"On December 15, 2003 route 11 in Bloomsburg, PA was closed for nearly 6 hours after a tractor-trailer jackknifed, spilling its cargo onto the highway. The clean-up took six hours because the cargo was 32,000 pounds of liver.
Spilling food often results in time spent cleaning up. That’s why you should consider that fact when determining what type of floor covering you want for your dining area. Especially if you have little ones in your home, white carpet or other easily stained floor coverings will only serve to create unnecessary clean up work at meal times.
Instead, look for a carpet that’s designed to hide minor messes, or better yet, get a flooring other than carpet that can be swept clean in a few seconds. You might also try putting a drop cloth around your one year old’s high chair and just dumping the contents after meal time.
God wants us to spend time on things that matter. Less clean-up time means we’re redeeming the time.
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"Have you ever noticed that whenever someone is in front of you in the ""10 items or less"" checkout line at the grocery store, and they have 20 items, they will always write a check. And not only a check, but a check that requires the manager's approval, usually when he is on break somewhere in the parking lot.
Some people, it seems, never catch on to the inconvenience they bring to others by not considering the value of other people's time. For example, when you call a friend, before getting into a lengthy conversation, always ask, ""Is this a good time for you to talk."" If it isn't a good time for them, you haven't lost anything, because they wouldn't have been tuned in to what you wanted to discuss anyway. If it is a good time to talk, you've shown sensitivity and established some positive report from the start.
Remember, not wasting other people's time is an important part of redeeming the time.
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"The Bible tells us in 1Corinthians to come out from among the world and be separate. Unfortunately, that's a scripture many Christians today totally ignore. Their entertainment, associations, spending habits and use of time are hardly distinguishable from those of the world around them.
But there is another problem on the other end of the spectrum as well. That is confusing separation with isolation.
It's easy after you've been a believer a few years to isolate yourself from any meaningful contact with non-Christians. It’s only natural that, as our social life centers more and more around our church, our friends become more and more limited to church people.
But if we want to be relevant to the world around us and see them come to Christ, we must spend some time building contacts with unbelievers. Could you invest 20 minutes today building a bridge to someone outside your church? That might be the best way to redeem the time.
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"“It’s all about you.” According to the US trademark office that’s one of the most commonly used advertising slogans. The world constantly encourages us to become more and more self oriented. The media is constantly bombarding us with enjoy yourself, please yourself, praise yourself, indulge yourself, spoil yourself. The result is a constant self-centered focus on me, mine, and myself.
But is it really all about you? The Bible teaches us that the true priority of life is to love the Lord with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. It’s only when we follow that formula that we find real satisfaction and meaning in life.
You’ve heard the definition of joy: Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last. Perhaps you never thought of that little saying as a formula for scheduling your day. But when you understand its not all about you, you have the frame of reference you need for purposeful living and redeeming the time.
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