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Holabird Advocate

Providing all the news we see fit to print since 2002!


Monday, December 31, 2007
 



The Ditty Bops Save the World for 2008
At the DWU Holiday Showcase, Bernie Hunhoff asked our Publisher what the Ditty Bops were up to. As it happened, He didn't know because he'd been so busy with classes, Pizza Hut, and other things that he just hadn't kept up with that wacky Los Angeles based duo.
Well, Jerry Hinkle has gone back to the Ditty Bops Website to see that they've been rather busy. From trying to ban plastic shopping bags, appearing in their own Farm Tour, as well as Farm Aid itself.
Of course Amanda Barrett and Abby Dewald wouldn't be The Ditty Bops if they didn't put out another bikini calender, of which this is the cover. The calender is made from post consumer material, and printed in soy based ink. No word on what the bikinis were made from. Jerry isn't buying the 2008 calender from The Ditty Bops because rent is due tomorrow, he'd like to eat sometime this week, and tuition is due next week as well. The American Bible Society has given Jerry a free calender that will last until 2009.
The Ditty Bops have another album coming out in early 2008. None of the song titles look familiar to Jerry, but he's sure they are just as good as their earlier stuff. The new album is called "Summer Rains" And look for "The Environmentalist's Dilemma", a comic book they wrote in their spare time to come out soon.
In case any longtime Readers are curious, Ms. Amanda is still brunette, like she was when Jerry last saw her back in August. No orange, pink or purple streaks. There is speculation that she'll go green to promote the Ditty Bops environmental message, but nothing had come of it thus far.
A Better Kind of Resolution
by James Robison
Submitted by Marla McGeorge
“Be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”
(1 Peter 3:8b)
It’s resolution time again. Time to re-evaluate our lives, set goals for the new year and generally focus on ourselves. But I have a new challenge for you something different than the usual “lose 10 pounds” or “stop smoking.” I want to challenge you to change your life by focusing on someone else’s need.
We all know someone with a need, often related to a job situation, a marriage, an addiction, a sinful lifestyle or health concern. Or perhaps someone has a desire for greater commitment or a deeper prayer life. God wants us to be someone’s answer to prayer this year.
You will have to ask the Lord to show you who, what and how this will come to pass, but there is no shortage of need in the lives of those around you. People are drowning in their situations, like a diver whose oxygen is running out deep underwater. Their only hope is a lifeline from above.
Any counselor will tell you that the first step toward recovery is admitting that a problem exists. Unfortunately, the shame associated with many needs prevents people from opening up to others. It is only by creating a safe harbor through unconditional love that people will be willing to talk about their situation. If people believe that the storm on the surface is more dangerous than their condition in the dark waters below, they will stay in the depths of their darkness.
There is great power in confession. I don't mean the type of confession where you repeatedly admit your failures or needs in a dim booth, chant a few lines and return to the same lifestyle. I mean real agreement that a need exists, followed by a willingness to do whatever it takes to make a permanent change. It's one thing for someone to admit that he or she is drowning, but it is not the same as returning to the surface. To truly help others, we must be willing to help them up instead of condemning them in their desperate condition.
We never apologize for needing glasses or hearing aids. Likewise, we should never demand an apology from one who needs help seeing or hearing the truth. Christians, especially, must come to the aid of others with a voice of compassion and the light of love.
It is also critical to understand that "surfacing" is not always instant. Often, it is necessary to come up slowly. This can be one of the more difficult things to accept and understand, but we must be willing to say to someone, "I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to walk with you through this process, no matter how long it takes." Those conquering a need must never give up in the battle, knowing that victory is possible. Those who care for them must never cease offering mercy and compassionate help.
This is especially true with sexual compulsions, including porn addiction and homosexuality. The deeper someone goes into sin, the longer it may take to come out of it. Like the deep sea diver coming out of absolute darkness in the depths of the ocean, the person recovering from deep sin will respond to progressive increases in light and oxygen, but it will take some time for them to be able to breathe on their own again.
Finally, it is absolutely crucial that recovery not create a void in someone's life. Like a lover leaving an adulterous affair, people can feel an emptiness that must be filled with something more pure and powerful. Frankly, I cannot imagine anyone truly recovering without the power of God. Granted, some may find fulfillment through the virtuous things of God, like helping others or meditating on good things. Whatever the case, nature abhors a vacuum and the only way to completely heal is to be filled with good things -- and there is nothing more "good" than God. Our minds can and must be renewed by the power of His Word as we meditate on transforming truth.
