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Serving Australians for over 130 years.
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One of the largest, most diverse not-for-profit organisations in Australia
Imagine working for the love of it
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Churches of Christ in Queensland is led by our Council, Board and leadership team
Donate today to help restore faith and dignity
Investments with heart
We are developing state of the art seniors living campuses in four locations
& community
Safe people, places and programs
Eldership and Church Governance
Regional engagement partners
Jake's story
Pictured: At the Queensland Child Protection Week dinner, from left Gary Edwards, CEO Churches of Christ, Jake Shields — guest speaker, Rachel Robinson, Regional Manager, Children, Youth and Families, Churches of Christ.
Jake, turning 26 next year, has been in out-of-home care for 13-and-a-half years, but for the last few years has transitioned to living independently with support provided from Churches of Christ.
Jake is now training to be a youth worker and wants to share his life skills and experience with young people in similar circumstances. He wants to make a difference.
"I just think it would have had such an impact on me, when I was in care, if support workers around me had experienced the same as me and could personally understand what I was going through — that's why I've decided to study a Certificate IV in Youth Work," Jake said.
"Don't get me wrong; I am so grateful for the consistent and above and beyond care I received over the years from youth workers, Darren and Dan.
"We had our ups and downs, but the communication was always honest, with no BS.
"They spoke to me as a human being, always with respect, and always wanting to help. You could always feel if staff weren't in it for the right reasons and Darren and Dan were.
"Something I will always remember from that time is: 'if a young person is old enough to be told about something, they are old enough to be a part of the decision-making process.'
"I've never forgotten that and I feel very lucky to have worked with the care workers that I have.
"I truly believe everything happens for a reason, and moving forward, I want to share that with young people in out-of-home care."
Jake remembers fun trips away to Tangalooma, camping trips and a drive up to Noosa to find his own way around.
Jake met youth worker Darren when he was 12-years-old and built a sort of love / hate brotherly relationship with him.
"When I was about 16, we decided — that is the Supported Independent Living Service (SILS) Team Leader, Carmen, my youth workers and I — it was time to try supported independent living.
"We started with one night a week to get a feel for it over the course of a few weeks. I was struggling with that one-on-one attention that I felt I was missing in care, so we decided to expediate the process.
"Though the motivation to cook and clean for myself initially was very challenging!
"Once every two weeks, we'd go to Woolworths with a set budget and get food to cook for dinner that night, so I was doing modules for the SILS training program without knowing it.
"Getting used to doing things by myself.
"I now live by myself and love it. I am training to be a youth worker, which takes most of my focus and I'll definitely be hitting up Darren and Churches of Christ for work placement when it comes time.
"I've also volunteered for many years with CREATE Foundation, the care sector's peak body, and I'm a big believer in encouraging young people to have a voice.
"Young people need to voice their views and opinions. I've had the opportunity to meet with government ministers and department Director-Generals and be on focus groups to share my experience of the statutory care system.
"I think the most successful initiative I've participated in during my voluntary work with CREATE has been their Next Step program, which focuses on 15-25-year-olds and gives them that extra support.
"It's a great help for young people transitioning to supported independent living to help with finding a house, a job, access to government funding; whatever they need.
Jake is driven to work in the sector that he grew up in to help young people from comparable backgrounds navigate out-of-home care and help them build their capacity to ultimately live productive, self-governing lives.
"I'm the sort of person, I walk into a room and walk out with everyone happy; I'm a bubbly guy," Jake said.
"In my experience, there's not many youth workers with the background care experience that I've had and I think sharing my knowledge will make a massive difference to another young person's life.
"I want them (young people in care) to know that they should always ask for help, because it will be there, if they ask.
"To not be afraid to voice your opinion as a young person in out-of-home care. You have a voice. Especially with your youth workers, they are there to help, so ask for it while you can. They can point you in the right direction, like organisations like CREATE.
"And most importantly, never give up."
The power of animals
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It's a family affair
Twenty-one-year-old sister the key to her family's heart
The keys to unlock poverty is social housing investment
The one who teaches children good manners
Warwick Seniors Health & Lifestyle Expo
Elders acknowledged for connecting children to culture
Child Protection Award-winning program supports Jindalee students
First sod turned at Little Mountain Affordable Housing Development
Coming to the rescue of Logan family facing homelessness
Resident wellbeing takes centre stage at expo
Innovative partnership welcomes NDIS clients home to Warwick
Learn about local Home Care services at IGA on Thursday 15 July
St James Fete and Open Day
Tuesday 8 June, 2021
Beryl Wiltshire Scholarship helps St George trainee pursue a career in care
Mothers Day Morning Tea Boonah
Mothers Day Morning Tea Warwick
Regency Park Open Day and Art & Craft Expo
On-demand webinar: The cognitive benefits of music
Mental Health Workshop: Stress (How to manage and reduce it)
Intensive Family Support Services 'School Readiness'
CYF Blog
Warwick local maintains connection with furry companion in aged care
Southern Cross Soloists Virtual Concert
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We have finally broke ground on this Cayman Island Luxury Home!
We are so excited to announce that we have finally broke ground on our Cayman Islands Project!!
