Cybersalt Digest Archive

Cybersalt News

Oh look, Chicken Thursday!

In local Cybersalt news, there has been talk for a while now about putting a dog park in the empty grassy field next to Cybersalt World Headquarters, and last night while I was online I saw a picture of the plans on Facebook. My neighbourhood is officially going to the dogs.

Susan and I have lived next to that empty lot for all 30 years we have been here. At first it was forested, and then the gravel pit company that owned the land wanted to take out more gravel, so they logged it. What was left turned into a really nice grassland area — and it was fun to watch the little critters, especially the birds, change as the environment changed around them.

Part of me would have preferred the field stay empty and natural the way it has been. But I have lived in community with people for many, many years and I get it — a lot of my neighbours and fellow citizens are going to really enjoy that space. So good for them.

Today's video share is an oldie but a goodie — one of the earlier viral videos of the Internet. I apologize in advance, especially if you end up singing this song in your head for the rest of the day.
Click Here To Watch

Enjoy the rest of today's Digest.

~ Pastor Tim

A young vampire bat came flapping in from the night, covered in fresh blood and perched himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep.

Before long, all the other bats smelled the blood and began hassling him about where he got it. He was tired and needing a rest, so he told them to please leave him alone. However, it was clear that he wasn't going to get any sleep until he satisfied their curiosity.

"OK!" he said with exasperation, "Follow me." And he flew out of the cave with hundreds of bats following close behind him.

Down through the valley they went, across the river and into the deep forest.  Finally he slowed down and all the other bats excitedly gathered around him.

"Do you see that tree over there?" he asked.

"Yes, yes, yes!" the bats all screamed in a frenzy.

"Good," said the first bat, "Because I DIDN'T!"

We're really out here living the most difficult section of someone's 2060 history exam.

Eating too much cake would be the sin of gluttony. However, eating too much pie is okay because the sin of pi is always zero.

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."

- Joseph Campbell

As a nightclub owner, I hired a pianist and a drummer to entertain my customers.

After several performances, I discovered that the drummer had walked away with some of my valuables. I notified the police and he was arrested.

Desperate for another drummer, I called a friend who knew some musicians.

"What happened to the drummer you had?" he asked me.

"I had him arrested," I replied.

We said good-bye and hung up.

A few minutes later my friend called back and asked, "How badly did he play?"

Featured Illustrations are items well suited for illustrating or inspiring a point in a sermon, speech, or devotional. Funny, moving, or perhaps even graphic, the point of them is the point you make with them.

Susan Page writes . . . . 

“Waste not, want not,” asks everyone to pay attention to what they “waste” as that waste might lead to “want.”

Living outside one of our local conservation parks for twenty-five years has been a treasure, one that I deeply value. I have logged thousands of kilometres either on foot or by bicycle and have taken thousands of photographs of the beauty waiting to be unwrapped.

The Cybersalt Digest is a ministry of Pastor Tim and Cybersalt.

Cybersalt News

Sunday greetings everyone!

As you probably remember, a week ago I drove the pickup over to drop off a load of branches and yard waste — and couldn't unload any of it because the tailgate refused to come down. Today Grandma Cybersalt and I drove back over, and the gate behaved itself. The brush and yard waste are finally out of the truck. I did give the mechanism a generous shot of WD-40 between trips, so that may have made the difference. Then again, it might just be that the truck was afraid to misbehave with Susan around. Either way, I'll take it.

Today's video share is about a rare micro blue moon that's happening tonight — and as the saying goes, this is a chance you only get once in a blue moon. If the sky is clear where you are, step outside and look up.
Click Here To Watch

Enjoy the rest of today's Digest.

~ Pastor Tim

As an obstetrician, I sometimes see unusual tattoos when working in labor and delivery. One patient had some type of fish tattoo on her abdomen.

"That sure is an unusual looking whale," I commented.

With a sad smile she replied, "It used to be a dolphin."

If you fill a piñata with ketchup, you never have to host a children's birthday party again.

If we are to be serious about saving the planet, we should stop printing calendars. They're the reason our days are numbered!

"Failure is a great teacher and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer."

