by Congress, the mandate was to take effect "beginning after December 31, 2013." But amid problems with the rollout, Obama delayed it until Jan. 1, 2015.
Although House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) opposes the "employer mandate," he says the lawsuit — which would demand more stringent enforcement of the law he wants to overturn — is about "protecting the Constitution." Democrats, not surprisingly, deride it as a political stunt.
Politics aside, legal experts see four reasons a lawsuit is likely to fail:
Lack of standing
The Supreme Court has made it clear in recent decades that members of Congress have no standing to file constitutional lawsuits. The justices have insisted plaintiffs must show they suffered a "personal injury" and are not merely in court to argue an abstract point of law. They are often loath to be drawn into political battles better left to the legislative branch and president.
In the 1970s, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) sued Republican President Nixon over his use of the "pocket veto," and Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) sued President Carter, a Democrat, for dropping a defense treaty with Taiwan. Kennedy won in lower courts, but others failed upon reaching the high court. In the 1997 case of Raines vs. Byrd, the Supreme Court ruled broadly that lawmakers do not have standing to sue in their capacity as members of Congress.
Just last year, the high court expounded on its views about lack of standing when it dismissed the defense of California's Proposition 8. Sponsors of the ballot measure, which banned gay marriage, appealed after a federal judge invalidated the law and state officials refused to defend it. But the justices rejected the sponsors' appeal.
"To have standing, a litigant must seek relief for an injury that affects him in a personal and individual way," said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. "This is an essential limit on our power: It ensures that we act as judges, and do not engage in policymaking properly left to elected representatives."
Cornell Law professor Michael Dorf said the high court's insistence on personal standing means the House Republicans "face an insuperable obstacle" in getting their case before a judge.
But Washington attorney David B. Rivkin, who helped launch the suit that challenged Obama's healthcare law as unconstitutional, dismissed the skeptics. Though the high court ruled individual lawmakers cannot sue, Rivkin and Elizabeth Price Foley, a law professor at Florida International University, predict the justices will allow the House to sue as a law-making body.
Presidents are given leeway to enforce laws
Obama's supporters point out that he is not the first president to postpone enforcement of a law or to miss a deadline to issue new rules. Democratic lawyers note that the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations decided to phase in congressionally mandated changes to Medicare in the last 15 years. Most recently, Bush's health advisors delayed for a year enforcing a late-enrollment penalty for new prescription drug coverage.
Simon Lazarus, a lawyer for the Constitutional Accountability Center, told a House committee recently that there was "no material difference between these decisions by the Clinton and Bush administrations to postpone regulations and the Obama administration's approach to implementing" the Affordable Care Act. This is "not a refusal to enforce the law, but a phase-in, and that's different," he said.
Moreover, lawyers say it is routine for agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, to miss deadlines or order delays in issuing new rules established by Congress.
Constitutional experts say it has been understood that the chief executive has some discretion in enforcing the law, just as police officers have discretion not to write a ticket for every driver who exceeds the posted speed limit.
"Courts are very reluctant to tell the executive how to enforce the law," said Tara Leigh Grove, a law professor at William & Mary Law School. "We don't have a history of the House or Senate suing the president. And it would be very hard for a court to say a one-year delay means the president is refusing to enforce the law."
Lazarus predicts judges "will see this as a political maneuver," because it will be "apparent to all that faithful execution of the Affordable Care Act is the last thing in the world that the proponents of the suit hope for."
No easy legal remedy
Typically, a plaintiff sues and asks for compensation for his loss. In a constitutional suit, the proposed remedy may be a ruling that strikes down a law.
But it is not clear what a judge could order as a remedy if he or she decided the president had wrongly delayed enforcement of the employer mandate.
And the time for a decision is short. The insurance mandate for large employers is due to take effect in 2015, while the mandate for employers with 50 to 100 employees is due to take effect at the start of 2016. If the suit is still pending, it could be declared moot then.
Impeachment the proper forum
While the Constitution does not authorize the legislative branch to sue the president, it says the House of Representatives may vote on articles of impeachment if it believes the president has committed "high crimes and misdemeanors." If Republicans believe Obama has broken the law, impeachment is the appropriate vehicle, analysts say.
But this process requires far more evidence of wrongdoing than a delayed phase-in of a new law. And impeachment can carry a high political cost. When House Republicans voted to impeach President Clinton in 1998, his popularity rose. Republicans lost seats in the fall election, and Speaker Newt Gingrich resigned.
Last year, three of the Supreme Court's leading conservatives warned House Republicans against running to court. Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which banned federal recognition of same-sex marriages. Nonetheless, they said House Republicans did not have standing in their attempt to defend the law.
This matter should have "been left to a tug-of-war between the president and Congress, which has innumerable means (up to and including impeachment) of compelling the president to enforce the laws it has written," Scalia wrote.
Allowing lawmakers to sue, he warned, would unwisely create a whole new "system in which Congress and the executive can pop immediately into court, in their institutional capacity, whenever the president refuses to implement a statute he believes to be unconstitutional, and whenever he implements a law in a manner that is not to Congress' liking."


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Sudden cardiac death in young athletes is nontraumatic, nonviolent, and unexpected. An athlete actually appears healthy within 6 hours before death. Most often, death is caused by a heart (cardiac) problem.
About 5 million youth participate in competitive sports each year. Chances of a teen dying from heart failure while playing sports is less than 1 in 250,000. Each year, approximately 10 to 13 such cases are reported in the United States. In comparison, about 15,000 teens die each year in motor vehicle crashes.
For reasons unknown, sudden cardiac death appears to be more common in boys, African-Americans, and football and basketball players. This may be because more athletes participate in these sports. Most deaths occur between 3 PM and 9 PM - during or immediately after training or competition.
Most young athletes who die unexpectedly from heart disease while participating in sports were not known to have heart disease. Most sudden cardiac deaths in athletes younger than 35 years are due to conditions that may be inherited or conditions that the athlete had since birth. Unfortunately, some heart problems that can cause death during sports training and competition are not likely to be detected during sports physicals or routine exams.
Before participating in any sports, young athletes should have a complete physical exam that includes a detailed personal and family history of any heart conditions. Most children and teens who experience heart symptoms during physical activity will not appear to have heart disease during an exam, so more tests may be needed.
Athletic screening (sports physicals) should be done by a health care provider with the training, medical skills, and background to obtain a detailed family history of heart disease, perform a physical exam, and recognize heart disease. Screening evaluations should include a complete medical history and physical exam, including blood pressure measurements.
Young athletes may be at greater risk and need further evaluation and tests if there is:
Electrocardiography (EKGs) and echocardiography (echos) are not recommended as part of regular screening of athletes. This is because a heart problem is found very rarely.
Most young athletes with heart conditions can participate in most, if not all, physical activities. Deciding whether to participate in physical activities is an individual choice. It is the main responsibility of health care providers to evaluate each individual heart problem and set individual limits of physical activity with appropriate consultation with a cardiologist.