Where Did God Come From?

If you believe in certain religions, like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and even Buddhism, there's a good chance that you believe in some sort of God like being or cosmic force, especially the one that created our world that we live in today.

Where did God come from? What are we doing here? And where are we going, after we die. Some of these questions, are hard to answer and scientifically difficult to prove. There is very little evidence to prove, where God actually came from, what are we suppose to be doing here and where we are going to go, after we die.

If nobody knows where God came from, why are there so many religions, that believe in a God? Think about it for a moment, the Christian God, was the creator of the universe, and the creator of everything. Where's the proof? Why do people continue to study the Bible, and believe in a God, that they can't really even put their hands on?

If God is truly real, why wouldn't we have ever seen him? It doesn't make a lot of sense, to believe in imaginary beings, or invisible entities and pray to a God that we might not ever see or touch. It might not make a lot of sense, but if you ask serious religious followers, of these religions a question like, can you prove that there actually is a God, there's a good chance that these religious believers will reply, with a simple yes.

They have no proof, no evidence, and almost base their entire beliefs on faith, instead of facts. Rarely do they seek any evidence or even read their religious text, with a goal to understand what they're reading. Most of these people take everything that they learn, lock it away in their head, and never ask any serious questions about their religious beliefs, like these.

If there is a God, why wouldn't he show himself? If there is a God, why wouldn't he prove that he does exist, so that others wouldn't have to doubt his existence? Something to think about, on the days that you're not going to your place of worship.

Who's God Is More Powerful

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If your interested in a different point of view READ THESE ARTICLES - Great Articles For Christians

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author and a inspiration to millions of people. He has been involved in religious research for almost 30 years, and his influence in the Christian community is growing. The Holy Bible, is the core to Christian beliefs and most Christians don't even question it. Was the Bible actually written by men?

His newest book," Did God Actually Say That?" Was written specifically for Christians who are interested in gaining additional knowledge about the Bible.

Manipulating Bible Verses - Thou Shall Not Murder

If you're a Christian, you've probably heard of this Bible verse. Thou shall not murder. If you've heard of it, you probably know that it's one of the 10 Commandments or one of the original laws from Moses. However, most people don't know about its application to Christianity.

If I was to tell my children, not to lie and always tell the truth but I was a liar, would this be considered a good example for my children? If my children seen me lying and then I told them not to lie, would they consider that a lie? Does this example make sense to you?

As the parent, I'm the example. As the children, they are my disciples or followers. By lying to my children, I am showing them that it is okay to lie or stretch the truth or even manipulate the English language for my personal benefit.

How much different is this example from the example of the way some Christians use the Holy Bible? "Thou shall not murder," to me translates into," you should not kill." That's pretty simple and easy to understand, wouldn't you agree.

I could easily manipulate this Bible verse into, thou shall not murder, only applying it, to killing someone without a reason or you can kill someone in the name of God. You can change the meaning of anything if you really want to.

The point I would like to make here, is that the truth always comes out in the end, once the lying and the manipulation becomes visible. Do you have the ability to tell who's lying and twisting the Bible scriptures for their benefit or personal gain?

Bible verses that are clearly written, shouldn't have any hidden messages. "Thou shall not murder," is easy to interpret, once you understand what all four of these words mean and this task can easily be accomplished with a dictionary.

Thou - refers to you, the person being addressed or written to.

Shall - it will happen in the future or is intended to happen.

Not - is often used to express refusal, denial or the negation of the statement, just made.

Murder - the crime of killing another person deliberately and not in self-defense.

With the definition of these four words sitting right in front of us, you could still interpret this Bible verse in the few different ways. I'm going to take a stab at it and interpret it as I see it.

"You should not kill another person deliberately or outside of self-defense."

This means that I am not allowed to kill anyone, in the name of God, during war, or for any other reason except for defending myself.

When it says," Thou shall not murder," how does this apply to animals or anyone who is involved in a death sentence. Judges, lawyers, prison guards and other individuals who are directly involved in the murder of someone else.

How many other Bible verses have been manipulated for the benefit of Christianity?

God Said What

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author and a inspiration to millions of people. He has been involved in religious research for almost 30 years, and his influence in the Christian community is growing. The Holy Bible, is the core to Christian beliefs and most Christians don't even question it. Was the Bible actually written by men?

His newest book," Did God Actually Say That?" Was written specifically for Christians who are interested in gaining additional knowledge about the Bible. This book provides Christians with advanced biblical knowledge, answer some tough questions and should be read by every faithful follower of Christ.

Click here if you're interested in Basic Christianity.

Imagine Jesus' Children Reporting Directly to God

Now what if, Jesus actually had a son, and his son followed the Old Testament rule of being fruitful and multiply. Each one of Jesus' kids had at least 10 kids and by now there's thousands of his descendants all over the world and these guys are watching everything that's going on around them and reporting everything directly to God.

Imagine this, every one of his kids have down syndrome, are handicapped, blind, deaf, homeless, homosexuals and the worst of all, atheists. They have been strategically positioned all over the world to gather information on how, Christians actually treat other people.

Every time that a homeless person has asked you for spare change and you haven't given them anything, this would count as one black mark against you, on the great chalkboard at Judgment Day.

Every sign you held up, rejecting gay marriage or abortion, would count as five black marks. Each one of these people or any other person, who you had intentionally hurt their feelings, would be 15 black marks.

Every time that you lied to another Christian, this would be 50 black marks. If a Christian lied to a nonbeliever, especially when trying to convince them that the Bible is the written Word of God, this would be 150 black marks.

Jesus' children would be reporting directly to him on a daily basis, through the use of the Internet, God's Internet that is. Every Christian who thought they were doing the Lord's work, could actually be in grave danger.

You only get a thousand black marks and if you're 150 black mark short of entering heaven, you will have plenty of time, as you burn in eternal lake of fire, forever. Think about it, the next time that you lie to someone, refuse generosity, or try to convince someone that the Bible is actually the written word of God.

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:
Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, You Can Have It All

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Thanks for reading my articles

The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle

Jim Rohn has been writing and speaking on success for over 40 years. He has been called America's Foremost Business Philosopher. He does not disappoint in his little book, The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle.

For those familiar with Rohn's work the themes and stories in this book will be mostly familiar. Even if you have heard Rohn speak you will benefit from reading this book.

Rohn approaches success through five factors, or pieces of the puzzle. They are Philosophy, Attitude, Activity, Results and Lifestyle.

Jim Rohn's chapter on Philosophy can be summed up in his quote: To have more we must first become more". He teaches that we make our own future. Like many other authors of note he stresses taking responsibility for our lives. He teaches that to have more we must be more. He reminds us to work on ourselves first and foremost to make ourselves more valuable in the market place and to achieve more. He then takes the reader down a road teaching how you can and should improve yourself so you can be more.

In his chapter on Attitude he stresses the importance of our attitude in all things. He teaches the value of being present, of learning from the past, and of applying those lessons to the future. He teaches how to plan for the future building on the lessons learned in Philosophy.

In Activity he tells us that no matter how well we plan and how clever we are if we do not act on our plans no progress can occur. All achievement is the product of our action. He stresses the need for sound planning and discipline.

In Results he discusses the measurement of what we do to learn how to improve on our results. He then discusses the importance of expanding our capacity and improving our results.

In Lifestyle Rohn points out that you do not need to be rich or powerful to enjoy life and live with a touch of class. He gives good examples of this and how to enjoy life without the need for conspicuous consumption.

In his conclusion Rohn discusses the importance of a sense of urgency in what we do. Our time is limited and our opportunities are numbered. He stresses that we must exploit that time and opportunity for once it passes it is lost. He also compares the level of success of those who have a sense of urgency with those who do not.

In these 121 short pages Jim Rohn teaches many of the most important principles of success and achievement. This little book is worth its weight in gold.

1991 Jim Rohn
Dickinson Press Inc.
Southlake, Texas

Daniel R. Murphy -- helping people build wealth through self education and development. For more Free Special Reports and other information leading to personal success and financial independence visit http://www.books2wealth.com.

Check out what we have to offer. Sign up for the free ezine, Creating True Wealth, bringing you book reviews and helpful articles twice per month to help you build wealth, manager your time and achieve success. You will secure your future through your continued education and self improvement.

