Quote from Forum Archives on October 17, 1999, 6:26 pm

Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Standing Shoulder To Shoulder With You In The Trenches
As We fight The Good Fight

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #92 ---- 10/18/99

TITLE: "All Nature Sings"

My Dear Pilgrimage Partner:

This is indeed another day the Lord has made, and you and I have another
opportunity to Rejoice and be glad in it. Sometimes that is easy, and at
other times it is difficult. When it is difficult, it is good to be
reminded that (in the words of Elvis Marcum) we "Rejoice By Choice", and
not by Circumstance.

So, regardless of what kind of week you had, or what kind of day Sunday
was, let us reverberate with joy! Let your soul become a sounding board
for joy, and your mouth become the amplifier. Everybody around you will
be glad ---- and so will you.

SPEAKING OF REJOICING:

Here's something to rejoice about ---- free Bible study software!

I received the following information from a "Shoulders" reader in
Florida, and was urged to pass it on to everyone I knew. I have checked
the website, and as far as I know it is totally legitimate. There are
some "big name" references who endorse the program. I have ordered the
software.

So, if you're interested, read on.

+++++++++++++

Dear Friends,

My wife and I [want to give] you a free 20 volume Logos Bible Software
CD-ROM. Our family has now made that CD available *free to the entire
church!

But we truly need your help! We need to give away at least 15 CDs a day
for the shipping charges to cover the cost of the website, phone service
and those that process the orders.

I am sincerely asking you to email *every* email address you have and
tell them about the free CD, and give them our web address www.e4.net and
our order phone 800-942-3766. Tell them . . . that this was a true free
offer - i.e. that there was no hidden catch.

Thanks,

Bob Brown
Director
The Ephesians Four Group

[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
www.e4.net <www.e4.net>
760.839.9300 voice
603.658.2382 fax
P. O. Box 1505, Escondido, CA 92033

E4 is a nonprofit ministry with a passion to see people grow in their
understanding of what Christ has accomplished. Therefore, we give away
libraries of high quality Bible study tools on CD-ROM with Logos 2.1
software.

* The word "Free" means that you get it simply for a $7.95 shipping and
handling cost.

+++++++++++

ONE MORE TIME ON HOAXES:

At the very end of this letter (after my "Hang In There" cartoon
character) I have posted a report I felt was worthy of checking. It
comes from an individual who provides computer security and filtering
services for many agencies, including military groups. I provide it
strictly for your information.

I am also including an interesting report following that notice I
received from a church staff member who went through the entire system in
his church, explaining some specific ways in which he has made sure they
are compliant and prepared for the new year ahead.

ALL NATURE SINGS:

Since 1988 Jo Ann and I have had the privilege of living in the country
---- first in the beautiful north woods of Wisconsin and then most
recently in the Ozark hills of Missouri. We currently reside in a
beautiful rough-cut cedar sided home located on 8.5 acres of oak,
hickory, maple, and cedar trees. Our town, Collins, population 144, is
just over two miles away. The nearest town of more than 1,000 population
is 25 miles away.

Seldom a day goes by but what we see foxes playing and catching mice in
our yard, wild turkeys slowly pecking their way across the clearing where
our house sits, chattering squirrels scurrying up and down trees in
search of nuts, a vast variety of birds feasting at our feeders and
flitting through the branches, and deer skirting the edges of the yard,
sometimes yielding to the temptation to sample some of Jo Ann's Tiger
Lilies, Mums, Violets, and Hostas.

In the mornings the sun tenaciously pushes its way through the maze of
limbs and shines through our bedroom windows. In the afternoon it blazes
through the fifteen feet of patio doors into our family room, warming it
with the coziness of a blazing log fire. In the evenings it sets beyond
the distant trees over the hills into the west, first nestling and then
painting with glorious color the unpredictably shaped clouds of the
Ozarks.

Then, as if trying to out do all of nature, the night comes alive as
millions of stars sing "Glory!" in the cloudless sky, while the woods all
around are illuminated by a moon so bright you can sometimes read by its
light.

Truly, "How majestic is Thy name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8:9). The
heavens do indeed "declare the glory of the Lord", and "to my listening
ears all nature sings, and 'round me rings the music of the spheres."

"This Is my Father's world; I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees,
of skies and seas ---- His hand the wonders wrought."

