Jani Norman's Blog

July 22, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A publicist says native Chicago actor Dennis Farina, the police officer turned star of ''Law & Order,'' has died at 69.

Lori De Waal, his representative, says Farina died Monday morning in a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospital after suffering a blood clot in his lung. 

Farina, originally from Chicago,  got the Commitment to Chicago tribute in 2012 at the Chicago Film Critics annual awards.

Farina insisted his 2011 film "The Last Rites of Joe May" be shot in Chicago.

 

The film was the main event at the 2011 Chicago International Film Festival. At the time, Farina told ABC7's Janet Davies that he's thrilled with his career.

"I believe I'm the luckiest guy in the world, and I wake up and thank God for everything that's happening, you know, I don't take anything for granted," Farina said.

Born Feb. 29, 1944, in Chicago, he was a city police officer before turning to acting in his late 30s.

Farina appeared in films including "Get Shorty," ''Saving Private Ryan" and "Midnight Run."

Among his many TV portrayals was Det. Joe Fontana on "Law & Order." He starred in the 1980s cult favorite, "Crime Story" and most recently was in the HBO drama series "Luck."

 

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Just as we love ourselves despite the shortcomings we have, so should we love others despite the shortcomings they have.

Though it seems there are many spiteful and hateful people we must continue to love them. Not everyone that we cross paths with in this huge mass of time we call life will agree with us, or even like us for that matter, and sometimes this is our fault while other times this is purely a result of people seeing something in us that they wish could be in their selves. Nonetheless we should continue to love. There is nothing more creative than figuring out why and how to love people no matter how they treat us.

Love people without condition, love people because you know that love is the key to making the world go round, because love is the key to your heart continuing to pump healthily and without disturbance. Love people because doing so is the best way to encourage and strengthen others to get to where they dream to be, and in doing so you will love yourself to the point that you see your ultimate dreams realized as well.

Nelson Mandela in Critical Condition for Second Day Published:

June 24, 2013

JOHANNESBURG — President Jacob Zuma said on Monday that Nelson Mandela remains in critical condition for a second day in a hospital in Pretoria where he is being treated for a lung infection. “Doctors are doing everything possible to ensure his well-being and comfort,” Mr. Zuma said at a news conference in Johannesburg, but he gave few details about the condition of Mr. Mandela, who was hospitalized on June 8.

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Nelson Mandela OCCUPATION:Civil Rights Activist, World Leader, Journalist

BIRTH DATE:July 18, 1918 (Age: 94)

EDUCATION: Clarkebury Boarding Institute, Wesleyan College, University College of Fort Hare, University of London, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

PLACE OF BIRTH: Transkei, South Africa Full Name: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

AKA: Nelson Mandela AKA: Rolihlahla AKA: Madiba Originally:

Rolihlahla Mandela ZODIAC SIGN:Cancer

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These Are Quotes written by Mr Mandela:

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In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

Nelson Mandela quote

 

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Nelson Mandela quote

 

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

Nelson Mandela quote 

 

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy.

Then he becomes your partner.

Nelson Mandela quote

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Playing these numbers in his memory:

718-1918-7180-940-9400

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Jun 21, 2013

Moments  of Weakness

Read | 2 Samuel 11:1-5

The Bible is filled with examples of men and women who sinned against the Lord in moments of weakness. These true  stories—beginning with the account of Adam and Eve—are given to us for our  instruction (1 Cor. 10:11). The Father wants us to learn from the mistakes of  others.

Idleness allowed King David’s mind to contemplate adultery with Bathsheba. Weariness led Elijah to consider death preferable to life (1 Kings 19:4). Pride  may have played a part in Eve’s listening to the serpent (Gen. 3:6), while lust  may have prompted Solomon to desire many wives, including unbelievers (1 Kings  11:1-3). Add to these a sense of spiritual or emotional neediness and  emptiness, and we have at least six situations that are fertile ground for  temptation. In some biblical examples, enticement was resisted; in others, the  individuals gave in. I’m certain every one of us can identify.

While there are many kinds of  temptation, they follow a similar pattern. The eye looks, the mind desires, and  the will acts. King David looked at Uriah’s wife, inquired about her, and then  he acted. Another Israelite, Achan, who helped in the Jericho conquest, noticed all  the material wealth, coveted it in his mind, and took what he wanted (Josh. 7:20-21).

No matter what’s creating vulnerability, each person is ultimately responsible for his or her own actions. So in times of weakness, remember the word halt.  Its letters can remind you not to let  yourself become too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. Most importantly, fix your  attention on the Lord, draw strength from Him, and experience victory over  temptation.

