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Pastor s Report For The Laurel Church Of The Nazarene 2016

Pastor’s Report for the Laurel Church of the Nazarene—2016 We have been spending some time with the verse from Luke(9:23)†And he said to all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.† We have sent the last month asking the question â€Å"Are you a Fan or a follower?† What makes us a follower? What do we have to give up to be a follower? What will we exchange for our lives? Everything we have is a gift from God. We owe him everything, including our very lives. It is possible to give God our money, but not ourselves, or to give him lip-service, but not our hearts. A true disciple gives up all that he has in exchange for an unending life of joy and happiness with God. Are you ready to lose all for Jesus Christ in order to gain all with Jesus Christ? Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and all my will, all that I have and possess. You have given them to me; to you, O Lord, I restore them; all things are yours, dispose of them according to your will. Give me your love and your grace, for this is enough for me. (Prayer of Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556) We want to be a follower of Christ. We give it all up for him since he gave it all to us. I just love that prayer—â€Å"Give me your love and grace, for this is enough for me.† We have seen great things happen this year. Here is a list of items that changed the climate here. We sold the parsonage which allowed us to put in air-conditioning, the

Forks over Knives documentary free essay sample

Obesity in the United States is taking its peak and the US government spends 2. 2 trillion dollars each year on health care, yet millions of people are dying every year due to high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, and heart disease. In the movie Forks Over Knives, western diet, fast food, and dairy products are shown as unhealthy food for the people who have chronic diseases, and also for the people who are likely to get those diseases in future. People don’t have enough education on how to make a smart choice by eating healthy food. Plant based diets are good for the patient who has cancer and chronic diseases. Research supports this idea and proves it by disclosing that changing our diet to one that is plant based helps lower our risk of disease and increase our chance of survival without taking any medicines. The question remains that instead of government spending 2. We will write a custom essay sample on Forks over Knives documentary or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2 trillion dollars each year, why wouldn’t our government just educate people on how to live a healthier lifestyle? The government must implement plant based diet by encouraging every doctor in the nation to start this treatment for their patients and by educating kids in high school. This will have an enormous effect on the government health care budget, it will save the government billion of dollars on drug industry and the government can used that money in implementing plant based diet program and producing fresh food across the country, so individual people won’t consume too much junk food and they would be in better shape. Ruth Heidrich was a marathon runner and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her doctor recommended chemotherapy and radiation to treat her cancer. A frozen section was done immediately; she was told it was invasive cancer, and it had spread throughout the whole breast, bones and one lung. After recovering from the surgery she saw a newspaper article about breast cancer and diet research study. She immediately decided to visit Dr. John McDougall. She was told by the doctor to change her diet to a plant based diet. She was told to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. After changing the diet her arthritis and constipation disappeared. She was more energetic and she finally reversed her cancer. She is now in her 70’s living a healthy life. We can all be motivated from her, we cannot change our diet to completely plant based but we can at least reduce our food intake of fried food and meat. This sets a good example to every patient in America and across the world, that if doctors encourage their patient to change their eating habit and also if the patient takes the responsibility they can reverse any diseases they have. When a patient hears that they have cancer they feel like it is the end of the world, because there