Separating From God

If you quit going to church or your place of worship, would you feel like you are separating your self from the congregation, the people that go to church with you, or do you feel like you would actually be separating from God somehow. I believe some people think that God is actually in the church and if they were to quit going to church, they would actually lose a direct link to God. Most people believe what they are told and follow their leaders.

If you're a Christian, can you answer me this, What Church Did Jesus Belonged to? Was he a Catholic, Protestant, evangelical or some other form of Christianity, maybe, just maybe he believed in a different religion altogether. I often wonder if Jesus was a Buddhist or he learned something magical from the Egyptians. It's said that Jesus traveled to other countries, do you think it's possible that he learned some sort of ancient wisdom from a man or woman, instead of being born God.

Is this how he was able to perform the miracles written about after his death?

Jesus supposedly studied the Torah and was considered to be Jewish, but was he really. While Jesus was studying the Torah, did he gain knowledge and wisdom, or was he actually born knowing everything. How can we actually prove that Jesus knew everything?

Does it say anywhere in the New Testament about going to church on Sunday, when Sabbath is actually Friday evening or Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset. Have you ever thought about why they switched days. The God from the Old Testament seem to get pretty mad if anyone did anything on the Sabbath, which was Saturday. One person decided that it would be better to go to church on Sunday and now we call it the Lord's Day. What really happened to the Sabbath?

It often gets a little more confusing, the more conscious effort you put into educating yourself about your religion and others throughout the world.

People often assume that I have separated from God somehow and could be going to hell, because I write some of these articles. I'm hoping that you will do a little more research about your religion and find your true North, your true direction in life, what it is you are actually here to do. Don't follow the faithful blindly, follow the intelligence willfully.

Life of Jesus

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Vegan Options at Some Common Restaurant Chains

Finding vegan options when eating out isn't as difficult as it used to be. Many restaurants have recognized the market for vegan food and have added products to their menus to attract this traditionally underserved customer base. If you've had difficulty finding vegan food when you eat out, that's about to change. In this tough economy, restaurants are eager to bring new customers to their establishments, and vegans are high on their radars! Here's where you can find yummy vegan food at the restaurants you know best!

Burger King--The BK Veggie--This vegetarian burger is available at nearly every Burger King. Order it without mayo to make it completely vegan.

McDonalds--TheMcVeggie. This is only available at a select few stores right now, but if you ask your local McDonalds to serve it, chances are they will seriously consider it. Get a bunch of your friends to request it, and it's a virtual shoo-in for the menu!

Denny's--Substitute a vegan Boca burger on any burger dish on the menu.

Subway--Order a veggie sub with no mayo or cheese and get it on whole wheat bread. Be aware, though, that if you're avoiding honey, Subway DOES put honey in their bread dough.

Quiznos--Order a veggie sub without the cheese.

Cheesecake factory-- Order angel hair pasta with garlic and marinara sauce, the eggplant sandwich or the portabello burger. You can also ask for other menu items without cheese to make them vegan.

PF Changs--Order the seasoned tofu lettuce wraps, spring rolls (ask for them without eggs, if possible), coconut curry vegetable plate, as well as any other purely vegetable-based dishes you see on the menu. PF Changs usually has quite a few vegan options for its customers, as do most other Asian restaurants.

For great vegan breakfast recipes that are easy to make and unbelievably delicious, go to the Vegan Breakfast Recipe blog at http://www.veganbreakfastrecipes.com.

African American Grandparenting

African American grandparenting is one of the cornerstones of black culture. When parents are forced to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, the grandparents step in as babysitters and surrogate parents. When the community needs advice, guidance, or comforting words to get them through their difficult days, they turn to the wise words and invaluable experience of their elders. However, increasingly African American grandparenting has meant taking custody of their minor grandchildren when the parent is unable to care for them. There are several reasons a grandparent may choose to do this.

1. They don't want their grandchildren in foster care. If the parents have been arrested or have lost custody, the only options are usually a relative's home or foster care. Foster care tends to be impersonal, and children often are separated from their siblings. This can add to the trauma. Grandparents do their families and their communities a huge service by stepping up to parent the parentless.

2. They want to pass down black culture and traditions. At a time when many black folk are forgetting their roots, African American grandparenting increasingly means being a gatekeeper to the history of this distinguished culture. Grandparents know that they have a lot to offer a child, and their influence has been a huge aid in maintaining the richness of the black community.

3. They feel they didn't raise their own children correctly. This belief, although usually incorrect, leads them to a sense of guilt and a need to correct what they perceive as their mistake. These grandparents often become the most conscientious, generous, and loving caregivers as they do everything possible to give their grandchildren the best of everything.

4. They feel an emotional attachment to their grandchildren. When grandparents function as babysitters and free daycare, they become used to having their grandchildren in their life on a daily basis. If something happens to those grandchildren's parents, the grandparents still want to maintain their bond.

5. They want the very best for their grandchildren, and are sure they are the ones who can give it to them. This is the most common and strongest reason for becoming a grandparent caregiver. It is almost impossible to refuse one's grandchild the love, care and stability they need. Grandparents in the black community have a lot of love to offer their minor grandchildren. This love has the power to make up for any number of misfortunes and separations. Often, this love can single handedly hold a family together in the face of incredible adversity.

Grandparents continue to have a valued role in the black community. African American grandparenting offers the stability and wisdom to maintain black family traditions while training the next generation for education and success. They perform a service in their community that both indispensable and invaluable.

Candis Reade is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about African American Grandparenting, please visit New Grandparenting Today current articles and discussions.

The Miracle of Design

DECORATING WITH SYMBOLS

Throughout history faith, religious beliefs and spiritual concepts have been mistrusted. In many groups, religions and sectors around the world people where unable to profess their faith openly and therefore used symbols in statues, artwork and the likes to serve as a visual reminder of their faith.

Symbols can be used today much in the same way. While beliefs are in the most part no longer persecuted, beliefs can be strengthened through intention. Intention of mind and thoughts. So what does this have to do with miracles? In order to allow the beauty of miracles to surround us we must ensure we keep an open heart, mind and spirit. We must allow ourselves to accept that we are worthy of those miracles and they are within our reach every minute of every day. Symbols can be used to strengthen your resolve and your faith. Symbols can remind you of how blessed you already are and of how deserving you are to be surrounded by miracles.

In Feng Shui symbols are used to strengthen intention and positive energies in areas that have been identified as important sectors for personal growth and the balancing of the energetic rhythms that surround your home.

So where and what type of symbols will help you live in a miraculous state? The answer is different for each and every one of us. Some of us love the beauty and consistency of ancient religious symbols:

The Cross in Christianity, The Menorah in Judaism, The Dharma Wheel in Buddhism, The OM in Hinduism, The Palm in Jainism, The Khanda in Sikh, or the Nine Pointed Star in Baha"i.

For some symbols of angels, fairies and sparkle dust or fat happy Buddha conjures up the miraculous, while for others portraits of their families are the only reminder they need of the miracles in their lives.

Whatever the symbol, place them around your home or office so that each time you look at them they bring joy, bathe you in light and happiness and strengthen your intention to believe in the miraculous that surrounds you!

2008 Fay Chapple

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fay Chapple is an International Feng Shui Expert, award winning Interior Decorator and Life Coach, and is Principal of the award winning Home & Life Design Firm Blue Avalon.

Blue Avalon specializes in Interior Decorating, Feng Shui and Abundant Living. Blue Avalon is the publisher of The Blue Avalon Journal, a monthly e-zine packed with ideas, tips and insider secrets! To subscribe log on to our site at http://www.blueavalon.com and you'll receive a bonus book, The Number One Feng Shui Secret That Will Transform Your Life!

Blue Avalon - "Harmony for your home... Balance for your life!" http://www.blueavalon.com

Feng Shui In Dining Room Arrangement

Furniture designers are paying much attention to make furniture not only practise but also comfortable and beautiful. Also new materials are being used to make furniture look modern. Very popular are unique custom handmade furniture. And as much important as having unique furniture is good arranging them, which might have a great impact on the standard of living, working and also on our mood.

Helpful in doing that might be one of elements of ancient Chinese philosophy of nature and art, Feng Shui.

It focuses on energy called chi. Chinese believes that this force also consider our personal energy. For a well-being chi must be encouraged to flow freely.