Grand Cayman is the largest of the Cayman Islands of the British Crown Colony. It lies in the Caribbean Sea and its warm tropical ambiance draws tourists to its shores. In recent years, Grand Cayman has made its mark not only as a top tourist destination, but as an important financial center. Its capital city of George Town is home base for more than 500 banks, and a leader in offshore banking. With the proliferation of condominium development in Grand Cayman, a lot of retirees are now enjoying their retirement days in the island.
Life in the island is focused on the sea. The powdery sand of the famous Seven Mile Beach beckons tourists. There is no denying that the beaches in Cayman Islands are considered to be world class. The abundant marine life makes the waters of Cayman Islands perfect for new and seasoned snorkelers and scuba divers.
George Town harbor is peppered with quaint gingerbread-style buildings that are the essence of the island's traditional architecture. Though only about 22 miles long and 8 miles across at its broadest point, the island is highly evolved. There are nightclubs that feature international personalities, Michelin restaurants and luxurious accommodations for guests across the globe.
The downtown area offers the best restaurants, bars and shopping. All establishments are air-conditioned for customers' comfort. Walking and biking are the major mode in traversing the length of West Bay Road and whole of George Town itself. For those who would like to tour the island by car, a well-maintained road circles the island.
Some of the Caribbean's, if not the world's, best diving sites are in the Cayman Islands. Inexperienced adventurers will enjoy snorkeling and swimming with some stingray. Seasoned and even beginner divers can choose to explore the dramatic drop-offs in the waters of the triumvirate of islands. There are excellent wreck dives a few strokes from the shore. Vibrant coral reefs that were lost due to the effects of global warming have bounced back to a very healthy level.
The Cayman Islands is not all about water and underwater adventures. The rich history and hodgepodge of cultures make the Cayman Islands and its people quite interesting study. There are museums, botanical parks and national trusts that showcase the rich and colorful past of the islands. The long stretches of powdery sand beaches are perfect for lounging and relaxing. The virtually untouched forests and preserved caves are perfect hiking destinations to commune with nature.
We can't wait to share with you the progress of this project! Stay tuned for more!!


• Don't settle for anything less than the best holster belt!
• Won't stretch, bend, or sag.
• A strong and secure belt for your IWB or OWB holsters, mag holsters, flashlights, and any other gear you have!
• This 1.5 inch 14 ounce Premium Full Grain US Leather belt is strong enough to carry all your gear and stylish enough for discreet everyday use.
• The belt is made from one piece of Full Grain 14 ounce US Leather. No plastics inserts or multiple laminations so you don't have to worry about the belt falling apart!
• If you have ever carried a firearm you know that the average department store belt doesn't cut it!
The most accurate way to size your belt from Freedom Holsters is to take a measurement of a belt you currently wear with your holster. Measure from the middle of the buckle to the middle belt hole to get your belt size. That number of inches is your belt size. Each belt has 7 holes, which are each 1-inch apart for greater adjust ability. Exchanges are possible if need be.


Whether you plan a romantic weekend, family holiday, or outdoor adventure, Lemon Peel House does not compromise on style. Attention to detail in a unique setting will make your stay special.
Space, views, high decorative ceilings, original fittings. Ornate plaster ceiling mouldings are complimented by exquisite 1930s lighting of coloured glass with beading and cherubs. Cedar double doors and sash windows. Antiques combine with mid century furniture and modern luxury. Large north facing flagstone entertainment terrace leads to extensive gardens.
Three bedrooms offer high quality king size Sealy beds with luxury linen and towels. Marimekko curtains, dimable art deco lights and antique furniture add an eclectic touch. Choose from two bathrooms both with hansgrohe rain showers. Our newly installed contemporary Wet Room has walk-in shower and heated towel rails.
Summer or winter relax, unwind and entertain. Deckchairs on the terrace for summer drinks. Relax and unwind on large sofas in front of a roaring fire for "Christmas in July". Enjoy the rhododendrons in Spring. Lemon Peel's wood and stonetop kitchen fitted with gourmet appliances opens onto a large dinning room - perfect for Sunday brunch or long lazy dinners.
Lemon Peel has a fully equipped new kitchen with wood cabinets and stone workbench, hob, oven, large fridge, dishwasher, ample cooking equipment, toaster, blender, kettle, full knife set, dinner service for 8, wine / champagne / water glasses. Open plan dinning room has mid century rosewood table and chairs. Double doors lead to a large living room with windows over the golf course, marble open fireplace, sofas to sit six to eight, television and door to the stone terrace.
Three bedrooms over look Lemon Peel gardens and have Sealy king size beds, antique chest of drawers. Sheridan duvets, towels and bed linen are provided. Two bathrooms are fully equipped with luxury touches, hair dryer included. Ironing facilities.
The stone terrace has an outdoor dinning area sitting six and a Weber bbq. The garden is a delight leading down to Leura Golf Club and walking tracks.
Lemon Peel House has ducted central heating as well as a high fire in the sitting room - for cozy winter nights.
Free broadband WiFi is included with streaming TV / Movies and Netflix.
Luxury self contained accommodation for up to 6 guests.


Weather forecast in Beaver today, tomorrow, weekend, week.
+26.7 oC, fair weather, pressure: 690 mmhg, humidity: 26%, wind: southwest, 7 m/s .
Day air temperature +12...+27 °C.
