Life Lesson Riding MARTA, Atlanta, GA

MARTA, Atlanta, GA - Can you learn anything on public transportation? I believe you can. It's Friday, February 26, 2010. Yea! I boarded the train as usual at the Arts Center MARTA station rushing to catch the Xpress bus that departs the Civic Center station at 5:14. Like most evenings, the train got to the Civic Center after 5:14 and so I was forced to head to Five Points with the hope of catching the bus there. Today I am glad for the extra ride because of something that happened on the train.

Heading south from the Civic Center MARTA the next stop is Peachtree Center. When we stopped there one of the passengers that boarded our car was a Caucasian gentleman with what appeared to be a laptop bag and another piece of luggage. As he entered it appeared that his laptop bag brushed against an African-American man who was sitting in a seat near the door. The newly boarded passenger quickly turned to the seated passenger and said, "I think I brushed you really hard back there and I am sorry." The other guy responded, "It's nothing. You're okay." The two men then went on to talk about life being too short to walk around with bitterness and stress the petty.

Two remarkable points came out of their conversation. 1. The Caucasian man said that life should be about loving God, loving people, working hard and prospering.
"Wow!" I thought. I knew that before, but it was great hearing it being said somewhat loudly on a train. 2. The African-American mentioned that he and a friend conducted a test on the train to see if they could find 5 smiling faces among of 100 people.

They failed.

As I got ready to leave the train, the Caucasian said that he was from Alabama, attended school in New York City and that was the longest conversation he had had with someone on a train. Although I was not involved in the conversation, I responded, "You are right."

That conversation left me thinking how much time we waste on temporal and petty stuff. We board the train or bus and care very little about the person sitting or standing beside us. So often we go about life with a frown on our faces.

What are we so mad about?

As the goodly gentlemen reminded us, life is too short to be wasted. Let us get up; get out there; love God; love people; work hard; enjoy the moments; and prosper.

By the way, my pastor would be happy to hear this because he constantly tells us that it's about loving God and people. Right on, Pastor!


- Thanks for spending time with us! Peter @ www.LetsServeYou.com

Personal Development Ebooks

Everyone likes free stuff, so I thought, "Why not give something away?" If you are reading this, then today is your lucky day. I have 7 free ebooks for you.

If you are saying that ebooks are plentiful on the web, you are right. However, when was the last time someone gave you 7 free anything that you used to your benefit? These ebooks will help you in an area that you choose.

What are these books about? How about: 1. How to Generate Quick Cash; 2. 7 Keys to Success; 3. Budget Travel; or 4. Starting Your Own Scrapbooking Business? Get these and 3 more books designed to help you.

What's even better about this gift is that you can give the books away, or sell them. Make some extra cash. The private label rights (PLR) are yours.

So, what are you waiting for? Follow this link and get your ebooks. Click here.

If you would like some additional ebooks, 12 more, visit us - click here.


- Thanks for spending time with us! Peter @ www.LetsServeYou.com

Haitian Amputee Earthquake Victims Face Discrimination - TIME

Haitian Amputee Earthquake Victims Face Discrimination - TIME

More than a month after his crushed left leg was amputated just above the knee, Gedeon Ralph Mary, 23, still cries. Not from the physical pain, which has long since subsided, but the agonizing thoughts of the outcast existence amputees so often face in Haiti. "Look at it!" says Mary, who survived a pancaked building in the Jan. 12 earthquake, as he throws a blanket off the bandaged stump of his limb inside the University of Miami's Medishare tent hospital at Port-au-Prince's Toussaint Louverture airport. "People are going to think I'm a freak. I wanted to be an electrical engineer. How will I ever get a job now?"

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1964441,00.html?xid=rss-topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+International#ixzz0frTU4goG

from Time Magazine.

Your Credit Score - Part 3

In your fight to protect or repair your credit score, here is some additional information that you may find helpful.

A. Keep the contact information for credit bureaus handy.

The three major credit bureaus are important to contact if you are going to be repairing your credit score. The three major credit agencies can help you by sending you your credit report. (Note: You can get your credit report for FREE at www.annualcreditreport.com. However, you are only allowed one copy per year from each credit agency. Here’s a good tip: Get a copy of your credit report from a different credit agency every four months. Consequently, you will have 3 copies of your credit report every year – 1 from each agency.) If you find an error on your credit report, these are also the companies you must contact in order to correct the problem. You can easily contact these organizations by telephone or through the Internet:

Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc

Telephone: 1-888-766-0008

Online: www.equifax.com

Experian National Consumer Assistance Center

Telephone: 1-888-397-3742

Online: www.experian.com

TransUnion LLC Consumer Disclosure Center

Telephone: 1-800-888-4213

Online: www.tuc.com

You may want to note this information wherever most of your financial information is kept so that you can easily contact the bureaus whenever you need to. Your local yellow pages should also have the contact information of these credit agencies as well.

A. Develop an action plan for dealing with your credit score.

Once you have your credit report and your credit score, you will be able to tell where you stand and where many of your problems lie. If you have a poor score, try to see in your credit report what could be causing the problem:

- Do you have too much debt?

- Too many unpaid bills?

- Have you recently faced a major financial upset such as a bankruptcy?

- Have you simply not had credit long enough to establish good credit?

- Have you defaulted on a loan, failed to pay taxes, or recently been reported to a collection agency?