Nowadays, Feng Shui is widely known and used as a practise of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony. There are several tips written about arranging space in the office and at home (for example putting beds or dining tables in a right place). A few things to remember when arranging dining room:

There must be special paths for chi to flow freely. For example chi likes smooth rounded surfaces. Rounded edges, softened corners. Mirrors and glass surfaces are helpful as well cause they reflect an energy to other parts of the house. Following this advice, having a tables as a example, it is better to furnish home with oval glass tables, rounded glass dining tables, round coffee table rather than having it rectangular. Also having a wooden one is good.

When arranging the dining room ensure that dining chairs do not restrict doorways. There should be ample space for guests to walk around dining room tables without having to manoeuvre around any other piece of furniture or decoration that might also be in this room as coffee tables, console tables, chairs, vases, sofa tables. There should be an even number of dining chairs and remember to seat an honoured guest facing the doorway.

There are even advices to colors of furniture. A big mistake is having a red sofa set, as red is a color of fire. It is very powerful color for Feng Shui and in this sector it gives rise to heavy work pressure and troubles.

Some people criticize Feng Shui but for some taking its advices it brings a good mood and a great appetite while eating at their dining rooms.

Tom Faulkner - handmade metal furniture and glass furniture.

Help! My Clothes Closet is Stuffed!

My closet is stuffed. What do I do? Most folks at this point would love to go out and buy a closet system. These vary in price and quality. But if you do get one at this point, you are actually putting the cart before the horse. Here's the deal. First you need to sort and clear through your clothes. I mean, it doesn't make any sense to buy storage for clothes you no longer need or use, right? So here are some ideas for this most important part of closet design.

Get rid of clothes that don't fit. Period. Be ruthless. If you've lost weight, get rid of the large clothes (don't give yourself an excuse to "grow back into them.") If you've gained weight, get rid of the "just five pounds away," or "I used to look great in this," or "if only I could wear that again," or whatever other story is attached to those clothes. Our body lives in the present. Those clothes live in the past. It's very important to realize this essential truth.

Get rid of clothes that remind you of bad times. Emotional energy has residue that can stick to you and your clothes. When my father was dying, I rushed to his bedside wearing some very nice work clothes. I stayed with him for 24 hours until he passed. Needless to say, I couldn't bear to look at those clothes again, even though they were perfectly good. Now, that's a dramatic example. But take a look at your clothes. See if any of them remind you of a breakup conversation or a particularly awful family gathering. At the very minimum, take them to the cleaners. Then try them on again - is that residue still present? You may want to let them go.

Get rid of clothes that still have price tags on them. Look at it this way. It used to be that when you bought a new outfit, you were excited to wear it. If you have clothes that still have price tags on them (I'm talking a month or weeks later), chances are you're not excited about them. On sale, too tempting to resist, but wrong color? A great buy if you could lose those five pounds? (See above). A friend said you looked fabulous in it but you weren't quite sure? Those clothes represent unfinished business and they have no right to be in your closet.

Like so many things in our home, closets and the objects within are metaphors for our life. Closets that are stuffed to the gills with things that don't fit create a metaphysical energy that is very draining. Think of clearing clothes from your closets as a form of energy clearing - you're getting rid of old, uncomfortable times that you chose not to experience again. And, that beautiful, open space allows you to dream and vision your true self - not bogged down with the past that doesn't fit but with the present and future that does.

Interested in more ways to clear clutter and gain control of your environment? Get great tips and motivating messages by subscribing to articles from http://www.emptyyournest.com

Fire, Earth, Wood, Water, Metal - Feng Shui in the Bedroom

We spend a third of our lives in the bedroom, so it's important that we get it right when it comes to the layout of our bedrooms - creating a peaceful, relaxing sleeping space - When it comes to Feng Shui, this means achieving the proper balance of yin and yang. Yin (masculine) and Yang (feminine) are best described as opposite forces that are deeply interconnected, and must be balanced to achieve well-being and harmony.

Feng shui in bedroom promotes positive and sensual energy. Feng shui in bedroom invites you, lures you in, excites and calms at the same time. A good feng shui bedroom in bedroom is fun and pleasurable to be in, either you are there for a quick nap, a good night sleep or to make passionate love!

For having good feng shui in bedroom there is variety of ways like:

• The best position for the bed is too placed against the wall.
• All the doors of bedroom should open 90 degree.
• Having different level of lights in bedroom.
• Bedroom color should be soothing like light blue or pale to maintain the balance.
• Keep all the doors in bedroom closed in night.
• Don't sleep facing your legs facing the door.
• Put something interesting on the wall opposite to you so that when you wake you fell good and fresh.
• Put some flowers in the corner to make livelier.
• Don't put mirror opposite to you when you sleep.
• Put accessories in pairs.
• Don't put any electrical instruments like TV in the room as it beams brings negative energy in the room.

Elements of feng shui

Feng Shui elements can help us to have proper control over our lives and boost our creativity. The Feng Shui elements have a strong role to play for balancing a space or home. According to the Chinese everything's in this world belongs to one of the five Feng Shui elements: Fire, Earth, Wood, Water and Metal.

Fire
Fire is the most powerful of all the elements and represents energy, expansion and transformation.

• Fire can be represented by candle.
• Color that represents fire is red, orange and yellow.
• Direction associated with fire is south.
• Seasons which symbolizes is summer.

Wood
Wood helps to develop creative energies like inspiration, motivation and passion. It helps in personal growth and renewal. Wood can be represented by tress or anything green in color like green pillow.

• Color associated with wood are green, purple.
• Season that symbolizes wood is spring.
• Directions for element wood are east and south east.

Water
Water element of feng shui is related to the flow of money and career. Some of the studies shoes that flowing water helps us to let go of things and still water helps the surrounding energies to be calm.

• The water element can be represented by a fish tank or pond.
• Color represents water is blue.
• Seasons which represents is winter.
• Direction of water element is north.

Metal
Metal helps in mental strength and intellectual abilities, making it easier to focus and think clearly.

• Color which represents element water is white, silver, gray and black.
• Season represents metal is fall.
• Direction associate with element metal are northwest and west.

Earth
Element earth represents stability and home, giving a sense of security and grounding support. Rock features, thick Color that represents earth is brown, beige, sierra and other muted colors.

• Season is end of summer.
• Direction associated are centre, northeast and south west.

Jake produces a publication on a various holistic healing and well-being approaches including: Feng Shui, Meditation, Massage Therapy, Yoga, Pilates and holistic treatments for various health conditions.

Read his latest article now on Feng Shui For Beginners

Mouth Watering French Gourmet Food

Many people in the United States as well as in the rest of the world know of the distinct quality and flavor of French cuisine.

French food is frequently duplicated in the United States as well as in other countries of the world, but to experience the French gourmet foods that France is known for, it's best to break France apart into different regions and explore the different tastes France itself has to offer.

France divides it's regions up into different departments, and under these different departments, visitors can find different French gourmet food, as well as distinct French flavors, beverages, and chocolates.

In the Champagne region of France, this area is best known for the sparkling wine known as Champagne. This area reserves the right to call their sparkling wine Champagne because of the unique grapes that grow in this area as well as the name of the region itself.

Champagne is one in a group of three regions in a collective area that offers fine French gourmet foods. Lorraine is known for its selection of fruits and is also famous for quiche, a baked product which contains pastry, cream, and eggs. However despite Champagne's notoriety for having the only sparkling wine in the world that can be called its namesake, Paris also has some of the most unique and interesting French gourmet foods.

Paris is known for having a variety of different French gourmet food dishes as well as many other cultures. All train lines lead centrally into Paris so almost any food product is available. Paris also houses some of the best restaurants in the world, and over 5,000 of these restaurants exist in this one city alone.

Brittany and Normandy are towards the shore line in Northern France and are known for their exquisite sea products. Brittany has a fine gourmet selection of lobster, crayfish, and mussels.

Another place for superb crayfish lies outside of France in New Orleans, Louisiana and is worth a mention for all the French gourmet foods that have influenced Creole cooking. Normandy, also along the Northern coast has a fine selection of scallops and sole, a type of fish.

Normandy also has many apple trees, many of which are used for cider and other pastry dishes. All of the food items from these areas are known for having the highest quality, mostly because France has some of the finest soil in the world for growing French gourmet foods for French dishes.

Many areas in France are known for gourmet wine, such as Bordeaux and Burgundy. Burgundy is the more well-known of the two, some of the finest wines in France coming from this region alone.