- Oprah Winfrey

Ooh...Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God?Or am I trying to please people?Please people...

If I were still trying to please people,I would not be a servant of Christ.

Heavenly Father,

Help us remember, that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night, is a single mother, who worked nine hours that day and was rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember, that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day, is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember, that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Help us to remember that those in our country that do not speak 'our' language may be able to speak the language of love, if we would be patient, and understand that they feel alone, and out of place, and are looking for a new beginning from a place of poverty, persecution, and hopelessness to a place of security, freedom, and a promise for a future.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts, not just to those who are close to us, but to all humanity.

Let us be slow to judgment and quick to forgiveness and patience and empathy and love.

Featured Illustrations are items well suited for illustrating or inspiring a point in a sermon, speech, or devotional. Funny, moving, or perhaps even graphic, the point of them is the point you make with them.

Rev. James Snyder, God's Penman, writes . . . . 

A lot of things in life, I am not very good at. That list could go on and on and on. Not only am I not good at some things, but I'm terrible at most things.

However, I am actually excellent at a few things. I think the top of that list is eating, which I do with a passion that might make you smile.

The Cybersalt Digest is a ministry of Pastor Tim and Cybersalt.

Cybersalt News

Oh look, Chicken Thursday!

For the last couple of weeks I've been teasing about a pair of companies I was buying. The transaction is now complete and I've started the freshening-up work the websites need. They are energizethemes.com and virtuemarttemplates.net, and between them they sell close to 100 templates. The idea is simple: when you're building a website and you don't want to get bogged down in the design side of things, you grab one of these and you can get on with the rest of your business. Energize Themes makes templates for Joomla — which happens to be the same software my own websites are built on — and VirtueMart Templates is the ecommerce side, since VirtueMart is the online-store add-on that runs inside Joomla. Both domains have now transferred into my name, and I have begun updating every one of those almost-100 templates to the latest versions of the software they run on. I'm very excited about this opportunity and having a lot of fun.

Today's video share is a funny little look at the quirkiness of human beings — but stick with it, because it ends with a really sweet message.
Click Here To Watch

Enjoy the rest of today's Digest.

~ Pastor Tim

George had died. His lawyer is standing before the family and reads out his Last Will and Testament.

"To my dear wife Mary, I leave the house, 50 acres of land, and 1 million dollars.

To my son Barry, I leave my Big Lexus and the Jaguar.

To my daughter Suzy, I leave my yacht and $250,000.

To my brother-in-law Jeff, who always insisted that health is better than wealth, I leave my sun lamp."

I started a company where you can borrow hunting dogs for the afternoon; it's called, "We Lease the Hounds!"

I'm in search of someone to assist with miking cows on my dairy farm. Must work well with udders.

"Do one thing every day that scares you."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Ooh...Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God?Or am I trying to please people?Please people...

If I were still trying to please people,I would not be a servant of Christ.

At a dinner party, the speaker who was the guest of honor was about to deliver his speech when his wife, who was sitting at the other end of the table, sent him a piece of paper with the word "KISS" scribbled on it.

A guest seated next to the speaker said, "Your wife has sent you a KISS before you begin your speech. She must love you very much."

The speaker replied, "You don't know my wife. The letters stand for "Keep It Short Stupid."

Featured Illustrations are items well suited for illustrating or inspiring a point in a sermon, speech, or devotional. Funny, moving, or perhaps even graphic, the point of them is the point you make with them.

Susan Page writes . . . . 

The wonderful, deeply rich life testimony of Joni Eareckson Tada has been a blessing to my soul.

You may be familiar with her story. She was an athletic teenager who loved the outdoors. One hot July day in 1967, at the age of 17, she broke her neck while diving into shallow water and was left a quadriplegic. Today, she is an internationally known mouth artist, a talented vocalist, a radio host, and the author of over 48 books, as well as being an advocate for disabled persons worldwide. There was a time in my life when Joni’s devotional book, Secret Strength, was a source of great comfort to me.

When I heard that Joni had been diagnosed with breast cancer, I honestly asked, “Why, Lord? Hasn’t she been through enough? She already deals with her disability with grace and dignity as she lives daily with chronic pain along with all that comes with being a quadriplegic.”