Day air temperature +18...+31 °C.
Cloudy with sunny breaks, mainly without precipitation, wind north, 7 m/s.
Fair weather, without precipitation, wind west, 1 m/s.
Sunny with cloudy periods, without precipitation, wind southeast, 5 m/s.
Fair weather, without precipitation, wind southwest, 10 m/s.
Day air temperature +20...+32 °C.


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The Girl Who Cried Love
"Was it love, or was it the idea of being in love?"–Pink Floyd
The tag line for this blog, "confessions of a self-reforming loser in love," was inspired by a conversation with my brother about a year and a half ago. We were en route to my old house so he could pick up the plethora of psychology books left to him by our cousin, Rachelle, who passed away a few years earlier. The house was on the market, I was clearing it out, and Danny was in town for the weekend. He had met my new boyfriend, B, at a dinner the night before.
I asked him what he thought. "He seems like a great guy," he said. Then silence. Deafening silence. "And?" I prompted. Pause. "Just don't rush into anything," he said. Umm . . . OK. "What do you mean? " I probed. He continued, "You're a devoted mother, a smart woman, and you've accomplished a lot in your career." Pause . . . "But, well . . ." Pause. "You don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to relationships."
DONG! Went the anvil. (It was a time of many anvils.) You can tell an understatement when you hear one. So being an unrelenting truth-seeker who never knows when to leave well enough alone, I continued my quest: "So what you're really saying is, you think I'm a loser in love." He replied, "Umm . . . yeah, I wouldn't put it in those terms, but I guess that's basically what I'm saying."
You know in the cartoons where Wile E. Coyote gets pissed and he's got the steam coming out of his ears? I became Wile E. I tried to defend myself, but it was no use. To the outer universe, his version of me was dead-on: For nearly 40 years, I never seemed to be able to get the love thing right. Picture my face, in the Love File, with big, red, capital letters stamped diagonally across: "LOSER!" No, I hadn't gotten it right when I was supposed to, as my brother had, wedded at 26. Harrumph. Easy for you to judge, you up there on your high horse, I thought, steam spewing. How's the view from your happily-married-the-first-time-to-the-right-person perch?
The "new me"–the evolved, therapized version, the one who ditched her bad marriage–was annoyed by the assumption that just because I hadn't gotten it right didn't mean I wouldn't this time. Didn't I get any credit for learning something, some points for personal development (my brother is, after all, a psychologist)? OK, maybe I was the girl who cried love so many times before, only to see or make it fall apart months, sometimes years later. But did that mean that it would never come together for me? Just because I was a loser in love, did that mean I was destined to remain so for the rest of my years?
As luck would have it, no. While I am no expert–in fact, quite the opposite–I do know this: Love shows up when it damned well feels like it. Love is not about shoulds or proper timing or what's best for you at this very moment in your life. It doesn't know its place. Sometimes it hides or runs for cover. But your heart knows when it's there. And when it finds you, do yourself a favor and let it in.
I found B in the best of all possible places: online. It was Thanksgiving week 2008. The flirtation with the old friend having run its course, I felt ready to get out there and meet new people, despite the fact that one of my friends was adamant that I wait two years before dating. (Two years??? My therapist disagreed. He believed I had been sleepwalking through my marriage for over five years, so there was no harm in getting out there now. I figured he knew more. Besides, I liked his answer better.) The last time I was single in the mid-1990's, online dating was in its infancy; it seemed to be the land of the lost. But since then, a number of people I've known have happily found their partners that way–and I would not describe any of them as desperate or even lonely hearted. I was willing to give it a try.
When I saw his profile, again, the anvil. But it wasn't the photos that drew me in like quicksand–the one on the opening screen was black and white and, though I liked its artistry, it was hard to make out his features. No, what got me was his profile description. He wrote beautifully; in just a few sentences, my heart took in that he was sweet, funny, smart, humble, a devoted dad, and kind of shy. We had common interests–hiking, photography, reading, movies, animals. His son was a year older than my daughter, and he, too, was separated. He sounded so . . . sweet. Adorable. Someone I really wanted to meet. (After which I clicked through to the other pictures. Then I really wanted to meet him.)
So I sent him a "teaser" e-mail. But I didn't hear back. At least, I thought I hadn't heard back. I was disappointed, quite. A couple of weeks went by, and I decided to sign up for a six-month membership. It was then that I saw his reply, which came soon after I sent the teaser. I didn't realize you had to sign up for the service to get the reply! Doh! I wrote back quickly, excited and nervous. Meanwhile, he had just about given up on online dating and was about to cancel his membership, but decided to check in one more time. And there was my reply to his reply in his inbox.
The rest, it seems, is history. We had a magical first date on Boxing Day and then didn't see each other for nearly two weeks, because I was off to Florida the next day; upon my return I learned I had a double ear infection and was sidelined. But while I was away we spoke every night–he was my New Year's Eve date via cellphone–and when I got back we spoke or e-mailed every night, and by the time our second date happened, I was pretty sure I was falling in love.
What makes this love different from the others? I'm older. I'm smarter. I've made enough mistakes by now, and yes, I've learned from them. And I decided that this time, I would look for someone who would love me for me, and who I would love for them. No molding, no putting anyone on pedestals.