Not only does Burgundy offer some of the finest wines, but this region is also the home of Dijon mustard as well as currants, a favorite among gourmet chefs. This area is also known for snails, high quality poultry, river crabs, pike, and honey cake.

The best place to find French gourmet foods in the United States is either at a local gourmet market, or by importing directly to the home from France itself. Needless to say, French gourmet food items are some of the best in the world.

Discover the best French Gourmet Foods on the Planet at: French Gourmet Foods Online.

Planning Your Bathroom Remodel Budget - Home Improvement Ideas

As a bathroom remodeling contractor, I get calls from people, that have no idea what they want or how much anything is going to cost. Here's some simple tips that can be very helpful when planning a bathroom remodel budget.

Bathroom Remodeling Investment

In 2008, the average mid-range bathroom cost around $16,000 and you could recoup around $12,000 of your original investment upon the sale of your home. According to a popular remodeling magazine, larger bathrooms using expensive fixtures, tile, bathtubs, woodworking, toilets and showers had an average of $52,000. Upon the sale of a home, you could recoup around $36,000 of your original investment.

Finding out How Much Things Cost

My first suggestion, would be to visit your local home improvement center, lumber yard or plumbing supply warehouse. Larger stores like Home Depot and Lowe's, seemed to provide you with value pricing but don't have a large selection. While doing some research on the Internet I noticed that some of their pricing is outrageously, outrageous. Some plumbing supply warehouses can provide value but beware others won't.

Create a List of Bathroom Remodeling Parts

You can get a good idea of your bathroom remodel costs for your budget by making a list of bathroom parts with pricing and then adding them up for a grand total. If you're a total bathroom remodel budget is $15,000 and you have a $6,000 bathtub with $4000 worth of tile, you could have a budget problem.

Figuring out the Labor

You will have to contact a contractor to get an actual cost for the labor. Sometimes you can double the cost of your bathroom remodeling parts to get a rough idea. If you have a list or a couple of lists and a few pictures of some sample bathrooms, this will make the contractor's job easier and often they can give you a labor price within a few days.

Give Yourself a Cushion

I would suggest leaving yourself a small financial cushion for any additional remodeling items. For example, you could see a different toilet, or instead of painting the walls, you now choose to wallpaper, you could incur additional expenses that you haven't planned for. If you know exactly what you want and stick to the original bathroom remodeling plan, you shouldn't need the cushion.

Financial problems often transfer into construction problems, so spend some time figuring out, how much money you want to spend on the bathroom remodel and try not to go overboard on the budget. I hate to see homeowners struggling with home improvement loan payments. Try to create a bathroom remodeling budget that is realistic and will not create a financial burden upon you or your family.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your looking for some more bathroom remodeling or home building ideas.

Will All Men Ever Hate Jesus

How Do We Interpret Things?

With lot of things or events happening around us on a daily basis, we start believing that events control our lives and our environment has shaped who we are today. Right? No. . . wrong! It is not the events that shape up our lives, but our beliefs as to what those events mean to us. Take for example, two children born of the same father. where father is an alcoholic, drug addict, bitter and cruel who killed a liquor store cashier. One of his son turned out exactly like him. Where as his brother has a totally different story. . . a man raising three kids, happily married, working as a general manager for a blue chip company, finds work both challenging and rewarding. How these two people turned out to be totally different from each other, in spite of having grown up in the same environment?

When both were asked privately about this. . . they had the same answer. . . "What else could I have become with a father like that?"

Similarly, two women turning 70, each take a different meaning from the same event. One knows. . . that her life is coming to end. To her living seven decades means that her body must be breaking down and she did better be ready to exit from this game of life. The other woman decides that what a person is capable of doing at any age depends upon their beliefs and she sets a higher standard for herself. She decides that mountain climbing might be a good sport to begin at the age of 70!For the next 25 years, she devotes herself to this new adventure thus scaling some of the highest peaks of the world. Thus in her nineties, Hulda Crooks became the oldest woman to ascend Mount Fuji.

What I am trying to make a point here is. . . it is never the environment, it is never the events of our lives, but the meaning we derive from these events. . . how we interpret them, that shapes who we are today and who we will become tomorrow. So start giving the right meaning to the events of your life and make them memorable ones!

Get all motivational tips at Deepak.M's Self Development Zone Get all articles related to self improvement or self development at Self Development Zone.

Structural Framing Beams

Let's start with the beams. They can be Glulam, Parallam, Microlam or even wood beams. What are all of these and why do I need them in my house. The beams are used to hold up parts of the house and are located in your walls, roofs and floors. Beams are used to transfer a load from one point to another.

Structural framing beams allow the architect to create large openings, floors and roofs in your house. The beams are also used to support the weight over the doors, windows and other openings in your home. These beams support massive amounts of weight in some cases and are even made of steel if needed.

Another growing problem is the lack of old growth trees in the forest. If we just used wood beams with out using the new engineered beams we would have to cut down a lot more of the bigger trees. So you can add these guys to your Christmas list. The lumber or wood engineers have come up with all sorts of alternatives for new building products. These new beams are just some of them. Keep up the good work guys...

Glulam is a engineered wood product comprised of wood laminations, or 2 x 4s that are bonded together with strong, waterproof adhesives. If you use a Glulam beam on the buildings exterior you will have to order a exterior Glulam beam. In this case the manufacture will use special exterior rated glues for the beam.

When ordering any wood engineered beams specify to the lumber yard what you are using the beam for. Exterior or Interior of the building. If you use a interior glulam over time there is a good chance of the beam delaminating or cracking apart.

Parallam is made from almost all of the wood on the log using veneer strands that are aligned parallel for maximum strength. The end product is a rectangular beam; which is longer, thicker, and stronger than solid-sawn lumber. They are often used as beams, headers, columns, and posts, among others uses.

Microllam is an engineered wood product that uses multiple layers of thin wood assembled with adhesives. It offers several advantages over typical milled lumber: it is stronger, straighter, and more uniform. It is much less likely than conventional lumber to warp, twist, bow, or shrink due to its composite nature. Made in a factory under controlled specifications, Microllam products allow users to reduce the onsite labor. They are typically used for headers, beams, rim board, and edge-forming material.

These beams come in all sorts of different lengths, widths and heights. They are engineered to hold amazing amounts of weight. They really are great engineering marvels.

Tip: I have had to replace almost all of these types of beams over the years due to some form of damage. Like anything else in your home if it is used improperly there is a good chance your are going to have some sort of failure. I have seen people add weight to these structural beams with no thought of them ever failing.

If you are planning on building a room addition, rebuilding your roof, adding a floor or any other type of construction where you are adding a addition load to your house. You might want to consult with a building contractor or structural engineer.

Thanks Greg For Another Super Article On Home Building. For more great articles visit Greg at http://gregvan.com/

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more building stairs books and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry. Causes of Structural Failure

Personal Development

Accepting Second Best In Life

Are you a person who accepts second best in life? Is winning silver good enough for you? Are you content to be a follower rather than a leader? A couple of years ago I would have answered yes to all of these questions but I have since seen the light. I now strive to be number one in every aspect of my life, I am happy to work hard to achieve my goals and to listen to the advice that I am being given. In this article I will write about how I learnt to have this new found positive attitude.

As a teenager and into my early twenties I basically drifted through life, it was as if I could not be bothered. I have to admit that I was a slightly depressive person during this period of my life, this was mainly because I had a stammering/stuttering problem with my speech. I seemed to be in an almost continual rut, always blaming the stutter for my lack of progress in life.

This was all to change when a new guy started at the office where I worked. His name was Jim and he was very bright and bubbly. Jim had a positive outlook on life and was seemingly very confident. I, at that point, was the opposite.

Over the next few months I began to spend a lot more time with Jim and was quite shocked when he asked me:

"Why are you so unhappy Steve? You always seem to be quite down, is there anything I can help you with?

Even though I did have a lack of self-esteem and was perhaps not always the brightest of personalites, I was not expecting to be asked this type of question.

Jim did prove to be a massive help to me, he made me understand that we only have one life, one shot at making a name for ourselves and that positive people tend to be the most happy and successful people.

Stephen Hill runs The How To Stop Stammering Centre, he has a number of websites including:

stuttering information

dvd replication

eradicate depression

Checking the Building For Square

The most important thing when building a home is the ability to keep everything as square, plumb and level as possible. Starting with the foundation, if the foundation is not square or level, the rest of the house is going to be out of alignment.