 

Monday June 17, 2013

Dealing with it...

 

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." -Psalm 27:14

Jesus was unhurried, wasn't He? He never seemed to be in a hurry except when He went to the cross. That was it.

When Jesus was called to heal Jairus' daughter, and He encounters all these distractions on the way, He sees God in the distractions. Then He gets to Jairus' daughter and she's dead because He took too long. So He just raises her from the dead. The same thing with Lazarus. Jesus actually finds out about Lazarus and decides to do nothing (John chapter 11). He wants to wait for Lazarus to die so that He can raise him from the dead.

And of course, Jesus, throughout His life, is unhurried because God is unhurried. They're eternal beings who live in a different reality. They're not afraid of things like death or not accomplishing their goals. They live in a completely different reality. Jesus lived, and so should His disciples live, from a place of humility, listening, and an unhurried posture.

The sense of hurry that I normally live out of, and many of us live out of, often comes from either a place of pride or a place of fear. Sometimes when we create space for the Lord of silence or solitude, we have to face our inner demons, we have to face our struggles, our loneliness, our feelings of lack of meaning or fulfillment, and then we have to deal with them. So typically, instead of dealing with them, we just go back and hurry again, and get productive.

However, I don't believe that's what the Lord wants from us. Maybe He actually wants to teach us in those moments that he would rather we slow down so we can live the life he has planned for us.

Prayer: Dear Lord, I want to live the life you have planned for me. Show me the way to live the unhurried life. Amen.

Reflection: What do you think the Lord has planned for you once you slow down and take more time to listen to him?

 

 

Jun 07, 2013

Serving God in Ways That Honor Him

Read | 2 Timothy 2:4, 16-25

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he shared helpful instructions, which apply to all Christians. That epistle is a rich compendium of life lessons he’d learned in full-time service to the Lord.

The apostle knew that while certain people were serving God  out of love, others were “preaching Christ even from envy  and strife” and out of “selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives”  (Phil. 1:15, 17). As for himself, Paul said that from the beginning of his  Christian walk, he had been serving God with a clear conscience (2 Tim. 1:3).

Then, to introduce some guidelines for godly service, he gave Timothy this word picture: “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a  soldier” (2:4).

There are undoubtedly hundreds of ways to become “entangled,” but Paul gave one specific example—in verse 14, he cautioned against quarreling about  words, since that can lead to ruin. He also warned Timothy to avoid “worldly  and empty chatter” (v. 16), and urged him to “refuse foolish and ignorant  speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels” (v. 23). Paul summarized the  idea in the next verse by saying that “the Lord’s bond-servant must not be  quarrelsome,” but instead ought to be “kind to all, able to teach, patient when  wronged.”

How quickly our  service to God can degenerate into an angry debate. We at times think the only way to deal with  error is by strong argument, but there are often opportunities to correct  opponents with gentleness (v. 25).

When you touch someones life it is a privilege.

When you touch someones heart it is a blessing.

When you touch someone's mind it is an honor.

When you touch someones soul it is a triumph.

When you touch someones spirit it is a miracle.

 

 

 

 

 

Confidence to Face the Unknown

Read | Hebrews 11:23-29

The phrase “by faith” occurs five times in today’s  short Scripture reading from Hebrews. In fact, it appears in every full  sentence. Essentially, we are told that by faith Moses endured ill  treatment, left Egypt, observed the Passover, and passed through the Red Sea.

Why are the words “by faith” so  critical to this story? The reason is that Moses’ faith allowed him to join a  long list of biblical heroes who were called to move forward into impossible  situations, armed only with their trust in God.

Of course, at times these great men and women—Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, David, and many others—must have been filled with reservation and even fear.  Yet by choosing to place their lives in God’s hands and to follow His call,  each of them was able to accomplish great and mighty things in the name of the  Lord.

The path through life can be dark and  confusing; it can be difficult and at times unsettling to move forward with the  lantern of God’s guidance shining only a step or two ahead of us. We want to  know more, we want to see what lies ahead, and we want a guarantee of success.

Our worries and fears of the unknown,  however, do not in any way diminish or deter our sovereign, omniscient Lord.  Instead, He desires that each of us step forward in faith. He has promised that  when we do so, He will provide us with the guidance we long for (Isa. 30:21).

If you’re  currently being called to move forward by faith but are having trouble doing  so, call upon the Lord of Abraham, Moses, and David. He strengthened each of  them, and He’ll surely strengthen you.

