Keep your car happy this winter

With another winter storm on the way for large parts of the country, we thought it seemed like the perfect timing to pass along Randy Williams' tips on winter car care.

EMERGENCIES
Like a good boy scout, your first order of business is to be prepared! A pair of warm gloves, a can of de-icer, and a window scraper are three essentials to every car north of Atlanta for the winter. If you live in the North or in areas of the country that are routinely hit with large amounts of snow and ice, don’t forget to carry tire chains or something similar in the trunk of your car. You’ll be forever thankful for these things if you ever need them.

PROPER TIRE TREAD
The next order of business is to make sure your tires have proper tread. Slick or heavily worn tires are extremely dangerous in all kinds of weather, but especially in winter weather. A little trick (taken from off-roading) for driving in slushy or snowy conditions is to slightly deflate your tires. This allows for more of the tread to make contact with the road. But remember, this is only for extreme conditions. Otherwise, tires should always be properly and fully inflated.

ANTIFREEZE
Cold weather can really mess with your engine, too. Think about it: all that metal is below freezing when the engine is off. Then, you start the car and within a minute, things heat up to well over 100 degrees in some cases. That’s why anti-freeze is a MUST in the winter. If you can’t afford to have your cooling system flushed, you can simply top off the radiator with an equal mix of antifreeze and water (a little more antifreeze if you’re living up in the tundra). You cannot, however, have only water in there because it’ll freeze and can crack the engine (because water expands when it freezes).

WIPERS
Windshield wipers really take a beating during the winter, so keep an eye on their condition. Streaky patterns or dangling pieces mean it’s time to change them. Also, refill your reservoir with winterized washer fluid.

INTERIOR/EXTERIOR
Although it has nothing to do with the performance of your car, you should still remember to take care of the interior and finish of your car. Salt and sand on the roads can really pile up, so a good rinsing every week can go a long way to preserving your car’s finish. (Don’t forget the headlights and mirrors!) Inside, find a good conditioning protectant for any plastic and leather. In the long run, this will keep cracks and damage from appearing.

If you’re like me, most of your car care happens when the clunker won’t start (or stop, or simply can’t decide). But, preventative maintenance can save us all a headache or two. Following these easy tips will help make your winter a little more carefree, as far as your car is concerned.

Homework, tests, and projects? You’re on your own.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's the last weekend of January, and we can't wait to round-up this week's news of the weird. We've got everything from a stray lizard to a car encased in ice in this week's news stories.

Ready to get this weekend started off right? Let's go!

The mystery of the grand piano: SOLVED!

Earlier this week, news sites all over the Internet were abuzz with the mystery of a grand piano that mysteriously appeared on a sandbar in Miami's Biscayne Bay. The piano was placed on the highest point of the sandbar so that it wouldn't be submerged when the tide came up. Theories abounded about how the piano got there and many people tried to take credit, but the mystery came to a close yesterday: 16-year-old Nicholas Harrington put the piano there and he has the whole thing on video. Harrington, his older brother, and two neighbors took the piano out to the sandbar on January 2 on the family's boat and left it there. Harrington doesn't like to call the escapade a prank, since his intent was to create an experience for boaters. It was also something he thought made help me get into a prestigious art school. The piano was an old movie prop (Harrington's dad is a production designer) that had been burned during a neighborhood New Year's Eve party. Harrington says he would have preferred to leave the whole thing as a mystery and had intended to remain anonymous (except for including the photos in his college application). But then the story went viral and others began taking responsibility. The piano has now been removed. To read more about this mystery, go here.

Out for a stroll

Residents in a Riverside, Calif., condo complex were in for a surprise earlier this week when they noticed a stray (nope, not a dog) monitor lizard ambling down the sidewalk of the complex. The lizard was so big that it even scared the animal services officer called in to do something about the 5-foot-long lizard. "She said she saw it and almost jumped back in her truck," said John Welsh, spokesman for Riverside County Animal Services. "The residents were freaking out because here's the Godzilla-like creature walking down the sidewalk." The officer used a catch pole (a long pole with a loop on the end) to catch the animal, which seemed calm at first, then started hissing. Black-throated Monitor lizards are carnivorous, legal to own in California and native to the African grasslands and parts of Asia. Young lizards generally cost about $100 in pet stores. Because this lizard is so big, the animal control officers think it was probably someone's pet and might have escaped its cage or gotten loose while the owner was gone. They're holding the animal at a local animal shelter with the hopes the owner will claim it soon. To learn more, go here.