You've probably heard the saying, start with a good foundation. This applies to the building industry as well. There are quite a few ways to build a square foundation, it all depends on what kind of tools you have, to build it with.

Some of these tools can be quite expensive but it used every day can save you a lot of time and of course time is money.

You don't need expensive tools to build a square foundation. You could actually build a square foundation with less than $100 worth of tools. It might take you a little longer but could be done.

Let's start with the 3 - 4 - 5 rule.

Okay lets see if I can explain this in layman's terms. If no West side of the foundation is 3 foot and the north side of the foundation is for foot, then the diagonal measurement from the southwest corner to the northeast corner would be 5 foot. Out of square building can create foundation problems

This can also be done using 30' x 40' should equal 50 foot. You can use this if the building is large and you need to check it for square.

By measuring the foundation diagonally from each corner, the measurement should be exactly the same. If it isn't, the building is out of square and should be adjusted before the concrete is poured. This measurement should always be checked before you get too far along in the form building process.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your having problems in your attic, find out more at concrete contractor basics and home building ideas.

Will All Men Ever Hate Jesus

Accepting Second Best In Life

Are you a person who accepts second best in life? Is winning silver good enough for you? Are you content to be a follower rather than a leader? A couple of years ago I would have answered yes to all of these questions but I have since seen the light. I now strive to be number one in every aspect of my life, I am happy to work hard to achieve my goals and to listen to the advice that I am being given. In this article I will write about how I learnt to have this new found positive attitude.

As a teenager and into my early twenties I basically drifted through life, it was as if I could not be bothered. I have to admit that I was a slightly depressive person during this period of my life, this was mainly because I had a stammering/stuttering problem with my speech. I seemed to be in an almost continual rut, always blaming the stutter for my lack of progress in life.

This was all to change when a new guy started at the office where I worked. His name was Jim and he was very bright and bubbly. Jim had a positive outlook on life and was seemingly very confident. I, at that point, was the opposite.

Over the next few months I began to spend a lot more time with Jim and was quite shocked when he asked me:

"Why are you so unhappy Steve? You always seem to be quite down, is there anything I can help you with?

Even though I did have a lack of self-esteem and was perhaps not always the brightest of personalites, I was not expecting to be asked this type of question.

Jim did prove to be a massive help to me, he made me understand that we only have one life, one shot at making a name for ourselves and that positive people tend to be the most happy and successful people.

Stephen Hill runs The How To Stop Stammering Centre, he has a number of websites including:

stuttering information

dvd replication

eradicate depression

Finding Something You Don't Like About Yourself - Creating Habits

Finding something you don't like about yourself is usually very easy for most people. Most of the time you don't even have to ask your family or friends because you have heard them complain about the same thing for years. How many times have you heard someone mention, I need to lose weight?

Here's a list of things people don't like about themselves. If you're one of those people that has a hard time finding something wrong with yourself, you could always ask one of your friends for some suggestions. I'm sure they would like that.

1. The need to lose weight. This of course is one of the worst problems with Americans. Most people need to lose weight and let's not forget there are some people that need to gain weight.

2. The need to stop gambling. As more Indian reservations are allowed to build gambling casinos and of course as the Internet gambling gets larger, I've noticed some people with gambling problems.

3. The need to stop drinking alcohol. The abuse of alcohol has been going on for many years. These people have an excuse for why they drink and most of the time it doesn't make sense.

4. The need to stop smoking. This could be one of the most difficult things I've ever seen my friends and family deal with.

5. The need to stop excessive behaviors. For example, gossiping, cruelty, bullying, lying, cheating, stealing, partying etc. You get the idea.

6. Don't forget the dreaded shopaholic. Most shopaholic's seem to have large credit card debt and can't seem to stop this vicious circle of buying and owing money to their creditors.

7. Working long hours or the workaholic. Sometimes this is a necessity but I would suggest that you change your lifestyle if possible. Reevaluate your reasons for working so hard.

8. Religious fundamentalists. People that spend too much time at their place of worship and soon find themselves feeling guilty if they're not doing something spiritual.

9. The need to be on time. This would include people that have problems giving themselves enough time to get ready for work or school.

10. The need to stop doing drugs. I thought by now, approaching my 50s, that drugs would no longer be a problem in the United States, but it is. It's one of the most damaging things people can do to their lives.

There are plenty of things that people would like to stop doing or start doing. If you're a smoker and you seem to shop excessively near the casinos, I would advise you to start with something small and work your way up to the big stuff.

What are you going to change today about your life? Make a list of things that you're not happy with about your life and start making the changes today that you need to create the life you deserve and desire.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a personal development video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Christian Articles

A One Minute Meditation

Maybe learning to meditate intimidates you, and in any case it's tough to find the time for daily meditation. The solution to both problems is an easy meditation you can learn right now, that will only take a minute to do each day.

An Easy Meditation Technique

Breathing through your mouth expands your chest, but if you breath through your nose you'll notice how your abdomen extends. You see, nose-breathing causes the diaphram to pull air to the bottom of your lungs. This delivers a good dose of oxygen into your bloodstream and brain. It also tends to relax you.

Breathing through your nose is healthier, and it's the basis of this one-minute meditation. You simply close your eyes, let the tension go out of your muscles, let go of your thoughts (to the extent possible), and take four slow, deep breaths through your nose, paying attention to your breathing.

Is Meditation This Easy?

You're not likey to get you into a deep meditative state with this simple exercise. You will get benefits, though. These will almost certainly include a clearer mind and a reduction in stress.

Try to develop a "trigger" for your meditation. You can do your four breaths when you get into the car, for example, or right after lunch each day. A trigger is a place or time that reminds you, so your meditation becomes a habit.

Some may say this isn't "real" meditation, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying the relaxation you'll get from this technique. You can always pursue deeper meditation later, if you wish. In the meantime, remember that not everything has to be difficult to be of value. Why not do an easy one-minute meditation right now?

Steve Gillman writes on many self help topics including boosting brainpower, losing weight, meditation, habits of mind, creative problem solving, learning gratitude, generating luck and anything related to self improvement. You'll find more at http://www.SelfImprovementNow.com

Luck is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity

You must be ready when an opportunity comes before you, opportunity often comes in the form of work and that's why most people seem to miss it. Most people are too busy looking for the easy path through life. They seem to lay around waiting for the opportunity of a lifetime,... to simply fall at your feet.

Why would you want to spend so much time complaining about something, or someone? Other people can help you along the way, if you let them, but it's up to you, ultimately, to become the most you can possibly be. I have had plenty of opportunities in my life and have took advantage of some, while letting most of them pass by.

I'm no different than most people but now seem to be aware of my surrounding opportunities, all the time.

How many times do you wish for an opportunity to come along? It's probably one that you missed already, at some point during your life. Are you going to be prepared for the next opportunity when it comes along? These opportunities seem to repeat themselves throughout our lives and if we're not in the right state of mind, we often overlook them and let them pass by, time and time again.

You need to prepare yourself in advance for the next opportunity. If you are prepared and have your eyes open, you will be able to see the next opportunity that comes your way. Preparation will increase your chances for success and good fortune always.

Opportunities come in all shapes and sizes. Be on the lookout, when you're walking to the grocery store, taking a break at work, reading the newspaper, talking to your neighbor, walking down the street or even while you are sitting alone, letting your mind wander away. Your chances for success could come while your in your quiet places, or relaxing. Be prepared.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Spiritual Dictionary

It's a Great Day

So what defines a "great day"? Everyone has their own personal definition so allow me to share how I define a great day.

For some a great day is when:

You come into a large sum of money

You finally got the person's attention you were longing for

Your partner said "yes" to marry you

You finally got pregnant

You or some one you love recovers from an illness

You finally paid off your mortgage or car loan

You won an all expense paid trip

You met your fat loss goal

Your funds are on the up swing with a good return

Those are a handful of what we would label a great day, because something good happened to us or someone we're connected to. Though each of those events are warranted to be labeled a "great day", they do not (in my opinion) really convey the true essence of the greatness of that day.

Shouldn't a great day be defined not by the events of what occurred, but by how you handle yourself throughout the day?