The problems that contribute to your credit problems should dictate how you decide to boost your credit score. As you read through this ebook, highlight or jot down those tips that apply to you and from them develop a checklist of things you can do that would help your credit situation improve. When you seek professional credit counseling or credit help, counselors will generally work with you to help you develop a personalized strategy that expressly addresses your credit problems and financial history. Now, with this ebook, you can develop a similar strategy on your own – in your own time and at your own cost.

When developing your action plan, know where most of your credit score is coming from:

1) Your credit history (accounts for more than a third of your credit score in some cases). Whether or not you have been a good credit risk in the past is considered the best indicator of how you will react to debt in the future. For this reason, late payment, loan defaults, unpaid taxes, bankruptcies, and other unmet debt responsibilities will count against you the most. You can’t do much about your financial past now, but starting to pay your bills on time – starting today - can help boost your credit score in the future.

2) Your current debts (accounts for approximately a third of your credit score in some cases). If you have lots of current debt, it may indicate that you are stretching yourself financially thin and so will have trouble paying back debts in the future. If you have a lot of money owing right now - and especially if you have borrowed a great deal recently - this fact will bring down your credit score. You can boost your credit score by paying down your debts as far as you can.

3) How long you have had credit (accounts for up to 15% of your credit score in some cases). If you have not had credit accounts for very long, you may not have enough of a history to let lenders know whether you make a good credit risk. Not having had credit for a long time can affect your credit score. You can counter this by keeping your accounts open rather than closing them off as you pay them off.

4) The types of credit you have (accounts for about one tenth of your credit score, in most cases). Lenders like to see a mix of financial responsibilities that you handle well. Having bills that you pay as well as one or two types of loans can actually improve your credit score. Having at least one credit card that you manage well can also help your credit score.

As you can see, it is possible to only estimate how much a specific area of your credit report affects your credit score. Nevertheless, keeping these four areas in mind and making sure that each is addressed in your personalized plan will go a long way in making sure that your personalized credit repair plan is comprehensive enough to boost your credit effectively.

When Jesus Passes By...

If you are like many of us, you may be saying, “I wish Jesus would come my way.” Some of us even love to sing one of the old gospel songs, “Reach out and touch the Lord as He passes by.” We tell ourselves that we must reach out to Jesus – as if to suggest that He is in a hurry - so that He can minister unto us. And this we do because as a verse of that same old song says:
​
There’s not a road too rough for Jesus.
​ There’s not a mountain that is too high.
​ He sees you – every step you take.
​ He’s watching with His eye.
​ When you fall,
​ He’ll pick you
​ Don’t stay down there and die –
​ Reach out and touch the Lord, as He goes by.

Yes, we are right about two things: 1. we can touch Jesus; and 2. we are dead on in believing that He brings change. As one searches the pages of the gospels, there are many instances of Jesus meeting people with needs and bringing relief and deliverance to their lives.

Let’s examine some of those occurrences. In Mark we read about the woman who was sick for several years with “an issue of blood.” As Jesus journeyed to Jairus’ house to raise his daughter who had died, the woman touched Jesus’ clothing and was healed immediately. Do you think it was a coincidence that he went by the woman’s way?

We read in Luke that as Jesus traveled through Jericho, Zaccheus, a hated tax-collector, climbed a tree to see Jesus. Now Jesus, who had seen Zaccheus from the foundation of the world, stopped, told him to come down and went home with him. By the time Jesus was ready to leave, Zaccheus the “selfish and hated Publican”, became Zaccheus the “contrite and changed believer.” He restored what taxes he had taken illegally, even up to 4 times the original amount. What a change!

We also read in St. Luke that Jesus and his disciples went walking down the streets of Nain. As they did, they saw a group of people taking a coffin to the cemetery. The dead was the son of a poor widow, who was following close by. Was it a coincidence that Jesus went down the streets of Nain? Jesus went to the group, told that dead boy to arise and gave him to his mother – alive! The group of people, who only a few minutes before was headed to the cemetery, turned around and went to church praising God. Alleluia!

Finally, in St. John we read that some poor, crippled guy sat by the Pool of Siloam for 38 years waiting to get in, whenever the water was troubled, so he could be healed. Jesus “happened by” one day and the rest is history. That guy got on his feet and worshipped God who had delivered him from his miserable existence.

As we look at the examples above, one thing seems to reoccur – it appears that Jesus just showed up. I mentioned before that we are right to believe that we can touch Jesus, and that He brings change. However, we are wrong to think that Jesus “passes by.” There is no coincidence or accident with Jesus. For those four people whose stories I recounted, Jesus deliberately showed up in their time of need. He went their way, because those four people needed him.

The fact is, Jesus knows our needs, He feels our pain and He is ready and able to bring about change in our lives. Jesus does not pass by, because He is here, with us, in us (for those who by faith have received Him as Lord and Savior of their lives). The prophet declared that His name would be called Immanuel, which means, God with us. Yes, Jesus is within you and me and He makes change possible.

To add a little more, when talking about the New Covenant, the Bible states in Hebrews that God would dwell in us and we in Him, and that we would be His people and He would be our God – forever. That is what we get with the coming of Jesus into the world – an opportunity to have Him always and the ability to lead powerfully, positive lives as He, by the Holy Spirit, lives and works in us.

Let’s think about this…


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