It's an iceberg! No, it's a car!

And we'll just leave you today with this video of a New York man's car:


If today's online edition of the news of the weird just isn't enough for you, please check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec!

What you watch DOES affect you.

With mid-season shows kicking off on TV, new movies to choose from every weekend, and the uproar over MTV's decision to air “Skins” (a TV show that we would NEVER recommend you watch), we thought it was important to help you figure out what you should be watching and what's better left off your DVR. 

Here are some guidelines to help you decide what to watch and what to leave alone:
1. Do some research. What's the message this show is sending? How does that message or the subject matter it focuses on fit with the standard God has called you to? Is the show promoting a belief or practice you believe goes against God's standard? What values, lifestyles, and points of view are being lifted up?

2. If you choose to watch a show, consider how it makes you feel. If the entire time you're watching you feel like you're doing something slightly wrong, you probably shouldn't be watching. If a show's message, subject matter, or depictions make you feel uncomfortable or fly in the face of how you know God has called you to live, turn it off. If a show's theme, message, subject matter, or even the characters lead your mind to thoughts that you know aren't pleasing to God, then you shouldn't be watching it. As you're watching, consider: Does this show lead me to behave or think in ways that go against God's standard? If you answer yes, then the answer is pretty clear: this isn't a show you should watch.

3. Ask yourself if this is a show you should spend your time on. There's nothing wrong with watching TV or movies. We all need rest, relaxation, and entertainment and fun aren't bad things. But if a show adds nothing beneficial to your life and is primarily focused on situations that aren't pleasing to God, is it really worth the time you have? Our lives are finite, and we only have so much time on this earth. Make sure you're spending yours in a way that counts!

This month in history

by Adam Richards

Have you ever heard the saying “history tends to repeat itself?” We found some obscure events in history that are most likely never to repeat themselves. (And maybe some should stay that way!)

 Let's see what there's to celebrate this month!

1  {1852} The first public bath house in the United States opened in New York City.

2  {1890} Alice Sanger became the first female White House staffer.

3  {1876} The first free kindergarten in the U.S. opened in Florence, Mass.
    {1888} Marvin C. Stone patented the drinking straw.

4  {1863} James Plimpton of New York patented four-wheeled roller skates.

5  { 1959 } “Bozo the Clown,” a live television show for children, premiered.

6    {1929} Mother Teresa arrived in Calcutta to begin a legacy of work among India’s poorest people.

7  {1927} Harlem Globetrotters played their first game in Hinckley, Ill.

8  {1806} Lewis and Clark found the 105-foot skeleton of a blue whale in Oregon.
    {1954} Elvis Presley paid $4 to a Memphis studio and recorded his first two songs, “Casual Love”    and “I’ll Never Stand in Your Way.”

9   {1968} The first—and last—time to date snow fell in Mexico City.

10   {1992} American company First Days Inc. lost 29,000 bath toys when they were washed overboard in the Pacific Ocean.
{2001} Wikipedia started as part of Nupedia. It became a separate site five days later.

11  {1569} The first recorded lottery in England was drawn at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

12  {1966} Adam West and Burt Ward starred in the television show “Batman,” which made its action-packed debut on ABC.
{2004} The world’s largest ocean liner RMS Queen Mary 2 made its maiden voyage.

13  {1906} The first radio set was advertised (a Telimco for $7.50) and claimed to receive signals up to 1 mile.
{1985} Otto Bucher, then 99 years old, scored a hole-in-one at a Spanish golf course.

14  {1973} Tap dancer Ray Castle tapped 1,440 taps in a minute on BBC TV.

15  {1797} John Etherington of London wore the first top hat.
{1831} The newly married Piersons began the first honeymoon trip by railroad in the U.S. in Charleston, S.C.

16  {1868} William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit, patented the refrigerator car.
{1939} The comic strip “Superman” debuted.

17 {1806} The first baby was born in the White House. He was the grandson of President Thomas Jefferson.

18  {1733} The first polar bear exhibited in America was shown in Boston.
{1896} The first demonstration of an X-ray machine in the U.S. happened in New York City.
{1997} Norwegian Borge Ousland completed a 1,675-mile trek across Antarctica, the first time anyone crossed the continent alone.

19  {1903} A new bicycle race called the “Tour de France” was announced.