Someone cuts you off while driving and you hold your cool; you receive less than excellent customer service care and you don't flip out, you find yourself at peace as you go about your day even though all your life's events aren't lining up exactly the way to want it to just yet. The cheque you were expecting is a bit delayed, and your personal bill payments are coming due in 5 - 10 days, but you are still unflustered and at peace knowing that it will all work out.

If my great days are based only on the successful outcome of the events of my day, then I could very well be in for a rough miserable day or days. This means that every time something doesn't go my way it erodes the potential of me having a great day. Now when we look at it that way, doesn't that sucks big time?

It's a great day -when you're at peace, where there's no urgency to rush, to get up tight, to struggle and fuss. A day regardless of the events good or bad, you're at peace, content, resting in knowing that you have full control of chartering the course of your emotions, and when events do manifests in ways you're expecting that would be an added boost to your already great day.

I am the music, the song, and the dance. My life is the whatever expression I choose to give it. I decide how fulfilled or not I'm going to be; my faith or lack thereof, the positive or negative attitude I decide on embracing or rejecting. I am given "today" to live, so I'm going to give it my all and live the best I can for today.

Inerrancy of the Bible - Are There Mistakes in the Bible

What does the word inerrancy main? Inerrancy would refer to text that is accurate and totally free of any errors or without any mistakes. Does this sound like any book that you have ever read or have knowledge of. Maybe there is a one sentence book that could fall into this category.

Most books however and even this article has mistakes. If I made a decision to base my life, my entire life and that of my children and grandchildren, I would want to make sure that it was accurate as possible.

Is the Bible, 100%, 90%, or even 50% accurate. Are these stories that were written by people many years ago and the lessons have been helpful but now need to be rewritten.

Does the Bible actually contain the will of God? Some scholars believe that certain sections of the Bible meet this criteria while others do not. How can these people judge if they are not God and how can we believe in this stuff is not true.

If the Bible was inspired by God but written by men, this could actually mean that God had complete control over writing the Bible or does this mean that the man wrote the Bible with gods inspiration. I'm inspired by God daily and often write about it, but don't seem to have enough followers to make it into the biblical Hall of Fame. I'm writing with inspired beliefs right now.

If there are errors in the Bible, how extensive or how many errors are there actually. There are actual stories that can be documented as historical facts. This doesn't mean the rest of the Bible is factual, nor does it mean it is historically inaccurate.

The Bible has some errors in it and some facts that we can prove but leaves us with the question, is this a book from the Creator of the universe or a book written by men, to make us believe, it was written by God and if so why are we still believe being in it. Why do some people read this book and other religious text daily? What motivates them to read holy Scripture regularly but doesn't seem to allow them enough time to find out if they are reading accurate information.

The biggest problem I have with the inerrancy of the Bible is the fact that most people tend to ignore certain truths and cling to their childhood beliefs about religion. If this is not the way or the truth, I would want to start looking for it, instead of following someone else's dreams or religious doctrine.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion. Religious Education And Fear

Another Crappy Rule In The Bible

Meditation Within All The World's Religions

Many people associate meditation with Far Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, and don't realize that there are also many forms of Judeo-Christian meditation, as well as meditations from other faiths. Below is an overview of meditation as it is generally viewed within each major religion, along with book suggestions and links to resources with more information.

In Buddhism, observing and stilling the mind are the key to recognizing the transience of all thoughts and emotions, in order to connect with eternal, non-personal awareness. Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Surya Das is a great book for learning the basics of Buddhism and meditation.

In Hinduism, meditating is the core practice for merging the mind with the energies operating beneath the physical world, through which the mind can ultimately merge with the source of these energies itself. Meditation is considered part of yoga practice - yoga means 'union' and meditation is considered the primary method for merging our awareness with the divine. Yoga periodicals such as Yoga Journal often feature beginning yoga meditation techniques.

In Kabbalah, often called Jewish mysticism, a form of meditation called 'hitbonenut', which involves contemplating a concept or light itself, is used to attain true, meta-intellectual knowledge. A good book for learning about incorporating meditation into mainstream Jewish traditions is Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide by Aryeh Kaplan.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity incorporates the 'hesychasm', or Jesus prayer, performed in a meditative, chanting fashion, in order to connect with the heart of faith. For some more info, go to Hesychasm.

Roman Catholicism includes contemplative practices such as the rosary for lay people, and many silent contemplative practices for monastic initiates. St. Theresa of Avila was one of several Catholic mystics who wrote on the benefits of mental prayer. Check out her writings or the writings of Jesuit Ignatius Loyola for traditional Catholic meditations.

In Quaker meetings participants sit in silence, waiting for the 'inner light' to inspire someone to speak. Check out the writings of Mary Coelho, a modern Quaker and writer, for her insights on the role of quiet contemplation in modern Quakerism.

The Sufis within Islam incorporate both energy center and devotional meditation to merge with the 'beloved divine' responsible for life itself. Sufism has many branches and corresponding meditation techniques, but most are centered on love meditations. Check out How to do Sufi Meditation by Kuriakos for more information.

Taoism is the ancient Chinese mystic tradition and philosophy focused on balance and the interacting forces of yin/yang, passive/aggressive, masculine/feminine, and creating/receiving. Tai Chi is often considered a form of moving Taoist meditation. Sitting Taoist meditation focuses on similar themes of balance and flow.

The Bahai faith, a relatively new religious tradition, founded in 19-century Persia, emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind and the common themes of all world religions. Check out this information on Bahai meditation.

Lisa Erickson is a mom, meditation teacher, and writer. Visit her blog http://www.MommyMystic.wordpress.com for spiritual book reviews and information on meditation and spirituality.

Finding Homes Using the Internet - Home Shopping

You can simply type the words real estate or homebuying into any search engine on the World Wide Web and you will come up with hundreds, maybe even thousands of websites that are extremely helpful and full of great information. Like the one you're on right now.

Finding homes with the internet, combined with a skilled real estate salesperson, provides you with the most effective technology available today. Most websites start out, having you select a state you would like to search in and then, select a city, with your price range.

By answering their questions, this narrows the search down to all of the homes available in the area. The internet has made home shopping very simple. Considering what you had to go through in the 1970s. You found a realtor or by looking in the yellow pages, sometimes you found a good realtor and if you are lucky, maybe you would find you a good home.

Most of the time, the first homes you would look at, were owned by the real estate professional you were working with.

There are however a couple of problems with using the internet to find your dream home. Some of the verbage used and photographs taken can create a wonderful illusion of a tropical paradise but the reality, it's a regular home in a decent neighborhood.

Some of these photos are taken by skilled photographers who take advantage of every angle and tend to give an illusion of grander. When you actually start driving around and looking at these homes, only then will you get a reality check, of what the home actually looks like. You'll get used to it.

After you've looked at a few of your future dream homes, you will get a better idea of what I'm talking about with these wonderful pictures and the extraordinary home descriptions like "Beautiful Three Bedroom House with an Ocean View." When reality it's a two-bedroom house with an extra closet for the third bedroom and the ocean is 45 miles away, but you can see it on a clear day if you actually climb to the top of the largest tree on the property.

Take your time when searching for your dream home and don't let any one push you into making a decision if you're not ready. If you find your real estate professional a little too aggressive or pushy, get out of your contract, if you've signed one and find another, more helpful real estate salesperson to help you with your home purchase.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

Find other real estate tips and great advice, from another one of the Internet's best website creators.

Are Christians Really Interested

Personal Self-Esteem Equals Profits

Since birth we have been taught to obey our elders, watch our manners, work on our hygiene, and a myriad of other behavioral molding characteristics. Though in many instances we are taught and have worked fine for most of us, we nevertheless also forget the freedom to think independently. Therefore, what evolve overtime is the skills to solve problems and address issues of personal self confidence and the faith in ourselves. We get stuck with negativity's and thoughts that hinder creative thinking. Some in many instances begin to development feelings of fear, anxiety, stress, and issues of anger which then lead to frustration and a low level of personal self esteem.

The purpose of this article is bring to light the skills one can develop to deal with the everyday challenges of interactive relationships. Identifying the elements needed to cope with fostering collegial relations with colleagues, friends, and business associates. The importance of identifying a true purpose in this world and that you can be a contributing factor in promoting positive and progressive thinking. Finding the appropriate avenues of being a servant, to help others, and to establish a process for communicating service for the benefit of mankind.