IT THINKS IT'S ALONE:

With Fall having arrived, the deer rutting season has begun, and those
beautiful creatures are more active and more visible. Just last night,
as we turned into our lane, we saw amidst the sky ablaze with millions of
stars and a nearly full moon, five deer quietly grazing not far from the
house, quickly melting into the darkness of the woods on either side only
because they had been rudely interrupted by the lights and sounds of our
car.

This past Friday, as I sat in my office writing some e-mail letters, I
caught some movement in the corner of my eye just outside the window.
When I turned to look, I could see nothing.

Getting up out of my chair, I leaned forward so I could check to the left
and right. Nothing.

Then, just as I began to sit back down, I saw the movement again ----
below the window.

It was a "button buck" deer less than a year old, standing in the flower
bed savoring every bite of Jo Ann's wild Violets. His ears were
constantly moving to and fro, flecking flies and listening for unfamiliar
sounds of alarm. His white tail waved up and down like a handkerchief in
the hand of a railway worker signaling the engineer.

Periodically he would stop eating, raise his head, and look around ----
perhaps wondering where his mother and younger sister were. We have seen
the three of them often since the two young ones were no more than three
weeks old back in the Spring.

His spots now gone, he has lost the spindly shape of infancy and the
awkward walk of adolescence, and is beginning to look like a miniature
adult. Those little velvet capped "buttons" atop his head betrayed the
loss of childhood and the impending arrival of adulthood. Yet, in his
eyes you could still see the vigor of youth.

The one thing that captured my attention, however, was that, even though
I was less than five feet away, he never saw me. There I was peering out
the window right down on him, yet he thought he was alone. Pre-occupied
by the basic necessity of life and the familiarity of surroundings, he
didn't have a clue that anyone was near.

Then it hit me ---- (I sometimes wish I could just enjoy a scene like
that without having to find some great meaning from it all.)

That little buck deer that thinks it's all alone is like a lot of
Christians. So caught up in survival and surroundings, he doesn't know
others are near.

And yet ---- amazed by his beauty, captured by his grace and speed,
longing to reach out and touch him, other believers can hardly contain
themselves as they look for an opportunity to tell this lonely one that
they are there ---- he is not alone.

They want to tell him because they want him to know how much he is
appreciated, admired, and loved. Yet ---- they are afraid to speak, for
fear of startling him and causing him to run off into the darkness.

So, there he stands, adding splendor, beauty, and grace to those around
him ---- and yet alone. Blessing so many others, he knows nothing of
being warmed and encouraged by knowing he has blessed them.

Because there is some instinct within him, he tends to react with a
startled jump to every unfamiliar noise. He spooks at the slightest
unexpected movement he sees, waving that white tail high in the air as he
bolts back into the hidden seclusion of the forest.

As I stood there, amazed at an animal I had seen scores of times, I could
stand it no longer. I softly tapped on the window glass, hoping he would
look up so we could make eye contact. There is something extraordinary
about the eyes of a deer.

Instead, he jumped, wild-eyed, into the yard and, in terror, dashed into
the safety of the trees some forty feet away.

All I wanted to do was let him know I was there, that I was awed by his
presence, and ---- that he was not alone.

He never knew.

The next day Jo Ann and I saw the three of them through our bedroom
window ---- the "button buck", his mother, and his sister ---- coming
around the other side of the house. The mother and the young doe clung
closely to the tree line, the mother ever alert to possible danger.

The young buck, cautiously at first, made his way back to the Violet
patch and began to eat again. I returned to my office window and
watched. This time I didn't tap on the window ---- it was too costly. I
just watched in silence ---- wanting to let him know he was appreciated
and was not alone. But I didn't dare.

ALONE IN A CROWD:

There are so many ministers who are like that young deer ---- in a crowd,
but so alone. Caught up in the necessities of survival, surroundings,
and service, they are oblivious to the people around them who want them
to know they are appreciated, . . . loved, . . . valued.

That instinctive drive for survival and preservation keeps them wary of
quiet attempts to affirm them. The fear of discovery prohibits them from
relaxing and enjoying both who they are and the people around them.

I don't have to draw very long or hard on my own memories to recall times
in my ministry when, surrounded by hundreds of fellow believers, I felt
so alone that I was near despair. Like that deer, I was always on the
alert to sounds and sights that would indicate I had been discovered, and
was being approached.