As I write, it's been nearly two years, and I have no doubt that B is the love of my life. The more time we spend together, the more certain I become. Our relationship was tested rigorously this past year with E's health crisis, and time and again, he was my voice of reason, my rock. His support was unwavering. Lesser men would have said sayonara a few months in. Not him.
So can the Girl Who Cried Love actually find the real thing? Yes, she can! And she did. Even my brother now agrees.
December 23, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Advice, Boxing Day, Cyber Relationships, Dating, Florida, Online dating service, Personals, Relationships | Leave a comment
An Act of Love and Friendship
As you can gather from what I've been writing about, these past two years have been extraordinary. It's as if somewhere in the middle of 2008, the big, red curtain on my life's Act One scurried to its close. Then, a short time later, Act Two trumpeted in; the curtains brushed open to an entirely new setting. Our main characters were the same, though one was relegated to the wings; and new characters emerged, their importance to be revealed.
It's been high drama ever since, not fully by my own design. Several key plot points later, I reflect on what I've been offered that I have appreciated the most: the gift of listening.
My senior-year high school English teacher, the fabulous Mr. Franke, used to go around the classroom asking difficult, sometimes impossible questions about whatever we were reading–King Lear, The Bible, or one of the Greek tragedies, perhaps. No one wanted to be wrong, lest they get a zero for class participation that day. So most kids–even our top-ranked students–would just reply, "I don't know, Mr. Franke." Since I clearly was not going to be the class valedictorian, I figured, "Aw, hell! May as well try." When he called on me, I'd offer something, anything; occasionally I'd hit on something that would garner an approving nod. But more often than not, he would hear me out, then deadpan (with a bemused smirk), "OK, I think I've heard enough psycho-babble for the day" and move onto someone else.
I've been doing more than my share of psycho-babbling these past few years. And while I think there's meaning there (on most days), it is high time to say "thank you" for your ears and your attention.
Really listening to someone–without feeling the need to interject, offer comparisons to your own life, or solve the problem–seems to be an increasingly rare skill today. But it's a beautiful act and one I think about a lot and try to emulate.
In the days of Jane Austen, the art of conversation was revered. But in the world of tweets and gadgets, fully engaging yourself in doing just one thing is almost unusual. Listening with your whole self requires empathy, patience, and self-control. But when you really take someone in, let them tell their story, and offer comfort by focusing on what they're saying, it is one of the most generous things you can do. Without saying anything, you are showing them that they are important, that what they have to say matters and that they're worthy of your time. It is, quite simply, an act of love.
So it's the holiday season, and a good time to reflect on all of the generosities that have come my way. And given these high drama years, what I'm probably most grateful for are the friends and family who have been there, allowing me to vent, sometimes just psycho-babble, sometimes more, offering advice when needed, but often just listening. More than anything, thanks for that. I look forward to continuing to share the Second Act with you.
December 17, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Surviving the Recovery
We are hard-wired for the happy ending. Maybe this is just human nature, American culture, or maybe it's Disney's fault. But I can't offer you a happy ending right now; I can tell you we're in a happier in-between space.
That's the snapshot of our lives right now. There are more smiles and more laughter. The abject horror of our day-to-day reality has given way to stiller waters. But there is also trepidation of what's next; the uncertainty is a challenge unto itself. The biggest unknown of all, of course, is whether E will continue on her upward climb; whether this will end in full recovery, continue to require ongoing management, or will regress to instability. The in-between space is hard to navigate and even harder to explain in three sentences or less, which is what the average person hopes to hear when they ask how she's doing. But it's trickier than elevator pitch timing would allow.
One of my oldest friends has had a much more difficult health crisis with her son, who just completed treatment for leukemia. I remember when we last spoke several months ago she told me that his treatments would end in September. Trying to be supportive, I offered, "I bet you'll be so relieved." No, mostly she feared that she would fall apart when his treatments were completed. Though his prognosis is very promising–a very high percentage achieve full recovery–come September they would enter the five-year wait-and-see phase before they could say for sure that he was cured.
Sometimes when you emerge from a crisis, it's scary to look back or forward. As for us, we are doing lots better. E still needs her weekly shot and a pill every night that helps the shot work better. She is off the heavy-duty blood product, gamma globulins (IVIG) and the nasty steroids. (That, in and of itself, is cause for celebration.) Our once-weekly visits to the hospital are now monthly; the weeks in-between, an at-home nurse administers her medication. Her numbers have been high enough that there are no more restrictions on her activities, so she has been able to get back to karate, dance, physical education and outdoor recess at school. In many ways, she seems like every other kid.
But not exactly. I still need to check her for signs of bleeding every couple of days. She needs to take it easy when she gets a cold or a virus so her levels don't take a nosedive. I still worry every day that she will wake up and tell me she feels something in her mouth. This is our reality.
We are both make-the-best-of-it people. But there is an emotional hangover to this kind of trauma. Physically she's so much better. Emotionally, she's improved quite a bit, too. The bouts of steroid-induced irrationality have given way to a much calmer child. But all those months of supreme bravery have taken their toll: She still grapples with mercurial ups and downs, is prone to tantrums and has trouble regulating her emotions. It's as if her psyche has reached its quota. So we are rebuilding, but just like her illness, her emotional health will take time to fully heal.