The program of personal self development and leadership presented in my leadership formula addresses the issues that negatively impacts personal growth and progress. It works on personal management progression and output results based on performance and accomplishments. It is done through focus driven exercises designed to make you be a successful business person. The formula of personal self development will in essence make you a success in the business world allowing you the opportunity to help others.

This program of leadership development establishes the key core values for progressive thinking people interested in self improvement, business development, program design and management and the creation of personal self development and leadership models to be an inspiration to your community, friends, colleagues, business associates and future clients.

Dr. Richard C. Baiz is a Doctorate in Business Administration. He is a College and Corporate Personal/Leadership Development Instructor and Coach. Dr. Baiz is an expert in Personal/Organizational Development and Management. Dr Baiz gets his clients top notch successful results fast: Personal and Leadership Development

Removing Interior Walls

Here's a word of advice for any contractor, Carpenter, handyman or homeowner that is planning to remove an interior wall from your home or someone else's. Beware of removing interior walls, to eliminate your fears of the house collapsing. Some of the interior walls inside of the house are important structural components of the building.

Some of these walls hold up floors, roofs and other loadbearing sections that could create safety problems within the structure of the house itself. This is an area where an expert with framing skills should be consulted. What is the definition of someone with excellent framing skills? Some one with at least 10 years as a master framing carpenter.

My home building experience consists of three decades for over 30 years of assembling some of the most difficult sections of a home. During these years I have seen damage done to houses from removing structural interior walls. Most of this damage could be repaired with a little structural engineering. Some of the damage could not be repaired and caused other damage to different sections of the house. The damage caused in some cases to the floor and the roof framing had to be completely rebuilt.

I'm not telling you about every single thing I have ran into but you would be surprised if I started to make a list of all the homeowners and professionals in the building industry or home selling and buying business that contacted me to remove a structural component of a building. There have even been a few of these people that told me everything was going to be okay just go ahead and remove the structural building component.

Needless to say I would leave these people very irritated but I'm sure they found someone to do the job. The bad news is I was normally the person they would hire to go back and repair the damaged building after these people were gone and out of business. There have been cases where people have removed an interior walls against my better judgment and over the years of driving by in these homes I personally got to witness the structural damage that was occurring on the outside of the house.

I have no idea what the inside of the house looked like but could only imagine. My advice again when removing interior walls is to hire an experienced contractor or at least get some advice from an experienced framing carpenter. This does not include your basic know it all that has basic construction experience like your father in law, parents, friends, golfing associates or people you work with that tell you not to worry about it, just do it, everything will work out just fine.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Building and Remodeling Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Visit us and get more information on building and remodeling your homes and What Does A Shear Wall Do

Wrong With Bible Verse

Stunning Motivational Makeover

There is a common saying which says - we become what we think. Can we give a thorough makeover to what we think? Can we transform our negative thoughts to positive ones? Can we sharpen our mental imagery and transform our self-esteem so that it can positively create a mental strength? These days we put a great deal of emphasis on the way we look. Everybody is talking about external makeovers. The television, magazines, radios are all talking about a makeover, a new look that can totally transform your lifestyle. We see individuals receiving makeovers in all types of television shows ranging from talk shows to fashion shows. It is as if a snake is shedding its skin for a new one. The transformation is considered to be drastic. But have you not ever wondered that such transformation is merely an eye-wash that can to a certain extent improve the materiality of our life, but not our inner being? We should not merely focus our attention on looking our best, but rather more importantly focus on feeling well.

It would be interesting if we give our inner being, our soul, our personality a motivational makeover so that it can transform our life permanently for the better. We can start effecting this internal change by using the motivational wallpapers as background to our home and workplace computers. So even while you are busy with our work our senses would be immediately heightened. We need not busy ourselves in motivational readings or motivational exercises. We can have the wallpapers in the background and we will feel energized. These jewels of photography with their words of wisdom can renovate our attitude and outlook to life. They would excite in us new thought processes and new ways of thinking.

Motivational wallpapers contain quotes within a serene and soothing background so as to immediately incite us to a positive action. The background imagery moulds our thought processes, boosts our self-perception and opens up endless vistas of self-exploration. It results in positive energy which gets reflected in our body language, verbal expressions, and our look and in our personality.

These motivational wallpapers are tremendously appealing. It seems always to interact with us in a silence. The nature photographs soothe our senses so that we have tranquil mind and then we can easily reflect on the words of wisdom depicted on them. We can ponder over the thought and how it can positively affect our life. We do not relax in our lethargic complacency; instead we are aroused to positive action. In the modern society we have become so excessively materialistic that we spend a lot of money on make-ups and clothes to have a new look. Instead, if we could just change our thought process, motivate our soul and our psyche we will be able to make our life more enjoyable. The makeover of our outward selves for which we are thus striving would automatically get transformed with a change in our inner being. Thus by using these motivational wallpapers we will be able to bring permanent and lasting changes to our life.

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http://appearingeverywhere.blogspot.com/

Frederick Snelling is an author, multimedia designer and positive thinking founder of this inspirational website with motivational quotes, positive affirmations, positive energy articles and much more.

Developing Wealth Building Habits

If you want to be successful, you need mentors or in other words find people that have succeeded. These people can include the ultra rich like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, but don't forget about the people around you that have created good wealth building habits.

Some of the people have great advice and will need to be listened to very intently, while others need to be put on a list and never spoken to again. If you're going to be developing wealth building habits, you're going to need some advice from wealthy people. Let me make myself clear, when I'm talking about developing wealth building habits, I'm not talking about spiritual, knowledge, Biblical or religious wealth. I'm talking about making money, as much money as you desire or feel you need.

Wealth building habits start with you. Ask yourself this question "how bad do I want or desire wealth?" Really, really, really bad or are you the kind of person that would like to be rich, but that's as far as it goes. Developing any of these habits does not include sleeping in until 11 o'clock in the morning and then complaining the rest of the day about your finances.

Bill Gates used to work 16 hours a day. How many days a week did he do that? These are the questions you're going to find the answers to. If you're interested in making $50 million, you need to find someone who can teach you, how to make $50 million.

It won't be necessary to contact Warren Buffett but I would advise you to gather as much information about him as possible. Wealth building habits start with learning about wealthy people. If they get up at four o'clock in the morning and read the newspaper until six o'clock, then exercise for 30 minutes and start working at seven o'clock, you need to start doing this also. Developing good wealth building habits over time are what most successful businessman and women have been doing for years. Study their habits and start changing yours.

If you do something every day, it will usually become a habit within 30 days.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a self help video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Using Words In The Bible Effecti

In Appreciation of William Cowper

The nature of social man is in every human being, so a quest to be individual is clouded by the ideas and dogma of the social mind. Few seem immune to the many diseases of the mind and body that move through societies. In many ways we are trained to be sick. Our inborn desire to nurture causes illness to be rewarded with attention and concern from early age. When we observe new and modern diseases; AIDS, heart disease, diabetes, cancer we note that they now extend to our children manifesting in asthma, autism, and the multitude of imbalances, each bring the rewards of medicine and attention. Medical Doctors suppress the symptoms of these diseases from birth to the coffin and as a consequence you are never done with the medicine of suppression. The medical crisis lurks, but managing your mind and body discourages its appearance. Although medical society invites your dependence, you owe it to yourself to try and avoid the trappings of drugs and Iatrogenic (doctor caused) disease.

These traps include poisons from the modern processed food, modern medical medicine, inherited and modern mental delusion from the mind of others, including modern media and advertising that combine to feed fear into the universal mind creating a circle of circumstance that treats individuals like "straw dogs" (creatures made from straw that before the ceremony were worshiped, but after were trampled in the dirt). The power of big food, big medicine, and the attending hype complete a circle of human fear and destruction from which there is no easy release.

The nature of individual man is the quest of holistic inquiry. How can we find that path through life that matches our individual quest in life? How can we find the awareness to tell the difference between the noise of society and the story from within. William Cowper from his book, The Rush reflects that intention in this short vignette:

"Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, have times of no connection.

Knowledge dwells, in heads replete with thoughts of other men:

Wisdom in minds attentive to their own."