is no way to cure this disease. It takes lot of money and luck to survive the cancer. There is only 1% survival rate for patient with breast cancer, and that’s with chemotherapy and radiation. This was very unusual for Ruth to reverse such a big cancer just by adjusting her diet. San’Dera Nation thirty-something was overweight, type two diabetic and hypertension patient. She was treated with expensive prescription drugs to lower her sugar level. When she met Dr. Esselstyne she was strictly told by him and his wife to change her diet to completely plant based. She stopped taking her diabetes medications after 3 weeks on the diet and within two months her diabetes and blood sugar level was down. This was the drastic change for Nation in just two months. Now she is completely living on a plant based diet and her entire family eats plant based diet, including her children. According to San’Dera Nation, plant based diet is cheaper than buying bulk of chicken and pork chops. A great lesson to be learn from San’Dera Nation that it is easy to change your diet if you make up your mind. This was unusual for Nation to reverse her diabetes just by eating fresh vegetables and fruits and that too without taking any medication. If the government can implement plant based diet many patient like Nation who have lost their hope in curing this disease can live a healthy life without any headache of taking medicines. Dr. Campbell’s experiment in China shows that there are fewer chances of people getting cancer and diabetes, because they eat plant based diet. In China, people only eat meat for the flavor; they eat more vegetables and soup. The results convinced Dr. Campbell that plant based diet helps to reduce chronic diseases. The government should take responsibility to educate people and they should educate kids in high school by providing a diet class that gives knowledge on how to live a healthier lifestyle. People in the United States have more liberty in choosing their diet than any other country, because people in the US have privilege. Fast food is very cheap in the US, so people from all income can afford to eat in restaurants like McDonald and Burger King. In the US, western diet is more popular, because of its demand and it serves faster. Based on the commissioner, department of public health, Terry Mason, said that â€Å"people are addicted to western diet, because it is salty and fried. † People are responsible for their own dietary action. The average Americans carries 23 extra pounds, 40% are obese and half of us are taking prescription drugs. According to CDC, every state in the United States has 20% or higher rate of obesity. The numbers speak for themselves. It is our responsibility to change our diet or otherwise be included in the statistics of the number of people who die in the United States every year due to chronic diseases. It will be tough for the people to change their diet completely to a plant based, but it is possible to reduce the amount of intake from dairy products and meat in our daily diet. In The New York Times article, â€Å"Unhappy Meals† Michael Pollan says, â€Å"Eat food. Mostly Plants. Not too much,† this is the most simple and powerful answer to the people across the United States to start thinking about their health and take responsibility of their diet. â€Å"Let food be thy medicine. † This quote reflects very well into our society. Instead of spending thousands of dollars in prescription drugs, wouldn’t it be nice to just change our eating habit slightly to cure our diseases. The research done by the Dr. Esselstyne and Dr. John McDougall on a plant based diet, and also the experiment conducted by Dr. Campbell in China suggest that American people should consider changing their diet towards a plant based diet in order to live longer. This is the responsibility of our government and citizens of this country to take a step further and reduce the western diet from our body and encourage ourselves to start eating a plant based diet, because it is a benefit to us and to the government. Based on the real life story of Ruth Heidrich and San’Dera Nation a plant based diet does help to cure chronic diseases. This change will have to take place in our society, because it is worth the effort we will live longer and our government won’t be spending trillions of dollar on health care budget. This trillions of dollar can be use to create jobs, helping doctors to implement plant based diet, and creating food industry that only serves fresh food to the public.