Dear friend ---- if you happen to feel alone, . . . in danger, . . .
afraid, . . . know that someone is softly tapping on the window, wanting
to let you know just how very much you are appreciated, respected,
valued, and loved.

Don't run!

Stay. They won't hurt you. They can be trusted.

Stay. Please!

Be blessed.

In Christ's Bond of Love and Grace,

Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright October, 1999. All rights reserved.

If this letter has blessed you and you know of someone else who needs to
be encouraged, feel free to forward it in its entirety to all such people
you know.

If you would like a list of past issues which you could receive upon
request, just let us know.

__
/ |
(_/____)
/ ^ ^
{ (O) (O) }
------oOOO---------U--------OOOo------

Hang in there! I'm with you!

-------.ooooO--------------- Ooooo--------
( ) /
| | /
(_) (_)

TO SUBSCRIBE, send any message to <[email protected]>.
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send any message to
<[email protected]>.

POSSIBLE Y2K VIRUS:

> In the past several days, Corporate Computer Security has received
several
> messages through our internal sources about a Y2Kcount virus. Is it a
hoax
> or a virus? We did not want to propagate a hoax, yet we want to be
covered
> if it is a virus. Our Internet web sites were cautious to post
information
> and confirm their findings until now. By playing on the current hype of
> the upcoming 2000 rollover wreaking havok on your PCs, a message
appearing
> to come from [email protected] has been distributed to Microsoft
> customers through e-mail with an attachment named Y2Kcount.exe. The
> message indicates that the executable is a 2000 countdown tool. This is
a
> hoax. Microsoft's policy is not to send executables via e-mail to it's
> customers. Rather, they will send links to their web site via e-mail.
>
> If you receive the Y2K related e-mail with an executable, delete it
> immediately. DO NOT open the executable, as it is a Trojan Horse. It's
> purpose, when opened, is to intercept the user name and password and
send
> this information across the Internet.
>
> Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus has provided a detection and inoculation
> process that can be downloaded through their LiveUpdate tool. This
process
> has been distributed to your Unit's desktop deployment contact from the
> Enterprise Desktop Deployment team.
>
> If you are still using Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus software, you should
> download the extra driver from the Corporate Computer Security's
download
> site. This will contain the detection and fix for this Trojan:
> co.dx.deere.com/telecom/12/xpriment/dwnpgpln.html
>
> ScanMail anti-virus, which resides on our Exchange servers, has been
> updated and will intercept and quarantine the malicious executable.
>
> If you have questions pertaining this message, you may contact:
>
> Steve Hutchinson,
> Corporate Computer Security
>

"Y-TO-K" COMPLIANCE:

"Y-to-K Date Change Project Status

"Our staff has completed the 18 months of work on time and on budget. We
have gone through every line of code in every program in every system.
We have analyzed all databases, all data files, including backups and
historic archives, and modified all data to reflect the change . We are
proud to report that we have completed the "Y-to-K" date change mission,
and have now implemented all changes to all programs and all data to
reflect your new standards effective immediately:

Such as:

Januark, Februark, March, April, Mak, June, Julk, August, September,
October, November, December

As well as:

Sundak, Mondak, Tuesdak, Wednesdak Thursdak, Fridak, Saturdak.

These changes will be reflected in our Sundak School, the Kiddk Kare
ministrk, the Ladies' Missionark Societk, and everk other ministrk and
agenck of our church bodk.

During this long and weark process, I can honestlk sak that hardlk a dak
went bk without our finding the need to chance something that would allow
us to do things correctlk in the future. Franklk, it could not have been
done on time without the hard work of mank people in everk area of our
bodk life ---- and even bekond. I must sak "Thank kou!" to each and
everk person involved in each ministrk and agenck connected in ank wak
with this bodk.

I trust that this is satisfactork, because to be honest, none of this Y
to K problem has made any sense to me. But I understand it is a global
problem, and our team is glad to help in ank way possible.

The one and onlk question I have, and kindlk ask, and which I must sak is
terriblk important is what does the year 2000 have to do with it?
Speaking of which, what do you think we ought to do next kear when the
two digit kear rolls over from 99 to 00?

We'll patientlk and anxiouslk await kour most timelk direction."

---- Adapted ----

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