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Jean Stapleton, the stage-trained character actress who played Archie Bunker's far better half, the sweetly naive Edith, in TV's groundbreaking 1970s comedy "All in the Family," has died. She was 90.
 
Stapleton died Friday of natural causes at her New York City home surrounded by friends and family, her children said Saturday.
 
"It is with great love and heavy hearts that we say farewell to our collective Mother, with a capital M," said her son and daughter, John Putch and Pamela Putch, in a statement. "Her devotion to her craft and her family taught us all great life lessons."
 
Little known to the public before "All In the Family," Stapleton co-starred with Carroll O'Connor in the top-rated CBS sitcom about an unrepentant bigot, the wife he churlishly but fondly called "Dingbat," their daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and liberal son-in-law Mike, aka Meathead (Rob Reiner).
 
Stapleton received eight Emmy nominations and won three times during her eight-year tenure with "All in the Family." Produced by Norman Lear, the series broke through the timidity of U.S. TV with social and political jabs and ranked as the No. 1-rated program for an unprecedented five years in a row. Lear would go on to create a run of socially conscious sitcoms.
 
"No one gave more profound 'How to be a Human Being' lessons than Jean Stapleton," Lear said Saturday. In a statement, Reiner added: "Jean was a brilliant comedienne with exquisite timing. Working with her was one of the greatest experiences of my life."
 
Stapleton also earned Emmy nominations for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1982 film "Eleanor, First Lady of the World" and for a guest appearance in 1995 on "Grace Under Fire."
 
Her big-screen films included a pair directed by Nora Ephron: the 1998 Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan romance "You've Got Mail" and 1996's "Michael" starring John Travolta. She also turned down the chance to star in the popular mystery show, "Murder, She Wrote," which became a showcase for Angela Lansbury.
 
The theater was Stapleton's first love and she compiled a rich resume, starting in 1941 as a New England stock player and moving to Broadway in the 1950s and '60s. In 1964, she originated the role of Mrs. Strakosh in "Funny Girl" with Barbra Streisand. Others musicals and plays included "Bells Are Ringing," ''Rhinoceros" and <snip> Yankees," in which her performance — and the nasal tone she used in "All in the Family" — attracted Lear's attention and led to his auditioning her for the role of Archie's wife.
 
"I wasn't a leading lady type," she once told The Associated Press. "I knew where I belonged. And actually, I found character work much more interesting than leading ladies." Edith, of the dithery manner, cheerfully high-pitched voice and family loyalty, charmed viewers but was viewed by Stapleton as "submissive" and, she hoped, removed from reality. In a 1972 New York Times interview, she said she didn't think Edith was a typical American housewife — "at least I hope she's not."
 
"What Edith represents is the housewife who is still in bondage to the male figure, very submissive and restricted to the home. She is very naive, and she kind of thinks through a mist, and she lacks the education to expand her world. I would hope that most housewives are not like that," said Stapleton, whose character regularly obeyed her husband's demand to "stifle yourself."
 
But Edith was honest and compassionate, and "in most situations she says the truth and pricks Archie's inflated ego," she added.
 
She confounded Archie with her malapropos — "You know what they say, misery is the best company" — and open-hearted acceptance of others, including her beleaguered son-in-law and African-Americans and other minorities that Archie disdained.
 
As the series progressed, Stapleton had the chance to offer a deeper take on Edith as the character faced milestones including a breast cancer scare and menopause. She was proud of the show's political edge, citing an episode about a draft dodger who clashes with Archie as a personal favorite.
 
But Stapleton worried about typecasting, rejecting any roles, commercials or sketches on variety shows that called for a character similar to Edith. Despite pleas from Lear not to let Edith die, Stapleton left the show, re-titled "Archie's Place," in 1980, leaving Archie to carry on as a widower.
 
"My decision is to go out into the world and do something else. I'm not constituted as an actress to remain in the same role.... My identity as an actress is in jeopardy if I invested my entire career in Edith Bunker," she told the AP in 1979.
 
She had no trouble shaking off Edith — "when you finish a role, you're done with it. There's no deep, spooky connection with the parts you play," she told the AP in 2002 — but after O'Connor's 2001 death she got condolence letters from people who thought they were really married. When people spotted her in public and called her "Edith," she would politely remind them that her name was Jean.
 
Stapleton proved her own toughness when her husband of 26 years, William Putch, suffered a fatal heart attack in 1983 at age 60 while the couple was touring with a play directed by Putch.
 