Our world is in drowning in need. As believers, we have a lifeline to salvation and freedom. Commit this year to act as an agent of recovery. Disciple that person, teach a skill, become a regular prayer partner, walk through an addiction, counsel a couple, lead a child or seek another way to fulfill a need. By meeting the need of someone else, you will discover a joy that cannot be found by focusing on yourself.
Closing Out the Year of the Open Door
by Jerry Hinkle
courageous dynamic Publisher of the Holabird Advocate
As 2007 comes to a close, I look out of my window at McGovern Hall and see the gently falling snow and it puts me in a reflective mood. Tomorrow brings with it not only a new day, but a new month, and a new year. The Year 2008!
A lot has happened to me this year, so much that I can't really remember what I was doing on New Years Eve 2006. It's a safe bet TV was involved, either Red Green or Dick Clark. The only thing I know about this New Years Eve is that I've got a date with pans and dishes at the Hut, so barring the unforeseen, Dick Clark will do it without me this year. You know, I doubt he'll even miss me!
God told me through Brother Copeland, my dad's least favorite preacher in the world, that 2007 was to be the year of the open door. Indeed it has been. Several doors opened for me this year. The biggest door was the front door at DWU. I made it! Things looked doubtful, but after a year of hunting up paperwork, going on tours, and having phone interviews, I got accepted into DWU. I had a moment like Robert Redford in "the Candidate" when he said, "We won the election, now what". I'll tell you what! I needed an apartment in Mitchell! They weren't cheap by half either. After much looking around, soul searching, prayer, and a little nervous stomach trouble, my parents and I found McGovern Hall. I named it after the man who may not have known it at the time, but he talked me into coming here, George McGovern. I didn't know how I was going to pay for it, but it was home.
I looked for a job in the afternoons after morning classes were over. Culver's, Taco John's, Perkins, Arby's, none of them wanted to take a chance. I applied at Pizza Hut and was over heard by another couple who were looking for someone to help "clean up" in the Janitor business. I took the job! Then Pizza Hut surprised me and took a chance and opened the door over there for me. Their only condition was that I had two weeks to leave the janitor job, so I did just that.
Another door opened was the door of DWU Campus Pastor, Brandon Vetter, and his wife, Vicky. I was invited to something called Koinonia. it supposedly means "Free Food" in Greek. Perhaps it does, but to me, it meant a home away from home. Actual human contact on a Sunday afternoon. I was given the chance to get to know some wonderful people. I was rather shy, but did manage to make friends after a while. I still laugh when I remember Preston Carpenter constantly asking my name, and apologizing for not remembering. I never had the heart to tell him that I'd forgotten his name as well. We learned each other's names eventually.
It was at Koinonia where I first met this cute, but nutty, blond who was trying to bake brownies, and had to substitute melted margarine for cooking oil. She did great! She had better luck with something called cheesy chicken and rice. I named a chicken pizza with extra cheese, "The Amy Price Special" in her honor after she and a group of other young ladies sang a song that she wrote at "Wesleyan Idol" called "Good News, Jerry is Coming" I had no idea she even knew who I was, and she was singing to me, for me, about me! It was both an honor, yet a humbling experience. I was going through a rough week because I had humiliated myself at "Idol" the week before, I thought I'd lost my best friend, and on top of that my cousin, Pam, had died that past weekend. I thanked her kindly for the song, and told her how it made my week She said that she was glad to do it. God has placed Amy and me together quite a few times this month and we've struck up a casual friendship.
Of course, you all know about how Katy Duffy first opened the door of friendship here at DWU. That was a door I didn't want opened. I was still kind of shy back then and didn't understand why she wanted to talk to me, or why she wanted me to talk to her. I do regret not seeing that she was just trying to be nice. My suspicious nature did me in. She may not be my best friend, but she'll always be the first friend I made here. She beat Annie Martinez by about 90 minutes. At the beginning of the month, when I named Katy our Person of the Year, I said that I'd trade every friend I ever made at DWU if only things could be like they were before. Well, guess what! They can't. I have to accept that. We can't go back, only forward. My friendship with Katy has taught me two things. First, I make a better friend than I do a sweetheart. Second, and more important, to get what you want you can't let anything or anyone stop you or get in the way.
That takes us to next year. I want 2008 to start out to be the "Year of Re-dedication" for me. I want to rededicate myself to Jesus and the ministry in the hope of moving forward with my life. That is what I want, and I will use what Katy has taught me to do it. I want to be the best minister that I can be, for God, as well as my neighbor. As of Midnight tonight, I want Jesus to be my true best friend. I've said it before, Katy doesn't need me. Perhaps I should stop needing Katy so much. wouldn't it be something if, when the time comes that she meets the man who she decides is to be THE Mr. Katy Duffy, she asks me to perform the ceremony. That would be a stretch. Still, if it made her happy, I'd do it. If she wanted me to go on a mission trip to China on her wedding day, I'd do that! Any true friend would.



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