I am hopeful that I will be able to report a happy ending . . . we're just not quite there yet. When I look back to where we were, several times having witnessed near-death bleeding, it's a nightmare that won't go away. At those moments, the voice inside my head would say, "She will be OK. This is bottom. It's uphill from here." It took a few bottoms before we finally started clawing our way up. But I believed, in my heart, that we would get through it. And we'll get through this, too.
Divorcing for the Kids' Sake
One of my earlier blogs, "A Marriage Not Worth Saving: Signs That It's More Than a Passing Pissed-Offedness" dealt with some of the litmus tests I used to determine that my marriage was, in fact, definitely not worth saving. A comment from a friend, though, led to a further discussion that I'd like to chime in on: When is it better for the kids for parents to stay together? And when it is better for the kids for parents to call it quits?
I am by no means an advocate for divorce. My parents split up when I was four and I swore I wouldn't put my children through what my brother and I experienced. It was the 1970s and back then, the whole "amicable split" concept was pretty much unheard of, at least in suburban New Jersey. To our parents' generation, divorce was sport; extra points for whoever best mirrored "War of the Roses" (and lived to tell about it). Forget about the whole 'don't put the kids in the middle of it' idea that we espouse today. We were de facto hockey pucks.
My mom used to tell me that she left my father in no small part for us, that we would have been much worse off had they stayed together. Many times I tried to envision that scenario, but couldn't fathom it–largely because I couldn't even remember them together. So I never understood what she meant, and in some ways, thought that she was simply justifying her decision to assuage her guilt. Maybe in part she was, but that doesn't mean she wasn't right.
Now I get it. Yes, I ended my marriage because of me–I was terribly unhappy, not in love and our relationship was neither sustainable nor healthy. It swallowed me up; I became a shell of who I used to be. But I also did it for my daughter. Somewhere along my path, it became clear that staying together would be one of the worst things I could do for her.
I have tremendous respect and admiration for couples who have problems but find ways to work it out because the love is still there, under the rubble somewhere. But in my view, couples who stay together solely for the kids' sake–without the love, respect and trust that marriage is supposed to be built on–are doing those same kids' a huge disservice.
Why? Enter Connie, a woman I worked with over a decade ago. Wickedly funny and smart, with an inability to mince words, she was then in her late thirties, married with one child and expecting her second. Connie told me that the most important way she could be a good mother was to put her relationship with her husband first. That seemed strange to me at the time–still in my twenties, I hadn't wrapped my head around the whole 'having a husband' thing, much less a family. Whoa! But her words stuck with me, and I see the truth in them now.
Then there were a number of friends I've known over the years–more than a focus group, less than a quantitative study–whose parents stayed together despite the fact that they were miserable. In some cases, they were biding their time until the kids were out of the house; in others, they just stayed put, inert and unhappy, until death did them part. Uniformly, these children knew of their parents' unhappiness–sometimes at very young ages–and fervently wished they had split up instead of staying together and spreading their tension and hostility around like a disease.
Then there was the grandmother of one of E's friends who left her husband, but only after her three children were grown. (Her daughter, a friend of mine, belongs to the aforementioned group.) Now close to 70, she is living the life she imagined–traveling, spending time with friends, and being a devoted mother and grandmother. She practically hi-fived me when I told her of my separation, and said so many times she wished she had left her ex when her kids were young instead of waiting.
Then there was my mom. Remarried now, she was a single mom for all of my childhood. And no, life wasn't perfect, but she wasn't unhappy. She had a solid network of friends, loved to travel, had varied interests, built her own business and on most days, seemed to relish her role as mom. She was strong.
From all of this, I realized that if leaving the marriage meant E would have a more vibrant and happier mother (and hopefully eventually a happier father), wouldn't that be better for her in the end? And, in the best of all possible worlds, if I could model for her what being in a healthy, loving relationship looked like–wouldn't that be a good thing? But even if that didn't happen, if I were happier, wouldn't I be a better mother? It seemed to me that all of that would be better than what our "intact" reality had been.
Of course, at some point in their lives all children of divorce dream of having their parents back together. I do not mean to belittle this. It's real, and it breaks my heart to think of E's heartbreak. It's been two and a half years, and I know she still struggles with this loss. But my hope–and strong belief–is that eventually, this heartbreak will give way to a deeper understanding of love. I hope she will learn from this to choose someone who will be a partner to her, who will respect and honor her for who she is, and she will have the capacity to reciprocate. And mostly, I hope that she will never, ever settle.
December 9, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | 5 Comments
Staring Down the Fear
"Squeeze my hand if you're scared," E tells me. It is 5am and we are huddled together in bed, braving a violent thunderstorm. Terrified since lightning struck our home a few years before, I was trying to give comfort to her, my seven-year-old little dynamo. But she called me on it. She knew: I was probably more scared than she was.
One day I will learn whether she felt my fear about her illness much the same way, whether she saw through the brave face and semi-calm demeanor. It was a Saturday night, one year ago exactly–December 5, 2009–that E was diagnosed with ITP, a rare blood disorder in which her body's antibodies kill off its platelets. Two days shy of Pearl Harbor Day, this was our own version of a day 'that will live in infamy' . . . the day that changed everything.