Some of the ways in which Wilfred Owen presents the Natural world in his poems Essay Example

Some of the ways in which Wilfred Owen presents the Natural world in his poems Paper Owen’s presentation of nature is ambiguous. Through his poems he acknowledges the beauty and purity of nature on one hand, while on the other it is presented as cruel and subversive when associated with war. These two very different sides of nature are best portrayed in Exposure in 1917, Futility and Spring Offensive in 1918. To begin, Owen describes the natural world as beautiful, restorative and protective. His references to beauty of nature and the recurring theme of the sun clearly shows how Owen is somewhat in awe of nature. In the 3 first stanzas of Spring Offensive, Owen describes nature with such charm that the soldiers waiting to go into action are â€Å"marveling† at the grass, at nature’s purity. They can hardly believe such beauty exists amongst pain and suffering. The ‘May breeze’ calms them as they feel the pleasing ‘â€Å"summer oozed into their veins like an injected drug†. In this imagery we feel that this beauty is like a drug to them, they are under such pressure that they require anesthetic. â€Å"oozed† implies that they are grateful for a moment to remember happier times. We will write a custom essay sample on Some of the ways in which Wilfred Owen presents the Natural world in his poems specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Some of the ways in which Wilfred Owen presents the Natural world in his poems specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Some of the ways in which Wilfred Owen presents the Natural world in his poems specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Nature is thought to have restorative power. An example of this is apparent in ‘Futility’. The poem is about a soldier (the speaker) who cannot believe that his comrade has died of the bitterly cold. In the very first line he says: â€Å"Move him into the sun†. The sun is considered at the source of all life, so the poet asks for the resurrection of the soldier. Having seen the sun â€Å"wake the seeds† once, he asks himself why it prohibits itself from doing so again. A different interpretation would be that god is actually the sun itself, because as the bible says it is he who is at the very origin of life. Nature also appears as a protective figure. In ‘Spring offensive’ it creates ‘shade’ as a barrier from the horror, made to provide respite. The pastoral imagery of the ‘little brambles’ clinging on to the men ‘like sorrowing arms’ suggest that nature is a sorrowing force, it is transforming into a maternal figure. We find the same shielding figure in the sun, in Futility. Using the personification: â€Å"The kind old sun†, Owen presents the sun as a caring paternal figure, â€Å"old† evokes its wiseness. This again can be interpreted as a personification of god. The war has the ability to transform the natural world. The clearest example of this would be the very title of â€Å"Spring Offensive†, using this oxymoron Owen contrasts the new life in the world at spring, the season of love, with the imminent death that will automatically arise from the offensive. This â€Å"natural world† is wasted. And seeing all this horror perhaps it has decided to revolt against the men who are participating to the massacre. Therefore not helping them through it, which makes nature cruel and cowardly because they have not decided such a fate for themselves. Spring Offensive follows the revolt of nature as it goes from a benevolent and somewhat sheltering force to a more aggressive force that burns with fury against them. Nature is so disgusted at the unnaturalness of the soldiers action that it initially seeks to stop them- everything from the sky and its cold gust thrill to the smallest buttercup that once blessed with gold now is set sudden cups in thousands for their blood. This all encompassing metaphor of nature possibly representing god creates an intense atmosphere. The syntax of the poem also reflects motif and nature, the regular rhyme scheme together with the use of perfect rhyme gives it an almost liquid flow. Nature also appears to be insurgent in Futility. At the end of the poem as the sun refuses to use its power help the man, the speaker realizes how useless, pointless and hopeless the sun is and how it does not have enough will to wake his friend. The sun has been worshiped by countless communities and generations, yet it is letting the men down. The sun is qualified as a â€Å"cold star†, it has all these powers but is not being generous and giving warmth. â€Å"Are limbs, so dear attached, are sides full-nerved, still warm, too hard to stir?† In this quote the narrator is looking at the body and decides that it is easy for the sun (which may be god) to save this man but yet it doesn’t do it which drives the author to loose faith in god and humanity itself. Cold star could be dead body itself, clay would be his body Cold star could be earth at the begining, the earth full of life clay= earth walls of trenches? This revolt brings out nature’s cruelity, this side of nature is very well portrayed in Exposure. This poem is about exposed men away from battle slowly freezing to death. In Exposure, the weather and nature are personified as assassins. Despite portraying the conditions of war as vicious, Owens language is quite soft on the ear, being abundant with sibilance and repeated f sounds (e.g. flowing flakes that flock). The use of delicate sounding words could be to show how the weather can be a silent or covert assassin. The first image we are given is of the ‘merciless iced wind that knive us’. ‘Merciless’ suggests that the wind is vindictive and without compassion, whilst ‘knive’ is a violent action, implying that the attacker is inflicting pain. From the outset, the ‘personality’ of the weather is established as an enemy. In stanza three, Owen writes of â€Å"Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army†. By personifying ‘dawn’ or nature as a woman, Owen is pointing out that mother nature has turned against them, the maternal, compassionate image of a woman has been subverted. In this poem, Owen is definitely using subversion to show how war defies expectations. The stillness of slowly freezing to death becomes a counterpoint to the progressive verbs in the poem: â€Å"watching,† â€Å"twitching,† â€Å"massing,† â€Å"shivering,† â€Å"wandering,† â€Å"fingering,† â€Å"shrivelling,† â€Å"puckering,† and, finally, â€Å"dying.† As in other Owen poems such as â€Å"Greater Love† and â€Å"Arms and the Boy,† the occasional attractive word such as â€Å"nonchalance† is used ironically to depict the carelessness of the wind as it tosses snowflakes around and â€Å"knives† the soldiers. Unlike English poets Sir Philip Sidney or Percy Bysshe Shelley, Owen does not see poets as teachers or â€Å"unacknowledged legislators.† He says, â€Å"all a poet can do today is warn; that is why the true Poets must be truthful.† Owen strives for the aching cold of truthfulness in â€Å"Exposure† as the poem exposes the reader to the cold indifference of nature and nature’s God. Conclusion: â€Å"Be bullied, be outraged, be killed, but do not kill.† This quote once written by Wilfred Owen could relate to the way he despises nature’s attitude. To my opinion the poet loves nature greatly, he believes it is beautiful and pure. Yet the war has highly disgusted nature who subsequently decides to rebel against it using violence and cruelty resulting in the dehumanization of the soldiers.