Stapleton went on stage in Syracuse, N.Y., that night and continued on with the tour. "That's what he would have wanted," she told People magazine in 1984. "I realized it was a refuge to have that play, rather than to sit and wallow. And it was his show."
 
Stapleton was born in New York City to Joseph Murray and his wife, Marie Stapleton Murray, a singer. She attended Hunter College, leaving for a secretarial stint before embarking on acting studies with the American Theatre Wing and others.
 
Stapleton had a long working relationship with playwright Horton Foote, starting with one of his first full-length plays in 1944, "People in the Show," and continuing with six other works through the 2000s.
 
"I was very impressed with her. She has a wonderful sense of character. Her sense of coming to life on stage — I never get tired of watching," Foote told the AP in 2002. He died in 2009.
 
Her early TV career included guest appearances on series including "Lux Video Theatre," ''Dr. Kildare" and "The Defenders."
 
She and Putch had two children, John and Pamela, who followed their parents into the entertainment industry.
 
Her post-"All in the Family" career included a one-woman stage show, "Eleanor," in which she portrayed the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Stapleton spent summers working at the Totem Pole Playhouse near Harrisburg, Pa., operated by her husband, William. She made guest appearances on "Murphy Brown" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" and even provided the title character's voice for a children's video game, "Grandma Ollie's Morphabet Soup."
 
For years, she rarely watched "All In the Family," but had softened by 2000, when she told the Archive of American Television that enough time had passed.
 
"I can watch totally objectively," she said. "I love it. And I laugh. I think, 'Oh,' and I think, 'Gee, that's good.'"

 

Top Ten Feng Shui Wealth Enhancers

Posted: 29 May 2013 12:22 PM PDT

May 23, 2013

Why We Miss God’s Will

Read | 1 John 5:13-15

The Father has provided the Holy Spirit to teach His children about His will for their lives (John 14:26). Why, then, do we have difficulty understanding what the plan is?

We make decisions based on emotion. When life presses in on us, our instinct is to move away from the source of stress or pain. At such times, our need to remove difficulties and turmoil from our life can take precedence over the Lord’s plan. We figure He could not possibly want us to feel this way, so we take action and then hope that we are in His will. Our emphasis is on ourselves rather than on God’s purposes.

We focus only on the immediate. Many times we come to the Lord troubled about the choices we or our loved ones are facing. We do not see how this situation could possibly be His will. Our short-term focus prevents us from seeing God’s long-term purposes.

We conduct a superficial search. In our desire for an answer, we can fall into a trap and treat finding God’s will like a checklist—read the Bible, pray, fast, serve, worship, give. Then, satisfied with what we have done, we press the Lord for His answer now. But we have neglected to give God the time and stillness needed for us to hear from Him (Ps. 46:10). Investing time with our Creator is a necessity, not a luxury, and listening to Him without distractions is essential.

How much Bible study is required to find out what our heavenly Father wants for us? What amount of prayer? What quantity of time? The answer is simple: Whatever it takes to hear from God. He will answer. The question is, Will we wait?

May 14, 2013

Jesus: The Only Way to Heaven

Read | John 10:1-11

 

 

While there are many religions, there is only one way to heaven. Jesus clearly states that “no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). He used several picturesque descriptions to emphasize this point—He called Himself the way (14:6), the door (10:9), the living bread (6:51), and the good shepherd (10:11).

God does not expect you to follow some kind of ritual to make Jesus the Lord of your life—you can use any words that you like. However, some biblical elements are essential when beginning a relationship with Him:

• Confess your sin and admit your need  for a Savior (1 John 1:9). • Place your trust in Jesus Christ as the only possible Savior, acknowledging that He died for your sins, was buried, and rose again three days later (John 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:3-4). • Believe that your sins are forgiven and your name is written in the Lamb’s Book  of Life (1 John 5:11-13).

Every person has a choice to make. Death is inevitable, but we can decide whether, on exiting this world, we will enter eternal torment or the everlasting beauty of God’s presence. Let me make this very clear: What a person believes about heaven and hell won’t influence God in the slightest. People will be judged not by their attitudes but by the truth of His Word.

Scripture declares there is but one way to heaven—through faith in Jesus Christ. His gospel is a straight path from the pit of sin to the glory of heaven, with the promise of an abundant life in between. What we must do is go through the Door and follow the Way; then the Living Bread will sustain us.

Here are four fundamental things to do to manifest money using the law of attraction.
1. Think more thoughts in a day of abundance than of lack of money.

2. Be happy now, without the money.

3. Be truly grateful for everything you have now.

4. Give the best of yourself to others.

Four easy steps.

You can do them if you want it enough.