That morning, she woke up again with a bloody nose. This happened the night before, but it wasn't excessive, not witnessing any other symptoms, I chalked it up to the dry heat. But on this morning, there was some dried blood on her pillow and her legs had several bruises with tiny pink dots surrounding them. And the sore on her lip–I assumed it was a chapped lip aggravated by biting, which she often did–seemed to have mushroomed overnight. No temperature, though, and she swore she felt just fine. She was aching to get to her karate testing that day to get her yellow belt. I agreed, but told her we would need to go to the doctor immediately afterward.
Once at the testing, another clue emerged. My little firecracker, so intent on getting to yellow, was positively phoning it in. She had zero energy, was barely able to complete any of the moves. I turned to B, my boyfriend (more on B later) and said, "Look at her. I'm worried." He agreed. This wasn't like her at all.
At the after-care facility later that afternoon, the doctor couldn't tell me what it was, but told me I needed to get to the closest hospital's ER for blood work immediately. I asked him what the worst-case scenario was. He said, "meningitis." Gulp.
We left quickly. The snow that had started to fall earlier was starting to stick; visibility was poor. I am still unsure, given my sky-high anxiety and the poor road conditions, how I got us to the ER–a good 15 minutes away–safely. It was one of those out-of-body experiences where you just autopilot it, I guess.
The ER at Vassar was quick and professional. They got us in right away. Once the doctor came in, I asked them the same question about worst-case scenarios. This time, the reply was, "ITP." It took four nurses to hold E down for the blood test. (We later joked that she got her yellow belt that morning and got to use it that evening.) Forty-five minutes later, with a platelet count of 3,000 (normal range is 150,000 to 400,000), the doctor confirmed that she did, in fact, have ITP and required immediate attention. An ambulance was on its way to take us down to Westchester Medical, where they had the specialists and a bed ready for E to receive treatment.
That was last December. Since then, we've logged in dozens of trips to the ER and overnights at the hospital, nail-biting moments awaiting results. On our second trip back–a little over a week after we were released–she was given a bone marrow test to make sure it wasn't leukemia. But the doctor–a star but not a procedure guy–failed to give me the beeper to alert me when she was done, so what should have been a 15-minute wait went nearly an hour as they tried to locate me (umm . . . I was in the waiting room.) I was terrified that something happened to her, but when they finally did find me, the news was good: There was no evidence of cancer. It was definitely ITP.
We celebrated several of the major holidays–New Years, her birthday–in the hospital. As the months went by and our trips became more commonplace, I learned who to trust and who needed to be managed. Above-and-beyond nurses helped us as we endured more than one apathetic resident and waited for the doctor's daily rounds to hear our fate. Were we getting out that afternoon? Or one more night? What next?
By early spring, it became clear that hers was a particularly bad case and needed more specialized care than the doctors at Westchester could give her. We defected to the top ITP doctor in New York City, a specialist who had experience using the latest treatments out of the biotech industry. The promise of better managing E's condition and getting her off the steroids/IVIG bandwagon and avoiding a splenectomy, which one particularly hard-core doctor was advocating. But a spleen is not a vestigial organ, so the promise of this new treatment–called N Plate–offered new hope. I was game.
We struggled through the spring and half of the summer until the new treatment finally started working. I had to give up work for months to be there for her, a big sacrifice both professionally and financially. (My mom stepped in to help financially. Otherwise I honestly don't know what we would have done.) In the spring, I was diagnosed with depression. Reluctantly, I went on medication for three and a half months, enduring the side effects to get me out of the fog and get clear-headed again.
No matter what, I made sure that every day, we found something to laugh about together. If I couldn't fix her physically, I could use all my mommy muscle to keep her spirits up. On the good days, I planned play dates and activities so she always had something to look forward to. It wasn't hard: We have been blessed to have such a strong and loving network of friends and family who made themselves available to us and went out of their way to help out. Hillary was right: It really does take a village. Sometimes you don't know it, though, until you need all the villagers.
If there is a silver lining to having a child with a life-threatening illness, the biggest comfort has been that this has been a shared journey. As parents, we all want our children to know that we are there for them, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Children take comfort in the knowledge that we would do anything for them if the need presented itself. ITP allowed me to demonstrate to E that I would put my life aside to take care of her. She knows I have her back.
As I write, we are not out of the woods yet, but our lives have vastly improved. She is stable enough that our once-weekly hospital visits are now monthly; the at-home nurse administers E's shot in the intermittent weeks. Getting our time back has meant a return to a mostly normal life for both of us–school and activities for her, freelance work (and the job of getting more freelance work) for me.
My biggest hope is that someday soon they will tell us she has fully recovered. And while we're not there yet, today didn't just mark E's one-year anniversary with ITP. It was also the day she got her orange belt. And did so with gusto.
NOTES ON HER ILLNESS: In children under 10, ITP most often happens soon after recovering from a virus. She had H1N1 two weeks before, and we believe this was the trigger that began our most terrifying journey. For most children in this age group–80 percent–ITP goes away on its own within six months. E unfortunately has fallen into the 20 percent category of children who have chronic ITP, which means it may or may not go away, or it may go into remission only to return to her later in life (in particular, for girls with ITP menstruation and pregnancy can trigger a recurrence.) Every ITP case is different; there is no set pattern. Time will tell.