20  {1986} The U.S. observed the first federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

21  {1927} First live radio commentary of a soccer match. The match between Arsenal and Sunderland at Highbury ended in a 1-1 draw.

22  {1506} The first contingent of 150 Swiss guards arrived at the Vatican.

23  {393} Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed his 9-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.

24  {1922} Christian K. Nelson, an American from Iowa who originally emigrated from Denmark, patented the Eskimo Pie® ice cream bar.
{1984} The first Apple® Macintosh went on sale.

25  {1858} “The Wedding March” by Felix Mendelssohn became a popular wedding recessional after it was played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria’s daughter Victoria to Friedrich of Prussia.
{1870} The soda fountain was patented by Gustavus Dows.

26  {2004} A whale exploded in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing whale was suspected of causing the explosion.

27  {1894} In the first college basketball game, the University of Chicago beat Chicago YMCA 19-11.

28  {1807} London’s Pall Mall became the first street lit by gaslight.

29  {1959} Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty released.

30  {1958} The first two-way moving sidewalk in service was opened in Dallas, Texas.

31  {1961} Ham the Chimp became the first hominid in space and traveled 158 miles aboard Mercury/Redstone 2.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It snowed yet again here in Nashville, but the ec team is ready to get this weekend started. We just had to chip our cars out of icebergs first!

We hope you're having a happy Friday. . . and we've got plans to make it even happier with this week's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites." And if this round-up of the week's news of the weird isn't enough for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec!

That said, let's get on with show!

RIP Paul (the octopus)
Remember Paul the German octopus who made all those (correct) predictions about World Cup soccer? Well, Paul passed away late last year and the aquarium where he lived has been looking for an appropriate way to commemorate his life. And according to aquarium spokeswoman Tanja Munzig, fans around the world have been asking for a memorial. Well, the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen answered their requests this week, unveiling the 6-foot plastic replica of Paul clutching a soccer ball in his eight arms yesterday. Munzig said Paul's cremated ashes were placed in a gold-leafed urn inside the ball.If you'd like to learn more or see pictures of the new memorial, go here. To learn more about Paul, go here.

Who's there?

In further animal news, a crocodile in the Ukraine isn't feeling too well after eating a cell phone. First a little background: Gena is a 14-year-old crocodile who lives at Dnipropetrovsk Oceanarium in Kiev. Last month, Rimma Golovko was trying to photograph the crocodile and dropped her phone. The crocodile promptly snacked on the phone—which has been ringing in his stomach!—and has been refusing food and acting listless. The phone owner wants her SIM card back, since it contains her photos and contacts. Officials plan to take Gena to a clinic for an X-ray next week to see if the phone is still there. Medics are considering surgery as a last resort. To read more about this strange story, go here.

You got married where? 

Book your special day. . . at a funeral home. Yep. You read that correctly. Apparently it's a growing trend among funeral homes to expand the ways their facilities can be used. More and more, funeral homes are building "community life centers" designed to house all kinds of ceremonies and celebrations, ranging from funerals to weddings, anniversaries to proms.

"Over the past five to six years, more and more funeral homes are offering the use of their facilities to the greater community, whether it's hosting a full-blown wedding reception or offering meeting space to an organized community group," says Emilee High of the Wisconsin-based National Funeral Directors Association. In a 2010 association survey, almost 10 percent of the 627 funeral home owners who responded said they owned or offered a community or family center in addition to traditional funeral facilities. It sounds a little weird to us, but who knows? As someone said in the story we read about this trend, "a chapel is a chapel." To read that story and learn a lot more, go here.

Grammy-nominated David Crowder*Band Shines!

When David Crowder*Band’s  self-made new music video for “SMS (Shine)” debuted in October, it definitely did shine.



That's because the video "stars" an unrivaled 700,000 LITE-BRITE ® pegs. It also features dancing monkeys, jumping frogs, and, of course, an appearance from the David Crowder*Band themselves.

The video portraying a love story made completely of LITE-BRITE ® pegs was done solely by hand. Even details such as the piano playing in the background and the monkeys beating a drum in perfect time was done free of digital affects and computer animation. It took 2,150 man hours, 1,200 LITE-BRITE ® images, 83 friends and 148 pizzas to complete the video.

 In December, the David Crowder*Band got the news that they were nominated for their first Grammy® in the “Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album” category. The 53rd Annual GRAMMY ® Awards will take place on Sun. Feb. 13, 2011 at 8pm ET/PT on CBS. The awards will be held in Los Angeles at the Staples Center.