William Cowper, The Rush

My name is Bill Tallmon. I offer alternative health disciplines in natural health care and give homeopathic and naturopathic consultations for people with both acute and chronic disease. My Doctorate degrees are Naturopathic Doctor and Doctor of Philosophy in Natural Health. I am a long time reader of ancient civilizations and ancient and modern philosophies of European, Greek, Chinese, Indian, Muslim, and other cultures. I am a collector of ancient and modern quotes. My Ph.D dissertation Natural Health and the Biotech Revolution investigates the modern wave of biotechnology and the potential impact on health.

I invite any comments concerning adding to or concerning this article.

E-mail drtallmon@charter.net

When We Choose Misery Over Happiness

I am not one to feel sorry for most people. They seem to have a unique ability to cause themselves the most damage during certain parts of their lives. I have met some pretty self destructive people in my life. Being raised by a mother that lived in misery and love.

My mother had a difficult childhood. It seemed as if every corner she turned there was a obstacle either right in front of here or waiting just around the corner. Her father died when she was 12 year old. He was a farm laborer and didn't make much money. In other words they were poor...... She got sent to live with a few foster families and according to her she was molested by one of the fathers she lived with.

Soon her older sister invited her to live with her. My aunt was married to the owner of a pottery business and had 2 children about 10 years younger than my mother. My aunt soon realized she had a live in baby sitter that allowed her to stay out drinking most of the day.

My Uncle was what you would call a drunk back then, now we call these people alcoholics. Well any way I think you are starting to get a picture of my mothers life up to this point. It is probably safe to assume that this isn't the ideal life for a young woman.

The next event to happen in my moms life was for my uncle to fall in the shower one night after tying one on that night. He died soon after but my aunt seemed to make a another good choice and ended up marring the owner of the bar that they spent most of their time in.
The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. Allan K. Chalmers

By this time my mom was in High School and met my future father. It wasn't exactly a marriage made in heaven. My dad was always an easy going man. He seemed to let most stuff go in one ear and out the other.

As you guessed it they had a few children. Nice one Dad and Mom. According to the books I have read on Angelic beings. People that believe in the after life and angels. They tell me I had a choice and was able to choose my parents....... What was I thinking...... I should have choose someone with some money and a couple of parents that were deeply in love .

How did I end up here in this situation.

I ended up loving my parents like most of us. They seemed to be doing the best that they could possibly do raising me, my bother and my sister. My mom and dad ended up getting a divorce and I went to live with my father.

My Father is remarried to a wonderful woman that seems to bring him a lot of happiness.
I haven't seen my mother for a while now. She lives with a life of excuses and misery. Her childhood was not the greatest but that doesn't give her the right to bring misery into other peoples lives. She has made a conscious choice to live what seems to be a painful life. Maybe her choices in life have made me choose happiness over misery.

I have always wondered what it is that motivates someone to live a life of true unhappiness when it takes the same amount of energy to live a life of joy. Life is meant to be full of joy and happiness so start today by making the right choices to live a fulfilling life of happiness.

If you are reading this and can't make up your mind what kind of life you truly want to live visit me at http://live.spiritualideas.com/ . Change your thinking and change your life.

Greg Vanden Berge will help you create a new approach to life and discover talents you never knew you had. We can help you get the most out of yourself all the time. Start developing your innate strengths and abilities to start enriching your life TODAY !

Another Crappy Rule In The Bible

Book Review - The Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide

The Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide: Essential Skills for Living Well in an Overstimulating World

By Ted Zeff, Ph. D.

Copyright 2004 Published by New Harbinger Publications

Get ready for many suggestions and alternatives to life as usual when you read this book! Liberally sprinkled with real-life examples, you get to see how other HSPs like you have adjusted factors in their lives to suit them.

So many suggestions makes this a valuable book and somewhat overwhelming at the same time. Even with the author's own words encouraging you to take it slow and adopt a few things at a time, it holds the possibility of stopping a HSP in their tracks. You might want to read this one slowly, working on chapters with their suggestions one at a time.

What's very valuable about Zeff's perspective is his no-nonsense look at what really has to happen to be a happy HSP. He deals directly with the inner journey that is so important to reshaping life. He asks you to get clear on your goals, whether living the way you are now is either helping or harming you, how the impact of low self-esteem and not loving yourself affects you and how to constructively look at your beliefs to change your habits. He even gives a healthy six-month time frame to cement a new habit -- the longest I've ever heard quoted.

Valuable topics include:

• Coping with time pressure
• Calming your senses
• Finding agreeable foods
• Sensible exercise (at about 50% of your capacity, which is great for those of us who hate sweating)
• Getting external support while you are changing habits
• Thinking ahead to prepare in advance
• Learning to be more in control and other attitude adjustments
• The importance of routine and pacing your activity
• Nurturing your sensitive soul
• Finding health practitioners and healers

While highly instructive, Zeff's writing 'can be somewhat annoying. He is very repetitive in his points. For example, food choices, television and yoga seem to come up in every chapter. Additionally, his choice of words can appear somewhat judgmental in how he labels society and cultural norms. Still, I find some assurance in this as I know it was written by someone who is highly sensitive.

You may have heard or read some of this advice before cracking the cover of this volume. It is still good reading because perhaps for the first time, you are getting from someone who shares your sensitivity. That slight twist of perspective shows you how to take what the rest of the world does and modify it for your own peace of mind and body. That's a valuable skill to hone!

Then, there are areas included here that you might never have considered as alternatives otherwise, like Ayurveda. Exploring these choices can lead you in new directions and benefit you at the same time.

With each chapter ending with lists that recap the valuable points, you can easily morph this book into a refresher guide that keeps you in tune with your own nature. Read a list each day and you will keep valuable choices on the top of your mind. How much easier could it be to tune up your life?

Sarah Dolliver is the Founder of InnerVantage, the online community for inner-directed individuals (those who focus inward to restore). Her vision is to remove the stigma from being introverted or highly sensitive (HSP) to allow these individuals to lead rewarding lives that bring distinct contributions to the world. She educates, inspires and empowers them to use their gifts, talents and strengths as the basis from which they approach life.

Subscribe to the Awakening Your InnerVantage newsletter or get other free resources at http://www.InnerVantage.com

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Science in Management (Bentley College, Waltham, MA) and is a graduate of Coach U and The Graduate School of Coaching from CoachVille.

Change Your Thinking About Life

What do I do when I get down and out. Well that use to happen to me often and I seemed to suffer with some minor depression. It would seem like time would stand still. I would look at the clock and notice the time. Let's say 2:23 in the afternoon. I would look back to see what time it was about fifteen minutes latter and it would be 2:26. Wow what in the heck is going on with this clock.

I just couldn't believe it seemed like the day would never end. I would just sit there and think about all the stuff going on in my life, good and bad of course. This seemed to last until I was in my early twenties. I just didn't want to feel like this any more. I made a Conscious design not to get depressed period. I never wanted to feel like that again.

I read a book on ESP and in the book it described visualizing a rose as you went to sleep. I started doing this every night and while I was doing the exercise it seemed to make me feel relaxed in a way I never had felt before. The reason for the exercise was to teach you to visualize something peaceful. This in turn would put you in a peaceful state of mind.

Then a thought came into my noggin. What if when ever I start to feel bad or seem to be going into a sort of depressive state of mind I change my thoughts. It worked... I would start to visualize something else that made me feel comfortable and give me a peaceful feeling. Man was I surprised with my results.

Keep in mind I didn't think of this all on my own but I did put the pieces of the puzzle I needed to together that I needed to change my life. It seemed like I could use this form of self control in different parts of my life. If I was at work and someone made me mad.... Well this didn't work all the time... I still got mad. Let's pick something else OK.

I would worry about something on the job that wasn't going right. Then I would get irritated over something else that wasn't even related to what I was worrying about. Why did I take it out on the other person when what I was really mad about was something else. We do this all the time in our lives. We seem to get mad, get even or give up. Why do we do this and what can we do to stop it.

My main point to all of this is we can change our thinking and change our lives. We can learn new things to change our thinking. We don't need to give up hope that we will always be like this. Change the things you don't like about yourself. Do it today. If you need some help there is a great book that will help you change your life for the better.

You can find it at http://www.live.spiritualideas.com This book has a lot of tools to create the change in your life you want to have a more full filling life.

Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown. Ross Perot.

Start Living Your Dreams Today and Create a Wonderful Life For Yourself And Your Family. Greg Vanden Berge is one of the best inspirations on the planet. You will be hearing a lot about this guy in the future. You can count on it.

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