December 4, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Bone marrow, ER (TV series), Health, Hematology, Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, New York City, New York State Thruway, Romiplostim | 2 Comments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


About a quarter of a million Minnesota workers had cause to celebrate earlier this week, as the state's minimum wage increased. However, millions of workers in Minnesotans and other states are still stuck in low wage jobs that do not adequately compensate them for the essential work they do. While Minnesota workers are doing modestly better than workers in most other states, the Star of the North is not immune to this pernicious trend of inadequate and stagnant wages.
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and Oxfam America entitled Few Rewards: An Agenda to Give America's Working Poor a Raise examines the plight of workers who earn wages from $10 to $15 an hour. The report notes that, "Even at $15, a worker with a family is only slightly above the poverty line ($24,300 for a family of four)." The report is based on 2014 American Community Survey data provided by the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota.
The federal minimum wage for tipped workers has been stuck at $2.13 an hour since 1991.
Prior to August 2014, Minnesota was one of only a few states with a minimum wage even lower than the federal minimum. Thanks to legislation enacted during the 2014 session, the minimum wage was increased to $8.00 per hour for large employers (i.e., businesses with annual gross volume of sales made or business done of $500,000 or more) and $6.50 per hour for small employers, effective August 1, 2014. The 2014 law included two annual adjustments to Minnesota's minimum wage; the second of these annual adjustments, which went into effect August 1, increased the minimum to $9.50 per hour for large employers and $7.75 for small employers. Beginning January 1, 2018, these minimums will be adjusted annually based on the rate of inflation.
However, Minnesota's minimum wage does not apply to "exempt employees," which includes bona fide executive, administrative, or professional workers, babysitters, employees subject to the provisions of the U.S. Department of Transportation (drivers, drivers' helpers, mechanics, and loaders), and various other employees. In addition, lower hourly minimums apply to youth workers (under age 18) and selected "trainees." Finally, after 2017, governors—acting through the Commissioner of Labor & Industry—have broad discretion to suspend the annual minimum wage inflation adjustment if they feel that there is potential for a significant downturn in the state's economy.
Even at $9.50 per hour (the new Minnesota minimum wage for large employers), wages are not sufficient to lift most households out of poverty. In Minnesota, 38.8 percent of all workers—nearly one million people statewide—make less than $15 per hour; over half of these workers—over 500,000 people—make less than $10 per hour, based on Minnesota-specific data from the EPI/Oxfam report. Furthermore, just over two million Minnesotans reside in families supported by a low wage worker making less than $15 per hour and over 1.1 million reside in families supported by a worker making less than $10 per hour. (The total statewide population is approximately 5.4 million.) Slightly more than a quarter of Minnesotans residing in low wage households are children.
Approximately 291,000 Minnesotans residing in these low-wage working households live in poverty; in fact, slightly over half of all Minnesotans living in poverty reside in these low-wage households. Another 555,000 Minnesotans who reside in low-wage household live "near poverty," defined as 200 percent of the poverty level. In total, one in five of the 4.2 million Minnesotans who reside in a working family live in or near poverty.
Women are disproportionately represented among low wage workers. In Minnesota, 43.0 percent of women workers make $15 per hour or less, compared to 34.5 percent of men.
People of color are also disproportionately represented. In Minnesota, 42.7 percent of Asian American workers, 55.8 percent of black workers, and 65.3 percent of Hispanic workers make $15 per hour or less, compared to 35.6 percent of white workers.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, the overwhelming majority of low wage workers are not young. In Minnesota, less than a third of all workers making $15 per hour or less are under age 25 and over half are in the prime earning years of 25 to 54.
Paid sick leave is becoming increasingly rare in today's economy; 43.3 percent of all private sector workers in Minnesota lack access to a single day of paid sick leave.
"The US is the most unequal large rich country in the world." In this regard, Minnesota resembles the rest of the nation, with an average income among the top five percent ($355,177) that is over 24 times greater than the average income among the bottom 20 percent ($14,750).
The Oxfam/EPI report puts forth a fourfold agenda to address the problem of sub-standard wages: (1) raise the federal minimum wage, (2) provide workers with access to earned sick leave, (3) protect workers' overtime pay, and (4) expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, which targets tax relief to low-income working families. Yet another approach to resolving the problem of inadequate wages is to strengthen the ability of labor to organize and collectively bargain for better wages and benefits.
Minnesota's 2014 minimum wage law was a step in the right direction in terms of easing the economic plight of low wage workers in the state, but even at the current rate of $9.50 per hour for large employers, it is insufficient to lift many working households out of poverty. Increasing wages for low wage workers will benefit not only workers at or below the current minimum wage, but will also push the wages higher for those above the minimum as wage scales in all job markets are pushed upward. Increasing the minimum wage is not just "a nice thing to do for poor people," but is an essential step toward restoring a prosperous economy in which workers can afford to purchase the goods and services they produce.


text:
The Central District of Robat Karim County () is in Tehran province, Iran. At the National Census in 2006, its population was 122,046 in 31,736 households. The following census in 2011 counted 195,917 people in 54,900 households. At the latest census in 2016, the district had 291,515 inhabitants in 89,270 households.

References

Robat Karim County

Districts of Tehran Province

Populated places in Tehran Province

Populated places in Robat Karim County

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


1:3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.