The premiere of the music video came just days after the first ever “David Crowder*Band Fantastical Church Music Conference” attended by more than 2,000 people in their native Waco, TX. The conference’s stellar line-up included Louie Giglio, Rob Bell, Matt Redman, Francis Chan, Matt Maher, Jars of Clay, Leeland, Gungor, Derek Webb and more.

Want to know more about the making of this video? Check out the "making-of" videos here. 


To learn more about the David Crowder*Band, check out:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
MySpace
YouTube

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

What's up, ec readers? We hope you're having a wonderful week and are ready for a great weekend. Since snow has covered Nashville for a week now, our team is ready for some warmer temps and fun. And we thought we'd get that started with this week's "Snippets and Soundbites." Enjoy!

The Last Supper . . . in lint.
Familiar with Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of the "Last Supper"? Sure you are. I mean, who isn't? Well, one Michigan woman thought she'd put her own spin on the painting and recreate it using a different medium. But she didn't go the usual route and pick sculpture or watercolor or some other classical art style. Nope, she chose to recreate the masterpiece in dryer lint! In order to create her lint masterpiece, she had to do about 800 hours of laundry to get enough lint. Wondering how she got lint in the right colors? She bought new towels in the colors she needed and washed and dried them separately to make lint in the perfect shades. The good news for Laura Bell, the lint artist? Ripley's Believe It or Not heard about the lint recreation of the famous piece of art and is interested in displaying it in one of their museums in the near future. To learn more, go here.

Pop Quiz! 

Those words may be words you dread to hear on any given school day. And so do Idaho lawmakers, it seems, especially after this week. On Wednesday, public schools chief Tom Luna appeared before the Idaho state Senate and House education committees to make a presentation about new technology that is being used in Idaho public school classrooms. As part of the demonstration, Luna asked the lawmakers two questions about their state's history and gave them each an electronic device that functions like a remote and allowed them to input their answers. Luna asked when Idaho became a state and which town was Idaho's first capital—and 17 percent of the lawmakers on the panels didn't know the answer to the first question and 15 percent missed the second. Oops!

But we at ec think we should give them a break. But mostly because if we were asked the same questions about our home states or Tennessee, we'd probably fail, too! If you'd like to know more about this story, go here.

Oh, opossum!
First off, we'd like to say that we at ec find possums a bit creepy. . . but we couldn't NOT tell you the story of Heidi the cross-eyed opossum. No, this isn't the beginning of a children's story; it's true! Heidi lives at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany and skyrocketed to Internet fame after a local news station posted a clip of a report about Hiedi and her new home in the zoo. The zoo didn't expect much to come of it, but the clip gained Internet fame and now the station has developed 10 episodes featuring Heidi and a local stuffed animal manufacturer has adapted its line of plush opossums to include a white one with black ears and crossed-eyes. Heidi is also quite popular on Facebook and as of Wednesday morning, had more than 111,000 fans. If you'd like to learn more about this story, go here. Want to see a video of her and her crossed-eyes? Go here. We're also posting a link on our Facebook page. 

And if today's online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" isn't enough news of the weird for you, please check out page 38 of this month's print edition of ec. Subscribe to ec here.

4th annual fiction contest WINNERS

What a day for winners here in the ec office. First we announce our photo contest winners, and now we are pleased to announce the winners and runners up in our 4th annual fiction contest. 

With no further ado, the winners are. . .

Middle School division:
Winner: Sarah Krull for her story “Party at Ray's House”
Runner Up: Mandy Hill for her story “Failure Folly”

High School division: 
Winner: Patrick Parker for his story "The Other Side"
Runners Up: Robby Hall for "All in Hand" and Kali Long for "The Move"

You'll be able to read Sarah and Patrick's winning stories in their entirity in the June issue of ec. Our runners up (Mandy Hill, Robby Hall, and Kali Long) and all our readers can check out their prize-winning stories here on the blog during the week of June 6.

2nd Annual ec Photo Contest WINNERS!

