F. I. R. E.
Fully Informed, Reverenced & Encouraged NEWSLETTER
Quarter 3, 2017
It Is Our Desire for Every Soul To Catch On Fire!
Four Seasons Of A Tree
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen. The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment. The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree ' s life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it ' s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, and fulfillment of your fall.
Protect Deceased Family Members From ID Theft If you are a surviving spouse or heir, take the following actions to reduce the odds that identity thieves will steal the deceased’ s identity …..
� Edit the obit. Do not mention the deceased’ s home address, birthday or mother’ s name in his / her obituary. Some identity thieves scour the obituaries for potential targets.
� Watch the wallet. There have been cases of hospital or emergency services personnel stealing credit cards from the wallets of the deceased. Cancel the deceased’ s credit cards as soon as possible. Carefully check the final bill for charges that occurred after the deceased went to the hospital and / or passed away.
� Discard the deceased’ s documents with care. Identity thieves have been known to pick through garbage cans outside the homes of the recently deceased.
Issues Facing Our Youth Today
Growing Up Too Fast
There was a time when kids enjoyed being kids. Today, even at the earliest of ages, children are partaking in adult activities with serious consequences. Similar to what we see with alcohol and drugs, sex is a very popular and portrayed subject matter. The movies, TV, the internet, essentially everywhere a kid turns he or she is bombarded with sexual suggestions.
In fact, there are entire TV series marketed directly to kids dealing with sex – the egregious being The Secret Lives of an American Teenager and Teen Mom, to name two. Music is a culprit as well. Songs have always had sexual innuendos, but at least“ back in the day” you had to be old enough to understand them. Today, it’ s all about“ How low can you go” and“ baby let me sex you up.” Kids are having sex as early as 10 and 11, with teen pregnancies increasingly on the rise. The concept of childhood is literally being wiped out. Are we doing anything to change this? Are we talking to our youth about things that sometime make us uncomfortable? Of course we pray and ask God to change our youth and this world, but faith without works is dead. Get involved!
If we are together nothing is impossible. If we are divided all will fail. Winston Churchill.