1:6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.
1:7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
1:8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1:11 My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.
1:12 What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas "; still another, "I follow Christ."
1:13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?
1:15 so no one can say that you were baptized into my name.
1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
1:19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
1:24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
1:29 so that no one may boast before him.
1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
1:31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
2:10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
2:11 The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
2:13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
2:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
3:1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ.
3:2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
3:3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
3:4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
3:5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
3:6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.
3:8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
3:9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
3:10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.
3:13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.
3:14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
3:15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
3:17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
3:20 and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
3:23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
4:1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.
4:2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
4:3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
4:4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
4:6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.
4:7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
4:8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings--and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you!
4:9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.
4:10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!
4:11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
4:13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
4:14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children.
4:15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus became your father through the gospel.
4:16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
4:17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
4:18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.
4:19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.
4:20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
4:21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife.
5:2 And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?
5:3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.
5:5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?
5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
5:8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
5:10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
5:11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
5:12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
5:13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
6:1 If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints?
6:2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
6:4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church!
6:5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?
6:6 But instead, one brother goes to law against another--and this in front of unbelievers!
6:8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.
6:10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
6:12 "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything.
6:13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
6:16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."
6:17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
6:20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
7:1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.
7:2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
7:3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.
7:4 The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.
7:5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
7:6 I say this as a concession, not as a command.
7:7 I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
7:8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am.
7:9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
7:10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.
7:11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
7:12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
7:13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.
7:14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
7:15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.
7:16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
7:17 Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.
7:18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised.
7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts.
7:20 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.
7:21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you--although if you can gain your freedom, do so.
7:22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.
7:23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
7:24 Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.
7:25 Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.
7:26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.
7:27 Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife.
7:28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.
7:31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
7:32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs--how he can please the Lord.
7:34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world--how she can please her husband.
7:36 If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married.
7:37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin--this man also does the right thing.
7:38 So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better.
7:39 A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.
7:40 In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is--and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
8:1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
8:2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
8:3 But the man who loves God is known by God.
8:4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.
8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
8:7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
8:8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
8:9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
8:10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols?
8:11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
8:12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
8:13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?
9:2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
9:3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me.
9:4 Don't we have the right to food and drink?
9:5 Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas ?
9:6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?
9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk?
9:8 Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing?
9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
9:10 Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
9:11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?
9:12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?
9:13 But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
9:14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
9:15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast.
9:16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
9:17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.
9:18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.
9:19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
9:20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
9:21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.
9:22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
9:23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
9:25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
9:26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
9:27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
10:4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
10:5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
10:7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."
10:8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did--and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
10:9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes.
10:10 And do not grumble, as some of them did--and were killed by the destroying angel.
10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
10:12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!
10:15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
10:16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
10:17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
10:18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
10:19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
10:20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.
10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.
10:22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
10:23 "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive.
10:24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
10:26 for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
10:27 If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.
10:29 the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience?
10:30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
10:33 even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
11:2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.
11:3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
11:4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.
11:5 And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head--it is just as though her head were shaved.
11:6 If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.
11:7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
11:9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
11:10 For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.
11:11 In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
11:12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
11:13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
11:15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.
11:16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice-nor do the churches of God.
11:17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.
11:18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.
11:19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval.
11:21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk.
11:22 Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
11:25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
11:27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
11:28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
11:30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
11:31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
11:32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
11:33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.
11:34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.
12:2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
12:3 Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
12:4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
12:5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
12:6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
12:10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
12:11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
12:14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
12:15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
12:16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
12:18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
12:19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
12:20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"
12:25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
12:26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
12:28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
12:30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues ? Do all interpret?
14:2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.
14:3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.
14:4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.
14:5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.
14:6 Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?
14:7 Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes?
14:8 Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?
14:9 So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.
14:10 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.
14:11 If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me.
14:12 So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.
14:13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.
14:14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
14:15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.
14:16 If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?
14:17 You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.
14:18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
14:20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.
14:21 In the Law it is written: "Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord.
14:22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.
14:23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
14:25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"
14:26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
14:27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two--or at the most three--should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.
14:28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.
14:29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
14:30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.
14:31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.
14:32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.
14:34 As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.
14:35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
14:36 Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?
14:37 If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command.
14:38 If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.
14:39 Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
15:2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
15:9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
15:11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
15:12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
15:13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
15:15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
15:16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
15:21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
15:23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
15:24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
15:27 For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.
15:28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
15:29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
15:30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
15:31 I die every day--I mean that, brothers-just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
15:32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."
15:34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame.
15:35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?"
15:36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
15:37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
15:38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
15:39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.
15:40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
15:41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
15:45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" ; the last Adam, a lifegiving spirit.
15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
15:52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
15:53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
15:55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
15:57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
16:1 Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do.
16:2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
16:3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.
16:4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
16:5 After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you--for I will be going through Macedonia.
16:6 Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go.
16:7 I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
16:9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
16:10 If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am.
16:11 No one, then, should refuse to accept him. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.
16:12 Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.
16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
16:14 Do everything in love.
16:16 to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it.
16:17 I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you.
16:18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.
16:19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.
16:20 All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
16:21 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.
16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord--a curse be on him. Come, O Lord !
16:24 My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.