After much discussion and contemplating every submission we received for our 2nd annual photo contest, we're unveiling the winners today:

Scenic Shots category:
1st place: Brittanie Hignight
2nd place: Calen Reagin
Honorable Mention: Catie Foster

Faces category:
1st place: Christina Blake
2nd place: Melissa Seibert
Honorable Mention: Tracy Blackwell

You can check out the winning photos on our Facebook page. They'll also be published in the April 2011 issue of ec and featured here on the blog during the week of April 4, 2011.                                                                                                             

Seniors Only! Getting ready for college in 2011

Seniors, in a few short months, you'll be finished with high school forever! If you're going to college and need help figuring out what exactly you need to be doing during these last few months, this is the post for you (just like we promised on p. 16 of the January ec)! 

January

• If you’re taking AP classes, register to take all the tests. Even if you don’t think you’ll do well, you might surprise yourself and end up with several hours of college credit (and several hundred dollars saved). At the very least, you have another testing experience under your belt.
• Schedule another college day to visit your desired school. This time make appointments with admissions counselors, and interview at least one professor in your desired field of study.
• Choose a teacher, employer, student minister, or club sponsor to write your letters of recommendation. Research exactly what your school requires and go ahead and contact your references. Be sure to send them a thank you note for recommending you.
• Finish filling out all applications and apply for scholarships.
• Apply for financial aid (FAFSA). You may start applying as early as January 1. This application will determine your eligibility for loans, work study, and grants. It’s a lengthy process and must be completed by March 1, so start now.

February

• Talk to someone a year older than you who received scholarships. Ask for help on applying for specific scholarships, writing letters, and standing out from other applicants.
• Review your Student Aid Report (SAR) and double check for accuracy. You receive a SAR when you apply for financial aid. It includes your expected family contribution and lists how much government assistance you’ll be receiving, so review carefully.  

March

• Visit a friend in college and spend the night with him/her. If possible attend a class, eat on campus, and sleep in a dorm to get the whole college experience.
• Request your transcript be sent to your prospective colleges and verify its arrival.

April

• Choose your school and celebrate!
• Send in your acceptance letter to the university. Mail in all required deposits. Notify the schools you don’t plan to attend by sending an e-mail to the admissions counselor.
• Attend a financial aid workshop with your parents.

May

• Apply for housing. Don’t hesitate to make special requests like ceiling fan, lower floor, and so forth. You'll never know if you don't try! Also if you’ve visited a few times and want to request a specific room, even better. The worst they can say is “no.”
• Get with your advisor and plan your schedule. Yes, freshmen usually get the last pick of classes, but you can be first of the freshmen! Don’t overload your schedule. Take anywhere from 12-16 hours depending on the difficulty of the classes.

June

• Attend summer orientation with your parents. Meet other students (They’re all nervous).
• Visit several churches in the area. Look for a ministry that offers worship for college students, mission trips, small groups and opportunities to serve locally. A strong community is essential for your spiritual growth. Don’t wait until your first Sunday on campus to look for a church. Even if you live too far away to visit, check out websites and Facebook groups.  E-mail the college minister/ leaders and introduce yourself.
• Get move-in day on your family’s calendar. It might seem like a tiny dorm room couldn’t possibly be hard to move into, but trust me it takes longer than you think. Plus you’ll be fighting several hundred other freshmen and their stuff. You will need as many extra hands as possible, so invite the whole fam.

July

• Shop for college. Pick up last-minute supplies and start packing!
• Meet your roommate. If you went potluck and don’t know your future roomie, consider scheduling a lunch meeting or phone call. (Or skype your first conversation.) Get to know each other and discuss who will contribute what to the new place.
• Review your orientation documents.

August

• As soon as you receive a syllabus for class, buy your textbooks. Look online for great deals on used books and order early.
• Shop tax free weekend for a computer and printer.
• Plan a going away party and celebrate this new chapter of life!
• Expect mixed emotions from you and your parents. Some days your mom will be fine. Other days she might not let you out of her sight. This is normal.
• Decide how long you will stay on campus before your first trip home. It is great if you can last one month, because it forces you to make friends and spend a few weekends on campus.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

We've had a long winter's nap here at "Snippets and Soundbites," but we're all rested it up and ready to kick off the first full weekend of 2011 with all the strange news we could find in this week's news coverage.

Ready to get a quirky start to your Friday with the news of the weird, including a phone that saves lives, raining birds, and a poor, poor snowman?

Let's go!

