"Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them." – Acts 4:24

In our small group the other night, one of our friends gave an update on a health condition of hers that we had all been praying about for quite some time. She gave the update fairly quickly and in a matter-of-fact manner. Maybe it was the lateness of the hour and she sensed that we were all feeling a bit tired. Or maybe she realized some of us needed to get home to relieve baby sitters. The news was that her condition, which once required that she take three pills three times a day had improved so much that she was now down to one pill per day. She added that her doctor was amazed at her improvement. Then, seemingly feeling that she had taken too much time, she encouraged the next person to give their update. Read more...

News You Can Use

Not Your Father's Soup Kitchen
Several restaurants have started a new trend: no set prices. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, eateries in a small but growing number of states are proving successful at making money while also helping the poor. At one such restaurant, Terra Bite Lounge in Kirkland, Washington, customers choose how much to pay and simply drop their money in a box on the counter. Some such restaurants use small signs to let patrons know what a fair price would be; others do not. The article noted that the restaurants tend to "draw the kind of clientele that understands the concept and, therefore, contributes appropriately. One Denver restaurant profiled in the article is called SAME Café, with SAME standing for "So All May Eat." Read more...

Trying to Prevent Identity Theft
A bill working its way through Congress would go a long way toward stemming the problem of identity theft. The bill, HR 3046, would prohibit businesses, schools and government agencies from displaying Social Security numbers on the Internet, checks, employee or student ID cards, and more. Utilities also would be barred from requiring people to provide their Social Security numbers as a condition for receiving service. And the bill would largely prohibit the sale of Social Security numbers. Ironically, according to an article in the LA Times, one issue that may prevent the bill from passing is the fact that the U.S. government is one of the biggest problematic users of the numbers, printing them on Medicare cards carried by millions of senior citizens and on military ID cards carried by millions of members of the armed services. Apparently, the cost to update government systems would be significant. Read more...

What Makes Young People Happy?
We're all accustomed to seeing surveys showing how materialistic young people are. But a new survey among 13- to 24-year-olds conducted by the Associated Press and MTV (http://www.mtv.com/thinkmtv/research/) found that just one percent said money is their primary source of happiness. As reported on MSNBC, the top sources of happiness were friends and family, followed by God, pets, and pastimes like listening to music. However, 49 percent said they would be happier if they had more money. One of the more interesting findings was that among 20-somethings who are in the workforce, those earning higher salaries ($50,000 to $74,999) were almost twice as likely to indicate that money was the factor that made them unhappiest compared to those who make less. Read more...

More Living Without Health Insurance
A record high 47 million Americans do not have health insurance, according to new Census Bureau data reported by the Boston Globe. That's a five percent rise versus the previous year. In large part, the increase is being attributed to declines in employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. One other bit of bad news on the health insurance front is that, among employers that offer health insurance plans, the cost of premiums has increased by around six percent—well ahead of income growth. Read more...

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