The Cybersalt Digest is a ministry of Pastor Tim and Cybersalt.

Cybersalt News

Happy Saturday everyone!

Grandma Cybersalt is away for the weekend at a church retreat, so I've been taking the chance to put in some long hours on a stack of work projects I've had on the go. I did take a break yesterday though — and a milestone break at that. When I broke my arm just over seven weeks ago there was no way I was going to be driving the pickup truck — it's a standard with a great big shifter coming up off the floor. But the surgeon's follow-up X-ray this week showed the bone has healed enough that I can finally start building strength back up. So today I figured it was time for a little test drive.

The truck mostly sits parked next to the house, and one of its main jobs is to wait for Susan to load it up with branches, grass clippings, and yard waste so we can run it over to the city works yard — they let citizens drop it off for free. Felt like a perfect short outing to test my shifting arm. I was very pleased to find it was up to the job. What was not up to the job, as it turned out, was the tailgate. I backed up to the dump spot, hopped out, and... the gate would not open. Now this isn't unheard of — the gate gets stuck once in a while, and the usual cure is to lurch the truck forward and back a couple of times to shake things loose. I tried that. Nothing. I tried pulling on the gate (my arm wasn't up to that one). I tried climbing in and kicking it. Nothing. I drove around the yard, which sits on a bit of a hill, hunting for bumpier patches to give the truck a good twist. Back to the dump spot. Still nothing. A kind fellow came over with his two good arms — between us we had three and a half arms — and even that wasn't enough. Closing time rolled around and I was the last one in the yard, so I drove home with a full load still in the back.

You can see where this is going. I backed up to my normal parking spot beside the house, walked around, gave the latch a little wiggle and a couple of taps — and the gate dropped open like nothing had ever been wrong. I had to laugh out loud. Of course. A good soak of WD-40 is on the assembly now, a bit of grease to follow, and Lord willing next Saturday's run to the works yard will be a little less interesting.

Today's video share is one I'm not even sure how to describe. It's probably one of the craziest creatures I've ever seen — and then partway through the clip you find out it isn't one creature at all, it's many creatures, which takes the whole thing to a whole new level.
Click Here To Watch

Enjoy the rest of today's Digest.

~ Pastor Tim

A young boy called the pastor of a local "corner" church to ask the pastor to come by to pray for his mother who had been very ill with the flu.

The pastor knew the family and was aware they had been attending another church down the road.

So the pastor asked, "Shouldn't you be asking Brother Simon down the road to come by to pray with your mom?"

The young boy replied, "Yeah, but we didn't want to take the chance that he might catch whatever it is that Mom has."

I told my daughter to check her attitude, and she responded,

"For complaints about attitude, please contact the manufacturer."

Mummies aren't from the Stone Age or the Iron Age ... they're from the Bandage.

"It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop."

- Confucius

The minister of a well-attended, strong, and enthusiastic church often showed himself ready and able to deal with any situation that might come up.

One Sunday, just as the minister was reaching the climax of his sermon, his own young son entered the church, ran to the center aisle, started making loud beeps and brrrmms like a car without a muffler, then zoomed right toward him.

The minister stopped his sermon, pointed directly at his son, and commanded, "Jimmy, park the car immediately beside your mother on that bench (pointing), turn off the ignition, and hand her the keys."

The sermon continued undisturbed after a good laugh by the congregation.

Featured Illustrations are items well suited for illustrating or inspiring a point in a sermon, speech, or devotional. Funny, moving, or perhaps even graphic, the point of them is the point you make with them.

Rev. James Snyder, God's Penman, writes . . . . 

In a few months, I will celebrate another birthday. Interestingly, these birthdays come every year. This year, if I've kept up to date, I will celebrate my 75th birthday. I never expected to get this far along in life. I always thought 75 was old.

If I believe one of my old uncles, my 75th birthday amounts to 7+5 = 12. So I will be 12 years old in a few months. I can't imagine what it's going to be like to be 12 once again. I guess I don't know the difference between 75 and 12. There may not be much of a difference.

The Cybersalt Digest is a ministry of Pastor Tim and Cybersalt.