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V Vigilance
A California judge declared a mistrial in a murder case this week, after he dozed off on the bench during testimony. "That has never happened to me before," said Orange County Superior Court Judge Cecil Hicks in declaring the mistrial Monday. "I attribute it to medication that I'm taking for my back. I'm in constant pain, I had a new prescription ... a heavier dose." The mistrial was granted after a request by a lawyer for murder defendant Omar Coyotzin, who was accused of fatally stabbing a woman during a robbery in Costa Mesa. The Orange County Register newspaper quoted lawyers Tuesday as saying they realized Hicks was asleep when he failed to rule on a defense motion last week.
Hicks declared the mistrial after admitting that, because of his lapse, he was not sufficiently in command of the information needed to make a proper judgment.
We are reminded in 1 Peter to be "sober" and "on alert" — ever aware of the constant responsibility to weigh everyday decisions against God's standards. If we "doze" and cruise through life on "autopilot," we'll find that, just like Judge Hicks, we simply aren't adequately equipped to make informed, righteous judgments and decisions.
Source: excite.com, 5/6/98
Topics/Tags: Vigilance
ABC News reported a surprising fact: According to studies, people who use expensive, heavily-advertised athletic shoes are injured MORE often than people who use cheaper shoes! The reason is quite simple, actually: These folks are injured because they are more careless. They believe that the more expensive shoes will provide protective benefits which they can't really provide.
We can see a similar phenomenon at work whenever we observe the distressing number of committed Christian men and women (especially high-profile Christian leaders) who suddenly fall into grevious sinful behavior. The fact is, these men and women succumb to sin when they allow themselves to become CARELESS, believing that they will be protected from temptation's snares simply by virtue of their "redeemed" status. No matter how far you might ever manage to rise in the "ranks of Christendom" ... never forget that temptation is ALWAYS lurking just around the corner, and that you NEVER will become fully immune to its enticements during this lifetime. Be on guard!
Source: ABC News, 12/9/97
Topics/Tags: Vigilance
TV CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH!
TOKYO, 12/17/97 (Source: Associated Press) -- Nearly 600 young Japanese television viewers, including hundreds of children, suffered epilepsy-like seizures, spasms and nausea and were hospitalized after watching "Pokemon," a popular, vividly illustrated cartoon show.
News reports said the symptoms occurred during a portion of the show which featured an explosion mixed with the strobe-light flashing of a character's eyes. At that point in the show, one 10-year-old viewer said, "I had to close my eyes because of an enormous yellow light like a camera flash."
An epilepsy expert at Saitama University of Medicine outside Tokyo said that it's not unheard of for a vivid optical stimulus to trigger this type of epilepsy-like seizure. However, it's never been known to be caused by a television show; and no one has yet been able to pinpoint the exact element of the "Pokemon" cartoon that caused the outbreak.
Of course, even without the "Pokemon" episode, it should still be obvious that television can be hazardous to one's health--physically, emotionally and spiritually. We can only hope that this extreme incident will cause millions of parents to begin monitoring their kids' TV viewing habits a little more closely.
Source: Reuters, 12/17/97
Topics/Tags: Television; Vigilance; Parents
I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE IN THEIR SHOES...
FLORIDA, 10/30/96 (Source: Infobeat) -- Protecting the President of the United States is an important job. A recent [12/23/97] Joan Lunden television special revealed that Secret Service agents actually spend as much time in ongoing training as they do on the job. But a trio of Secret Service agents managed to find an even more difficult job: Keeping track of one's shoes...
Three agents who accompanied President Clinton on a campaign swing through Florida last week were the victims of theft while taking an ocean dip on a Florida beach. The three men lost their shoes and socks--but, more significantly, they lost everything which they had tucked into their shoes, including their Secret Service badges, cash, travelers checks, credit cards and jewelry.
Isn't it true that Satan often manages to send us the problems for which we're least prepared? When this happens, it should simply be a reminder that our confidence and courage come not from our own cleverness in planning and preparation, but rather from the Lord who has promised to be with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9).
Source: Infobeat, 10/30/96
Topics/Tags: Vigilance
"Ours is a culture based on excess, on overproduction; the result is a STEADY LOSS OF SHARPNESS in our sensory experience. All the conditions of modern life- its material plenitude, its sheer crowdedness- conjoin to dull our sensory faculties." — Susan Sontag (b. 1933), U.S. essayist.
It is easy to allow our minds to be dulled by our world. Yet we are called by Scripture to remain "sober and vigilant" at all times.
Source: The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, in Microsoft Bookshelf '98
A woman had recently lost quite a bit of weight, and was disappointed that her husband apparently had not noticed the change. On a trip the butcher shop, she expressed a bit of her frustration...
The couple ordered ten pounds of ground beef. While handling the package, the butcher dropped the meat and it hit the floor with a thud. The husband quickly knelt down and picked up the package.
As the butcher apologized, the woman commented to him, "Well, at least he noticed when YOU dropped ten pounds!"
Source: Reader's Digest, 5/94, p. 88.
Topics/Tags: Encouragement; Vigilance; Attentiveness
From Aesop's Fables:
THE BOY HUNTING LOCUSTS
A Boy was hunting for locusts. He had caught a goodly number, when he saw a Scorpion, and mistaking him for a locust, reached out his hand to take him. The Scorpion, showing his sting, said: "If you had but touched me, my friend, you would have lost me, and all your locusts too!"
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When we fail to take time to discern the difference between the godly and the ungodly in our world, we can be "stung," and the consequences of that sting can cause tragic and extensive losses.
Source: SAGE Digital Library
Topics/Tags: Vigilance; Consequences of Sin
Like so many Americans, I enjoy a cup of coffee early in the morning. These days I drink it because I do honestly enjoy well-prepared coffee. There was a time, however, when my sole purpose in downing java in the mornings was to get at the caffeine.
On one such morning, though, I had my usual cup of coffee, only to discover later that day that I had inadvertently prepared and drunk "decaf" coffee instead of my regular blend. When I made that discovery I realized that, sure enough, I was not experiencing the normal caffeine-related effects of the coffee. The coffee I'd prepared that morning had looked, tasted, and smelled like the real thing ... but without the "zing."
And, it made me wonder how many other ways we might be prone to being fooled by this type of subtle "switch." False teachers, for instance, can pull this kind of trick if we're not careful. We must be vigilant at all times!
Source: Zeke Moore
Topics/Tags: Vigilance; Deception; Teachers, false
You've heard, no doubt, the expression, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
Writer Mark Twain had a better version of that advice: "Put all your eggs in one basket—and WATCH THAT BASKET!"
— Mark Twain (1835-1910), U.S. author. Pudd'nhead Wilson, ch. 15.
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As Christians, our "basket" is the faith and obedience which bind us into relationship with the Lord. Through vigilance, we keep a close watch on that basket.
Source: The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, in Microsoft Bookshelf '98
"One of the world's biggest problems is that while bad people stay awake nights thinking up ways to be bad, the so-called good people go to sleep."
Source: Clergy/Leaders' Mail List #504, "We Cannot Be Neutral"
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