A phone that does EVERYTHING.
We all know that cell phones do everything under the sun this day. We're long past just making calls or texting with today's iPhones and Droids. And a nightclub employee in Atlanta now knows that his phone does something else: saves lives. Well, at least it saves one life, his. On Thursday night, the man was working as a parking attendant at a nightclub in Atlanta and things were going as usual. Two men had been ejected from the club, though, and when they came out onto the parking lot, shots were fired. The parking attendant was hit, but he had his cell phone in his jacket pocket. The bullet hit the phone before ricocheting off the man's chest, leaving him with only minor injuries. So the man was safe and the two men were arrested a short time later. To learn more, go here.

It's raining. . .birds.
You've probably heard this week that New Year's Eve in Beebe, Arkansas, didn't go quite as most residents had planned. That's because thousands of dead red-wing blackbirds fell from the sky and as of yet, no reason for the strange event has been discovered. An ornithologist (someone who studies birds) said that maybe fireworks or some other loud noise frightened a flock that roosts in the town and they flew into confusion, slamming into buildings and other obstacles. Others have wondered if weather, chemicals, or diseases could have played a role. The fireworks/loud noise theory appears to have some credence, though, as residents did report hearing loud booming sounds on New Years Eve, though no one quite knows what caused the booming noises. An initial examination of the birds led scientists to believe they all died from hemorrhages caused from flying into something very hard. In other seemingly unrelated events, there was a large fish kill in the Arkansas River and more birds fell out of the sky in Kentucky, Louisiana, and even Sweden this week. To learn more, go here.

What does he have against snowmen?
A bus driver in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, apparently just doesn't like snowmen. We say that because a video was posted on YouTube a few weeks ago of the driver running over a snowman built in the middle of the street. And it's not like the driver didn't have room to maneveur around the snowman. The video shows only the bus and one other car on the street on the University of Illinois campus. The car carefully drives around the snowman and minutes later, the bus slams into the snow creation. No one knows who built the snowman or shot the video, but transit authorities saw it on YouTube. And the driver? Well, he resigned from his job after the transit authorities saw the video. Learn more here. To see the video, go here.

The editor's thoughts on the January 2011 issue

I hate confrontation. In my closest relationships, I sometimes even find myself taking extreme measures to avoid it. I fear confrontation because my relationships with friends and family are vitally important to me. I don’t want to do or say anything that would damage the relationship—or, in the worst case scenario I fear the most, end the relationship.

Recently, I had to sit down with a friend and have one of those face-to-face, honest, confrontational talks. Things had started to change in our relationship, and friction had developed. She had hurt me, and instead of talking about it, I’d tried to push the hurt deep inside myself and ignore the problems. But the assumptions, expectations, and hurt feelings between us only grew. It was time to be honest, to forgive and be forgiven, to talk and pray about our problems, and move on. It was a difficult conversation, but it was one that came about because of God.

See, for weeks I’d known something cancerous had slipped into our relationship. Honestly, my first response was self-pity, sadness, and anger. But at some point, I began to pray. I prayed for the relationship, for wise decisions, for God to work in my friend’s heart so that she would invite the conversation, and for God to give us the opportunity to talk. Above all, I prayed that when the time came, I would only say what the Holy Spirit led me to say. And God did it all. I am convinced that because He ordained the conversation, we were able to deal with our problems, set aside our pride and self-righteousness, and even grow into a deeper, more honest friendship.

Relationships are hard, whether with your family, your friends, or the people at your church. But believe it or not, God has given us tools and a standard for living that strengthens and deepens every relationship in our lives. Your greatest resource is your relationship with Christ. By spending time with Him, reading God’s Word, serving others, applying Scripture to your life, and being around people who love Him like you do, you become more like Him. And as a result, your relationships become more about loving others and less about getting your way.

Fact is, a vital relationship with God strengthens every other relationship in your life. That’s why Gretchen Williams’ cover story, “Four Steps to Better Relationships,” focuses on spiritual disciplines. It’s why the devotion themes focus on things like humility, service, community, sacrifice, and meditating on God’s Word. All of these things change the way we live our lives and the way we treat the people in them. I want you to walk away from this issue of ec and know what it means to be a part of the community (or body) of Christ—that’s why we thought it was so important to include teenager Elisha Mott’s story on page 56.

Trust Jesus. Yield your life to Him and let Him transform everything, relationships included.

What's your opinion?

Happy New Year, blog readers! We hope 2011 is off to a great start for each of you. To kick off a new year of blog posts, we want YOUR opinion. You may have seen the poll on page 39 of this month's issue; if so, here's your chance to let us know what you think. Please take our quiz below and let us know your thoughts on winter.