New Life News – January 2009

(A monthly publication of the New Life Emmaus Community)

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT : Please forward items that you feel might be appropriate for this section to Rakbuck@flash.net .  This month’s Food for Thought was sent in by Lynda Martinez and is entitled “Ducks Quack! Eagles Soar”

 

No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice.

 

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

 

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

 

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'  Taken aback, Harvey read the card.

 

It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

 

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

 

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

 

My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.'

 

Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.'

 

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'

 

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

 

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.'

 

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

 

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

 

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'

 

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

 

He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It.  Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.''

 

'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

 

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.

 

'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it.  You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

 

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

 

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

 

How about us?

 

Smile and the whole world smiles with you... The ball is in our hands!

 

A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up... let us do good to all people.

 

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

 

 

THIS MONTH’S GATHERING : The January Gathering will take place at 7:00 pm this coming Tuesday, January 20th at Rolling Oaks Christian Church.  Directions:  The church is located at 1604 and Nacogdoches Rd (Behind Wal-Mart).  Please join us for our first gathering of the New Year.  Childcare will be available.

 

 

2009 GATHERING SCHEDULE :

 

January 20, 2009         Rolling Oaks Christian DOC, 7150 Stahl Rd, SA, TX 78247 210-654-1744 

February 17                 Bracken UMC, 20377 FM 2252, Bracken, TX 78266 830-606-6717

March 17                     Northern Hills UMC, 3703 N Loop 1604, SA TX

April 21                       Universal City UMC, 90 Winn, Universal City, TX 78148 210-659-5555

May 19                        New Braunfels 1st UMC, 572 W San Ant St, New Braunfels, TX 78130 830-625-4513

June 16                        Alamo UMC, 4071 Foster, SA, TX 78244 210-661-6265

July                              Joint Gathering: TBA

August 18                   Schertz UMC 3460 Roy Richard Dr (3009), Schertz, TX 78154  

September 15              New Hope UMC, 10155 Old Cimarron Tr, Converse, TX 78109 210-658-1220

October 20                  Bethany UMC, 4102 Eisenhauer, SA, TX 78218 210-655-5473

November 17              St Andrew's UMC, 7222 Robinhood, S.A., TX 78209 210-824-2465

December                    (no gathering scheduled) 

January 19, 2010         Rolling Oaks Christian DOC, 7150 Stahl Rd, SA, TX 78247 210-654-1744 

 

If your church/community is interested in joining the New Life Emmaus community for Northeast San Antonio, please contact the Lay Leaders to be added to the 2009 listing. 

 

 

LOCAL CHURCH GATHERINGS :

 

We are posting the day & date of local church gatherings in the newsletter to invite others to come.  Please update this information by replying to this newsletter if your church changes/cancels your meeting. 

Local Gatherings scheduled:


Alamo UMC: 2nd Sunday of every month, 12:15 pm, pot luck.
First UMC New Braunfels: 4th Tuesday of every month, 7 pm. 
Northern Hills UMC: Last Monday of every month, 7 pm. 
Schertz UMC: 1st Tuesday of every month, 7 pm. 
St Andrew's UMC: Fridays, quarterly.

Universal City UMC: 1st Sunday, every even month (except Dec) 7 pm – Next Gathering will be in February. 

 

2009 WALK SCHEDULE :

 

Walk#              Dates                           Lay Director                Site 

 

1503                June 11 – 14                Chivi Dagg                  Concept Therapy Center

1524                October 8 – 11                        Seth Walters                TBD

 

 

NEW LIFE BOARD NEWS :

 

The New Life Board will meet on Sunday January 18th at 2:00pm at Schertz UMC.  During this meeting we will finalize our slate of officers for elections to be held during our February gathering.  Officers will assume their duties in April. 

  
Positions open for election are:


New Life Spiritual Director
Lay Director
Assistant Lay Director
Secretary
Treasurer
Prayer Vigil Coordinator
Agape Chairperson

Newsletter Editor

Team Section (elected to a 2 year term)
1 man
1 woman    
 
Some people currently serving in the above listed positions may be willing to serve again and in those cases, they will be listed on the nomination list.  People can volunteer for the nomination list or nominate themselves at the meeting.  It would be good to have more than one person interested to serve in many of these capacities.


FROM THE LAY DIRECTOR :

 

 

EVERYDAY-USE TIP OF THE MONTH :  Homemade Solutions

 

Permanent marker on appliances/counter tops (like store receipt BLUE!) rubbing alcohol on paper towel.

 

Whenever I purchase a box of S.O.S Pads, I immediately take a pair of scissors and cut each pad into halves. After years of having to throw away rusted and unused and smelly pads, I finally decided that this would be much more economical. Now a box of S.O.S pads last me indefinitely!  In fact, I have noticed that the scissors get 'sharpened'' this way!

 

Blood stains on clothes?  Not to worry!  Just pour a little hydrogen peroxide on a cloth and proceed to wipe off every drop of blood.   Works every time!  (Now, where to put the body?)    

 

 

PUN OF THE MONTHJJJ :   Courtesy of Neil Bys 

 

 
"Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'" "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" Well, "It's Not Unusual."

 

 

PRAYER REQUESTS : In order to provide timely response in this area, we request that you forward any prayer requests that you have by “reply” to this letter.  Those requests will be sent out VIA immediate distribution to all members of the New Life e-mail chain. Please pray for my brother who was just diagnosed with 3 different kinds of cancer; A spot on the liver a spot on the spine and a mass around the esophagus. They just lost their insurance several months ago when the wife lost her job do to knee surgery and being off to long. 

My brother lost 40lbs do to the inability to eat or drink (he keeps throwing up). He was admitted for dehydration earlier this week and to try to stretch his throat.  Thanks, Becky Rummel.

 

PRAYER VIGILS : If you are a Prayer Vigil coordinator for your local church, don’t hesitate to reply to this email if you are having trouble filling your requests.  We’ll put out an e-mail alert and get them filled ASAP.  If you have questions contact Joanne Lawrence at Granny9001@hotmail.com .

 

 

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Would you pass the word that my autobiography book is very close to being published.  I'm expecting a February release date. I've been working on it for 14 years.  It’s a Christian/sports book being published by WinePress Publishing out of Washington, a Christian publisher.  If anyone wants to know more about the book please e-mail me at roneal@satx.rr.com or call me at (210) 241-4349. The title of the book is "Dreaming of the Majors-Living in the Bush" by Dick "Lefty" O'Neal.


God Bless


Dick O’Neal

 

 

NEW LIFE WEB SITE : Check it out at http://www.gbgm-umc.org/newlife-sanantonio . 

 

 

CLOSING THOUGHTS :  Sent in by Bill Bennett

 

A Christian

 

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, 'You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it.' Then he thought, 'Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet.'

 

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, 'Here, you gave me too much change.'

 

The driver, with a smile, replied, 'Aren't you the new preacher in town?'  'Yes' he replied.

 

'Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday.'

 

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, 'Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter.'

 

Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read.  This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as Christians, and will put us to the test!  Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself 'Christian.'

 

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

 

Watch your words; they become actions.

 

Watch your actions; they become habits.

 

Watch your habits; they become character.

 

Watch your character; it expresses your disposition.

 

The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not PROTECT you...

 

Stay FAITHFUL and Be GRATEFUL